Dalai holds prayers for head of Jonang tradition

DHARAMSHALA: The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Saturday morning presided over a special prayer ceremony for the ninth Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa, the spiritual head of the Jonang tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, who passed away in Mongolia on Friday morning.

The prayer session was held at the main Tsuklakhang temple in McLeodganj and was attended by Tibetan devotees and officials of the Central Tibetan administration.


The prayer session on Saturday morning also gave an opportunity to tourists, who were here, to have a glimpse of the Dalai Lama.

"My long cherished desire of seeing His Holiness, the Dalai Lama again has been fulfilled. I was of 10 years old when the spiritual leader had blessed me by touching my head at a programme but in the last 30 years, I've not forgotten that moment," said Rishi, an Anglo-Indian, who lives in Germany.

According to sources, the Dalai Lama would be delivering sermons from the Jataka tales on March 8 at the main temple in McLeodganj. No teachings would be held abroad in spring this year, sources said.

"The Dalai Lama is also scheduled to give a talk on, ethics in education, in Delhi, on March 22. In all probability, he would remain in India till mid April to attend various programmes in Himachal and other places," said a source.

Sources also confirmed that due to the Dalai Lama increasing age, the programmes had been cut short. His close aides stated that last year, the spiritual leader had attended a large number of programmes.

Earlier, the spiritual leader had started special spiritual practices at his residence in McLeodganj.

"In April, the Dalai Lama is scheduled to go to Rewalsar (HP) for teachings. He will also start the Kagyae initiation on April 3 and 4 at the request of Khamtrul Rinpoche at his monastery in Sidhbari," said source.

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