Dharamsala, July 12 – Hundreds of monks and Buddhist devouts assembled at the concluding ceremony of a five-day Tibetan annual prayers for world peace in Dharamsala on Friday.
The annual prayer at Namgyal monastery was organised by the Tibetan-government-in exile under the direction of the spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
Monks performed traditional rituals amidst chanting of verses to bring peace in the world.
Monks from all the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism took part in the ceremony.
“Today is the last day and they have this ceremony annually, every year once. And here the monks and the lay people participate.
This is called ‘Phuntshok’. By this you earn hundreds and thousand of merits. That’s what they say,” said Loten Namling, one of the devotees who participated in the ceremony.
The five-day ceremeony which concluded on Friday was a part of the prayer ceremony that started last week.
Many foreign tourists and Tibetans living in exile converged on Dharamsala to take part in the ceremony.
The Tibetan community along with their religious leader the Dalai Lama, revered as the reincarnation of a long line of Buddhist kings, belongs to the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Dalai Lama has been living in Dharamsala since 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.
