By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Dec, 19: The Tibetan people living in the Bylakuppe Tibetan settlements along with the Sera Monastery on Friday offered a ‘Tenshug’ (long life prayer offering) for His Holiness the Dalai Lama continuing the precedent set by various Tibetan groups and organizations to offer long life prayers for the 80 year old Tibetan leader this past year.
The longevity prayers and proceedings mark the end of the Dalai Lama’s stay at Sera Monastic University.
Acknowledging the gracious gesture, His Holiness said, “The Tibetan people and the Sera Monastery have offered the Tenshug for my longevity today but the more important aspect remains the faith and the connection between the teacher and the student which is visibly present in everybody here. That connection and faith should transpire into action which can only happen by embracing the true Buddha, which is inside and not in the burnished buildings and infrastructure of the monastery.”
Expressive of a figurative ‘passing down of the baton’ he said, “Now I’m in my 81st year. We’ve set up these settlements and secured the preservation of the Dharma, however, at some point senior people like the Ganden Tri Rinpoche and me will be gone, but when that happens there will be younger Lamas like Ling Rinpoche to rely on.”
His Holiness commended the restorative work done in exile since the mass exodus in 1959 yet asserted that improvements have still to be made in the strife. “So far we’ve preserved the Dharma well, but we need to be alert to any faults that may have crept in. I’d like to ask the senior Lamas and officials, including the Ganden Tri Rinpoche to get together and discuss what improvements we may need to make,” he added.
The Tibetan leader today inaugurated and consecrated the new prayer hall at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, the seat of the Panchen Lamas. He will be providing teachings on the transmission of the Collected Stages of the Path Texts and the Dharmakirti’s ‘Commentary of Valid Perception’.
Speaking to Phayul, the contractor of the Tashi Lunpo project Tsering Ngodup who over saw the operations said, “The project that started in Oct. 2010 and continued for 5 years until today is a joint effort of many people who incorporated their hard work and vision into the venture; starting from the project architect Sangay Choephel, Engineer Manjit Singh, each and every labor and artisans and the cooperative monastery staff”.
