
From July 6 to 8, 2011, the city of Burgas on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast hosted the first Tibetan Culture Festival, organized by the Kalpataru Foundation, in cooperation with the Himalayan Cultural Foundation and the Burgas Municipality.
Lobsang Phuntsok Pontsang, chairman of the Himalayan Cultural Foundation, and Victor Francess, chairman of the Kalpataru Foundation, opened the festival. Their speeches were followed by a performance of throat singing by Lama Sonam Gyatso and Lama Tashi of the Gyudmed Tantric Monastic School in Mysore, southern India, part of the Gyudmed Monastery, founded in Tibet in 1433 and rebuilt in India in 2007 as one of the main centers of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.
The two monks also constructed a sand mandala (Tib. rdul tshon dkyil 'khor) of Avalokiteshvara (tib. spy on the gzigs), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, during the festival, which was duly destroyed on the last day and the sand thrown into the Gulf of Burgas during a prayer ceremony.


Another monk, Lama Nyima of Namdroling Monastery in southern India, practiced traditional Tibetan divination (Tib. soft) during the three days of the festival.
The program also included traditional dances performed by a group of young Tibetans from the Himalayan Cultural Foundation, as well as vocal performances dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose birthday was celebrated on July 6.* There were also a demonstration of creation by a Tibetan thangka of Green Tara (Tib. sgrool ljang) by a Tibetan painter, graduate of the Norbulingka Institute, Dharamsala, and founder of Gelek Tibetan Religion Art.
Tibetan religious art works provided by the Himalayan Cultural Foundation were purchased by many Bulgarians, as well as books published by the Kalpataru Foundation.
Burgas Mayor Dimitar Nikolov and his colleagues from the municipality took part in the closing ceremony.


The Festival of Tibetan Culture, the first of its kind in Bulgaria, aroused great interest among a varied audience of residents and guests of Burgas, who from morning to evening filled the hall of the Cultural Center, followed the creation and destruction of the sand mandala and shared many prayers for peace, luck and prosperity. The Kalpataru Foundation described the event on its Facebook page as "an extremely colorful, inspiring and emotional festival of Tibetan culture" that "once again created a cultural and spiritual bridge between Bulgaria and Tibet."
His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Bulgaria in 1991, and two years later, monks from Namgyal Monastery built the first sand mandala, again by Avalokiteshvara, in the capital's library.


The Kalpataru Foundation is an international NGO inspired by the Hungarian Hindu monk and teacher Swami Bhakti Kamala Tirtha. He was initiated into the lineage of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a Hindu religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534) in India. Swami Bhakti Tirtha is the founder of the Vaishnava Academy in Budapest and the Chaitanya Yoga Center in Bulgaria.
The Himalayan Cultural Foundation was founded in India in 1989 to provide a platform for preserving and disseminating the unique Himalayan culture and in particular the fundamental values, traditions and heritage of Tibetan culture.


* Dalai Lama shares message of gratitude as well-wishers around the world celebrate his 89th birthday (BDG)
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The Kalpataru Foundation
The Kalpataru Foundation (Facebook)
The Himalayan Cultural Foundation
Gyudmed Tantric Monastic School
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The article Tibetan Culture Festival marks Dalai Lama's 89th birthday in Bulgaria appeared first on Buddhist News Global.