Monlam Chenmo dedicated to the long life of the Dalai Lama at Kirti Monastery in Bodh Gaya

- through Henry Oudin

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Great prayer festival at Kirtighar Samyeling. Image courtesy of the author

A great festival of prayer (Tib: སྨོན་ལམ་ཆེན་མོ།, monlam chenmo) dedicated to the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was held at Kirtighar Samyeling, a branch of Kirti Monastery, Bodh Gaya, India, from January 7 to 11. According to the Tibetan lunar calendar, the Dalai Lama will turn 90 in 2024.

To mark the occasion, prayers for long life and stability, known as shabten (Tib: ཞབས་བརྟན།), were performed alongside traditional Gelug prayers. Although His Holiness was invited on three occasions, the event in Bodh Gaya coincided with his engagements at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in Karnataka, southern India. Representatives of the Gaden Phodrang (Tib: དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང་།), the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, attended the ceremony at Kirtighar Samyeling on his behalf.

The program at Kirtighar Samyeling lasted for four days, with prayers from 6:30 a.m. to 20 p.m., in the morning and afternoon. bidsand the morning and evening debates (Tib:རྩོད་པ།, tsopa). In addition, three days of teachings were given by the 104th Gaden Tripa, Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Pelsangpo, focusing on the Jātakasor the tales of the previous lives of Buddha (Tib:ཐུབ་པའི་སྐྱེས་རབས།, thumb pe kyerab).

Gaden Tripa, Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Pelsangpo and Kirti Rinpoche during the prayer festival. Image courtesy of the author

On the fifth day, January 11, monks and lay people gathered to celebrate long life bid for His Eminence the 11th Kirti Rinpoche, followed by shabten prayers for the Dalai Lama. A golden gift of gratitude was presented to His Holiness, represented by a delegate from the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The ceremony was also attended by the Gaden Tripa and former Kalon Tripa (Tib: བཀའ་བློན་ཁྲི་པ།), Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, the Prime Minister of the Central Tibetan Administration, who also received a letter of gratitude for their support to Kirti Monastery. The event concluded with dedication prayers and a celebratory gathering for monks and lay people.

On this occasion, three new books were also launched at Kirtighar Samyeling on January 12: a volume detailing the reasons for the Dalai Lama's long life ceremony at Kirti Monastery; a book featuring photographs taken by Kirti Rinpoche, reflecting his passion for photography; and a book on the first scholarly conference on the work of Je Tsongkhapa. Essence of True Eloquence (Tib: དྲང་ངེས་ལེགས་བཤད་སྙིང་པོ།, Drange Legshe Nyingpo), organized by Kirti Monastery of Bodh Gaya in 2018.

Teachings of Gaden Tripa, Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Pelsangpo at Kirtighar Samyeling. Image courtesy of the author

At that time, Kirtighar Samyeling was not completed and the conference was held in tents. At the 2018 event, the Dalai Lama laid the foundation stone for the future Nalanda Samye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Academy in Bodh Gaya, a project of Kirti Monastery. His Holiness added a carved block of a double vajra to an existing wall, recited auspicious prayers, and delivered a speech.**

A similar lecture on Je Tsongkhapa Essence of True Eloquencetook place in 2016, bringing together scholars from all Tibetan and Bon Buddhist traditions at Taktsang Lhamo, Kirti Rinpoche's home monastery in Tibet.

Kirti Monastery (Tib: ཀིརྟི་དགོན་པ།) was founded in 1472 in Ngawa, in the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo, by Rongpa Chenakpa, a disciple of the famous Tibetan Buddhist philosopher Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.

The current head of the Kirti lineage is His Eminence the 11th Kirti Rinpoche, Lobsang Tenzin Jigme Yeshe Gyamtso. Born in Thewo Takmoe Gang in Amdo in 1942, he received his spiritual training in Tibet and, following the Chinese invasion, fled with the Dalai Lama to India in 1959.

Kirti Rinpoche established the Kirti Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Kirti Jepa Dratsang (Tib: ཀིརྟིའི་བྱེས་པ་གྲྭ་ཚང་།) in Dharamsala in 1992, and founded the Kirti Charitable Society, Kirti Getsa Tsokpa (Tib: ཀིརྟིའི་དགེ་རྩ་ཚོགས་པ།) in 2008.

Kirti Monastery preserves the tradition of monlam chenmoa major prayer festival established in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa in Lhasa. As the most important religious festival in Tibet, it traditionally brought together thousands of monks from the three major monasteries—Drepung, Sera, and Gaden—to perform religious rituals at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. Today, major prayer festivals are celebrated in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in exile, primarily in Bodh Gaya, where the historical Buddha attained enlightenment.

Kirtighar Samyeling. Image courtesy of the author

* Gaden Tripa is the title of the supreme head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The 104th Gaden Tripa, Jetsun Lobsang Tenzin Pelsangpo recently asked to resign from his position. The Dalai Lama has appointed His Eminence Sharpa Choeje Rinpoche Jetsun Lobsang Dorjee Pelsangpo as the 105th Gaden Tripa on November 28, 2024.

** First Lecture on “The Essence of True Eloquence” by Tsongkhapa (His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet)

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Kirti Monastery (Tibetan only)

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Henry Oudin

Henry Oudin is a Buddhist scholar, spiritual adventurer and journalist. He is a passionate seeker of the depths of Buddhist wisdom, and travels regularly to learn more about Buddhism and spiritual cultures. By sharing his knowledge and life experiences on Buddhist News, Henry hopes to inspire others to embrace more spiritual and mindful ways of living.

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