Visitors delight at unveiling of the Buddha in Tibet
Print Edition
IT was quite a coincidence that French tourist Claire Gaubert witnessed the unveiling of the Buddha in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region yesterday, on the final day of a three-day ceremony.
“It was amazing,” the 21-year-old said. “We’re lucky to have witnessed the ceremony.”
The annual unveiling of the Buddha, a 500-year-old tradition, is a major attraction at the Tashilhunpo Monastery in the Xigaze Prefecture. A new thangka picture of the Maitreya, or Buddha of the future, was unveiled at 11:30am. It was 40 meters high, 29 meters wide and sewn from silk by dozens of tailors and painters over seven months.
New images for the three Buddhas — Buddha Dipamkara (of the past), Sakyamuni (of the present) and Maitreya are created each year for the occasion.
Thangka pictures of the former two were unveiled on Friday and Saturday.
Dozens of monks, clad in maroon robes, chanted sutras in unison as the thangka was unveiled. More than 20,000 pilgrims gathered on the square outside the monastery, holding hada or worshipping the Buddha by crawling on the ground and making long prayers.
“The annual ceremony is aimed at praying for peace and good harvest,” said Nyainzhag, deputy chief of the Tashilhunpo Monastery’s administrative committee.
Local man Lhunzhub, 70, has witnessed the unveiling of the Buddha at the monastery many times over the past decades.
“I wish the Buddha will bestow good luck and good health on all our family members and friends,” said the elderly man from the suburbs of Lhasa.
“All is beautiful: the buildings in the monastery and the Buddha display,” said Karia Zastrow from Denmark. “It’s a really touching moment. We feel a strong religious atmosphere in every place of Tibet we have visited.”
The Tashilhunpo — one of the six major monasteries of the Gelugpa or “Yellow Hat Sect” of Tibetan Buddhism — is the seat of the Panchen Lamas.
A total of 4.2 million tourists visited Tibet in the first six months of this year.
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