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May 22 - Photos
On May 22nd, 2008 at 10:00 am the group arrived at Gelug Monastery in Manali and was welcomed with an elaborate reception headed by the Khenpo of the Gelug Monastery, members of the Tibetan Welfare Office and all the organization of the Tibetan Community with thousands of Tibetans and local Himalayan Buddhist followers on hand as well.
A traditional Tibetan tea ceremony and Mandala offering was made by the Khenpo of the Monastery along with the Tibetan Welfare officers. A grand Guru Rinpoche Puja and feast was conducted with aspirations for World Peace with a specific dedication for the recent suffering in Tibet, Burma, China and India. During the dedication Kenting Tai Situpa also spoke briefly on how motivation should be. The essence of the teaching was that, "as a follower of a Tibetan (Vajrayana) Buddhist order, our physical acts as well as our speech should be based on discipline, just as the Buddha taught in Hinayana. Our aspiration to practice or pray should be based on compassion, loving kindness and impartiality to every life form without any limitation. This is Boddhichitta based on the teaching of Buddha in Mahayana.
Now in Vajarayana, all forms of practice should be transformative as they are the unity of method and wisdom or unity of relative truth and ultimate truth; the sacred outlook of everything. Every appearance is a manifestation of Buddha. All sound is the sound of the Sacred Mantra and all thought is the thought of Wisdom(Jyana).
So our aspiration for today's gathering should be limitless and our dedication should have no limitation. Then every prayer will be answered."
At 3:00 pm the Guru Rinpoche empowerment was bestowed at Gelug Monastery for several thousand people. At this time Kenting Tai Situpa gave another very profound teaching for everyone that included special advice and reminders for Tibetans. The essence of this reminder was, "our leader is Buddha Avalokiteshovara who manifested in human form among us, life after life until this time with the current 14th His Holiness. He is the one who knows the past, present and future through his enlightened wisdom. His Holiness is not just an ordinary leader like other world leaders. Whatever guidance comes from him is based on his wisdom and whatever we common people do or plan, even with our best intentions, is still based on ignorance. So we should appreciate and acknowledge our leader, this manifestation of Buddha Avalokiteshovara. We should not try to dilute anything from his wisdom guidance.
If the trust and faith is there, that he is an Emanation of the Buddha of Compassion then you should mean it. His Holiness' guidance is peace, harmony and truth. As Tibetans, we can just follow it with no need for any extra effort or thought about whether it is right or wrong.
The fact that Tibetans are well respected all over the world is the result of two things according to my understanding:
First as a result of the unbroken lineage of Buddha, the Dharma is well preserved and the blessing of Buddha is alive. Even people who don't know about Buddhism can feel this.
So we should recognize that appreciate it with dignity.
The second reason is that our leader is an emanation of Buddha of Compassion and because of that his peace-loving activity naturally radiates all over the world. Everyone appreciates that. So again, as a Tibetan there is every reason to follow in his foot-steps without any unnecessary effort."
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