Dalai Lama back from Tibetan settlements in Karnataka
The Dalai Lama concluded his over a month-long visit to Tibetan settlements in Bylakuppe and Hunsur in South India’s Karnataka state and reached Delhi. He is expected to be back in Dharamsala soon.
The Dalai Lama left Dharamsala on January 3 and reached the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery on January 5, making it his first visit to the settlement in seven years. He stayed at the monastery till February 15.
During his stay at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, the Dalai Lama presided over numerous spiritual gatherings. On January 9, he led a prayer service in the monastery’s courtyard to honour the victims of the earthquake in Dingri and other affected areas of Tibet’s Shigatse region. Later, on January 18, he attended the winter debate session of the Gelug Jamchoe and Rigtsog, where monks from various prominent monasteries including Sera, Drepung, Ganden, Tashi Lhunpo, and Ratoeshow participated.
On February 5, a long-life prayer ceremony was offered to Dalai Lama by Sera Jey and Sera Mey Colleges at Sera Monastery, which was attended by 8,000 devotees. On February 12, Tashi Lhunpo Monastery held a long-life prayer ceremony in its main assembly hall, attracting another 8,000 people. The following day, His Holiness bestowed the White Tara long-life empowerment to 26,000 members of the public at Tashi Lhunpo.
On February 16, the Dalai Lama left from Bylakuppe to Gyumed Tantric College in Hunsur Rabgayling Tibetan Settlement, his first visit to the settlement in about a decade. The following day, Gyumed Tantric College honoured him with a long-life prayer ceremony in their main assembly hall, which was attended by 6,000 people. During this ceremony, the college presented the Dalai Lama a prestigious award recognising him as the master of the teaching and practice lineage of the Lower Tantric College.
He granted public audiences to 8,021 individuals, including Tibetans from four south Indian Tibetan settlements Bylakuppe, Mundgod, Hunsur and Kollegal alongside Indian devotees, foreigners, and people from the Himalayan region.
