Published On:Monday, 13 October 2014
Posted by Celebrate Life Style information Blog
Mongolian Sutra Reading Picnic for His Holiness’ Birthday
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| The students of Golden Light Sutra Center negotiated the terrain around Aglag Monastery with ease, Darkhan, Mongolia, July 2014. Photo courtesy of Ven. Tezin Tsapel. |
Ven. Tenzin Tsapel, director of Golden Light Sutra Center in Darkhan, Mongolia, reports on the group’s celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s July 6, 2014 birthday:
A group Golden Light Sutra Center students went on a sutra reading picnic for His Holiness’ birthday celebration. We hired a mini-bus for the two-hour drive to Aglag Monastery, 13 kilometers (8 miles) off the Darkhan/Ulaanbaatar road. As we drove in, the valley became quite narrow, and heavily treed, very green and culminated in small, steep mountain with unusual natural rocky outcrops, enclosed by a ring of mountains. From the car park we walked up the step gravel drive to the main monastery and cluster of buildings. The center piece was an ornately painted monastery building with a commanding view.
We settled in to recite the Vajra Cutter Sutra in front of the central Amitabha altar and then joined the stream of visitors upstairs paying respect to the holy images and Buddha relics and viewing an odd assortment of mythical beast models.
The path led behind the main building and around a very beautiful but very steep and slippery mountain track past numerous carved holy images, mantras and syllables, as well as a few obstacle-course rock formations. My initial concern for some of the older members of our group gave way to respect as our hardy Mongolian ladies made their way around mountain. We stopped on the way for some birthday cake and fruit and made our way to the grass base for our late picnic lunch.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work. -FPMT.
A group Golden Light Sutra Center students went on a sutra reading picnic for His Holiness’ birthday celebration. We hired a mini-bus for the two-hour drive to Aglag Monastery, 13 kilometers (8 miles) off the Darkhan/Ulaanbaatar road. As we drove in, the valley became quite narrow, and heavily treed, very green and culminated in small, steep mountain with unusual natural rocky outcrops, enclosed by a ring of mountains. From the car park we walked up the step gravel drive to the main monastery and cluster of buildings. The center piece was an ornately painted monastery building with a commanding view.
We settled in to recite the Vajra Cutter Sutra in front of the central Amitabha altar and then joined the stream of visitors upstairs paying respect to the holy images and Buddha relics and viewing an odd assortment of mythical beast models.
The path led behind the main building and around a very beautiful but very steep and slippery mountain track past numerous carved holy images, mantras and syllables, as well as a few obstacle-course rock formations. My initial concern for some of the older members of our group gave way to respect as our hardy Mongolian ladies made their way around mountain. We stopped on the way for some birthday cake and fruit and made our way to the grass base for our late picnic lunch.
Mandala brings you news of Lama Zopa Rinpoche and of activities, teachings and events from over 160 FPMT centers, projects and services around the globe. If you like what you read on Mandala, consider becoming a Friend of FPMT, which supports our work. -FPMT.
