Thekchen Chöling, Dharamsala, HP, India - On a crisp, bright winter’s day this afternoon, His Holiness the Dalai Lama drove from his residence to the Tsuglagkhang, the Main Tibetan Temple, to join an estimated 3500 people observing Ganden Nga Chö, the Anniversary of Jé Tsongkhapa's passing away. As he made his way through the temple yard and then around the temple, he smiled and waved to members of the crowd.
Inside the temple, His Holiness took his seat facing the statue of the Buddha and a large thangka painting of the Lama Chöpa merit field. To his right sat Ling Rinpoché and the Lobpön of Namgyal Monastery. To his left were the Abbot of Namgyal Monastery and the former Abbot of Sera-mé Monastery.
The ceremony began with a recitation of the ‘Prayer in Three Continuums’ followed by the ‘Offering to the Spiritual Master’, the ‘Lama Chöpa’, interspersed with a mandala offering, a review of the Bodhisattva and Tantric Vows, verses of confession and then the nine line ‘Mig-tse-ma’ prayer in praise of Jé Tsongkhapa.
Next was chanted the ‘Secret Biography of Jé Tsongkhapa’ by Jamyang Chöjé, the praise, ‘From the Peak of the Eastern Mountain’, and the Seventh Dalai Lama’s brief guru-yoga prayer inviting Jé Rinpoché in the same nature as your own Lama.
A ‘tsog’, feast offering was conducted followed by the ‘Song of the Spring Queen’. Then, returning to the ‘Offering to the Spiritual Master’ there was a review of the stages of the path.
Verses of praise from Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, Vajra-Bhairava and Kalachakra—including the ‘Manjushrinamasangiti’, ‘Chanting the Names of Manjushri’, were recited at a swift pace. They were followed by aspirational prayers from Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara, Vajra-Bhairava and Kalachakra.
Recitation of the ‘Offering to the Spiritual Master' came to an end. Dedication prayers, including the auspicious prayer from Vajra-Bhairava Tantra, the prayer for His Holiness’s long life by his two tutors, the ‘Words of Truth’ and the dedication verses from the Samantabhadra prayer were sung.
Finally came the ‘Prayer for the Spread of Tsongkhapa’s Teachings’, the verse stating ‘you elucidated the path combining emptiness and compassion’ that Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoché requested His Holiness to compose and the appeal to overcome Dolgyal from the writings of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama.
His Holiness rose from his seat and spent some moments surveying the monks in the temple, a look of joy on his face, and waved to them. While the Chant-master led the congregation in a recitation of the ‘Mig-tse-ma’ prayer in celebration of Tsongkhapa’s qualities, His Holiness left the temple and, smiling and waving as he went, walked to the lift. At the edge of the temple yard he boarded a golf cart that drove him back to his residence.
