Tibetan spiritual leader the 14th Dalai Lama on December 14 arrived at Siliguri's Sed-Gyued Monastery to deliver teachings to his devotees.
Preparations were in full swing at the monastery ahead of the Buddhist spiritual leader's visit after a gap of 13 years. He visited the monastery after completing a three-day tour of Gangtok, the state capital of Sikkim.
The Dalai Lama will deliver a two-hour-long teaching on Bodhicitta, the main cause of Buddha and the thoughts that help bring peace to the mind. Around 20,000 devotees have gathered from Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Dooars, and neighbouring States such as Assam, Bihar, and Sikkim, including Nepal and Bhutan, for the Dalai Lama's teachings at the monastery.
A devotee from Darjeeling G.T. Bhutia said: "The visit is a great opportunity to receive teaching from His Holiness Dalai Lama. The lesson is very important at this time when lots of fights and wars are going on. This is the right remedy for the world."
Another devotee from Nepal T. D. Bhutia said: "We can't express our happiness through words. It's more than any festival or something else. It's a priceless gift of my life." On Tuesday, an estimated 30,000 devotees converged at Paljor Stadium in Gangtok to witness the teachings of the Dalai Lama. The Tibetan spiritual leader delivered the teaching on Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo's 37 Practices of Bodhisattva ('Laklen Sodunma') and the ceremony of the generation of Bodhichitta ('Semkye').
The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva ('Laklen Sodunma') is an ancient text written in the 14th Century BCE by Tokme Sangpo, a Buddhist monk who was born in Puljung, south-west of the Sakya Monastery in Tibet. Dalai Lama shared: "By examining always the status of one's mind, with continuous mindfulness and alertness, to bring about the good of others, this is the practise of all the bodhisattvas. If you cultivate Bodhichitta on a daily basis, you can yield more benefits".
Dalai Lama also recited a prayer, invoking Avalokiteshwara, for those who lost their lives in the recent flood disaster in Sikkim and for the peace and happiness of the people of Sikkim and neighbouring regions. He emphasised compassion, nonviolence, and the importance of universal responsibility.
