Dharamsala : The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) based in this Himachal Pradesh town Sunday appealed to the followers of Tibetan Buddhism to go vegetarian and stop animal slaughtering for a ceremony to be held in Bihar.
The Dalai Lama will head the Kalachakra ceremony in the sacred Buddhist site of Bodh Gaya Dec 31-Jan 10.
“All those attending the 32nd Kalachakra at Bodh Gaya are requested to refrain from consuming non-vegetarian food and meat products during the entire duration of the event,” CTA’s department of religion and culture secretary Ngawang Choedak said.
“It is an effort to make the ceremony purely vegetarian and slaughter free,” he added.
Choedak said high reincarnated lamas of the four sects of Tibetan Buddhism as well as thousands of monks and followers of Buddhism from all over the world would attend the ceremony.
“It’s a very sacred gathering at a sacred place for a sacred purpose,” he said.
A communication from the Dalai Lama’s office to the ceremony organisers said the Nobel laureate has agreed to participate as requested by the late Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorjee Khandu before his death in a helicopter crash in April.
Ceremony organisers said the Kalachakra is held for world peace and for the smooth flourish of Tibetan Buddhism. The ancient ritual refers to the wheel of time.
The Dalai Lama, along with many of his supporters, fled Tibet and took refuge in India when Chinese troops moved in and took control of Lhasa in 1959. Currently, India is home to around 100,000 Tibetans.
IANS
