Dalai Lama performs pre-Kalchakra rituals

January 3, 2017;

Times of India – 3 January 2017

GAYA: Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Monday performed the pre-Kalchakra rituals at the designated site to the northwest of Mahabodhi Temple, the seat of Buddha’s enlightenment. The rituals included purification of earth at the main venue. The Kalchakra rituals aim at inculcating Buddha-like features in ordinary mortals through a combination of meditation, prayers, renunciation and pious conduct. The proper Kalchakra prayers begin on Tuesday.

Accompanied by senior priests of the Buddhist faith, the Dalai Lama visited the place designated for the prayers which lasted for nearly three hours.

As per the belief of the Tibetan Buddhists, the Buddha-like traits, like compassion and detachment, can be attained through disciplined conduct under the personal supervision of a teacher/guide. The same can be attained step by step. The ultimate success in imbibing the Buddha-like qualities depends on the sincerity and genuineness of the efforts. For this, honesty of purpose and straightforward behaviour, renunciation of baser feelings like deception, street smartness and cleverness, has to be given up and childlike innocence has to be developed through rigorous training and self discipline.

For the next ten days, during the special prayers, the Dalai Lama will be giving tips to the participants on how to get completely detached and closer to the ultimate truth. Compassion and fraternal feelings for the fellow human beings are the other key elements of the exercise aimed at self-purification. A sizeable number of European followers of Dalai Lama are also participating in the event. The main prayer will be held in a 2,84,000 square feet area. The Dalai Lama’s sermons will be broadcast live in 20 major languages, including French and German, through the FM channel.

Asked about the number of participants, Gaya DM Kumar Ravi said the organizers have yet not submitted the registration details, which contain personal information about the participants and their places of stay in Bodh Gaya. Local people believe the turnout this year was much less than the previous Kalchakras, particularly the one held in 2003 and 2012.

The DM said uninterrupted power supply was being made while the Bodh Gaya Nagar Panchayat and Gaya Municipal Corporation employees have been deputed to maintain cleanliness in Bodh Gaya, said the DM.

Directives have been issued to maintain the shrine’s security protocol to the last details. ATS IG Sunil Jha is personally monitoring the situation as Bodh Gaya figures on the hit list of different terrorist outfits, including, IM, the group that engineered low-intensity serial blasts on July 7, 2013 in and outside the Buddha shrine.