AMARAVATI, India (AFP) – A small and isolated village in southern India will spring to life later this week when thousands of Buddhists arrive for a special teaching session from their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The exiled Tibetan leader will offer the high tantric teaching, known as the Kalachakra Empowerment, for two weeks from Thursday, organisers said.
They expect more than 100,000 people from all over the world, particularly Tibetans and devotees from other parts of Asia, to arrive in Amaravati in the next few days.
The village is on the banks of the Krishna river in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Buddhists believe Buddha preached this particular teaching for the first time at Amaravati 2,550 years ago and the village has become an important pilgrimage site.
The Norbulingka Institute, a cultural centre run by the Tibetan government-in-exile, is organising the event at the request of the Busshokai Foundation, a Japanese Buddhist group.
According to Jigme Tsultrim, press officer for the Tibetan government-in-exile, “a city of tents” will be erected in the village to accommodate the expected hordes of devotees.
“The empowerment takes place over four days which is preceded by nearly 10 days of ritual preparation,” Tsultrim said in a statement.
The Dalai Lama is expected to remain at the site the entire time to guide disciples through the rituals, he added.
Kalachakra is a Buddhist tantric practice belonging to the highest yoga tantras and the teachings have traditionally been given to large gatherings of people.
The event will mark the 30th Kalachakra teaching by the Dalai Lama. The first was held at Norbu Lingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1954.
The 70-year-old leader has been living in exile since 1959 after China occupied his country. He has since established the Tibetan government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala and campaigns for a negotiated settlement to the Tibetan issue.
