By Phurbu Thinley
Dharamsala: May 31: Around 2200 Tibetan youths will attend His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s two-day basic class on Tibetan Buddhism aimed at motivating young Tibetans into learning and having deeper basic understanding of Buddhism here this week.
The teaching, requested by Buddhism Introductory Committee of Dharamsala (BICD), will be held at Upper Tibetan Children’s Village School (UTCV here in Dharamsala on Tuesday and Wednesday (June 1-2).
Attendees from India and four different countries have registered for this special introductory Buddhist class, which is fourth in a series since it was first initiated in 2007.
The teachings, primarily reserved for young Tibetans, is open for Tibetan youths from all walks of life and from anywhere on the basis of prior registration.
The BCID is a voluntary committee formed to help Tibetan youngsters to stay accustomed with Buddha Dharma by arranging introductory Buddhist classes. The committee is headed by Mr. Dawa Tsering, former local Tibetan welfare officer and currently a member of Tibetan Parliament in exile.
“Of the 2200 attendees, 600 are college students from 40 different colleges in 32 different places all over India,” Tsering told Phayul.
“Others are senior school students from different Tibetans schools. There is also a small number, consisting of volunteers and foreign students from US, Japan, Korea and Mexico, who have registered for the teaching,” he said.
“On both the days, His Holiness’ teaching session will be for two and a half hours in the morning from 9:00 to 11:30,” he said.
Later in the afternoon, he said, the attendees will have time to interact with Tibetan Buddhist scholars through question and answer session.
According to Tsering, the DCIB was formed in line with Dalai Lama’s expressed concern about young Tibetans getting slowly distanced from Tibetan Buddhist cultural values. He hopes the initiative will help keep young Tibetans intact with Tibetan spiritual and cultural values.
The committee also arranges regular introductory Buddhist classes for Tibetan youths on Sundays.
