Sakya followers offer long life prayers for Dalai Lama
After the text of the long life prayer was recited, statutes of the deities of longevity, White Tara, Amitayus and Ushnishavijaya, were presented to the 14th Dalai lama and he was offered a bowl full of long - life pills by Rinpoche.
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Shimla, May 26: A long life prayer was offered for Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama by the members of the Sakya Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism Tsuglagkhang temple in Himachal Pradesh's Dharamshala on Wednesday (May 26). The offering ceremony was led by the hierarchs of both places; Dolma Phodrang and Phuntsok Phodrang, that are headed by Sakya Dagtri Rinpoche.
After the text of the long life prayer was recited, statutes of the deities of longevity, White Tara, Amitayus and Ushnishavijaya, were presented to the 14th Dalai lama, and he was offered a bowl full of long - life pills by Rinpoche. After each of the Sakya hierarchs had played their part in the ceremony, his holiness Dalai Lama offered him a white scarf and red 'protection thread' in gratitude.
Dalai Lama told the congregation, "Thank you for this long life offering. If I don't live long, there's a chance that Tibetan people's wishes and aspirations will not be fulfilled. For this reason, I pray that I will live to be more than a hundred and I ask you too to make the same prayer." He further added, "We Tibetans are upholders of Buddhist traditions including the Vajrayana. You too preserve the teachings of both Sutra and Tantra." He requested the followers to keep the traditions alive.
Dalai Lama remembered one of his root Lamas, Tagdrag Rinpoche, and said that he recited the verse, "May the lamas and disciples not be separated," and would then look teasingly at His Holiness on the throne while repeating the lines, "May they enjoy tea and liquor continually, and may there be happiness and auspiciousness forever."