Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa
  • The Karmapa
    • A Short Biography
    • The Lineage of Karmapas
    • Activities & Projects
  • Teachings
    • YouTube Archive
    • Video Library
    • Podcast
  • News
  • Schedule
  • Buddhism
    • Shakyamuni Buddha
    • Buddhism in India
    • Buddhism in Tibet
    • Kagyu Lineage
    • The Golden Rosary
  • Centers
    • North America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Oceania
    • Africa
    • South America
  • Office
    • Media
    • Contact
Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa Karmapa – The Official Website of the 17th Karmapa
  • The Karmapa
    • A Short Biography
    • The Lineage of Karmapas
    • Activities & Projects
  • Teachings
    • YouTube Archive
    • Video Library
    • Podcast
  • News
  • Schedule
  • Buddhism
    • Shakyamuni Buddha
    • Buddhism in India
    • Buddhism in Tibet
    • Kagyu Lineage
    • The Golden Rosary
  • Centers
    • North America
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Oceania
    • Africa
    • South America
  • Office
    • Media
    • Contact
  • English
  • France
  • Germany
  • Spain
  • Italy
  • Canada
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia
  • Poland
Jan 05

26th Kagyu Monlam at a Glance

Aspiration:

A drop of water which falls into a great ocean will neither be exhausted nor cease to exist until the end of the universe. Likewise, a virtuous root dedicated toward attaining enlightenment will neither be exhausted nor cease to exist until you reach perfect enlightenment.
– The Sutra spoken by Noble Inexhaustible Intelligence

The International Kagyu Monlam is an eight day Buddhist prayer festival held annually in Bodhgaya, the place of Buddha’s enlightenment. His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, presides over the festival, supported by many leading Rinpoches from the Kagyu tradition, including H.E. Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, H.E. Goshir Gyaltsab Rinpoche, Ven. Zurmang Garwang Rinpoche, Ven. Kalu Rinpoche, Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and Ven. Mingyur Rinpoche.

In the words of His Holiness:

Kagyu Monlam is an avenue whereby we can spread, at times of great need, the genuine spirit of love and compassion to all the people of the world, like a great ripple, first in Bodhgaya, then in Bihar, and so on. As we continuously offer these prayers for world peace, it is our intention and our wish that peace and happiness extend to all.

This year’s Monlam has several special features which reflect His Holiness’ concern to develop peace, harmony and understanding between different peoples and religions, making it a truly international festival.

THE MONLAM PRAYER BOOK IN EIGHT LANGUAGES

This has now been translated from the original Tibetan and published in Hindi, Chinese, English, French, German, Korean and Spanish.

A MANDALA CONTAINING STONES FROM 101 COUNTRIES

A specially constructed mandala shaped altar, with Mt. Meru at the centre, has been filled with pebbles from all five continents of the world and 101 different countries, symbolizing the earth and all her peoples. Bringing the pebbles together symbolizes bringing together their minds and wishes. The collection also includes two meteorites. There will be a special blessing ceremony to bring peace and happiness and well-being to all corners of the globe. The mandala will then be dismantled , the stones packed into special individual boxes, and the boxes distributed to foreigners attending the Monlam, who will take them back to their countries. So the stones will once more be dispersed to all five continents, carrying the blessings with them.

THE MAIN ENTRANCE GATE

This year’s entrance gate is constructed from wood and covered in colored cloth. The five colors of the cloth – white, green, yellow, blue and red – are known as the ‘wisdom’ colors. Each represents one of the five Buddha families. Suspended from the gate are banners of the mantra: Om Pemo Uni Kha Bema Le Hung Phat. This mantra has powers of purification so that all who pass through the gate during the Monlam festival will receive some spiritual benefit.

ASPIRATION PRAYER BANNERS

These have been hung along the stone palisade near the back gate. They show aspirations from all over the world: in Tibetan, Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish and Korean. His Holiness’ intention is to raise awareness of how people of different cultures have different concerns, hopes and aspirations.

ASPIRATION PRAYER GATE

The rear entrance to the Monlam enclosure is through a Japanese style red Tori gate, hung with aspiration prayers from around the world, in different languages.

BUTTER SCULPTURES REPRESENTING ALL TRADITIONS OF TIBETAN BUDDHISM

The butter sculptures on the right show the great Kagyu founders, Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa, but this year , the ones on the left show the great masters of other Tibetan Buddhist lineages – the Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and Gadenpa (Geluk) traditions. This symbolizes the essential unity of Tibetan Buddhism and the interrelationship between the different schools.

TEACHINGS FOR EAST AND WEST

The growing international importance of Kagyu Monlam is highlighted by the inclusion of more Buddhist teachings this year. Last year Gyalwang Karmapa gave teachings to foreigners only over three evenings. This year he has extended his teaching schedule. Before the Monlam, His Holiness accepted a request from the Taiwanese Hwa-Yue Foundation to give three days of teaching on Teachings of the Lineage Masters. More than 1500 people attended these teachings. After the Prayer Festival His Holiness will give a further three days of teaching, entitled Living the Dharma, this time to a predominantly Western audience. More than 1500 people are expected to attend.

FOOD OFFERINGS FROM EIGHT COUNTRIES

The tsog this year comes from different countries: a cane sugar, milk and nut sweet from India; potato chips from the USA; milk toffees from Germany; croissant from France; ginseng tea from Korea; tsampa from Tibet; mochi rice cake from Taiwan; dried fruit and nuts from Spain. Ten thousand special bags of tsog have been prepared for distribution at the end of the Monlam.

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • E-Mail

Related Posts

  • Full Transcript of the Address from His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa to the 36th Kagyu MonlamJanuary 27, 2019
  • The Karmapa Contributes to Disaster Relief in BiharSeptember 16, 2017
  • His Holiness and Wade Davis – In Dialogue in VancouverJune 22, 2017
  • The Gyalwang Karmapa Begins His First Canadian TourJune 2, 2017

[ long read ]

MIND TRAINING TEACHING
The Gyalwang Karmapa gave an extensive teaching on the 8 Verses of Training the Mind

[ video series ]

THE PRAJNAPARAMITA
Taught over six sessions, this is a direct explanation of the Buddhist view of emptiness

[ long read ]

THE CHENREZIK PRACTICE
The Gyalwang Karmapa taught on how to practice Chenrezik and recite his mantra

[ video series ]

100 SHORT INSTRUCTIONS
Taught over nine sessions, this text by the 8th Karmapa was taught in great depth by the present Karmapa.

[ long read ]

THREE PRINCIPLE ASPECTS
A comprehensive teaching that condenses the entire Buddhist path by Tsongkhapa

 

Recent Updates

  • The Inauguration of the 23rd Kagyu Gunchoe
  • The Essence of Glory: A Shakyamuni Puja in the Kadampa Style
  • The Gyalwang Karmapa’s Closing Remarks to the Mar Ngok Summer Teachings
  • Differing Perspectives on the First Council and the Compilation of the Tripiṭaka
  • Upāli – the Foremost in the Vinaya and Contemporary Analyses of the First Council  
  • Ananda’s Offenses, Arhatship, and Recitation of the Sūtras
  • Results of the First Buddhist Council: How the brahma penalty was imposed on Channa

Kagyu Office Around the World

中文 // Français // Polski // Español
The Karmapa’s website is carbon neutral. //

About the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, is the head of the 900 year old Karma Kagyu Lineage and guide to millions of Buddhists around the world.

Born in 1985, the Karmapa resides in his temporary home at Gyuto Monastery in India after making a dramatic escape from Tibet in the year 2000.

Traveling the world, the Karmapa skillfully teaches traditional Tibetan Buddhist Dharma while also advocating topics such as environmental conservation, feminism, digitization of the Dharma, and much more.

Please use the icons below to find the Karmapa on social media maintained by his office of administration.

// // // //

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Please view our Privacy Policy. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo