Monlam Chenmo
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Monlam Chenmo
Ladakh Monlam Chenmo (the Great Prayer Festival)
By Samten Choephel, Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Leh: The Great Prayer Festival or Monlam Chenmo finds it roots in the Great Miracle of the Pairs performed by Buddha Shakyamuni who spent twenty-five rainy seasons in Shravasti (in Utter Pradesh). The leaders of India's six main philosophical schools had challenged the Buddha to a contest of miraculous powers many times as he wandered through the surrounding kingdoms.
They were actually jealous of Buddha’s popularity; his disciples were treated well while collecting alms. Finally, in his fifty-seventh year he accepted the challenge at Shravasti. King Prasenajit built a hall especially for the event; in it seven thrones were erected. On the first day, the six other teachers took their seats and Shakyamuni came to him, flying through the air. He sent forth fire and water from his body and the hall was destroyed and then transformed as a transparent palace.
Planting his tooth-pick in the ground, he caused a great tree to spring up, fragrant and fully laden with flowers and ripe fruit. He multiplied his body infinitely, filling all space with buddhas expounding the Dharma. These and many other miracles he performed and in eight days utterly defeated his opponents, whose followers adopted the Buddhist doctrines. For a further seven days he continued to show miracles and give teachings to the great assembly.
The event of Monlam (Prayer Festival) in Tibet was first established in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa sect. The Monlam Chenmo, also known as The Great Prayer Festival falls on the 4th to 11th day of the 1st Tibetan Lunar month. Thousands of monks of the three main monasteries of Drepung, Sera and Ganden gathered for chanting prayers and performing religious rituals at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. Examinations for the highest ‘Geshe Lharampa’ degree were held during the week-long festival. His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama received his ‘Geshe Lharampa’ degree at the Lhasa Monlam Chenmo in 1959 when aged 24. The monks would perform Buddhist mask dances (cham) and huge ritual cakes (tormas) were made, that were adorned with elaborate butter sculptures. On the fifteenth day, the highlight of Monlam Chenmo in Lhasa would be the "Butter Lamp Festival" (Chunya Chopa), during which the His Holiness the Dalai Lama would come to the Jokhang Temple and perform the great Buddhist service. Barkhor Square in front of the Jokhang would be turned into a grand exhibition site for the huge tormas. At the end of the festival, these tormas would be burned in a large bon-fire.
This festival was banned by Chinese Communist Party during the Cultural Revolution and although it was revived once in 1985, it was once again prohibited in 1990. The full enactment of this tradition, which includes mass participation by the citizens of Lhasa and other parts of Tibet, has been severely disrupted since the Chinese occupation, mainly because the festival encourages Tibetan identity too strongly. However, this tradition was kept alive in India and in 1983, Gelug Monlam Chenmo was organised in Drepung monastery in Mundgod. In the following years, Kagyu, Gelug, Sakya and Nyingma started their own prayer festival and the event take place in the holy land of Bodh Gaya and sometimes at their respective monastic institutions in India and Nepal.
In 1990, the Rinpoches and Khenpos of all the monastic institutions in Ladakh came together to establish the Ladakh Monlam Chenmo. Initially it was a 3-day festival which was later extended to five days in 1992. Unlike the Kagyu, Gelug, Sakya and Nyingma Monlam Chenmo, the Ladakh Monlam Chenmo is not associated with one religious tradition. It is inclusive of all the four major sects of Tibetan Buddhism with the participation of over 16 monasteries and 1300 monks and nuns. This annual event is organised by All Ladakh Gonpa Association and it falls on 21st to 25th of the 3rd month of the year as per Tibetan calendar. This year’s event started on 1st May and it lasted for 5 days. During the festival a statue of Maitreya Buddha is carried on a throne through the Leh markets from Chokhang Vihara (Gonpa Soma). Like every year the Merchants’ Association at Moti market receives the statue and the large procession of Rinpoches and monks and nuns and laypeople with grandeur and offerings of tea, snacks and fruits. Venerable Konchok Namgyal, President of All Ladakh Gonpa Associations said that the main purpose of the Great Prayer Festival is to pray for the long life of all the holy Gurus of all traditions, for the survival and spreading of the Dharma in the minds of all sentient beings and for world peace and religious harmony. Thousands of devotees from all over Ladakh come to Chokhang to pray and make offerings to the monks and nuns. Many different kinds of prayers are recited during the festival on the request of these devotees and patrons. By making offerings of food, tea or money to the monks, one accumulates extensive merits.
