During the week of the Dalai Lama's birthday, the week-long celebration of Monlam began in temples throughout Lhasa, the capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, on Thursday.
Local participants in the festivities prayed for global peace and harmony, after thousands of people across Tibet attended public gatherings to mark the spiritual leader's 80th birthday during a year when the introduction of the Tibetan Year of the Wooden Ram coincided with the commencement of the Chinese New Year.
In consideration of the synchronicity of the two calendars, Tibetans merged both public and private observances of the 80th anniversary with traditional celebrations of Losar, as the Tibetan new year is called.
Celebrations in the autonomous region's counties of Ngaba, Golok, Rebkong, Chengtsa and Labdrang included both monks and laypeople making offerings and reciting prayers for the Dalai Lama.
Sources informed the local media that an excess of several thousand attendees were present at the ceremonies that were held at the three monasteries of Segon Thupten Chokleg Namgyal Ling, Kirti Monastery and Nyentse Monastery, which are located in Ngaba and Golok. This year's gatherings provided the Tibetan people with their first opportunity in a number of years to come together for such an occasion.
Monlam, also called the Grand Prayer Festival, dates back to 1409, when Tsongkhapa, who was responsible for introducing the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, sought to preserve the memory of the Sakyamuni Buddha.
The festive activities that occurred at Tibetan temples this week proved to be immensely popular, with both tourists and worshippers looking onward as four monks engaged in a discussion regarding Buddhist scripture in Lhasa's Sera Monastery on Thursday morning.
The Global Times spoke with a tourist from China's Hebei Province who described the atmosphere in Sera Monastery as "unforgettable." Wang Yan was in Tibet in August of last year, but needed to return for the Grand Prayer Festival.