The Dalai Lama was invited to attend a human rights function with the United Nations. (Photo : Getty Images)
While officials from two prefectures of Sichuan Province deny that local Tibetans are praying privately for the Dalai Lama, it seems the religious leader’s followers are using technology to storm heaven’s gate for his recovery.
The Dalai Lama went to the U.S. for prostate gland treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in January, according to United Press International. Jiang Gang, head of the Aba Tibetan Prefecture, said that local Tibetans are probably too busy to hold private services for the Dalai Lama. That’s because they are busy observing the Monlam Prayer Festival and Tibetan New Year.
However, a YouTube video below confirms the holding of prayers for the Dalai Lama, defying the government ban.
Another report by Radio Free Asia (RFA) said some Tibetans have tapped technology to intercede for the Dalai Lama by coursing their prayers through popular messaging app WeChat. The report added that the cutting of Internet service in Aba Prefecture failed to stop local Tibetans from being updated on the physical condition of their religious leader.
Jiang also said that most of Tibetans who attended religious rites in local churches used sutra chanting to ask for a good harvest during the Spring Festival which started on Feb. 8. He believed that injecting political prayers during such period would be not relevant.
Jiang likewise said that Internet service was not occasionally cut in Aba because such a move would be useless since locals find ways to get information about the Dalai Lama, reported Global Times.
The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism is scheduled to speak on Sunday morning at the Minneapolis Convention before about 3,000 Tibetan-Americans who live in the Twin Cities, according to Kaisang Kyoh, spokeswoman of the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota
