Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s6.t10.1

v1.c7.s6.t10.1

Prayer Festival (smon lam chen mo in Tibetan) is the largest and grandest event for Gelug Sect. In the first month of Earth Ox year (1409) of the seventh calendrical cycle, Tsongkhapa founded Prayer Festival in Jokhang Monastery to commemorate Sakyamuni for his miraculous feats of defeating "Six Heretics" and advocating Buddhism. Later on, Gelug Sect monasteries continued the ceremony, added new things to it during development and prolonged the duration to a larger and larger scale. In this way, it evolved into a comprehensive prayer festival for Gelug Sect and even all other sects of Tibetan Buddhism.