Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s6.t10.2

v1.c7.s6.t10.2

Lhasa Prayer Festival (lha sa smon lam chen mo) is held at Jokhang Monastery, Lhasa between the third and 25ᵗʰ day of the first month every year and thus called Prayer Meeting Festival. Participants, mainly lamas from the above Three Monasteries of Lhasa, amount to 20,000-30,000. If secular people are included, that is a very huge number. Aristocrats and merchants from Shannan Prefecture (U region or anterior Tibet), Shigatse Prefecture (Tsang region or ulterior Tibet) and Amdo-Kham donate substantial givings to express their wishes of believing in Buddhism, thanking lamas and eternal bloom of Buddhism. The main agenda includes opening ceremony on fourth day of the first month: lamas begin chanting scriptures and making prayers and perform other thematic Buddhist rites; hold a debate for awarding candidate lamas the highest degree "lha rams pa" on the 12ᵗʰ, 13ᵗʰ and 14ᵗʰ days of the month; have butter-oil lamp exhibition overnight on 15ᵗʰ day, which is pleasantly noisy; take the ceremony "gtor rgyag" on 24ᵗʰ day which means sending off hungry ghosts by giving them food (lamas of rnam rgyal graw tshang and sngags pa graw tshang, Potala Palace and Drepung Monastery specially prepare the event, and 500 lamas even disguise themselves as ancient Mongolian soldiers to parade, burn hay stacks and shot guns so as to dispel all disasters or misfortunes in this year); on the 25ᵗʰ day, perform the ceremony of "inviting Maitreya" then come to an end so that all lamas return to their respective monasteries.