His Holiness Karmapa
bestowed the Sojong Vows on Day 7 of the Kagyu Monlam, exhorting
everyone to engender a motivation of benefiting all sentient
beings by maintaining purely the eight Precepts for twenty-four
hours.
After the usual
recitation of the Sanskrit Refuge prayer and the Sutra of
Remembering the Three Jewels, chanting of the 20-Branch Monlam
Prayer began and continued until about 9 o’clock. Then His
Holiness rose from his seat, and prepared to lead the Kangyur
Procession around the Mahabodhi Stupa.
The one hundred and
eight volumes were resting on a table to be handed to gelongs
and gelongmas in the inner circle of the Great Stupa. The
procession was led by a line of monks wearing the yellow
ceremonial tsesham (hats) and carrying incense, and two monks
playing gyalings to herald the auspicious event.
His Holiness Karmapa
walked next wearing the Gampopa Hat, followed by their Eminences
Gyaltsab Rinpoche and Jamgon Rinpoche. They were followed by
Surmang Garwang Rinpoche and Khenpo Donyo RInpoche and the other
tulkus and lamas, all wearing chogo and namjar. A long line of
gelongs came next, and lastly four gelongmas.
As each Sangha member
passed by the pile of Kangyur texts, they were given one volume
to touch to their foreheads and place on their left shoulders.
One by one the gelongs took their texts and began to process
around the inner circumambulation path and move towards the
front steps of the Stupa. Unfortunately this year a last minute
confusion left the four gelongma in the procession without
texts, though they joined in the procession, albeit empty-handed.
The one hundred and
eight gelongs carrying the Kangyur volumes and the four
gelongmas bringing up the rear proceeded up the steps to the
long outer circumambulation path and turned clockwise to begin
the kora procession. The path was lined at every step with
hundreds of devotees, carrying khatas, glorious pink and red
lotuses, garlands of coloured flowers, and malas waiting to be
blessed by the mere presence of the Holy Texts.
This year, Bodh Gaya is
particularly crowded because His Holiness the Dalai Lama is
arriving in a couple of days to offer five days of teachings.
Many of those venerating the Kangyur texts were mountain folk,
Ladakhis, Tibetans from all over India and Nepal, dressed in
their traditional clothes. Alongside them stood monks, nuns, and
laypeople from all over the world, heads bowed in respect for
the sacred words of the Buddha.
The column of Sangha members completed the outer circle and
returned down to the front entrance of the Mahabodhi Stupa,
finally returning their volumes to the monks waiting there to
receive them. Then an army of getsuls and getsulmas, all wearing
tags with the letters of the Tibetan alphabet, distributed the
texts to the assembly, each one responsible for one text and one
group of Sangha members.
Following
the word to start from His Holiness, a rolling ocean wave of
recitation began, rising to the sacred Bodhi Tree and mingling
with the air. Page after page was chanted and turned, and soon
the piles of completed pages grew and were collected to be
wrapped again in their volumes. The scent of incense wafted
among the stupas large and small, and another fragrance, a
heavenly perfume, a scent of the celestial realms, could be
discerned by some of those present.
