Tibetan spiritual leader the 14th Dalai
Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, arrived in Sikkim for three days after a gap of 13 years, on
Monday.
He will impart teachings on the “Thirty-Seven
Practices of Bodhisattvas” during his stay in the Himalayan State.
The Dalai Lama landed at the Libing Army
helipad around 10.30 am in East Sikkim where he was received by Chief Minister
Prem Singh Tamang.
He was also accorded a grand welcome by
monks of various monasteries in the State with a traditional Buddhist ritual of
dance and prayer known as ‘Sherbang’. Some members of the exiled Tibetan
Parliament, Tibetan Settlement Office and Local Tibetan Assembly were also
present to greet him.
The 87-year-old Dalai Lama went to a
hotel in Gangtok and hundreds of people queued up on both sides of the highway
from Deorali to Zero Point to get a glimpse of the spiritual leader.
He will impart teachings on the “Thirty-Seven
Practices of Bodhisattvas” on Tuesday at Paljor Stadium around 50 km from the
India-China border at Nathula.
“Around 40,000 devotees will attend the
event at Paljor Stadium to get blessings from the Dalai Lama,” said Gangtok SP
Tenzing Loden Lepcha.
Dalai Lama had last visited Sikkim in
2010.
He will also virtually lay the
foundation stones of the Karmapa Park project at Rumtek and Gyalwa Lhatsun
Chenpo statue at Simmik Khamdong constituency in Gangtok district, said officials.
He is scheduled to stay in Gangtok till
Thursday morning when he will leave for Salugara in Siliguri, West Bengal.
The Dalai Lama’s visit to Sikkim in
October had been cancelled due to a flash flood that claimed the lives of
scores of people and displaced thousands.
PTI
