The three-day Buddha-Painting Unfolding Festival got underway in
the Tashillunpo Monastery in China's Tibet Autonomous Region on Monday, drawing
some 10,000 Tibetan Buddhist believers and visitors to pay their
respects.
The thangka -- a large piece of silk embroidery -- of the Past
Buddha, 35-meters-tall and 40-meters-long, was laid out on a
538-year-old stone platform at 8 a.m. on Sunday, while attendants
prayed on the monastery square in Xigaze, the second largest city
of Tibet.
People passed by the painting in line at 11 a.m., many of whom
flung hadaa - white silk fabric used to pay respect - to the
thangka or bowed in prayer. At midday, the thangka was folded again
for the next year.
The annual Buddha-Painting Unfolding Festival, with a history of
over 500 years, is scheduled between the 13th and the 15th day of
the fifth Tibetan month and the thangkas of the Three Periods of
Buddha are unfurled, one on each day. The Present Buddha and the
Future Buddha will be displayed in the next two days.
The Tashillunpo Monastery was built by the first Dalai Lama in
1447. It is the seat of each generation of the Panchen Lama. In
Tibetan, its name means "the mountain monastery of
auspiciousness".
(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2006)
