Dalai Lama XIV, the supreme leader of Tibetan Buddhism, held a memorial service on the 29th, at Gokokuji Temple in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. He did so for the forty-ninth day after a person’s death (in Buddhism, on the 49th day after a person's death, judgement on where the person be sent after death is handed down). He gave a lecture and said “I have felt deep sorrow for the terrible thing that had happened. What I could do is only to pray.”
Originally, he just planned to stop over at Japan to transfer his flight back to the States. But he extended his stay in Japan in response to the mega quake and tsunami that followed to hold a memorial service.
At the service, Dalai Lama chanted the sutra along with another 70 Tibetan and Japanese monks from various sects. The sutra, hannya shingyo, echoed throughout the main hall of the temple.
Dalai Lama encouraged the disaster victims by saying, "Since we lost our country, we have enhanced our own inner strength. Japan has lost lots of its people in the Second World War, but it did not discourage the country from rising again. I would like Japan to remember its ability to mover forward."
Yomiuri Shimbun, April 29, 2011
Translated by Yuka Yamashita
No comments:
Post a Comment