By Mike Kinney
The Tibetan community celebrated a three-day prayer ceremony at Richmond Memorial Auditorium from Friday, March 29 to Sunday, March 30, in part to celebrate the 90th birthday of His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama.
Co-hosted by the Gyuto Foundation in Richmond and the U.S. Monlam Festival, the birthday celebration occurred Sunday at the conclusion of annual Monlam Prayer Festivals for world peace. In Richmond, esteemed scholars and abbots Kyabje Jangtse Choeje Rinpoche and Kyabje Sharpa Choeje Rinpoche presided over the Monlam Prayer Festival and birthday celebrations.
The Monlam Prayer Festival is a pivotal event in Tibetan Buddhism, celebrated annually to commemorate the Buddha’s enlightenment and to pray for world peace and the well-being of all beings. Over the three-day period, several thousand Tibetans and allies sat on the Richmond Auditorium floor while 50 to 60 monks and nuns led prayer, according to Venerable Donyo Thupten from the Gyuto Monastery in East Richmond Heights and Director of Gyuto Foundation.
“There were similar celebrations recently in New York, Minneapolis and now here in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Richmond Auditorium.”
“There were similar celebrations recently in New York, Minneapolis and now here in the San Francisco Bay Area at the Richmond Auditorium,” Thupten said.
Local Tibetan celebrations will continue next month, as the Gyuto Foundation will host its 25th Anniversary event on April 5 at its center in East Richmond Heights.
The Gyuto Foundation is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery located at 6401 Bernhard Ave. It is dedicated to preserving Tibet’s living culture and spiritual heritage through public teachings and cultural programs. The Foundation also offers paths and gardens of the monastery grounds as a public space, supports charitable programs for Himalayan children and provides community outreach to Tibetans living in the Bay Area and new immigrants.
