Tibetans Offer Long Life Prayers to His Holiness the Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalai Lama participates in a long life ceremony Thursday, 24 July 2008, in Madison, Wisconsin. Tibetans are performing an elaborate Buddhist ritual to wish His Holiness the Dalai Lama a long and happy life, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., where thousands of Tibetans now living in the U.S. and Canada have gathered. (Associated Press)

Kalon Tripa Prof Samdhong Rinpoche attended the long life prayer offering ceremony organized by the North American Tibetan Associations and Deer Park Buddhist Center.

Dozens of Buddhist monks offered him praise and wished His Holiness a healthy mind, body and spirit during two hours of chants and prayers.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama explained the ritual known as the tenshug was offered by followers to honor their teachers.

The event at the Alliant Energy Center was attended by more than 5,000, which the organizers said was the largest gathering yet of Tibetans now living in the U.S. and Canada.

Organizer Thepo Tulku of San Francisco said he hoped His Holiness the Dalai Lama would live to 100 or more. That would be good, he said, for world peace and human rights and the struggle for Tibetan cause.

Tibetans living in the U.S. invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the long-life ceremony last year.

Lhundub Choeden, who compiled the chants for Thursday's ceremony, said the long life offering was especially important for Tibetans.

"His Holiness is the eyes on their faces, the hearts in their chests," he wrote in an editor's note accompanying the text. "There is no other than His Holiness in which to seek refuge at all times both in this and future lives."

The event capped His Holiness the Dalai Lama's six-day visit to the area. His Holiness gave public lectures and teachings and visited the Deer Park Buddhist Center just outside the city, the only full-scale Buddhist monastery and teaching center in the Midwest.

It was His Holiness the Dalai Lama's seventh visit to the area in the past 30 years. His Holiness has close ties to Madison because an associate, prominent Buddhist monk Geshe Sopa, moved here in the 1960s to teach at University of Wisconsin-Madison and later founded Deer Park.

Dechen Dechen, 38, a stay-at-home mother from Toronto, was part of a group that performed a welcoming song during the ceremony. She wore an elaborate Tibetan costume that included several necklaces.

"His long life is good for the Tibetan people and good for all of the world," said Dechen, whose parents were born in Tibet. "He's always talking about compassion for others and no war. Everybody benefits from peace."

--Based on report by RYAN J. FOLEY | Associated Press Writer

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