Kalon Tripa Leaves on Official Tour
Dharamsala, 12 January: Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, the Kalon Tripa of the Central Tibetan Administration left today on a twenty five –day official tour to Una, Delhi, Bangkok, Chennai, Bodhgaya, Mumbai and Pune.
Kalon Tripa will attend a commemoration function on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda at Una, about a hundred kilometres from here. Later today Kalon Tripa will leave for Delhi where he will participate in a discussion forum of Tibetologists tomorrow. Kalon Tripa will then travel to Bangkok, Thailand, to attend a meeting with the Central Tibetan Administration’s donors and contributors on 15 January. He will also address the gathering and present souvenirs to donors to express his administration and its people’s gratitude to them.
Kalon Tripa will be in Chennai from 17 to 19 January during which he will attend, among others, a board meeting of the Krishnamurthy foundation. Kalon Tripa will then head for Bodhgaya for the Central Tibetan Administration’s official prayer ceremony including the offering new robes and golden alms bowl to the Buddha’s statue at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya. The prayer ceremony is held to mark the end of the holy monkey year and to offer prayers to the gods and deities of Tibet. The prayer ceremony on 25 January will be presided over by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and attended by lamas from four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon.
Kalon Tripa will travel to Mumbai on 30 January. He will participate in discussion forums of the Krishnamurthy foundation. He will also travel to Pune where he is scheduled to attend the birth centenary of Achut Patvardhan, who along with stalwarts like Jaya Prakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, founded the Congress Socialist Party, a youth wing of the Congress Party during the pre-independence India.
Kalon Tripa will be back in office on 5 February.