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Giant
thangka attracts attention at festival
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An unprecedented 18-meter giant thangka
was revealed at a Buddhist ceremony at Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial
Hall on Jan 13. Many Buddhist devotees came to see and pay homage to the
Thangka at the magnificent "Sunning the Buddha" ceremony, which in the past
could only be observed in Tibet.
The ceremony, organized by the Chinese Tibetan Cultural Institute and the
Bodhi Institute, featured the 18.5-meter high, 13.5-meter wide Thangka.
A group of lamas from Drepung Monastery, one of Tibet's three major monasteries
now relocated to southern India, were also invited to the ceremony to recite
prayers and do practices. The lamas also performed a Vajra dance.
The performance attracted more than a thousand spectators because Vajra
dancers can only be selected from lamas who have done at least 10 years
of practice, and because the dancers wore very special costumes. |
