Seven Tibetan Buddhist monks from Tashi Lhunpo monastery visited the Flathead Valley between March 9th and March 12th, 2003. They created a sand mandala, performed a sacred dance, called a cham, performed a candle light vigil, and gave some Buddhist teachings.

tashi lhunpo monastery

the monastery

Tashi Lhunpo monastery was founded by His Holiness the First Dalai Lama in 1447 under direction of Je Tsonkapa (the founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism). It is the seat of the Panchen Lama (see below). At it's peak, the monastery had 5,000 monks living within the walls and another 2,000 affiliated outside of Tibet. While many monastic leaders fled to India and re-established monasteries when the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959, the Panchen Lama did not and because of this a monastery in India was not established until 1972. It is now one of the poorest of the re-established monasteries.

Learn more about the monastery...

panchen lamas

The Panchen Lamas are considered the second highest lamas in Tibet (right behind the Dalai Lama). In fact, the Panchen Lama and Dalai Lama have had a close relationship since the founding of Tashi Lhunpo.

From the 5th century up until 1989 (when the 10th Panchen Lama died) they have been the abbots of Tashi Lhunpo. On May 17th, 1995 the Dalai Lama recognized Gendhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama. Three days later he along with his family and others involved in his discovery were imprisioned in Beijing by the People's Republic of China. As of today, they are all still missing and there has been no indication of their whereabouts or even if they are alive.

On April 25th, 2003, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima will celebrate his 14th birthday as the youngest political prisoner in the world.

Learn more about the Panchen Lama...
tashilhunpo.org/panchen lama
tibet-society.org.uk/panchen lama
rangzen.org/panchen lama