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Ground Purification Ceremony

Ven. Tenzin Jamyang and Ven. Tenpa Tsering performed a Ground Purification Ceremony at 1 p.m. Sunday, October 7, 2001, at the Tibetan Cultural Center, 3655 Snoddy Road, Bloomington, Indiana. This Buddhist ritual consisted of prayers to ask the local deities permission to begin construction of the Chamtse Ling on the grounds of the Tibetan Cultural Center. The Chamtse Ling will be an international temple for world peace and harmony and is scheduled to be erected by the spring of 2002.

The Purification Ceremony consisted of three pujas or sets of prayers. The first puja, sa chog, asked the deities to bless our endeavors and give us good fortune. The second puja, tri sal, purified the ground of all negative obstructions. The third puja lam rim monlam, consisted of prayers of the Graduated Path of Tsong Khapa, the founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

Previously, in July of 1996 His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet came to the Tibetan Cultural Center and dedicated the grounds of the Tibetan Cultural Center for the building of the Chamtse Ling. Last November, at our Ground Breaking Ceremony, Ven. Jigdal Dagchen Sakya of Sakya Monastery in Seattle, performed the khi sal puja. Ven. Tenzin Jamyang and Ven. Tenpa Tsering, both resident monks of the Tibetan Cultural Center, will perform these rituals again in preparation of the construction that will begin within the next few weeks.

The public was invited to attend this Purification Ceremony and join us in our preparations for the building of the Chamtse Ling. Although a Buddhist temple, the Chamtse Ling will be open to persons of all faiths to provide for them a sanctuary for their endeavors to promote world peace and harmony.

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