The 5th UK Kagyu Monlam
30 May 2025 - 05 June 2025
Cost: £0.00
Venue: Samye Ling
We are happy and honoured to host the fifth UK Kagyu Monlam in Kagyu Samye Ling from 30th May until 5th June 2025. The Monlam will be followed by other auspicious Dharma events.
The Kagyu Monlam will take place during Saga Dawa, the most auspicious month in the Tibetan calendar, where the anniversary of Lord Buddha’s Birth His Enlightenment and Parinirvana all occur. The Monlam begins on the 4th day of Saga Dawa and finishes on the 10th day, Guru Rinpoche day.
After the Monlam there will be several days dedicated to prayers purifying and blessing the ashes of people who have passed away during the previous year. Following this will be the ceremony to place the ashes in the Stupa and Prayer Wheel Walkway. Everyone bringing ashes can make arrangements via bardo@samyeling.org.
On the auspicious 15th day of Saga Dawa (11th June 2025), the anniversary of Lord Buddha’s Enlightenment and Parinirvana, our Abbot, Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche will give Refuge to anyone wishing to enter the Buddhist Path. Please send an email to reception@samyeling.org if you would like to take refuge on this day.
Both Drupon Khen Rinpoche Karma Lhabu and Lama Yeshe Losal Rinpoche will preside over the Monlam prayer sessions and we will also have the good fortune to receive daily teachings from Drupon Rinpoche.
Bookings for the 5th UK Kagyu Monlam will open on 1st April 2025 and we will have a range of accommodation options available. Please send an email to bookings@samyeling.org giving dates of arrival and departure and whether you need single, twin or dormitory accommodation.
Please be aware that anyone attending the teachings must come to every session except in case of emergency, though this does not apply so strictly to prayer sessions.
We hope this fifth UK Monlam will be a magnificent event and that as many people as possible will take part. Please do come to help us work towards achieving H H Karmapa's wonderful aspiration for the Kagyu Monlam - see his inspiring message below.
The Kagyu Monlam is a major international prayer festival held annually in Bodhgaya, India, where people gather to listen to Buddhist teachings and to pray for peace and harmony and the well-being and happiness of the world. It is now also held annually in other countries all over the world on a smaller scale and this will be the third time it is being held in the UK.
History: Though the Kagyu Monlam belongs fully to the contemporary world, its roots lie in 15th-century Tibet, where the 7th Karmapa, Chödrak Gyatso, established the tradition of great prayer gatherings. People from all over Tibet assembled annually to pray for the benefit of all sentient beings. In India, the Monlam tradition began in 1983, when two great lamas in the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, Kalu Rinpoche and Bokar Rinpoche, began holding annual prayer gatherings at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya.
After the 17th Karmapa assumed responsibility for the festival in 2004, he brought in many innovations, creating the international festival that exists today.
The 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje’s Aspiration for the Kagyu Monlam
"I make this aspiration that when you recite these prayers during the Monlam, each word may first arise in your heart, and then emerge from your mouth. I pray that every letter and syllable becomes a golden image and that every word fills the entire world. May all the sounds of lament and war as well as the poisonous winds in the environment be dispelled. May these words of love and compassion blend with the innate goodness of every single being and coalesce into one powerful force. Like the light of the sun, moon and stars, may love, compassion and wisdom shine forth. May they strike every single living being and dispel the darkness of ignorance, attachment and hatred that has lurked for ages in their being. When any living being meets another, may it be like the reunion of a mother and child after a long separation. In a harmonious world such as this, may I see everyone sleep peacefully to the music of non-violence. This is my dream."
There is no course fee for the Kagyu Monlam, though donations towards overheads are most welcome. Donations may be made in the Reception Office in Samye Ling.
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