Gangtok: Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrived here on Monday morning for a three-day visit to Sikkim after a gap of 13 years.
The Dalai Lama will impart teachings on Gyalsey Thokme Sangpo’s “37 Practices of a Bodhisattva” at Paljor stadium and partake in other events in Gangtok, the mountainous capital on Sikkim nestled near the China border.
The Dalai Lama landed at the Libing army helipad in East Sikkim where he was received by Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang and several senior ministers and government officials, as well as Tibetan Representatives from Gangtok, Darjeeling and Kalimpong.
He was also accorded a grand welcome by monks of various monasteries in the state with a traditional Buddhist ritual of dance and prayer known as ‘Sherbang’.
As the Tibetan spiritual leader drove to the Hotel, hundreds of people queued up on both sides of the highway from Deorali to Zero Point to get a glimpse of the spiritual leader. Many of them wore their ceremonial hats and played cymbals, drums and horns in greeting.
A group of Tashi Shölpa dancers danced in welcome the Dalai Lama while another group followed a cheerleader exuberantly crying out, “Long live, the Dalai Lama”.
At the door to his suite, the Dalai Lama was greeted by his elder brother, Gyalo Thondup.
