A grand ceremony was held at the Johkang Lamasery in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region on the eve of the Tibetan Lunar New Year, which falls on Monday.
The Johkang Lamasery, which means the temple of Sakyamuni in Tibetan, was decorated with huge fresh butter flowers, vessels full of grain and colorful curtains.
Some 60 lamas began to a three-hour chanting Buddhist scriptures at 6:00 pm Sunday, paying homage to the Buddha and praying for favorable weather, bumper harvests and world peace.
Thousands of Tibetan people waiting outside the lamasery entered in single file after the ceremony finished.
The ceremony is expected to last till 6:00 pm Monday. The climax came early in the morning with the first prayer on the first day of the New Year.
A Tibetan Buddhist, Dainba, said, "I want to be the first to fill the golden lamp in front of the image of Sakyamuni with butter oil."
The golden-roofed monastery has a history of 1,300 years, believed to be the oldest complex in the city of Lhasa and one of the major temples in Tibet. It is on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list.
(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2003)
