The second day of the celebration once again came to an early start, with a shorter version of the practice of Mahakala scheduled at 4a.m.

After a short break everyone gathered once again in the shrine hall (lhakhang), this time for a series of mandala offering ceremonies. First of all, a traditional mandala offering as well as a symbolic offering of enlightened Body, Speech, Mind, Qualities and Activity were presented to both the Gyalwa Karmapa and Shamar Rinpoche by Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche and Beru Khyentse Rinpoche.

Then the representatives of different centres each offered a mandala to the Gyalwa Karmapa.To conclude with, different wishing prayers were recited.

After the end of the offering ceremony everybody had time for a cup of tea while the courtyard of the monastery was prepared for the next highlight of the programme: a series of a variety of different lama dances, performed by Dorje Lopon Nendo Rinpoche, the monks of Rumtek monastery and Beru Khyentse Rinpoche’s monks.

Mandalas are offered to Karmapa and Shamar Rinpoche

Traditional dharma dances alternated with light entertainment provided by the monks of the Kalimpong Shedra, featuring snow lion and yak dances, as well as several masked characters playing tricks on each other and the audience – the Tibetan equivalent of Western circus clowns.

The performances were much appreciated by the audience and greeted with hearty applause and laughter.

Lama Dances

In the evening all the guests were invited for a banquet dinner in the big tent which had been colourfully decorated for the occasion. A large screen and a speaker’s podium had been set up in the front, and first of all Beru Khyentse Rinpoche mounted the podium to address the audience.

He delivered a speech in which he told the story of how Karma Dhargye Chokhor Ling came to be what it is today, illustrating his account with numerous slideshows of the different stages of his life and the construction of the monastery.