| speech of Mr. Dakpa Keldan |
Distinguish guests, Ladies and Gentleman, Dear friends:
Good morning everyone!
Today, we are very happy to share of this special moment with you. We brought newly painted Tangka of Compassion Buddha, to the people of Meishan. We also brought Tibetan people’s greeting and compassion to all of you and wish you well from the recovery of earthquake.
We are from Shangri-la, Diqing Tibetan Prefecture of Yunnan Province. Our Association is a NGO. Since Wenchuan earthquake disaster happening, we have been paying attention and wish to support you from earthquake recovery. At the time we saw the damage of Dawang Temple, especially the damage of Buddha statues, we felt very painful inside. At the same time, people of Maishan and nuns of Dawang Temple, who try so hard to rebuild temple, has also moved our hearts. Under the arrangement of BaShu Power Foundation and Meishan City government, with the generous investment from Lady Cheng and Lady Xu, our Association has given all of our effort, painted this large Tangka of Compassion Buddha and donating it to Dawang Temple. Tangka is about 3 meter long, 2 meter wide, and 15 kg weight, using mostly nature colors and heavily in gold. We wish to keep Compassion Buddha here, let Buddha’s kind eyes to look after the people who have lost their loved ones and homes, to comfort all lives.
Now I will briefly explain about this Tangka.
Compassion Buddha with Four Arms is one of several presentation of Compassion Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism. Here, white body of Compassion Buddha is representing the purity of body, verb, and mind. Buddha’s two arms at front hold a treasure which means of all lives are Buddha’s treasure in heart. Left arm holds flower which means wisdom, right arm holds a necklace of pearl which means to save all lives from suffering. Lotus seat means the peaceful environment. Compassion Buddha looks down a little with kindness in which means her compassion to the world and never ends. Sun and moon are both appearing on the sky, it means Buddha is always there, either day or night. The beautiful clouds and creeks present silence and peace. At the lower part, it is our painter, Lama Khedup’s creation. Count from left, a Tibetan, a Lama, a Han, a Mongolian, all hold a white Hada with both arms to their Compassion Buddha. We, Tibetan, Han and Mongolian, are three ethic groups who believe in Compassion Buddha in today’s world. We are the brothers and sisters, we are from same family. Painting this Tangka, our Tangka teacher Lama Khedup has spent about 3 months time, used many nature colors such as gold, red zhusha, peacock stone, yellow minghuang, amber, pearl and Tibetan rose etc, especially lot of gold and red zhusha. The back part of Tangka also has been polished by crushed jewelers, and wrote down Buddha’s sutras by gold. Senior Tibetan lady sewed Tangka in well selected fine silk.
We also brought five treasure vases which have been blessing by numbers of senior lama, to wish Meishan people safe.
At same time, we thank everyone because you have given our Culture Preservation Association an excellent opportunity; utilizing our best resource and ability, in such wonderful format, to present our feelings and compassion to the people from earthquake recovery.
Finally, we wish Meishan people happy and healthy. Greeting to the harmony among all ethical groups, wish the world be peaceful.
Thank you and Tshaxidele!
Dakpa Keldan
Dawang Temple, Meishan, Sichuan Province
November 24, 2008 |
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Introduction
