Dharamsala, HP, India, 4 August 2008 (By Phurbu Thinley, Phayul) - His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Monday began three-day Buddhist teachings at the Main Tibetan Temple (Tsuglagkhang) at the request of a Korean group, which he referred to as “our Korean Dharma friends”.
The revered Tibetan spiritual leader greeted the Korean group before giving teachings on Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (Tib: jangchup lam kyi drolma). “I extend my greetings to our Korean Dharma friends,” he said.
In
his introductory talk, His Holiness referred to Chinese, Korean,
Japanese and Vietnamese Buddhists as senior followers of Buddha Dharma,
and described Tibetans as junior followers, saying Buddhism flourished
in Tibet at a later time.
“So we (Tibetans Buddhists) are junior followers,” he said, adding “But we are all followers of same Buddha Dharma”.
His Holiness specifically mentioned that Tibetan Buddhism was somehow linked to Korean Buddhism as Woncheuk is well-known among scholars of Tibetan Buddhism for his Commentary on the Samdhinimocana-sutra. The
Dalai Lama said Tibetans earlier thought the Commentary was work of a
Chinese scholar since the Tibetan version of it was translated from
Chinese text, but later found out it was actually a work of a Korean
Buddhist monk.
Some 3700 or more people attended the first day
teaching today. The attendees include Tibetan Buddhist monks, nuns and
lay people, and some 300 Koreans and over 1400 visiting tourists,
including some Chinese Buddhists.
The teachings, organised by
are scheduled to be held from 0900hr to 1130hr in the morning and from
1300hr to 1530hr in the afternoon. There will be two sessions on August
4 and 5 and only morning session on August 6.
These teachings
are being translated in Korean. Simultaneous translations in English,
Chinese and Japanese are also made available on FM radio. | 
