KATHMANDU, July 20: Tibetan exiles and Buddhist monks here were busy preparing for the last rites of prominent Tibetan spiritual leader Shamar Rimpoche.
The 62-year-old spiritual leader who passed away in Germany last month following a heart attack was brought to India on June 22.
Rinpoche was the 14th Shamarpa of the Karma Kagyupa lineage, also known as the Red Hat Lama of Tibet, and one of the most senior figures in Tibetan Buddhism.
Tall arches with condolence messages on banners have been erected at various places along the road leading to the Sharminub Foundation at Sano Bharyang near the Swoyambhunath Stupa here.
One banner on the arch at the main entrance to Sharminub Foundation, established by the late Shamarpa Mipham Chokyi Lodro, reads: “Hearty welcome to our distinguished delegates, guests and participants for chanting prayers and the sacred fire-ritual ceremony of Kunsing Shamar Rinpoche.”
Tents have been erected with the facilities of toilets, kitchens and other logistics arranged for visitors for the big gathering.
Atop the main building of the monastery, where hundreds of Buddhist monks are busy offering prayers to the departed soul, is a crematorium ready for the last rites of the 14th Shamarpa, whose body is supposed to be flown here from New Delhi on Monday, according to media reports here.
The preparations were made despite the Nepal government’s decision not to give permission for performing last rites to the Rinpoche.
“We have made all the preparations as per the wishes of our guru to have his last rites performed in the gumba he built.
“But we are miffed by the government’s decision at the eleventh hour to deny permission to transport the body to Kathmandu,” The Republica national daily quoted as saying Lama Dawa Sangbo Yolmopa, who has been actively involved in bringing the body back.
The late Shamar Rinpoche himself had expressed a wish to have his last rites performed in the country where Lord Buddha was born, he said.
He did so in the presence of thousands of his devotees during the World Peace Mahapuja organized in Kathmandu four years ago, Yolompa added. (PTI)
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