Leh: With a letter written to Lt. Governor of Ladakh, one of the most prominent Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in Ladakh i.e. Thiksey monastery demands the administration of Ladakh to declare 6th of July — the birthday of the HH 14th (current) Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso — as an official holiday in the Union Territory.
This request comes ahead of the Dalai Lama’s visit to the Union territory, which is likely to take place anytime between July and August.
The head of Thiskey monastery and former Rajya Sabha MP Kushok Thiksay wrote a letter to Ladakh Lieutenant Governor R. K. Mathur which said that Ladakh which is a primarily a Buddhist region of the Himalayas with close historical ties to Tibet, owes a debt of gratitude to the His Holiness Dalai Lama and he through his frequent visits and teachings has promoted communal harmony in the region and revitalised the predominantly Buddhist heritage of the Ladakh region.
“As a token of our deep appreciation and gratitude for his monumental impact on the Ladakhi culture and its people, we proposed that the 6th of July — the birthday of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama — be declared an official public holiday for the UT region,” read the letter.
Located 19 km from Leh, Thiksay Monastery was founded by Spon Palden Sherab with his master Jangsem Sherab Zang — a disciple of Lord Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, to which the Dalai Lama also belongs — in 1433 AD. Kushok Thiksay, its present head, was a Rajya Sabha MP from 1999 to 2002.
