After the last session
of Day 4 of the Kagyu Monlam, His Holiness Karmapa requested the
monks and nuns to attend a rehearsal session at Tergar Gompa for
the Kangyur and Alms processions which take place on Day 7 and
Day 8 respectively, and for the Marme Monlam which is offered in
the evening of Day 8.
Before His Holiness
arrived, Khenpo Kelsang and other Khenpos directed the lines of
Sangha members to stand and begin walking around the Gompa,
carefully and slowly stepping one foot after the other, and
keeping in step with the person in front.
When His Holiness
Karmapa arrived, he stood informally at the front of the Shrine
Hall and instructed the participants in what NOT to do. Using
himself as the example, he vividly demonstrated how NOT to walk,
how NOT to carry the Kangyur volumes, how NOT to proceed with
the begging bowl on the alms procession. Coming on the evening
of Day 4, exactly half way through the Monlam, it almost seemed
as if he was lightening and relieving the tiredness of those who
have attended every session from early morning to sunset, and
soon he had the entire Shrine Hall relaxed and laughing with
amusement at his antics.
He held the begging bowl
above his head, and down below his waist, when it is supposed to
be level with the stomach, and he vigorously strode up and down,
when the walk is supposed to be decorous and smooth; he held the
Kangyur volume at a dangerous angle, when it is supposed to be
straight! And then finally His Holiness showed everyone how it
SHOULD be done. He described how to take smooth slow steps and
how to use the legs and back to facilitate this. When he did
this, it was perfect! It was graceful! He made it look so easy!
Then he said that if the
gods and devas were to see the monastic Sangha processing around
the Stupa in this way, with dignity and discipline, carrying
their alms bowls for the offerings, they would be very happy and
would rejoice at the sight.
The getsuls and
getsulmas, who up until now had been only watching, were then
organized by His Holiness into Kangyur Volume distribution
teams, each to wear a card with a letter of the Tibetan alphabet
prominently displayed. During the recitation of the volumes of
Kangyur at the Stupa, they will hand out the texts, break them
into sections to be recited, and then collect them again,
arranging the pages back in order and wrapping them up again –
with so many volumes and so many thin rice paper pages, a
complicated task!
After this, the Marme Monlam lamps were distributed, and as in
previous years, His Holiness instructed the Shrine Hall lights
to be dimmed and everyone to switch the lamps on to the count of
three. After a few false starts, which again provoked some
lively amusement, the gathered monks and nuns were synchronized
and in the darkness the lamps glowed with many colours.
