Festival of Tibetan Culture Marks the Dalai Lama’s 89th Birthday in Bulgaria

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Festival of Tibetan Culture Marks the Dalai Lama’s 89th Birthday in Bulgaria

By Lyudmila Klasanova
July 12, 2024

Young Tibetans sell traditional items. Image courtesy of the author

The first three-day Festival of Tibetan Culture was held in the city of Burgas, on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, on 6–8 July. The event was organized by the Kalpataru Foundation, in cooperation with the Himalayan Cultural Foundation and the Municipality of Burgas.

Lobsang Phuntsok Pontsang, chairman of the Himalayan Cultural Foundation, and Victor Francess, chairman of the Kalpataru Foundation, opened the festival. Their talks were followed by a throat-chanting performance by Lama Sonam Gyatso and Lama Tashi from Gyudmed Tantric Monastic School, Mysore, South India—part of Gyudmed Monastery, founded in Tibet in 1433 and rebuilt in India in 2007 as one of the main centers of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism.

The two monks also constructed a sand mandala (Tib. rdul tshon dkyil ‘khor) of Avalokiteshvara (Tib. spyn las gzigs), the bodhisattva of compassion, during the festival, which was duly destroyed on the last day and the sand thrown into the Gulf of Burgas during a prayer ceremony.

Lama Sonam Gyatso and Lama Tashi create a sand mandala of Avalokiteshvara. Image courtesy of the author

Creating a sand mandala of Avalokiteshvara. Image courtesy of the author

Another monk, Lama Nyima from Namdroling Monastery in southern India, performed traditional Tibetan divination (Tib. mo) during the three-day festival.

The program also included traditional dances performed by a group of young Tibetans from the the Himalayan Cultural Foundation, and vocal performances dedicated to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whose birthday was celebrated on 6 July.* There was also a demonstration of creating a Tibetan thangka of Green Tara (Tib. sgrol ljang) by a Tibetan painter, a graduate of the Norbulingka Institute, Dharamsala, and founder of Gelek Tibetan Religion Art.

Works of Tibetan religious art provided by the Himalayan Cultural Foundation were purchased by numerous Bulgarians, as well as books published by the Kalpataru Foundation.

The Mayor of Burgas, Dimitar Nikolov, together with his colleagues from the municipality took part in the closing ceremony.

Lobsang Phuntsok Pontsang, chairman of the Himalayan Cultural Foundation and Victor Francess, chairman of the Kalpataru Foundation, during the opening ceremony. Image courtesy of the author

Audience members enjoy the festival. Image courtesy of the author

The Festival of Tibetan Culture, the first of its kind in Bulgaria, aroused great interest among a diverse audience of residents and guests of Burgas, who, from morning to evening, filled the hall of the Cultural Center, followed the creation and destruction of the sand mandala, and shared the numerous prayers for peace, good luck, and prosperity. The Kalpataru Foundation described the occasion on its Facebook page as “an extremely colorful, inspiring, and emotion-rich festival of Tibetan culture” that “once again created a cultural and spiritual bridge between Bulgaria and Tibet.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama visited Bulgaria in 1991, and two years later monks from Namgyal Monastery built the first sand mandala, again of Avalokiteshvara, in the Capital City Library.

Lama Sonam Gyatso, Lama Tashi, and Lama Nyima perform throat-chanting. Image courtesy of the author

Creating a Tibetan *thangka* painting. Image courtesy of the author

The Kalpataru Foundation is an international NGO inspired by the Hungarian Hindu monk and teacher Swami Bhakti Kamala Tirtha. He received initiation into the line of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a Hindu religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. Swami Bhakti Tirtha is founder of the Vaishnava Academy in Budapest and Yoga Center Chaitanya in Bulgaria.

The Himalayan Cultural Foundation was founded in India in 1989 to provide a platform to preserve and disseminate the unique Himalayan culture and especially the core values, traditions, and heritage of Tibetan Culture.

Traditional Tibetan dance. Image courtesy of the author

* Dalai Lama Shares Message of Gratitude as Well-Wishers around the World Celebrate His 89th Birthday (BDG)

Lyudmila Klasanova

Lyudmila Klasanova is Buddhistdoor Global’s East Europe Correspondent, writing contemporary and historical Buddhism in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Mongolia. She completed her PhD in Indian and Tibetan Culture at Sofia University, Bulgaria, where she teaches Buddhist art, women in Buddhism, Tibetan culture, and religions of East Asia. She also worked as a curator and researcher of Buddhist and Asian art at Sofia’s National Art Gallery. She is an author of the book Female Figures in Buddhism of India and Tibet, published in Bulgaria, and of numerous academic publications. Lyudmila is an internationally acclaimed yoga teacher, specialized in different styles.

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