AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND
GREAT PRAYER FESTIVAL
Thank you to everyone who supported the 2019 festival,
we look forward to updating you on future events.
Background image credit: Photograph by Yasunori Koide (CC BY-SA 4.0)
CELEBRATING THE 600th MEMORIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT BUDDHIST MASTER
TSONGKHAPA
2019 marks 600 years since the passing of master Tsongkhapa, one of the greatest Tibetan scholar-practitioners of Buddhism. As the founder of the Gelug tradition, his spiritual lineage continues to flourish throughout the world, benefiting countless people including New Zealanders since the 1970s. The Great Prayer Festival will celebrate master Tsongkhapa's life and legacy by following his example of bringing people together to make vast aspirational prayers and extensive offerings. These prayers were taught by the Buddha and various great masters of India and Tibet to guide us on the path to awakening, and to dedicate our efforts for the benefit all sentient beings. Master Tsongkhapa started the tradition of the Great Prayer Festival to act as a cause for the flourishing of Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings, the source of ultimate happiness. The inaugural Great Prayer Festival in Aotearoa New Zealand is dedicated to carrying on master Tsongkhapa's tradition, praying that the Buddha's teachings can benefit our country and the wider world for as long as possible.
