Tibetannet

A religious ceremony to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the passing away of the 10th Panchen Erdeni Choskyi Gyaltsen was held at Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet.

Nearly 200 monks from,six other major monasteries such as Sera Monastery, Drepung Monastery chanted scriptures for one hour inside the temple.

On January 9, 1989, the 10th Panchen Erdeni traveled to Shigatse to presided over the consecration ceremony for memorial stupas for the 5th to 9th Panchen Lamas at Tashilhunpo Monastery. He died on January 28 of a heart attack as a result of overwork.

On the day of the commemorative ceremony, the 10th Panchen Erdeni's Patriotic Thought Seminar was also held in Lhasa at the same time. Social sciences experts, religious representatives, as well as relatives and former friends of the 10th Panchen Lama attended that event.

At the seminar, Sonam Rentsen, vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and executive vice president of the Tibet Branch of the Buddhist Association of China, said that throughout his life, the 10th Panchen Lama sincerely cooperated with the Communist Party of China, struggled to safeguard the unification of the motherland and strengthen ethnic unity, worked hard for socialist modernization, loved the country and his religion, promoted Tibetan Buddhism, and guided religious followers to be happy.

Dawa Tsering, deputy chairman of the Tibet Branch of the Buddhist Association of China and director of the Samye Monastery Branch of the Tibet Buddhist Academy, said that he was very excited when he was 20 years old to meet the 10th Panchen Lama when the master visited Samye Monastery in September 1988.

"The master taught me that I must study hard, improve the practice of Buddhist doctrine, and benefit the people. Now, I am grateful whenever I think of the teachings of the 10th Panchen Lama," said Dawa Tsering.