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The Dhamma Times, 10 August 2004
Indo-Asian News Service, India - In the true spirit of material renunciation, even at an honour ceremony, Grammy-winning Buddhist monks shunned praise and spoke of prayers for Indian hostages in Iraq and for world peace.
"We are praying for our brothers away from home and in deep trouble in other parts of the world," said Tai Situ Rinpoche, supreme head of the Palpung Sherab Ling monastery.
"There is no peace in those parts and our Indian brothers are in trouble, we seek peace and comfort for them," said Rinpoche, dressed in the yellow-maroon robes of Buddhist monks.
"Let there be peace, every religion teaches that," the 38-year-old guru added solemnly, addressing scores of devotees and dignitaries at New Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan auditorium Sunday evening to celebrate the winning of the Grammy award by monks of his monastery earlier this year.
The delicately sonorous chanting of the monks won them the award at Los Angeles at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards this February.
At Sunday's function, monks lined on the stage and chanted the holy verses, some of which date back to the seventh century, clanging cymbals and playing giant hornpipes.
Some of the prayers invoked the lineage going back to the Buddha and others spoke of world peace.
The Palpung Sherab Ling monastery is situated at around 60 km from Dharamsala, the seat of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile, in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
More than a dozen of the monastery's 400 monks gathered for Sunday's function, which was to be attended by Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.
Shekhawat couldn't make it due to other pressing engagements and former central minister Karan Singh took his place.
"I was amazed to hear about their achievement. I mean a Grammy!" smiled Singh.
"I have been a lifelong follower of rock music and never could I have imagined that Tibetan monks would one day win the Grammy."
It all came about when some Buddhist devotees from New Zealand visited the monastery in 2002. After hearing the monks chant, they asked to record the chanting.
The recordings were turned into a CD, "Sacred Tibetan Chants", which bagged the best traditional world music prize at the Grammy this year.
Monks at the Palpung Sherab Ling monastery, like their counterparts across the world, chant Tibetan holy verses, as they've been doing for centuries, for several hours daily and never dreamt it would one day win them the world's greatest music award.
"We didn't even know what the importance of the Grammy was," said Tenam Shastri, personal secretary of Rinpoche.
"Everyone was very surprised. An award means nothing to monks who have given up the world but its nice that people appreciate our chants," Shastri added.
Rinpoche discovered the 17th Karmapa Lama, the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu sect. The Karmapa fled Tibet three years ago and now lives at the Gyuto monastery at Dharamsala.
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