Siddhartha’s Intent Announces 2023 Dzongsar Monlam and Siddhartha Festival in Bodh Gaya

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Siddhartha’s Intent Announces 2023 Dzongsar Monlam and Siddhartha Festival in Bodh Gaya

By Craig C Lewis
October 4, 2023

Image courtesy of Siddhartha’s Intent India

Siddhartha’s Intent India (SII), founded by the revered Bhutanese lama, filmmaker, and author Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, has announced the 2023 Dzongsar Monlam prayer festival, to be led by Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and senior sangha members in Bodh Gaya, northeastern India, after which SII will host the Siddhartha Festival.

Organized by Dzongsar Khyentse Chokyi Lodro Institute, the Dzongsar Monlam will run from 18–27 October. It was first held in 2006 and has been conducted biennially at the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment: under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya. The Siddhartha Festival, which will celebrate the life of the Buddha and his teachings, centers on a two-day program of talks, chants, dance, and more, from 28–29 October.

“Immerse yourself in the serene embrace of Bodh Gaya for the Siddhartha Festival, a tribute to the Buddha’s teachings beneath the Bodhi tree, where he attained enlightenment,” Siddhartha’s Intent India announced. “Inspire your heart with Triratna Sadhana practice, enlightening talks, captivating performances, a Buddhist art exhibition, and more.” (Siddhartha’s Intent India)

Siddhartha’s Intent is an international collective of Buddhist groups supporting Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche’s Buddhadharma activities by organizing teachings and retreats, distributing and archiving recorded teachings, and transcribing and translating manuscripts and practice texts.

“The vision of the Siddhartha festival is to come together and pay homage to Siddhartha Gautama and to introduce the Buddha’s legacy and wisdom to those who are seeking the truth,” Siddhartha’s Intent India observed. “To unite and bring together spiritually inclined Indians and non-Indians who share the motivation to benefit others. To remember that the Buddha chose to do the most important thing in his life under this tree.” (Siddhartha’s Intent India)

Over the course of some 2,600 years, the Buddha’s realization and teachings have spread across the globe and been integrated into cultures and civilizations across millennia. The knowledge that the Buddha revealed through his teachings have become an invaluable gift to humankind.

The festival will feature appearances from numerous special guests, including: renowned Japanese monk, musician, and composer Kanho Yakushiji of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen Buddhism; Parvathy Baul, a practitioner, performer, and teacher of the Baul tradition from Bengal, India; Dr. Prachi Jariwala, a trained Indian classical dancer; and Lucid Mantra, a producer and multi-instrumentalist based in the northeast Himalayas.

“The festival evokes a gentle awakening, planting a seed of Indian wisdom in our minds. A small impetus, to realize how priceless the Buddha’s profound understanding is in our modern lives. This land has a legacy of wisdom and we are its inheritors.” said Siddhartha’s Intent India. “We offer our sincere most gratitude our Guru, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche for hand-holding us to manifest the Siddhartha festival yet again.” (Siddhartha’s Intent India)

Born in Bhutan in 1961, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche is the son of Thinley Norbu Rinpoche and was a close student of the Nyingma master Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1910–91). He is recognized as the third incarnation of the 19th century Tibetan terton Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892), founder of the Khyentse lineage, and the immediate incarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö (1893–1959).

In addition to Siddhartha’s Intent, Rinpoche’s projects include: Khyentse Foundation, established in 2001 to promote the Buddha’s teaching and support all traditions of Buddhist study and practice; 84000, a non-profit global initiative to translate the words of the Buddha and make them available to all; Lotus Outreach, which directs a range of projects to ensure the education, health, and safety of vulnerable women and children in the developing world; and Lhomon Society, which promotes sustainable development in Bhutan through education.

Rinpoche is the author of several books, including: What Makes You Not a Buddhist (2006), Not For Happiness (2012), The Guru Drinks Bourbon? (2016), and Poison is Medicine: Clarifying the Vajrayana (2021), and has garnered renown inside and outside of the global Buddhist community for the feature-length films he has written and directed: The Cup (1999), Travellers and Magicians (2004), Vara: A Blessing (2012), Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I wait (2016), and Looking For A Lady With Fangs And A Moustache (2019).

Craig C Lewis

Craig Lewis grew up in a transplanted Scottish family in southern England before setting off against all advice to seek light and wisdom in far-off places, rather than staying put and looking within. After repeated encounters with the Buddhadharma as a journalist in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, and across Asia, he eventually found refuge as senior editor at BDG, where he reports and writes on the diversity of contemporary manifestations of the Dharma. Craig is also a keen mountain trekker and photographer, finding particular inspiration in the peoples, cultures, and Buddhist expressions of the Himalaya. In his column for BDG, “Chasing Light,” Craig seeks to document encounters, experiences, and epiphanies resulting from his own tentative and faltering path toward liberation. Contact: [email protected]

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