Monlam Prayer Festival

Origins and history

Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Geluk school, created the Great Prayer Festival in 1409 in Lhasa. Monks from the major monastic seats of Drepung, Sera, and Ganden gathered at the Jokhang Temple to chant and conduct rites. In 1517, the abbot Gedun Gyatso revived the gathering, continuing its leadership under the three universities. Although historical and political shifts disrupted the Lhasa observances in the twentieth century, the tradition survived and continues today. Tibetan Buddhist communities maintain the festival in exile monasteries in India, preserving centuries of devotional continuity.

Prayers and monastic rituals

During the festival, monks participate in rigorous academic examinations to achieve the Lharampa Geshe degree, the highest qualification in Buddhist philosophy within the Geluk tradition. Monastics also stage cham, the sacred masked dances that enact spiritual lessons. Beyond monastic circles, lay followers make pilgrimages to receive teachings, join the recitation of prayers, and present gifts of support to monks and nuns. Monasteries sometimes unfurl immense thangkas, painted cloth scrolls displaying revered spiritual figures, allowing gatherings of pilgrims to view and venerate them together.

Offerings and public celebrations

A central visual element of the observance involves sculpting massive ritual cakes known as tormas, which artisans decorate with intricate figures made of coloured butter. On the fifteenth day, the festival culminates in Chunga Choepa, the Butter Lamp Festival. In Lhasa, Barkhor Square transformed into a public display ground for these elaborate butter creations, accompanied by special services led by the Dalai Lama. As the celebration concludes, the grand tormas are burned in a communal bonfire. Throughout the weeks following the new year, lay people engage in widespread rejoicing.

Spiritual purpose and prayers

Monlam focuses on generating merit and goodwill for the entire world. Communal chanting aims to remove barriers to peace, support the longevity of spiritual masters, and spread the Dharma among all living creatures. In the Kagyu Monlam Chenmo, participants recite the Samantabhadra Wishing Prayer. This aspiration is grounded in the Bodhisattva vow of Mahayana Buddhism, through which practitioners seek personal awakening specifically to assist all other beings. Across Geluk, Kagyu, and Nyingma lineages, these aspiration ceremonies direct shared devotion towards global harmony and spiritual benefit.

How Monlam Prayer Festival is kept

The festival begins early in the Tibetan year with monks gathering from various monastic colleges to chant communal prayers and conduct rituals. Scholars sit for testing to earn the advanced Lharampa Geshe degree, while monastic dancers perform sacred cham. Lay pilgrims attend teachings, give offerings to the sangha, and view large thangka scrolls. Monks fashion tall tormas decorated with painted butter figures, which are placed on public view during the Butter Lamp Festival and ultimately consumed in a final bonfire.

When and where

The festival takes place during the first month of the Tibetan lunar calendar, traditionally running from the fourth to the eleventh day, with major celebrations extending through the full moon on the fifteenth day.

Historically centred at the Jokhang Temple and Barkhor Square in Lhasa, the festival is also observed across monasteries of various Tibetan Buddhist lineages, including monastic centers established in India.

What Monlam Prayer Festival means

The gathering represents the collective aspiration for peace, harmony, and the endurance of Buddhist wisdom. Rooted in the Mahayana Bodhisattva vow, its prayers express the wish that practitioners reach enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient creatures, while communal offerings and butter lamps symbolise the dispelling of darkness and obstacles.

Questions people ask about Monlam Prayer Festival

See also

Fire templeA consecrated sanctuary where Zoroastrians tend sacred fires and gather for worshipChota Char DhamFour Himalayan shrines in Uttarakhand, visited in one season each yearKailash Mansarovar YatraA high-altitude pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in TibetPrayer wheelA cylindrical wheel spun in Tibetan Buddhist practice to accumulate merit and wisdom

Good reading and sources

• Monlam Prayer Festival on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-06.