Living Buddha Visits Lhasa

The sixth Living Buddha Dezhub recently made his first pilgrimage to Lhasa since his enthronement last year, a six-day tour that took him to several major monasteries and the Potala Palace.

The five-year-old arrived in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, on April 15.

During the trip, he visited two of Lhasa's most important monasteries, the Jokhang Temple and the Drepung, and also visited the Potala Palace, a regional museum and the Lhasa railway station.

At the Jokhang Temple, the Living Buddha paid his respects to Buddha statues, including a life-sized representation of Buddha Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism.

He also blessed worshippers with a head-touching ritual upon request.

The young Living Buddha, whose secular name is Losang Doje, was born in Tibet's Shannan Prefecture on Nov. 30, 2005.

Last year, he was selected through a lot-drawing ceremony as the reincarnation of the fifth Living Buddha Dezhub, who died in March 2000.

He was tonsured by Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, the 11th Panchen Lama, in Lhasa on July 4, 2010 and was enthroned in August. The Panchen Lama gave him the religious name Dezhub Jamyang Sherab Palden