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Tibetan monk Grammy winners debut preformance in Delhi

The monks from Palpung Sherab Ling monastery don't plan to cut another album, but will do it if an offer comes their way.

The Indian Express

New Delhi, 8 August 2004 The Grammy award-winning monks from the Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery in Himachal Pradesh today performed on stage for the first time and it just happened to be in Delhi.

It was a rare treat for the audience at Vigyan Bhawan as the 20 monks performed a series of Tibetan chants at a felicitation programme organised by Action Aid and the monastery. Earlier this year, the group's CD: Sacred Tibetan Chants: The Monks of Palpung Sherab Ling Monastery, had fetched them the Grammy in the best traditional world music album category. And even though cutting more albums may not be an aim, the monks say they will do it if it comes their way.

Gyalton Rinpoche, from the group that performed today, said, “We are not looking for opportunities to have more albums but if something comes along then we will take it up.” Gyalton added, “Even when the chants were recorded, it was not done with the aim of winning an award. Our guru was approached by some disciples in Australia to send them some recorded chants so that they could meditate. We don't know how the chants reached the Grammys but it was after we had sent the tapes to Australia.”

Gyalton added, “Many among the group had not heard of the Grammy before. it came as a huge surprise.”

The group includes monks from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and India. Rinpoche further said, “The album has put us on the world stage and will help us spread the message of peace and harmony in the world. The monastery's head, the 12th Tai Situ Rinpoche, has dedicated the award to world peace and harmony.”

Explaining the piece performed today, Gyalton said, “The album has three sets of prayers in it. We performed a piece of it here today which includes a prayer for the lineage holders, one for Mahakala deity and another for the sentient beings to help them attain Buddhahood.”

While the three prayers are offered through the day at the monasteries, at Vigyan Bhawan today, the monks only rendered a portion of it. “We have never timed our prayers and don't even know how long the cassette is. That was left to the recording unit.”

Earlier in the evening, the 12th Tai Situ Rinpoche said, “We hope to spread world peace through this album. If it can help spread the Dharma we will be happy.”

Gyalton Rinpoche added, “After the Grammy there has been a lot of media attention but life has remained the same. Nothing has changed for us.”