The Panchen Lama welcomes a Mongolian Buddhist delegation in Beijing [Photo/China Tibet Online]

BEIJING, Jul. 15 (China Tibet Online) The Panchen Lama Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu met with an eight-member delegation of Mongolian Buddhists headed by the Chairman of Mongolian Buddhist Association Damdin Suren Nace Daoerji in the Xihuang Temple, Beijing, capital of China.

The Panchen Lama warmly welcomed the Mongolian delegation, accepted their worships and gifts, offered his gifts in return and gave them head-touching blessing, according to the religious ritual of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Panchen Lama expressed his hope that exchanges between Chinese and Mongolian Buddhist circles will continue to help contribute to world peace.

Afterwards the Mongolian delegation paid a visit to the Xihuang Temple.

The Xihuang Temple was built for the fifth Dalai Lama in the ninth year of the Shunzhi Period (1638-1661 A.D.). In the 45th year of Qianlong Period (1736-1795 A.D.), the sixth Panchen Lama passed away in the temple and the then Emperor Qianlong built a purified tower for commemoration two years later. As the clothes, scriptures and incantations of the sixth Panchen Lama were buried inside the tower, it became known as the "Panchen Pagoda".

Today, the Xihuang Temple is where the High-level Tibetan Buddhism College of China is located. Every year Buddhist monks from Tibet and Tibetan-inhabited areas in other four provinces (Qinghai, Gansu, Yunnan, and Sichuan) go there to receive higher Buddhist education.

In recent years there have been many exchanges between China and Mongolia concerning Tibetan Buddhist circles. The Mongolian delegation’s visit to China this time has helped enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the Buddhist communities of both countries, and built a new bridge promoting the friendly exchanges of Buddhist culture.