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A group of Buddhist monks opposed to the Dalai Lama and arrested in Bihar for threatening to immolate themselves are continuing their fast in jail.

A Chinese court was expected to have a second hearing Jan. 10 for two Tibetans convicted and sentenced to death for allegedly bombing and inciting separatist activities in Tibet in April, 2002.

testing

Amnesty International Local Group 133 in Somerville, MA, is organizing a Get on the Bus (GOTB) trip to New York for a day of human rights action on April 14, 2003, during which they will highlight the case of the 14 Tibetan nuns in Drapchi Prison.

The three-day preliminary teachings of the Kalachakra puja began yesterday in the afternoon at the Kalachakra Maidan in Bodh Gaya. Over a hundred thousand devotees from all over the world attended the teachings by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which continued this afternoon.

Even as the Dalai Lama spoke of world peace through ahimsa at the inaugural session of the nine-day Kalchakra Puja here, thousands of Tibetan refugees raised free-Tibet slogans outside.

The Dalai Lama conducting the Kalchakra prayers

More than 100,000 Buddhists have gathered for the Kalchakra festival at Bodhgaya in the northern Indian state of Bihar. The festival was opened by the Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Pilgrims thronging Bodh Gaya today witnessed their supreme leaders, the Dalai Lama and the 17th Karmapa, kick off the Kalchakra festival and joined a mass initiation ceremony later, but missed a glimpse of the "holy ashes" of the Buddha, which are preserved in Patna Museum.

Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, left, gives a sermon as other Buddhist monks listen during the inauguration of the Kalachakra festival in the town of Bodh Gaya, believed to be the place where Buddha attained enlightenment, in the Indian state of Bihar, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2003. The Kalachakra is the most important ritual of the Mahayana sect of traditional Buddhists. (AP Photo/Vikram Kumar)