The Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorjee is holding online prayer sessions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Karmapa announced earlier that he would be holding daily prayers sessions online starting from Saturday while lauding the efforts of all the front line warriors in this crisis. The live prayers service is being live streamed on major social media platforms.
Gyalwang Karmapa on last Tuesday expressed his solidarity and concern over the severe impact of the health crisis. He said that from the time this epidemic began to spread, it has severely impacted the daily lives and health of everyone on the entire Earth. We worry anxiously about what will happen in the future.
“Every day, the number of the sick increases. When we see the number of deaths increasing past the hundreds and thousands, we can be left numb. In actuality, each one of them is a living, breathing person. In particular, doctors and medical professionals are caring for the sick and making great sacrifices to fight this battle. It is very important that we all express our appreciation, support, and praise for them.” Karmapa stressed in his message.
He further added that the present pandemic does not discriminate between male and female, between races and nationalities, between those with wealth and power and those without. Even developed countries such as America, Spain, Italy, and the UK face great difficulties. Many developing and poor countries will face even greater hardships. Even if a country has only one coronavirus patient, the danger to the entire world is such that it is crucially important that all of us on the earth must work together to face and overcome this crisis.
After announcing to hold an hour-long online prayer session day for a week, he began by expressing his happiness over being able to recite prayers with his devotees for the pandemic to subside on Saturday. He began the prayers by reciting the Heart Sutra on day one. He explained that it will be very helpful if we reflected on our own life experiences while thinking about the meaning of the heart sutra.
Karmapa has donated 28 lac rupees to help fight coronavirus pandemic in India. His office in India, Tsurphu Labrang, informed that the Karmapa has lauds the timely and untiring efforts by Government of India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state governments in containing this deadly virus.