Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, is gearing up for a fortnight-long spiritual festival to pray for world peace and the healing of humanity.

The Global Peace Prayer Festival (GPPF), from November 4 to 19, organised by the Royal Government of Bhutan, is expected to bring together eminent lamas or monks from all schools of Buddhism in Bhutan and beyond. The festival seeks to usher in a “shared golden age of peace and prosperity” in a world increasingly characterised by conflict, polarisation, and discord.

The GPPF has attained significance in the context of conflicts and instability in Bhutan’s neighbourhood — ethnic and communal clashes in India’s northeastern region, civil war in Myanmar, and violent protests in Bangladesh and Nepal to dislodge governments.

“We live in a time when the need for peace, compassion, and understanding has never been greater. It is with this spirit that we are honoured to host the GPPF,” Tshering Tobgay, Bhutan’s Prime Minister, stated.

“This unprecedented gathering will unite spiritual leaders, scholars, and practitioners from every school and vehicle of Buddhism, harnessing the transformative power of loving-kindness and compassionate awareness to co-create a future rooted in peace and happiness,” Sangay Dorji, one of the principal organisers of the GPPF and a senior member of Bhutan’s Central Monastic Body, stated.

Nuns’ ordination

One of the highlights of the festival will be the ‘Gelongma’ or bhikshuni ordination of more than 250 Buddhist nuns from November 15 to 19. The ordination will be presided over by the spiritual head of Bhutan’s largest Buddhist school, the Drugpa Kagyu.

The event will mark a significant step toward addressing the inequality between men and women in monasticism, as women have been denied full ordination as nuns in the Vajrayana tradition.

The GPPF will start with the seven-day ritual of Jabzhi Dhoechog, dedicated to global peace and happiness. Seldom performed on a grand scale, this ritual combines peaceful offerings with protection from wrath to heal, cleanse, and purify the body, speech, and mind of negative karma.

The other events include public blessings by eminent lamas, the mass recitation of the Bazaguru mantra for a shared aspiration for peace, the Kalachakra initiation offering insights into an understanding of the sacred interplay between the individual microcosm and the universal macrocosm, and the launch of the Guru App, a “sacred digital companion”.