When exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama visits Taiwan this weekend, eight Buddhist priests in his delegation will perform a ritual to stop earthquakes in Taiwan, the Dalai Lama's representative office said yesterday.
The Earthquake Aversion Ritual will take three to seven days. It will be performed in Puli, where a quake struck on Sept. 21, 1999, office spokesman Tsegyam said.
The quake killed roughly 2,400 people, injured 10,000 and left tens of thousands homeless.
Taiwan lies on the circum-Pacific seismic belt and is rocked by hundreds of moderate quakes every year.
"The lamas will draw a sand picture with 14 colors, say prayers, put the sand into bottles and throw the bottles into the sea to restrain the Dragon King," Tsegyam said.
"They will also build a pagoda in the earthquake-stricken area, which is part of the Earthquake Aversion Ritual.
"The Dragon King controls the Earth's movement. Once it is pacified, there will be less or no earthquakes," he said.
According to Tsegyam, the Dalai Lama performed the Earthquake Aversion Ritual in Dharamsala, north India, to stop tremors there.
Dharamsala is the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
"Dharamsala is an earthquake-prone area. About 100 years ago, a destructive quake wiped out all the houses there. When the Dalai Lama fled to Dharamsala from Tibet in 1959, he performed the Earthquake Aversion Ritual. We have lived in peace ever since," he said.
The Dalai Lama will make his second visit to Taiwan from March 31 to April 9.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique