Читать книгу The Dalai Lama’s Little Book of Inner Peace - Далай-лама XIV, Литагент HarperCollins USD, Дуглас Абрамс Арава - Страница 15

The most important festival in the year is Losar, the New Year, celebrated in February or March of the Western calendar. For me, Losar meant my yearly meeting with Nechung, the State oracle, who would offer me, and the government as a whole, the opportunity to consult the Tibetan deity Dorje Drakden about the year to come.

Contrary to what people might imagine, the role of an oracle is not confined to predicting the future. They are approached as protectors and healers, and their primary mission is to help people to practice the Dharma, that is, the Buddha’s teachings. In the past, Tibet had hundreds of oracles. Many have disappeared, but the most important ones, those used by the government, are still there.

For many centuries, the Dalai Lama and the government have consulted the Nechung oracle. I myself consult it several times a year. And if I continue to consult it, that is because many of the answers it has given me have proved correct. That does not mean that I only follow what the oracle says; far from it. I ask the oracle’s advice just as much as I ask advice from my Cabinet or my own conscience. You could say that the Kashag (the ministerial Cabinet) is my Lower House, and the gods are my Upper House. Whenever I am faced with a question that relates to the country as a whole, it seems quite natural to me that I should put the question to both these houses.