Nine lamas receive highest academic degree

Lamas attend the degree offering ceremony held in Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 21, 2010. Nine lamas received the highest academic degree in Tibetan Buddhism studies on Sunday in Lhasa. The nine laureates of Gexe Lharampa, a title similar to a doctorate in the Gelugba faction of Tibetan Buddhism, were awarded after they passed tests of general knowledge about Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan language at the Sera Monastery in June and defended their dissertations Sunday at the Jokhang Monastery, said Zhukang Tubdain Kaizhub, head of the Tibet branch of the Buddhist Association of China. Forty lamas have been honored the degree since 2005 when the exam was resumed.[Photo/Xinhua]