Dalai Lama to Provide Prayers in India

Starting on Christmas, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to spend a month within the Buddhist holy metropolis of Bodh Gaya in India in an effort to advertise world peace.

The approaching go to by the religious head of Tibetan Buddhism, a Nobel Peace Laureate and the world’s most esteemed Buddhist chief, is prompting pilgrims from throughout Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, in a world torn by wars and conflicts, to journey to Bodh Gaya to listen to him communicate on the Buddha’s teachings.

Positioned within the largely rural northeastern Indian state of Bihar, Bodh Gaya accommodates the positioning the place the Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment someday between the mid-Sixth century and mid-4th century B.C. after meditating below a sacred tree often called the Bodhi Tree. A descendant of that Bodhi Tree stands subsequent to the Mahabodhi Temple at the moment. The temple is certainly one of Buddhism’s holiest websites.

“In a world filled with conflicts just like the Ukraine Warfare, the Dalai Lama will lead tens of hundreds of Buddhists to wish for peace,” mentioned Chalinda Bhikkhu, the temple’s chief monk, who expects hundreds of pilgrims to attend the religious chief’s public prayers and sermons. “We hope our prayers can be answered and peace will return to not solely the Ukraine-Russia entrance but additionally in different battle zones of the world.”

Apart from inspiring peace, the Dalai Lama’s go to is predicted to spice up native tourism, which has been adversely affected due to restrictions associated to the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic. Greater than half 1,000,000 vacationers from India and overseas visited Bodh Gaya in 2019, however tourism visitors nearly got here to a standstill through the pandemic, destroying the livelihoods of many native entrepreneurs.

Kinley Tshering, the proprietor of a restaurant that serves Bhutanese delicacies, remarked, “We practically gave up our lease as a result of there was no enterprise for 2 years. However now international vacationers from throughout are coming in droves.”

About half a dozen abroad flights carrying pilgrims are touchdown every single day on the Gaya Worldwide Airport, in accordance with officers. The variety of flights is predicted to extend because the Dalai Lama’s go to nears.

Nevertheless, the variety of pilgrims from the neighboring Buddhist international locations of Sri Lanka and Myanmar, and from China, which has tens of millions of Buddhist devotees, are conspicuously low.

“Chinese language pilgrims use to return in giant numbers till the border standoff between the Indian and Chinese language militaries impacted adversely on bilateral relations,” mentioned Mrinal Chakma, an area journey agent, referring to skirmishes between New Delhi and Beijing over a long-standing border dispute lately.

“Maybe journey bans resulting from Covid in China [are] additionally protecting them away,” he speculated. “Sri Lankans are maybe not coming due to the financial collapse again residence. Myanmar has each political disturbances and financial woes.”

Though many observers agree that the Dalai Lama’s imminent go to is a godsend for the Indian authorities’s efforts to interact with the Buddhist world whereas boosting native tourism diplomatically, a lot nonetheless must be completed to introduce lasting change.

“Indian leaders do spotlight that Buddha attained his Enlightenment in India,” Kailash Prasad, a professor of Buddhist Research in Bodh Gaya informed The New Indian Categorical, a outstanding southern Indian newspaper. “However for Bodh Gaya to be elevated to one thing like a world holy city like Mecca or the Vatican, the Indian authorities and the Bihar authorities should convey a few full change in administrative attitudes.”

“Buddhist spiritual figures and specialists on Buddhism,” Prasad added, “will need to have larger say within the operating of websites like Bodh Gaya relatively than small-time bureaucrats with restricted understanding of Buddhism.”

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