Tibetan spiritual and political leader Dalai Lama on Thursday inaugurated a park dedicated to the memory and philosophy of Lord Buddha in the capital of Bihar, a state awash with Buddhist heritage, on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner planted a sapling of the Mahabodhi banyan tree brought from Sri Lanka at the 22-acre park, christened Buddha Smriti Park, which has been developed by the Bihar government at an estimated cost of Rs 125 crore. Dalai Lama also formally kept the consecrated Buddha urns and gifts, brought by a Sri Lankan delegation, at this park.
Addressing the inaugural function attended by Bihar governor Devanand Kunwar and chief minister Nitish Kumar in the presence of foreign delegations, Dalai Lama stressed the abiding historical and cultural relations between India and Tibet, saying the two countries were like “guru and chela” (teacher and disciple).
“India is the guru and we are reliable chelas. We have produced Buddhist scholars according to Nalanda tradition; so we could be termed as reliable chelas for keeping the Nalanda tradition of Buddhism intact,” he said.
China’s attitude towards Tibet, he told reporters later, had been greatly improving since the 1959 crisis as more and more Chinese intellectuals have come out in support of Tibet’s demand for independence. On India’s Maoist crisis, which affects Bihar to a great extent, he said a holistic approach could solve the insurgency. The supreme Buddhist leader praised the Nitish Kumar government for its development projects.
The park has a 200-foot-tall stupa, which Dalai Lama dedicated to the memory of Buddha and named as “Pataliputra Karuna Stupa”. Pataliputra is the Buddhist-era name of the modern city of Patna. The park, developed with special interest from Nitish Kumar and with an obvious eye on tourism, also has a meditation centre, a museum and a multi-storied car park facility.
At the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, the holiest Buddhist shrine about 100 km from Patna, special prayers were organised and a procession was taken out to celebrate the 2554th Buddha Jayanti was celebrated.