Dalai Lama's visit to Bodh Gaya an occasion to ensure Tibet issue is not forgotten: Report
Jan 07, 2023
New Delhi [India], January 7 : Tibetan Spiritual leader Dalai Lama's visit to Bodh Gaya visit is "significant" due to numerous reasons, Tibetan Rights Collective reported. The visit of the Dalai Lama should "serve as an occasion for the world to ensure that the Tibetan issue is not forgotten."
More than 8,000 foreigners from 39 countries registered for the sermon including groups of Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar. The participation shows the admiration that the Dalai Lama enjoys among Buddhists of the world and the impact that Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy has created, according to Tibetan Rights Collective.
The creation of the Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom will focus on "the Indian traditions that took root in Tibet in the 7th Century and were later practised and propagated by the Dalai Lamas, is a manifestation of the important role that Dalai Lama has played in the protection of Indian wisdom and showcases "strong and running Indo-Tibetan ties."
The centre is the product of the fourth life commitment to Dalai Lama and will be one of the most credible learning centres of its kind. The visit of the Dalai Lama to Bodh Gaya comes at a time when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to interfere in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, sending Tibetan children to colonial-style boarding schools and shutting down Tibetan schools and monasteries, as per the news report.
As per the Tibetan Rights Collective report, China has been exploiting the natural resources of Tibet and the threat of climate change looms even as international organizations, including United Nations, have been unable to hold CCP accountable for its crimes against humanity.
On the first day of teaching on Nagarjuna's Commentary on Bodhicitta at the Kalachakra Teaching Ground in Bodhgaya, Dalai Lama shared his message of peace from the site Buddha Shakyamuni had attained enlightenment two millennia ago, Tibetan Rights Collective reported.
The Dalai Lama said that the practice of bodhichitta is the essence of all the Buddha's teachings. The Dalai Lama began the second teaching by reciting Mani and Tara mantras to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The representatives of the project 'Flame of Hope' presented a lantern to the Dalai Lama, the flame of which had been lit from the flame of peace in Hiroshima. The project presented to Dalai Lama with the slogan "One Earth--One Prayer--One Flame" wishes to change the world by "lighting the spark of hope for peace in children's hearts."
During his visit to Bodhgaya, Dalai Lama reiterated his call for a nuclear-free world. The Dalai Lama highlighted the importance of cultivating Bodhichitta and an understanding of emptiness while one is at Bodh Gaya, where Buddha and other great masters have practised in the past, as per the news report.
Dalai Lama spoke about the idea of 'Emptiness' as explained by Indian Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna as he resumed his reading of Nagarjuna's 'Commentary on the Awakening Mind'; "just as sweetness is the nature of molasses and heat is the nature of fire, the nature of all phenomena is emptiness."
