PATNA, India - The Dalai Lama has consented to inaugurate Buddha Memorial ("Smriti") Park here on May 27, 2010. The day will coincide with the auspicious occasion of Buddha Purnima (Vesak). The Tibetan spiritual head gave his consent on Monday when chief minister Nitish Kumar called on him at his government in exile headquarters at Mcleodgunj, 15 kms from Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.
Nitish had an hour-long meeting with the 74-year-old 14th Dalai Lama during which he extended an invitation to him to inaugurate the park. The park, which has a meditation hall, is being raised on a 22-acre plot in the heart of the city, close to Patna Junction. It is being built at a cost of 125 crore Indian rupees. And it will also have a giant size statue of the Buddha.
"The [Dalai Lama] was gracious to accept our invitation and also promised to donate Buddha relics to be kept in the park which will be an added attraction," Nitish, who returned to New Delhi en route Patna, told "The Times of India". The state government is constructing this memorial park on a Buddhist model of construction to mark the 2550th year of the Buddha's Great Passing ("mahaparinirvana"). The Dalai Lama will also unveil the statue.
Nitish said that he also briefed the Tibetan temporal head about the proposed Nalanda International University, which is taking shape. The Nobel Peace laureate was keenly interested in the proposed university. Many South Asian countries are stakeholders interested in the development of spots related to the memory of the Buddha in Bihar, India.
Last month, the Dalai Lama was at Bodh Gaya -- the place where the Buddha reached enlightenment -- for a five-day teaching session. The chief minister, who reached Dharamshala on Sunday, attended a dinner hosted in his honor the same night by the Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche. He also visited Chamunda Devi Shaktipeeth and Brajeshwari Devi [to the] temple at Kangra.
by Faizan Ahmad
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