Dalai Lama, Karmapa lead Buddha anniversary celebrations in India

Thursday, May 27, 2010

DPA
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Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, right, prepares to plant a sapling after inaugurating the Buddha Park, with Bihar state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, center, in Patna, India, Thursday, May 27, 2010. Buddhists across the world are marking Buddha Jayanti, a day that commemorates the birth, enlightenment and demise of Buddha. (AP Photo/Aftab Alam Siddiqui)

New Delhi - Thousands of Buddhists, including Tibetan spiritual leaders the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa, joined celebrations in India Thursday to mark the birth anniversary of Lord Buddha.

The Dalai Lama inaugurated a sprawling park in India's eastern city of Patna to commemorate the 2,554th anniversary of Buddha's birth, IANS news agency reported.

The anniversary is celebrated on a particular full moon known as Buddh Purnima in India and is a sacred day for Buddhists as it marks the birth as well as enlightenment of Lord Buddha.

The day is a public holiday in India, which has a population of about 8 million Buddhists largely concentrated in its north-eastern region. The inauguration of the Buddha Smriti (memorial) park in Patna was attended by delegations from Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Japan and Thailand. The delegations brought urns and gifts to be kept at the park.

The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, planted a sapling grown from a branch of the tree under which Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, a pilgrimage spot in eastern India.

In national capital Delhi, hundreds of monks from all over the country as well as Tibet and Nepal, led prayers in the presence of the Karmapa, the spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

The 17th Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje, also lives in exile in India.

In Dharamsala, the northern Indian hill town where the Dalai Lama has his headquarters, Tibetan exiles held special prayers, sermons and recited Buddhist scriptures.

Over 150,000 Tibetans live outside Tibet, most of them in India.