His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the occasion of  the laying the foundation stone for The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom in Bodhgaya, India, January 3, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

On a wintry morning of January 3, 2023, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, despite suffering from a bad cold, presided over the foundation stone laying ceremony for his new center in Bodhgaya, India, The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom. 

Several thousand attendees, both Central and State Government ministers, Tibetan officials from The Dalai Lama Trust, FPMT Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, CEO Ven. Roger Kunsang, as well as other FPMT organization and Maitreya Project members were present. This was a momentous event, the impact of which cannot be overstated.

This center is being built on 30 acres of land which belonged to the Maitreya Project. In 2020, Lama Zopa Rinpoche offered this land to His Holiness, after being asked if he would consider doing so by the previous Prime Minister of the Central Tibetan Administration’s government-in-exile, Lobsang Sangye, and delegates from His Holiness’s office. Rinpoche happily accepted to make this offering to help actualize His Holiness’s wish to build an international institute promoting human values of kindness and compassion, in this area so deeply blessed with Buddhism.

Crowd attending the laying of the foundation stone ceremony for The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom in Bodhgaya, India, January 3, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

Interim director of the project, Tempa Tsering, opened the ceremony with a warm greeting to everyone present and welcomed the special guests.

“The center is His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s vision,” Mr. Tsering explained. “A vision to make this world more peaceful, to make human beings more compassionate, caring, and peaceful, so that there will be genuine peace and happiness in the world. To complete this global objective of genuine happiness, His Holiness firmly believes that the ancient Indian knowledge of the workings of the mind and emotions, as well as ancient Indian methods of mental training, merging with modern science and technology, have much potential for contributing to a safer, happier, more harmonious world for everyone. This is His Holiness’s tribute to the world, promoting ancient Indian wisdom. And this is also His Holiness’s contribution to the wellbeing of humanity.”

This project will be jointly funded by the His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Trust, as well as the state government and central government.

The model for The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom in Bodhgaya, India, January 3, 2023. The credit for this aesthetically designed campus goes to a family of architects from Karnataka, who have tried to synthesize the Indian, Tibetan, and Greek architectural forms to draft this monumental structure. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

“We are most grateful both to the central government, and to the Bihar state government for the consistent support and generous assistance we continue to receive,” Tempa Tsering shared. “And also for the support of Maitreya Project and Lama Zopa Rinpoche in form of 30 acres of land. It is envisioned that His Holiness’s Centre for Tibetan and Ancient Indian Wisdom will be a renowned learning center of its kind, open to everyone, offering participants and visitors the opportunity to learn, to awaken their potential to help solve problems and to heal. We would like to urge everyone to please extend your support so that His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s vision for a more peaceful, compassionate world is realized.”

Kiren Rijiju, Minister for Law and Justice in the Central Government, addressed those gathered. “His Holiness has made India his home and has committed himself to helping to revive awareness of ancient Indian wisdom,” he said. “People from around the world come to India to pay their respects to him. His Holiness refers to India as the guru and Tibetans as the students, but I say that it is he, an apostle of peace, who is the guru to world. On behalf of the people and government of India I express gratitude to him. It’s a privilege for us to have him among us here in India.

“His Holiness states that the wisdom of Nalanda nurtured by such masters as Nagarjuna, Aryadeva and Chandrakirti, a tradition grounded in reason and logic, was kept alive in Tibet. It was concerned less with religion and more with a science of the mind. A center to study along these lines is being established and people from around the world will be able to come and study here.

“The Government of India is committed in turn to supporting this center, which will encourage us to look within. The Centre will be a world-class institution, a gift to humanity, where it will be possible to discover the link between peace of mind and world peace.”

Presenters offered greetings and messages of support to the crowd on the occasion of the laying the foundation stone for The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom in Bodhgaya, India, January 3, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

His Holiness gave a beautiful teaching on cultivating warm-heartedness as the path to happiness, while thanking everyone in attendance including the state and central government, leaders of different religious traditions and within Tibetan Buddhist traditions, and also all the monks and monastics who are gathered.

“Today all of us are gathered here at this sacred and sublime place, Bodhgaya. Whether we are believers in a religion or not it doesn’t matter. We are all gathered here in admiration of the Buddha, and the Buddha’s teaching is very important for bringing about peace in the world,” His Holiness said at the start of his welcome.

“Buddhadharma is basically about the practice of compassion and non-violence and I would like to thank everyone gathered here with this positive state of mind of respect and admiration to the Buddha. The Buddhadharma teaches how to bring about happiness, peace, and support in the world, to bring about happiness to sentient beings and overcome suffering. To achieve this aim we cannot just have wishful thinking that we may have happiness and that suffering will go away, we need to look at the cause of suffering and the cause of our happiness. The cause of suffering is basically our destructive emotions and our self-cherishing attitude—selfishness. To bring about peace in the world, and within ourselves, you need to cultivate a good heart and even if you may be a non-believer, you need to cultivate that mental peace within yourself so that you can share it with others. Master Shantideva says all happiness and joy in the world comes from wishing others to be happy, and all suffering in the world comes from wishing oneself to be happy. So it’s a selfish attitude that brings suffering. Look at the difference between ourselves, who remain like this in samsara, and then look at the Buddha who has become enlightened because of cherishing others over himself.”

“Our daily practice should be warm-heartedness,” His Holiness stressed. “Thinking of the wellbeing of others and a sense of bodhicitta, an altruistic spirit of enlightenment. When we engage in this practice of bodhicitta, we should do so realistically by understanding what would bring about wellbeing and happiness for others, by understanding through your wisdom and analyzing the situation and reality of things. And then, use that understanding and insight along with bodhicitta to serve others. We should all try to do that in our day to day life.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche and others attending the laying of the foundation stone for The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom in Bodhgaya, India, January 3, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

From January 4-5, selected participants, including Lama Zopa Rinpoche on January 4, discussed the content of the intended curriculum in great detail as well as discussion on setting up a library and museum on the grounds. Courses will teach ancient Indian philosophy, psychology, logic, and dialectics. Additionally, The Four Commitments, Mind and Life dialogues and research, Meditation, Mind Training and Emotional Hygiene will be central components of the study program.  

Dr. Renuka Singh, director, Tushita Mahayana Meditation Centre, Delhi, was present for this ceremony and shared, “I rejoice that through this endeavor the soul of India’s culture and Tibetan philosophical legacy can continue, safely preserved in the Land of the Snows. During this function there was a melody of new order and radiance for our world, weaving a promise of ancient wisdom and plentitude of one’s heart and consciousness.”

The existing 24-foot statue of Maitreya which will remain at The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom in Bodhgaya, India, January 3, 2023. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.

The existing 24-foot Maitreya statue that is currently on the property has been refurbished and will remain there on the land. The large Maitreya statue in the enlightened aspect, which was a vision of Lama Yeshe, will be part of stage two of the development of the center.

Please join the entire FPMT community, students of His Holiness worldwide, as well individuals working to cultivate qualities of warm-heartedness and compassion into their lives for the benefit of all, in rejoicing in the continued development of The Dalai Lama Centre for Tibetan and Indian Ancient Wisdom.

You can follow important and inspiring news about His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the official website of His Holiness:
https://www.dalailama.com/news

We invite you to follow the teaching schedule of His Holiness on the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s official website.