Dharamsala, Jan 5: Police Tuesday reportedly detained a man who was allegedly trying to enter a Tibetan monastery in Bodh Gaya in Bihar where the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama is staying.
Guards at the Tibetan monastery caught the intruder late Monday when he tried to sneak in. He was handed over to the police, Gaya Superintendent of Police Sushil Khopade reportedly told IANS over telephone.
He said that security had been tightened further in and around the monastery.
The intruder was from a village in Nawada district, said J.K. Prasad, the Bodh Gaya police station officer in charge.
“We are probing his background,” Prasad said.
The Dalai Lama reached Bodh Gaya, the seat of Buddha’s enlightenment, by a chartered flight from Bhavnagar amid tight security in the afternoon on Monday for a five-day visit to give religious discourses and take part in the ongoing Gelug Monlam (Prayer festival).
At the airport, the Tibetan leader was received by, among others, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, the spiritual head of the Kagyud sect of the Tibetan Buddhism, Gaya District Magistrate Mr Sanjay Kumar and Superintendent of Police Sushil Khopde.
His Holiness was reportedly taken in a bullet-proof car (commissioned from Patna) to the Tibetan Temple for a short rest before visiting the Mahabodhi Temple complex.
The route to the airport and the Mahabodhi complex had been completely cordoned off to facilitate the Dalai Lama’s visit, Hindustan Times reported.
Yet, thousands of monks and foreigners waited for hours for a glimpse of the Tibetan leader.
At the Mahabodhi Temple, His Holiness spent almost an hour offering prayers at the sanctum sanctorum of the temple before moving to the majestic and imposing Peepal tree. Buddhist faithfuls believe that the Peepal is a direct descendant of the tree under which Gautama, a wandering prince, attained divinity to become Buddha, the enlightened one, about 2,500 years ago. His Holiness also inaugurated a stone carved panel depicting the life history of Buddha in the Mahabodhi Mahavihara complex.
“As a Buddhist monk, I come here to pay my respects to the Lord whenever I get an opportunity,” Hindustan Times quoted the Dalai Lama as saying when asked about the purpose of his current visit to Bodh Gaya. His Holiness last visited the temple town in 2006.
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CLICK HERE for Live Tibetan Audio Webcast of His Holiness’s Bodh Gaya Teachings.
His Holiness will give five-day teachings on Nagarjuna’s ‘In Praise of the Transcendental’ (jigten ley depar toepa), Atisha’s ‘Lamp of the Path to Enlightenment’ (jangchup lamdron), Longchen Rinpoche’s ‘Mind In Comfort and Ease’ (semnyid nyelso) & Tsongkhapa’s ‘Short Version of the Stages of the Path To Enlightenment’ (lamrim dhuedhon) from January 5th to 8th, 2010. There will be two sessions of approximately 2 hours each day starting at 9am IST (Indian Standard Time) and 1:30pm IST.
