World Peace March at BodhGaya

[icy]

While there are wars and fightings taking place in the world, there are Buddhist monks in Bihar's Bodh Gaya District who took part in a peace march recently to promote world peace.

Bodh Gaya (Bihar), Feb.6 (ANI):

The march saw participants from various countries, religious groups and students from neighbouring schools as well.

The peace march was followed by a secular peace prayer offered by monks under the famed Bodhi tree where Buddha was enlightened.

"In the morning we held a peace procession from the great Buddha statue to the main temple. There were around five hundred participants that included representatives, visiting foreigners, and school children from surrounding schools in Gaya and Bodh Gaya," said secretary of the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee, N. Dorge.

Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also took part in the celebrations.

"Honorable Chief Minister of Bihar joined the peace procession. All our celebrations and peace prayer happened under the Bodhi tree with participants from religious groups like Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Islam, Brahma Kumaris and Jains," added Dorge.

Kumar paid his offerings at the Bodh Gaya Temple and religiously sat through prayer offerings. He was later felicitated by the representatives and monks.

The peace march was attended by participants from eight different countries namely Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bhutan, Japan, South Korea and Tibet.

The ancient Bodh Gaya temple is believed to have been built nearly 1500 years ago. It is believed that Indian Emperor Ashoka visited this holy place in 260 BC and built a small temple there in honour of Lord Buddha.
In the year 2002, the UNESCO had declared Mahabodhi Temple as a World Heritage Site. (ANI)

[rossoneri]

Very nice to know that all the people from all walks of life gathered here as one to have a wish, a wish to be in peace in the world. This should be the way to celebrate life and do something meaningful to the society no matter what religion you believe in. All religions teaches us to be a person who is responsible not only to ourselves but to others as well; when i said others doesn't limited to only us human but to animals and other sentient beings. Very good to hear this and hopefully will be a starting point of a ripple effect.

[Freyr Aesiragnorak]

It's great to read that this happened. People from different religions and backgrounds coming together to pray for world peace!

[RedLantern]

Everybody desires a peace-harmony and balance forming comfortable life for themselves, family,communities and ultimately society.
It is wonderful to read that the peace march was attended by participants from eight different countries followed by a secular peace prayer offered by monks under the famed Bodhi tree where Buddha was enlightened.
Peace doesn't come from religion,it comes from within the individual.The world will know peace when a majority of it's inhabitants know peace within themselves and respect the peace within others.

[fruven]

The monks are showing good example as taught by Buddha that to have peace we must start from within ourselves. If we don't peace ourselves how can we create outer peace. Peace means living in harmony with each, not isolated from one another. In fact isolation create unrest and when we come out of isolation and interactive with others it affects others. Therefore when we want peace we need to start living in harmony with one another. Otherwise the peace we seek is just a pipe-dream.

[brian]

I think peaceful march is always better than violence rally, true meaning of marches i feel is for the public to get the real message of what the organisers wanted their audience to hear. i feel that should be the way to go and always great to have something organised without sacrificing lives and without a shed of blood adding to the fact that yet the message got through. At least this sort of marches done peacefully will give a better image for Buddhism instead of the ones in Burma where bloods were shed and violence all over.

[Klein]

Any promotion of peace and harmony is always better. Nowadays, we are bombarded with activities and promotion of materialism, violence, greed, desires and so on. All these are to further enhance our self grasping mind. No wonder there are more violence and social issues in the world.

We need more demonstrations of peace and harmony and promotion of kindness and compassion because without them, we as a whole will further degenerate into cold and cruel beings who will eventually self annihilate.

This is a pic of the monks who participated in the march of peace in Bodhgaya.

[maricisun]

It's great to know that people from all walks of life came together for the World Peace March at Bodhgaya. This should be done on a regular basis to promote peace and harmony and religious freedom.

[dondrup]

It is a commendable effort by the Bodh Gaya Temple Management Committee for organizing the international peace march.  Bodhgaya is the most suitable place to have this peace movement.  Bodhgaya is a holy place and its blessing will ensure the success of the peace march.  With more world peace marches and prayers, the World will become a better place to live.  There will be greater interaction, understanding and harmony amongst the different faiths and citizens of the world.  The support by the Chief Minister is really encouraging! 

[Big Uncle]

Would be interesting if Shugden monks and lamas come out and do a peace march like that at Bodhgaya? I know these lamas would never ever protest the Dalai Lama and so they may not need to do that but they can just participate in a world peace march and puja perhaps. The message would be sent out loud and clear without offending the Dalai Lama. That would be great message to send out. I know Zawa Rinpoche participate in the protests but it would even better if the other Shugden lamas and tulkus do more like participate in a peace march to send a message back to CTA. I think that would be very good.