Buddha’s teachings always relevant: Governor

RAJGIR: The 47th foundation day ceremony of the World Peace Pagoda was inaugurated by governor Ram Nath Kovind at Gridhakuta Hill in Rajgir on Tuesday.
Nipponzan Myohoji’s chief monk Ven S Shugei, who led the peace prayers, said, “It was at Gridhakuta hill that Lord Buddha carried out many dialogues with his disciples and gave his two significant sutras — the Lotus Sutra and the Prajnaparamita.”
Kovind, who was the chief guest, said the World Peace Pagoda was an evidence of the Indo-Japanese friendship.“The teachings of Buddha will always be relevant. Even Mahatma Gandhi adopted the path of non-violence and peaceful co-existence and forced the Britishers to leave India,” he added.
According to a source, Japanese Buddhist monk Nichidatsu Fujii, who began constructing Peace Pagodas in 1947, met Gandhi at his ashram in Wardha in 1933. The foundation stone of Rajgir’s Peace Pagoda was laid by the then president S Radhakrishnan in 1965 and inaugurated by president V V Giri on October 25,1969.
State rural development minister Sharwan Kumar said the government was committed to developing places related to Lord Buddha.
Buddhist monks and devotees from several South East Asian countries also attended the foundation day function.