Source – thehindu.com
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama called on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday at his official residence here, and held a prayer ceremony for peace and well-being of all, official sources said.
Mr. Kumar accorded a warm welcome to the exiled Buddhist monk, and presented him with a bouquet and ‘angavastram’, following which they posed for pictures, the sources said.
The Dalai Lama thereafter offered prayers before a ’Bodhi tree’ at the Chief Minister’s 1, Anney Marg bungalow along with other Buddhist priests, praying for all-round peace and prosperity.
The ‘Bodhi tree’ at the CM’s official residence is a sapling of the Mahabodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, under which Lord Buddha had attained enlightenment more than 2,000 years ago.
Several officials, including Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary, legislative council officiating chairman Haroon Rashid and state minister Ashok Choudhary, were also present at the occasion.
As a parting gift, the Chief Minister presented the monk with an idol of Lord Buddha.
The Dalai Lama visits Bihar every year in December-January as part of an annual retreat during which he offers public discourses at Bodh Gaya and conducts the “Kalachakra” tantric initiation ceremony.
Last week, the Chief Minister had called on the Dalai Lama at the Tibetan temple in Bodh Gaya, and apprised him of his government’s ‘Jal Jeevan Hariyali’ campaign.