The morning fog has not cleared away when at His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama inaugurated and blessed a 2.5m high Buddha statue humbly offered by Indonesian interfaith spiritualist Anand Krishna. Conducted at the Central Institue of Higher Tibetan Studies (Deemed University), Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh), India, the inauguration was covered by several Indian media, e.g. K TV, Z News, DD News and Hindustan Times. The Buddha statue is made of the same source materials used to build the 9th CE Borobudur Temple in Muntilan, Central Java, Indonesia, and was offered to reaffirm the spiritual and cultural ties between the peoples of Indonesia and Tibet, also to support His Holiness’ non-violent struggle to protect the cultural heritage of Tibet.
“Representing the peace loving people of Indonesia, I salute His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama for his untiring and relentless efforts in finding peaceful solutions to protect the historical and cultural heritage of Tibet based on tolerance and respect,” said Anand Krishna prior to his departure to India a few days ago. He added that, “By offering this statue from Indonesia to His Holiness, and to be placed on Indian soil – I hope, I pray that the peoples of Tibet, India and Indonesia are united in love, peace and harmony.”
Before entering the ceremonial podium, His Holiness Dalai Lama expressed his immense gratitude and appreciation for the offered Buddha statue. After the sacred and joyful ceremony, His Holiness allowed the opportunity for group photo with Anand Krishna and six members of Anand Ashram Foundation Indonesia (Affiliated with United Nations). Unexpectedly, His Holiness granted a statement: “Press, you may don’t know, thousands years ago, one Buddhist master named Atisha Divankara, received the teaching from a master who resided in Indonesia. So, in Tibetan Buddhism history Atisha Divankara is considered a very very important Buddhist messenger. So he was the most important Guru from Indonesia. So, from that way, we [Tibetans] have some close spiritual connection [with Indonesia], although physically [we are] very far.”
Afterwards, Anand Krishna also gave his statement: “With Love and Harmony, we can unite India, Tibet and Indonesia. Through this union we can achieve the world peace.”
His Holiness: “Indonesia and Tibet share a close spiritual connection.”
Sarnath, Varanasi, Friday, 9 January 2009, 8:45 Sarnath time (10:15 West Indonesian Time)