Gyalwang Karmapa attends Interfaith Prayer Meeting for World Peace

January 01, 2009, report by Jo Gibson, photos taken by Cheng, Lu-Chung


Before the morning teaching session, Gyalwang Karmapa visited the Mahabodhi Stupa as guest-of-honour at an inter-faith prayer meeting under the bodhi tree. The meeting, organized by the International Buddhist Council of India, Bodh Gaya and Gaya branch, the Mahabodhi Management Committee and the local interfaith organisation, was held partly in memory of those who had died in the November Mumbai bombings, partly as an opportunity to pray for world peace and harmony on New Year’s Day. His Holiness prostrated and lit candles in the main shrine room of the Mahabodhi Stupa before joining the other guests in front of the bodhi tree. As this was an unpublicized visit, in contrast to previous occasions, only a small crowd was gathered, mainly Indian sangha, local schoolchildren, and representatives of the faith communities in Bodh Gaya. A few Tibetans and Westerners were also evident.

After a minute’s silence for all who had died in the Mumbai terrorist bombings, Gyalwang Karmapa lit two candles at the shrine in front of the bodhi tree. The chanting opened with the Refuge Prayer in Sanskrit. The Abbot of the Burmese Vihara began the chants and prayers for world peace, followed one by one,by representatives of the Tibetan Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Jain, Sikh and Muslim communities.

In the wake of the Mumbai bombings, the Muslim representative asserted passionately that Islam was a religion of peace which abhorred violence. He quoted:

To save one person is to save all humanity;
To kill someone is to kill all human beings.

The meeting concluded with a reading from Shantideva’s “Way of the Bodhisattva”, beginning with the verse:

May I be a guard for those who are protectorless,
A guide for those who journey on the road,
Or those who wish to go across the water
May I be a boat, a raft, a bridge.