PM to launch Buddhist Centre work

What is the News?

The Prime Minister will be travelling to Lumbini in Nepal to participate in a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for an “India International Center for Buddhist Culture & Heritage”.

What is the “India International Center for Buddhist Culture & Heritage”?

Located in: Lumbini, Nepal

Constructed by: International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India

Significance: This Buddhist Centre will be the first ‘Net Zero Emission’ building in Nepal.

What is Lumbini?

Lumbini is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in Nepal. It is the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, Queen Mahamayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama at around 563 BCE.

Lumbini was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1997.

Note: He later attained enlightenment in Bodhgaya in Bihar and came to be known as Buddha, preached his first sermon at Sarnath and attained Nirvana in Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. 

What is the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC)?

It was formed in 2013 as an international Buddhist umbrella body to serve as a common platform for Buddhists worldwide.

Headquarters: New Delhi.

Source: The post is based on the article “PM to launch Buddhist Centre work” published in The Hindu on 16th May 2022.