About Us
Light Of Buddhadharma Foundation International
Starting with the first chanting of the words of the Buddha in Pali in 2006 under the sacred Bodhi Tree, LBDFI has worked to restore and revitalize the Buddhist culture of India, the Motherland of Āryadeśa. The historical Buddha was born just across the modern border of Nepal in Lumbini, but grew up at Kapilavastu, and then spent the whole of his life walking and teaching on the great plains of India, the Noble land, the Āryadeśa. The culture of Buddhism, the Sasana, was established by the Blessed One and transmitted through the centuries by the Sangha of venerable monks and their lay supporters. Although the Sasana died out in India in medieval times, it has flourished in many surrounding countries, including the South East Asian countries of Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos PDR, Southern Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, the Himalayan countries regions of North East India, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepal, Himanchal Pradesh and Ladakh, and the Asian countries of China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan.
Over the past nineteen years there has been a steady effort to re-establish the Buddha Sasana in the land of its origin, and LBDFI has worked to promote and support this noble endeavor for the past nineteen years through four main activities: the sponsorship of international prayer ceremonies and pilgrimages at the ancient pilgrimage centers of the Āryadeśa; the improvement of amenities for pilgrims and visitors, the distribution of Dharma books, and the training and education of a new generation of Indian monks. Now there is revitalized interest in Buddhism in India, increasing international visitation, and the construction of many new temples and stupas in the ancient heartland of the Āryadeśa and completed 20 infrastructural projects for the benefit of visitors. Over 100,000 dharma books have been distributed without charge, and programs initiated to train a new generation of Indian monks.
LBDFI has sponsored over 70 prayer ceremonies in the great sites of pilgrimage. In 2006, LBDFI became the primary sponsor for the International Tipitaka Chanting Ceremony, which has grown to become the most important international gathering of Theravadin monks in India. From December 2-13th each year, over 10,000 monks and their followers from ten South East Asian Countries gather in Bodhgaya to chant the teachings of the Buddha, as recorded in the Pali Canon. Each year, a section of the Canon is chanted. Other chanting ceremonies have now been initiated in Rajgir, Nalanda, Vaishali and Kesaria in Bihar, Sankissa, Lucknow, Sravasti, Kushinagar, Sarnath in UP, Lumbini in Nepal, along with events in Delhi, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Kandy Sri Lanka.
LBDFI has also been supporting the development of the ancient places of pilgrimage. The Foundation has installed great Dharma bells in all eight of the ancient sites. Gardens have been created to surround these bells, amenities such as toilets and rubbish collection have been installed, and a program to clean up Bodhgaya,the major site of Buddhist Pilgrimage for all Buddhist people has been initiated. Finally the Foundation has begun a program to develop Dharmaytra walks between major pilgrimage sites in collaboration with the Nalanda Mahavihara, the Governments of Bihar and UP, the Mahabodhi Mahavihara and the World Bank.
Programs to train a new generation of monks have been initiated in collaboration with the Mahabodhi Society of Bangalore
LBDFI has distributed over 100,000 Dharma Books to the Indian public through the prayer ceremonies and public events, working in collaboration with the Buddha Education Foundation of Taiwan and Dharma publishing in California. Transliterated copies of the Pali canon in six scripts are also downloadable from the LBDFI website here.
