Prime Minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley will be president of the Mahabodhi society, a Buddhist organisation based in India. Lyonchhoen accepted the post after an invitation from the society was handed over yesterday by a delegation. The prime minister will assume the post in 2010 for three years.
The prime minister said the offer was an honour for him and the people of Bhutan. He also said he would do his best to further the cause of the Buddhadharma during his presidency.
The honorary post will require the prime minister to preside over the organisation’s annual general conferences. The first general conference that will be chaired by the prime minister will be held in Bodh Gaya in September next year.
In September 2008, the organisation amended its constitution and passed a rule that only persons born Buddhist would be eligible to serve as president. Most members proposed that the prime minister of Bhutan be named as the new president.
The organisation’s delegation, led by general secretary, Venerable Dr Rewatha Thera, said that, because the prime minister has many other important responsibilities, the organisation expected him only to preside over the annual meetings.
The Mahabodhi society was founded in Sri Lanka in 1891, to encourage Buddhist studies in India and abroad. It is also involved in restoring and maintaining Buddhist shrines in Bodh Gaya, Varanasi and Kushinara, along with providing various social services and infrastructural facilities for pilgrims visiting these sites.
By Gyalsten K Dorji
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