By Tsering Tsomo
Hiroshima (Japan) : His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived at Hiroshima airport Tuesday evening to give religious teachings and present a keynote address at the 2006 Hiroshima International Peace Summit beginning Wednesday.
A group of Tibetan monks and lay people from the Ryuzouin Drepung Gomang monastery and Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Association welcomed the exiled Tibetan leader at the airport. Ryuzouin is the Japanese branch of Drepung Gomang monastery in South India.
A Japanese couple dressed in traditional Tibetan attire held a Tibetan flag as the Dalai Lama walked outside the airport.
Reporters, from Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK), were among the media contingent covering his arrival in Hiroshima. NHK, one of Japan’s largest national broadcasting companies, runs various TV and radio programs in Japan.
The Dalai Lama was accompanied by Mr. Chope Paljor Tsering, his representative in Japan and other officials from the Dalai Lama’s Liaison office in Tokyo.
The Tibetan leader will be in Hiroshima for 8 days. The 2-day peace summit in Hiroshima will be followed by religious teachings at Daisyoin Temple, situated on the scenic Miyajima Island in Hiroshima prefecture. He will give Buddhist teachings and also lead a consecration ceremony of a Maitreya Buddha statue beginning Friday at Miyajima.
The Daisyoin Temple on Tuesday witnessed frenzied activities as a dozen Drepung Gomang monks from India led the preparatory rituals for the 6-day Buddhist service where around 2,000 devotees are expected to attend, according to Dadak, a Tibetan monk from India.
