Vishwa Shanti Stupa, Rajgir

Vishwa Shanti Stupa (English: World Peace Stupa) is a large white Peace Pagoda in Rajgir, Nalanda District, Bihar, near Gitai Mandir. Statues of the Buddha are mounted on the stupa in four directions. It also has a small Japanese Buddhist temple with a large park. There is a temple near the stupa where prayers are conducted for universal peace. The initial pagoda was completed in 1969. New initiatives in 1993[1] resulted in the present form. It is one of around 80 Peace Pagodas which have been built around the world by the neo-Buddhist organisation Nipponzan Myohoji.[2] These were a dream of Nichidatsu Fujii, inspired by Mohandas K. Gandhi, as a reaction to the atomic bombing of Japan, the first, and more well known Vishwa Shanti stupa, being built on Ratnagiri Hill in Rajgir.[3]

Shanti Stupa
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Religion
AffiliationTibetan Buddhism
Location
LocationRatnagiri Hills, Rajgir, Nalanda District, Bihar, India
CountryIndia
Geographic coordinatesIN-BR 25°00′44″N 85°44′45″E
Architecture
FounderNichidatsu Fujii
Date established1969

The Stupa

Located on about the top of 400 m high Ratnagiri Hills in the lush-green valley of Rajgir, the white stupa stands 120 ft tall with a total diameter of 103 ft. The stupa is studded with four gold gilded statues of Buddha, showing four important events of his life.

References
  1. M. V. Kamath, Gandhi's Coolie: Life & Times of Ramkrishna Bajaj, p. 354, Allied Publishers, 1988 ISBN 8170234875.
  2. J.A. Kempf, Silicon Valley Monk: From Metaphysics to Reality on the Buddhist Path, Dharma Gates Publishing, 2014 ISBN 0990895106.
  3. Aruna Deshpande, Buddhist India Rediscovered, Jaico Publishing House, 2013 ISBN 8184952473.

Further reading
  • Siby K. Joseph, Bharat Mahodaya (eds), Essays in Conflict Resolution, Institute of Gandhian Studies, 2007


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