Fri, 21 Jul 2006
Bodhi Tree Burgled
This is amusing, in a disgusting kind of way. Someone has sawed a branch off the bodhi tree in Bodhgaya.
A group of unknown miscreants cut off a branch from a 110-year-old Buddhist holy tree in India's eastern Bihar state, news reports said Thursday. The Bodhi tree around which the Mahabodhi temple complex is built, grew from the original banyan tree under which Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, attained enlightenment 2,550 years ago.
There are accusations that Japanese organized crime is involved in the theft.
Bhante Anand, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Bhikkhu Mahasangh (ABBM), an influential body of Buddhist monks, said: "We have information that the branch was sold to some Japanese for money in connivance with the temple management committee."
