Buddhist spiritual leader's body cremated tomorrow

Buddhist spiritual leader's body cremated tomorrow

JAKARTA (JP): The body of the Indonesian Buddhist Council
(Walubi) chairman, Bhikkhu Girirakkhito Mahathera, arrived in
Denpasar yesterday to be cremated tomorrow in his home town of
Buleleng.

The Bhikkhu died of illness in Jakarta on Jan. 5. His body was
laid at Jakarta's Buddha Metta Arama temple before it was flown
to Bali.

He is survived by his wife Made Kerti and five children.

Born in the Buleleng village of Banjar on Jan. 12, 1927, and
named Ida Bagus Giri, Mahathera was the son of a Balinese
aristocratic family.

He quit the material world in 1961 to deepen his mastery of
spirituality, leaving behind his fifth baby. He built the famous
Brahmavihara Arama temple in Banjar in 1970 after local Buddhists
appointed him Samanera (spiritual leader).

Many national and international religious bodies awarded him
for his work.

His body was flown to Bali in an Air Force plane. Thousands of
mourners gathered at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar
to pay their last respect for the Buddhist leader.

A meticulously decorated car carried the body toward Buleleng,
about 115 kilometers northwest of Denpasar, where it will be
cremated at the Brahmavihara Arama Buddhist temple.

Girirakkhito Mahathera was vice president of the World
Buddhist Sangha Council from 1985 to 1989. He chaired Walubi
twice, from 1986 to 1992 and from 1992 until he died.

Buddhists acclaimed him for his skill in unifying Buddhists
across Indonesia. (03)