Buddhist temple inaugurated

JAKARTA (JP): Some 3,000 followers of a Buddhist sect known as Buddha Dharma Indonesia (BDI) attended the inauguration of the sect's first training and development center in the mountainous resort area of Megamendung in Bogor on Wednesday.

The ceremony to inaugurate the center, the Myogan-Ji temple, was led by Kotoku Obayashi, the foreign affairs emissary for the Japanese branch of the Niciren Syosyu Buddhist sect. He is here in the country with 12 Japanese monks.

The Japanese delegation were accompanied by the leader of Niciren Syosyu in Indonesia, Mrs. Keiko Senosoenoto and BDI chairperson Mrs. Herwindra Aiko Senosoenoto, Antara reported.

The center will train Indonesian monks. Monks in the sect all currently come from Japan, it said.

All tutors at the training center will be Japanese until there are enough Indonesia monks to take over their duties, the news agency said.

The ceremony began with prayers led by Obayashi. All present recited the sect's Nammyohorengekyo prayer in Japanese. The prayer takes almost 45 minutes to recite in full.

The ceremony also commemorated the seventh anniversary of the death of Senosoenoto, the founder of BDI. (jun)