THE LARGEST BUDDHIST CENTRE IN THE WORLD IS IN CÁCERES

After several months of uncertainty and negotiations, the “Buddha of Carmena” has a new home. Cáceres will host the project that was originally intended for Madrid, during Manuela Carmena’s tenure, until the current Government team led by José Luis Martínez-Almeida discarded the idea because “it is not what the city needs.”

Cáceres, Extremadura, has been chosen among many European cities by the project promoters. Thus, the city will host a project with plans to build an 800 square metre Buddhist temple. Additionally, there will be a monastery with 20 rooms for monks, a Stupa for Peace, a bookshop, a library, a dining hall, a craft shop, an information point, a yoga room and facilities that are representative of various Asian countries. On top of that, an imposing 40-metre statue of Buddha (which will be the tallest in the world, surpassing the one in Hong Kong) and spacious gardens

At the same time, Cáceres will be given a 2.5 hectare plot of land next to the airport of Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha. There are plans to build a “House of Cáceres” there, a building intended to host a variety of intercultural and business projects.

With the change in its Government, the city of Madrid decided to set a different course and rejected the initiative that had been promoted by the Ahora Madrid team the previous year. This did not please the Lumbini Garden Foundation, one of the main promoters of the project, whose president lamented having fallen victim to a “political war” between Almeida and Carmena.

The Great Buddha Project expects a private investment from Asia estimated at 25 million euros. It intends to erect the largest Buddhist centre in the world and includes the construction of a 40-metre Buddha statue, the tallest in the world. The city’s contribution is the assignment for the use of the land.

Cáceres is a city with a long tradition involving three cultures (Jewish, Islamic, and Christian). As the owner of ART & SUITE APARTMENT CÁCERES, I am extremely pleased to welcome the magnificent Buddhist culture in our city. I wish to emphasise that Buddhism is not considered to be a religion, but rather a path of practical teachings. By following this path we reach enlightment, or a state of Buddhahood.

The mayor of the city of 96,000 inhabitants, Luis Salaya, from the Socialist Party, claims that this ambitious project will attract tens of thousands of tourists every year and promises that this will not cost the city a single euro.

According to the tourism officials of the city council, this will be a point of interest for millions of people, not just after the complex has been build, but also during its construction.

“We are finally here,” said the president of the Lumbini Foundation, José Manuel Vilanova, who defined the construction of the Buddhist centre as a “challenge for the city,” as well as “an act of peace, brotherhood and reunion.” The Buddha that has been brought to Cáceres bears the name Mahar Karuna and represents a state of maximum peace of spirit which will “teach us a the transformative change of consciousness,” said Vilanova. In his speech, he appealed to the trust of unbelievers with an aspiration “which comes with the light of Asia and invites us to be more compassionate.”

Apart from the statue, the centre, which will have relics of Buddha, given by the Government of Nepal, will house the embassies of the main Eastern Buddhist cities and a meditation centre, among other locations.

A monastery with meditation cells for monks, gardens and a university centre associated to said Asian country that will serve as a meeting point for Asian and Eastern students, according to the promoters, are some of the other facilities that are planned.

OM MANI PADME HUM

Video de youtube “ así será el centro budista en Cáceres” Proyecto Lumbini