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Patna,(BiharTimes): The much talked about Maitreya Project, featuring a statue of Gautam Buddha, has been shifted from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh to Bodh Gaya near Gaya in Bihar.
However, the Bodh Gaya project will be a much scaled-down version of the original plan. It was in Kushinagar that Buddha attained his mahaparinirvana while he got enlightenment in Bodh Gaya.
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According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche, the spiritual director of the project, the Maitreya statue will now be built in Bodh Gaya, but due to restrictions there, it will not be as tall as originally planned (500 feet). Now it is going to be 150 feet in
height.
Reports said the Maitreya Project was shifted as three successive government of Uttar Pradesh failed to provide sufficient land for the project. “For the past nine years we have worked hard with the state government but because of very difficult issues regarding land acquisition, with the approval of His Holiness the Dalai Lama we have now decided to build the Maitreya Statue in Bodh Gaya,” he added.
Incidentally, major donors are now unable to fulfi their commitments because of economic slowdown.
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