Bhubaneswar: The ancient Buddhist site of Udayagiri in Jajpur district will host a nine-day International Guru Padmasambhava Buddhist Conference from December 28, 2026 to January 5, 2027.
The conference will bring together around 2,500 participants, including Buddhist monks, scholars and researchers from 20 countries such as Thailand, Bhutan, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, China, Mongolia and the USA.
Announcing this, Wangmo Dixey, Executive Director of Light of BuddhaDharma Foundation International, India (LBDFI), Bodh Gaya, said the event is a tribute to Guru Padmasambhava, revered as the Second Buddha.
According to Dixey, Padmasambhava hailed from Sambal, identified as present-day Sambalpur in Odisha, and taught at the ancient Puspagiri University. An inscription behind the Avalokitesvara statue at the entrance of Udayagiri indicates that his mortal remains were preserved in a casket at the site.
Researcher Suvendu Bhuyan said Padmasambhava, an 8th-century exponent of the Yogachara school who also taught at Nalanda, arrived in Tibet in 749 AD. He spent nearly five decades there, founded the Samye Monastery and introduced Tantric Buddhism.
The conference will feature seminars, Buddhist discourses, panel discussions, film screenings, cultural programmes and photo exhibitions.
Delegates will also visit other key Buddhist sites including Ratnagiri, Lalitagiri, Langudi and Kaima.Lalitagiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri together form Odisha’s famous ‘Diamond Triangle’, bearing testimony to the state’s glorious Buddhist past.
A preparatory meeting for the conference was held at Udayagiri on Friday. Barachana MLA Amar Kumar Nayak, Jajpur Collector Ambar Kumar Kar, Additional Superintendent of Police Ranjan Kumar Giri and other officials attended.
