Japanese Monk in India Working for Buddhism Restoration

Nagpur, India, Oct. 24 (Jiji Press)--Shurei Sasai, a Buddhist monk from Japan, is working in India for the restoration of Buddhism, which claims that all people are equal.

The 89-year-old has been devoting his life to freeing people from discrimination based on the Indian caste system for more than half a century.

At a large-scale conversion ceremony held in the city of Nagpur in central India on Oct. 10-12, Sasai said in a strong voice that he will obey the way of Buddha, and his words were repeated by participants. To see one of the top leaders of Indian Buddhism, some 15,000 converts and 15 people from Japan who want to become monks attended the event.

Born in what is now the city of Niimi in Okayama Prefecture, western Japan, in 1935, Sasai struggled with an obsession with women in his youth and tried to take his own life many times, before becoming a monk in 1960.

Then he moved to India and witnessed the tough life of people from the disadvantaged Dalit caste in the country, including not being allowed to use a community's well. Shocked, Sasai decided to fight against discrimination.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]