Rows of saffron-robed monks chanted and swayed in unison, interrupted only by the clang of cymbals or the beating of a drum. The Dalai Lama sat before them on an elaborate throne. It was the last day of an intensive two-week training on Buddhist thought in Bodh Gaya, a remote town in India where tradition holds the Buddha attained enlightenment while meditating under a tree.
Despite the solemnity of the moment, young monks couldn't help but whip out their mobile phones to take photos of their spiritual leader. An estimated 200,000 Buddhists gathered in Bodh Gaya for two weeks this month to see the Dalai Lama conduct the ritual, known as the Kalachakra Initiation, with chanting, praying and meditating at a vast teaching ground near the ancient Mahabodhi temple, next to a descendant of the famed tree.
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