Dhammachari Lokamitra received the Manhae Grand Peace Prize, 2008

Dhammachari Lokamitra received the Manhae Grand Prize (Manhae Daesang) for Peace 2008 in a ceremony held by Manhae Foundation in South Korea. The award was given during the Manhae Festival held at Manhae village, close to Baekdam Temple where Venerable Manhae wrote his famous poems and practiced meditation. Manhae Han Yong-un (1879-1944) was a 20th century Korean Buddhist Reformer and poet, as well as a great hero of the anti-imperialist movement.

In a ceremony held on 12th August 2008, the President of Jogye Order awarded Dhammachari Lokamitra for his contribution in contributing to the understanding and practice of Buddhism in India amongst the followers of Dr. Ambedkar (most of whom were previously known and treated as untouchables) since 1978 when he moved to India. In these 30 years he has helped develop many Dhamma and social projects that have helped give people the strength to fight positively the all pervasive practice of untouchability.

In 1979 he helped to initiate the Trailokya Bauddha Mahasangha Sahayaka Gana (TBMSG) which now has many Dhamma teaching centres throughout India, a publications wing, and three retreat centres. Soon after Bahujan Hitay was started which runs many social works for the deprived and discriminated, including 80 community centres and more than 20 educational hostels.

Recently he has been concentrating his efforts on the establishment of the Nagarjuna Training Institute at Nagpur, where Dr. Ambedkar converted to Buddhism along with half a million followers in 1956. There are perhaps 30 million Buddhists in India today all from the Scheduled Caste (the official word today for people designated as untouchables in the Hindu caste system) communities, and over 200 million Indians who are open to Buddhism because of the influence of Dr. Ambedkar. While TBMSG does not have the manpower to start centres in every one of the thousands of towns in India, which is what is really required, it helps to train newly converted Buddhists from all over India at the Nagarjuna Training Institute, where it runs a one year introductory and residential training course in Buddhist teachings and practices, as well as basic social needs. It has been instrumental in training 495 men and women from 19 states in India since its inception in 2002.

The people from the disadvantaged sections face immense difficulties in realising their constitutional rights. Many are working to end suffering due to the caste system, but at times, lack confidence, a sense of solidarity, and basic training in running organizations. The Jambudvipa Trust, he founded in 1998, encourages individuals and organisations the Scheduled Castes and other disadvantaged sections of society to take initiative and responsibility for their situation. The Jambudvipa Trust has intervened in natural calamities (the Gujarat earth quake, the Tsunami and the Bombay floods) when the Scheduled Castes suffered terrible discrimination in relief and rehabilitation work. Under the Manuski (respect, humanity, compassion)Project it has a network of over 150 organisations and has conducted hundreds of training sessions. The Manuski project is also doing human rights' advocacy work especially related to atrocities (of which there are many) and cases of discrimination.Lokamitra is also a member of Advisory Board of International Network of Engaged Buddhism (INEB) and Nagarjuna Institute hosted the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) conference in 2005.

In his acceptance speech, Dhammachari Lokamitra stressed the need to make the life and work of Venerable Manhae known to the wider world. He expressed the hope that this award will bring much needed attention to the plights of the almost 200 million Scheduled Caste and the glorious non-violent struggle for liberation and social transformation of about 30 million of them through Buddhism.