He said being a Tibetan Buddhist he is very close to this place and added, "Buddhism, I think, is a pure tradition of Nalanda."

The conference has been organised by the Ashoka Mission, a premier Buddhist organisation of New Delhi, in collaboration with the Union ministry of tourism and culture, Bihar department of tourism and Nava Nalanda Mahavihara, an autonomous institution under the Union ministry of culture.

More than 200 scholars from Bhutan, Tibet, China, Hongkong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Thailand, Mongolia, Taiwan and the US are attending the conference.

On this occasion, the Dalai also released a coffee table book on Bihar tourism. Titled 'Bihar: An Enlightening Experience', the book has been jointly brought out by Bihar department of tourism and the Times of India group.

The 152-page book contains information about the state's tourist sites, handicrafts, culture and heritage, among other things.

He also inaugurated an exhibition of photographs of archaeological finds and ruins of Nalanda. Earlier, MP Nirmala Deshpande, who is the chairperson of the organising committee of the conference, welcomed the guests.

State tourism secretary R S Tewari was also present at the function.