Kendrapada: A nine-day International Guru Padmasambhava Buddhist International Conference will be held from Dec 28 to Jan 5, 2027, at Udayagiri, the Buddhist site in Jajpur district.Around 2,500 Buddhist scholars, monks and researchers, including delegates from 20 countries, including Thailand, Bhutan, South Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the USA, China, Mongolia and Sri Lanka, will participate, said Wangmo Dixey, executive director of Light of BuddhaDharma Foundation International, India branch, Bodh Gaya. The conference will pay tribute to Guru Padmasambhava, known as the second Buddha from Sambal (Sambalpur). He taught at Puspagiri University, and his body remains were preserved in a casket at Udayagiri, as deciphered from an inscription behind the Avalokitesvara statue at the site entrance, Dixey said.Padmasambhava lived in the 8th century, belonged to the Yogācāra sect and taught at Nalanda. He arrived in Tibet in 749 AD, spent around five decades there, established Samye Monastery and introduced Tantric Buddhism, said researcher Suvendu Bhyuan. Tibetan historian Taranatha and texts mention Oddiyana as a centre of Mahayana Buddhism and the birthplace of Tantric Buddhism, Kumar said.Delegates will visit Ratnagiri, Lalitagiri, Langudi, Kaima and other sites. Seminars, films, cultural performances, photo exhibitions, discourses, discussions, and debates will be organised. The Buddhist sites in Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udayagiri in Jajpur district, known as the “Diamond Triangle”, reflect Odisha’s Buddhist heritage. A preparatory meeting was held at Udayagiri on Friday. It was attended by Barachana MLA Amar Kumar Natak, Jajpur collector Ambar Kumar Kar, additional superintendent of police Ratokanta Giri and others.