[Nepal initiated an important proposal since 1993 that Buddha should be declared as "Light of the Universe" in place of 'Light of Asia' only. Dr. Bishnu Hari Nepal, former Vigya Member, Foreign Policy Draft Sub-committee, Legislative Parliament of Nepal, is strongly advocating it in the international level. International Relations and Human Rights Committee of the dissolved Legislative Parliament of Nepal had unanimously passed the vision making it a part of the campaign of the Nepalese Foreign Policy. This article is based on that concept.]
Professor Dr. Bishnu Hari Nepal
Buddha: The light of Universe
After going through the book, as a normal reader, I got an impression that Nepal that time, through her Great Son of the Soil, Buddha —the enlightened one, was able to contribute a great and influential philosophy with its impact on the pattern of life of the people -to our today’s great neighbors India and China in particular, Asia and the world in general. I remember the kind words from the great Buddhist philosopher of the 21st century, poet laureate of Japan, global peace initiator and President of Soka Gakai International (SGI) Daisaku Ikeda during our meeting in 1995 in Tokyo, “Japan was indebted to Nepal for their present culture, civilization, way of life, behavioral patterns, and thinking and even to the visionary approaches”. He had also added that it was through the flow of Buddhism -the enlightenment of the ancient Himalayan civilization. In response, I had said, “It is now — just the reverse- you are promoting peace and philosophy of Buddhism from the Far East to the West”. He had laughed.
To my satisfaction now Nepal China Society has done a credible job adding a brick in enhancing Nepal’s deep cultural ties with China and the world. Japan’s case, Buddhism started perhaps only from the sixth century via China and Korea.
On the contrary, the case of China, Buddhism entered to this country crossing the mighty Himalayas, through the Silk Road. The authors in this book argue that this was during the 1st or 2nd century CE. As a normal materialist Nepali thinker of the 21 st century, it gives me a sense of great pride and inspiration, and also impression to be looking for a second child of Buddha’s and Araniko’s repute for the 21st century Nepal. Specially, on the political grounds, today’s Nepal badly needs it!
For me Buddhism is a philosophy directly related to the way of life of the people. As a matter of fact, it was a materialist theory, alternative to the then existing religions. But during the course of time, Buddha being too much popular by his deeds, people started regarding Buddha himself as God and Buddhism as a religion. Hindus also took the opportunity and made him the incarnation of Vishnu! I do not believe in such superstitions. I believe in the strong scientific fact of explorations that he was the Prince of Lumbini-Kapilvastu of Nepal. But I respect the beliefs of the people. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the December holidays, my husband went on a 10-day silent meditation retreat. Not my idea of fun, but he came back rejuvenated and energetic.
He said the experience was so transformational that he has committed to meditating for two hours daily, one hour in the morning and one in the evening, until the end of March. He’s running an experiment to determine whether and how meditation actually improves the quality of his life.
I’ll admit I’m a skeptic.
But now, scientists say that meditators like my husband may be benefiting from changes in their brains. The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. The findings will appear in the Jan. 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. Read the rest of this entry »
By Deepak Chopra, Co-author, ‘Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-Being’; founder, The Chopra Foundation
We’ve entered a golden age for brain research, but all these new findings haven’t trickled down to the individual. Yet there are broad discoveries that make it possible to everyone to improve their brains. Let me state these succinctly:
• Your brain is constantly renewing itself.
• Your brain can heal its wounds form the past.
• Experience changes the bran every day.
• The input you give your brain causes it to form new neural pathways.
• The more positive the input, the better your brain will function.
In a new book, Super Brain, I and my co-author, Prof. Rudolf Tanzi of Harvard Medical School, expand upon the neuroscience behind these broad findings. The old view of the brain as fixed for life, constantly losing neurons and declining in function, has been all but abolished. The new brain is a process, not a thing, and the process heads in the direction you point it in. A Buddhist monk meditating on compassion develops the brain circuitry that brings compassion into reality. Depending on the input it receives, you can create a compassionate brain, an artistic brain, a wise brain, or any other kind.
However, as Prof. Tanzi and I see it, the agent that makes these possibilities become real is the mind. The brain doesn’t create its own destiny. Genetics delivers the brain in a functioning state so that the nervous system can regulate itself and the whole body. It doesn’t take your intervention to balance hormone levels, regulate heartbeat, or do a thousand other autonomic functions. But the newest part of the brain, the neocortex, is where the field of possibilities actually lies. Here is where decisions are made, where we discriminate, worship, assess, control, and evolve Read the rest of this entry »
After reading the article “Tilaurakot Excavations (2023 – 2029 V.S.)” by Tara Nanda Mishra and the book “The Great Sons of the Tharus: Sakyamuni Buddha and Emperor Asoka the Great” by Subodh Kumar Singh, I was dying to visit Tilaurakot, the place where Lord Buddha spent his 29 years.
Tilaurakot – the citadel in shambles
Finally, I got the chance to visit Taulihawa. I was excited – the reason – Tilaurakot and Jagadishpur Lake being in the vicinity. As we crossed the Bhikchhu Chowk, the roundabout that leads the way to Tilaurakot, the sign board was misleading. While one showed the way to Tilaurakot, another had a two headed arrow which was pointing towards two opposite directions. However, the problem was solved within minutes as the locals told us to head northward.
On the way to the Tilaurakot complex is a museum that houses the archaeological findings that were excavated from the complex. We wanted to see the site of King Suddhodana’s palace first, so we skipped the visit to the museum.
Not a single visitor in the complex
Reaching the complex, I had thought that crowds of people will be competing for a glimpse of the ancient kingdom. However, the expectation was shattered within seconds. I could see not a single visitor in the surrounding.
Anybody can enter the complex and surprisingly you don’t need to pay for the entrance. Entering the citadel was like travelling back into the days of Buddha. I could sense the ambience – tranquil and heavenly.
Grand defence of ancient times
At the entrance of the Western Gate, the remnants of 10 feet wide defence wall were astonishing. You can imagine how well protected the citadel was – apart from the defence wall, there used to be a 22 feet wide moat with crocodiles. It was simply impossible for the enemies to enter the city.
The excavations carried out on the western end of the ruins at Tilaurakot, roughly in the central position of the western wall brought to light three different phases of defence walls. Among them, the first wall was made of clay, possibly digging the nearest outside area, and the ditch had been simultaneously converted into a moat. The first mud wall can be dated to 7th-6th Century BC. The second phase of defence wall had also been made of yellowish clay, and had been built during 200 BC. The third wall was erected just over the basement and outer toe of the second phase wall. It was made of bricks and brick-bats in yellowish mud mortar. It can be dated to 150 BC. The walls were surrounded by a deep moat, which was probably fed by water from the Banaganga River.
One of my colleagues tried to step on the wall out of curiosity but was admonished by a staffer wearing an orange tee shirt with the Lumbini Development Trust logo. However, he was himself sleeping on the wall! Read the rest of this entry »
Dahal has a tall hill to climb‚ as the Greater Lumbini Project will be almost ten times costly than Lumbini alone. It is a Herculean task indeed. The need of revisiting the present rather ambitious Lumbini plan without diluting its sanctity and concepts has already been expressed in different quarters
Lumbini is again in the news, after remaining in the sidelines for a long time, following the formation of a high level committee chaired by the former prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. And, why shouldn’t it be when it is the birthplace of Buddha? Buddha’s notion that there is suffering in the world with desire as its cause has touched the heart and mind of innumerable people around the globe. It is unfortunate that Lumbini should face developmental constraints due to shortage of funds.
This is, however, not the first time that Lumbini has been virtually raised from the ashes in its three thousand year history. It came into prominence in 563 BC when Buddha was born. Lumbini was in the limelight during the visit of Emperor Ashoka, who erected the Lumbini pillar bearing an inscription of the birth of Buddha in 249 BC. Lumbini appears to have started to fall into oblivion as none of the visiting Chinese travelers Mr Yuch Chih in the fourth century, Mr. Fa Hsien in the fifth century and Mr. Yuan Chwang in the seventh make a mention of the all important Lumbini pillar inscription, implying that it was buried in the earth, and nobody bothered to maintain it which reflects serious neglect. It is reiterated by the observation of the horse capital of Lumbini pillar lying on the ground by Mr. Wang Hiuen Tse remaining unattended again in the seventh century. Lumbini was still well known as a Buddist religious site till the visit of Ripu Malla in the year 1312, which is evident from the inclusion of a popular Buddhist verse om mani padmeham in his inscription. But, after that the popularity of Lumbini seems to have taken a nose dive, as Khadga Shamsher had to clear several feet of earth around the Lumbini pillar, when he visited it in the year 1896 along with Mr. Fuhrer. It was given a new lease of life by Kaisher Shamsher in 1928, when he did some construction work. The visit of U Thant, the United Nations General Secretary in the 1950s, was instrumental for the present revival of Lumbini. He mobilized the international community leading to the formation of an International Committee for the development of Lumbini under the umbrella of the United Nations. This international move triggered the inception of Lumbini Development Committee in an effort to coordinate works at the national level. Read the rest of this entry »
Shaolin monks perform for visitors on Oct. 24, 2010. The temple makes millions every year from entrance fees and online sales of Shaolin items
In China today, there’s little that money can’t buy — even when it comes to faith. Many of the country’s most popular Buddhist sites are chock-full of cure-all tonics and overpriced incense. For the most part, people seem happy, or at least willing, to oblige. That changed this summer, though, when it emerged that China’s four most sacred Buddhist mountains were hatching plans to list on the Shanghai stock exchange.
In July, Mount Putuo Tourism Development Co. announced it would attempt to raise 7.5 billion yuan in a 2014 initial public offering. The company operates the tourist facilities at Putuo Shan, located on an island 20 miles (32 km) off Shanghai. Chinese state media quoted representatives of Wutai Shan in Shanxi province and Jiuhua Shan in Anhui province as saying they too had plans to raise funds on the capital markets. The fourth of China’s sacred mountains, Emei Shan in Sichuan province, completed a public listing in Shenzhen in 1997, under the incredibly auspicious ticker symbol “888.” Read the rest of this entry »
[ The author, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, who appears for his talks almost everyday on PBS TV[2] shows in United States of America, seems not to have checked Lumbini Ashokan Pillar inscription, [" .. Hida Bhagavam Jateti Lumini Game"[3] discovered by Anton A. Fuhrer on December 1, 1896. Further more, while he was writing the book, he seems not to have been well informed of recent Lumbini archaeological finds also. If he had in anyways, he would have certainly written the “Founder of Buddhism, one of the world’s major religions, the Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal at the border of northeast India” instead. ]
By B. K. Rana
Early morning yesterday, one of my friends, K. Kadaria called me over a phone and said “I just read a book named :’Wisdom of the Ages’ written and published in 1998 by Wayne W. Dyer. The author has written that the ”Founder of Buddhism, one of the world’s major religions, the Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama in northeast India, near the border of Nepal.”So, we needed debating with the author. This is in a course book for undergraduate students at the Bunker Hill Community College, Boston in Massachusetts, USA.”
He sent me a brief email message also which I immediately forwarded to my email-list and, as anticipated, prompt response arrived from a few scholars from different parts of the world. Among those response was in an email message from a renowned linguist, Professor Madhav Pokharel of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, in which he has written, “both China and Japan have officially endorsed Lumbini of Nepal being the Buddha’s birth place, however, while doing researches in China for one year and two years in Japan, I heard that in government prescribed books in both of these countries students are taught the Buddha was born in India”[1]. Prof. Pokharel says there is a need for finding the truth out and making a correction to it also.
The book in discussion and its author, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer http://www.drwaynedyer.com/, acclaimed as one of the internationally best selling authors, a motivational speaker and named also as “Modern Master”, has discussed, in the book “Wisdomof the Ages: 60 Days to Enlightenment”, a total of 265 different thinkers of the past and present world from: Pythagoras and Blaise Pascal, Buddha, Lao-tzu, Patanjali to many others and down the end himself also. A chapter titled as ‘Knowing’ is dedicated to Buddhist philosophy. The chapter starts from page 5 in which the author writes: ”Founder of Buddhism, one of the world’s major religions, the Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama in northeast India, near the border of Nepal”. This is flatly incorrect information. Our students must be told or taught the truth and no imparted false knowledge.
The author, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, who appears for his talks almost everyday on PBS TV[2] shows in United States of America,seems not to have checked Lumbini Ashokan Pillar inscription, [" .. Hida Bhagavam Jateti Lumini Game"[3]discovered byAnton A. Fuhrer on December 1, 1896. Further more, while he was writing the book, he seems not to have been well informed of recent Lumbini archaeological finds also. If he had in anyways, he would have certainly written the “Founder of Buddhism, one of the world’s major religions, the Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama in Nepal at the border of northeast India” instead.
The book in question was published in 1998 by Harper Collins,in other words some 14 years ago and its first Quill edition came out in 2002 already. After these long years, discussing this way may seem ‘partisan’ to some of our readers. But the point here is that students deserve right information. We need to feed them facts of human history. But neither we are telling Dr. Wayne W. Dyer deliberately weote “the Buddha was born Prince Siddhartha Gautama in northeastIndia, near the border of Nepal.”Not every writer can visit Lumbini Garden in Nepal and read the Ashokan inscription before writing a book on the Buddha. It is not practical also to do so. The author has utilized second hand information available to him.
No Confronting with the authors:
We can’t confront each and every author on the Buddha birth place and Kapilvastu also. A Nepalese scholar, Ram B. Chhetri, currently residing in Virginia, USAalso wrote in reply yesterday, “ What about Jesus Christ born in China ? We can’t go on confronting people writing whatever they feel like writing.” The point he makes here is that people have been writing on their own ways and this is how they write; we can’t tell them do what we like.
This article appears in Einstein’s Ideas and Opinions, pp.41 – 49. The first section is taken from an address at Princeton Theological Seminary, May 19, 1939. It was published in Out of My Later Years, New York: Philosophical Library, 1950. The second section is from Science, Philosophy and Religion, A Symposium, published by the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion in Their Relation to the Democratic Way of Life, Inc., New York, 1941.
During the last century, and part of the one before, it was widely held that there was an unreconcilable conflict between knowledge and belief. The opinion prevailed among advanced minds that it was time that belief should be replaced increasingly by knowledge; belief that did not itself rest on knowledge was superstition, and as such had to be opposed. According to this conception, the sole function of education was to open the way to thinking and knowing, and the school, as the outstanding organ for the people’s education, must serve that end exclusively.
One will probably find but rarely, if at all, the rationalistic standpoint expressed in such crass form; for any sensible man would see at once how one-sided is such a statement of the position. But it is just as well to state a thesis starkly and nakedly, if one wants to clear up one’s mind as to its nature.
It is true that convictions can best be supported with experience and clear thinking. On this point one must agree unreservedly with the extreme rationalist. The weak point of his conception is, however, this, that those convictions which are necessary and determinant for our conduct and judgments cannot be found solely along this solid scientific way.
For the scientific method can teach us nothing else beyond how facts are related to, and conditioned by, each other.The aspiration toward such objective knowledge belongs to the highest of which man is capabIe, and you will certainly not suspect me of wishing to belittle the achievements and the heroic efforts of man in this sphere. Yet it is equally clear that knowledge of what is does not open the door directly to what should be. Read the rest of this entry »
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a world that honors the servant, but has forgotten the gift.
–Albert Einstein
Except in the light of brain hemisphere lateralization, nothing in human psychology makes any sense.
–neuroscientist Tim Crow
An Old Tale
There’s a traditional Buddhist story about a statue of incomparable value, which is lost and then forgotten. For generation after generation, various kinds of human rubbish and debris accumulate to bury it. Nobody ever suspects that anything important lies under the ground. Eventually a clairvoyant person happens by who comments: “If you dig here, and clean up what you find, you will discover something invaluable.” But who would follow such advice?
Our Divided Brain
In his remarkable book, “The Master and his Emissary,” neurological psychologist Iain McGilchristprovides a wealth of scientific evidence to support his contention that two opposed realities are rooted in the bi-hemispheric structure of the human brain.
Although each hemisphere is specialized, neither functions as an “independent brain.” They integrate their activities to produce physical movements, mental processes and behaviors greater than, and different from, their individual contributions. With functional NMR scanners, real-time brain imaging is now routinely used to determine the functional effects of all kinds of strokes and brain injuries, and in that way we can observe how the hemispheres act together as “opponent processors.”
Basically, the right hemisphere is mute, perceives in a holistic Gestalt manner and synthesizes over space. The left hemisphere, the seat of language, analyzes over time. The right hemisphere codes sensory input in terms of images, the left in terms of words and concepts. Specialization of function offers all kinds of advantages, but integrating those functions is a special point of vulnerability. When it comes to the large and complex human mind-brain, harmony can easily be lost. Read the rest of this entry »
By Deepak Chopra, M.D., FACP, and Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D., Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy, Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School Director, Genetics and Aging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
Like a personal computer, science needs a recycle bin for ideas that didn’t work out as planned. In this bin would go commuter trains riding on frictionless rails using superconductivity, along with interferon, the last AIDS vaccine, and most genetic therapies. These failed promises have two things in common: They looked like the wave of the future but then reality proved too complex to fit the simple model that was being offered.
The next thing to go into the recycle bin might be the brain. We are living in a golden age of brain research, thanks largely to vast improvements in brain scans. Now that functional MRIs can give snapshots of the brain in real time, researchers can see specific areas of the brain light up, indicating increased activity. On the other hand, dark spots in the brain indicate minimal activity or none at all. Thus, we arrive at those familiar maps that compare a normal brain with one that has deviated from the norm. This is obviously a great boon where disease is concerned. Doctors can see precisely where epilepsy or Parkinsonism or a brain tumor has created damage, and with this knowledge new drugs and more precise surgery can target the problem.
But then overreach crept in. We are shown brain scans of repeat felons with pointers to the defective areas of their brains. The same holds for Buddhist monks, only in their case, brain activity is heightened and improved, especially in the prefrontal lobes associated with compassion. By now there is no condition, good or bad, that hasn’t been linked to a brain pattern that either “proves” that there is a link between the brain and a certain behavior or exhibits the “cause” of a certain trait. The whole assumption, shared by 99 percent of neuroscientists, is that we are our brains.
In this scheme, the brain is in charge, having evolved to control certain fixed behaviors. Why do men see other men as rivals for a desirable woman? Why do people seek God? Why does snacking in front of the TV become a habit? We are flooded with articles and books reinforcing the same assumption: The brain is using you, not the other way around. Yet it’s clear that a faulty premise is leading to gross overreach. Read the rest of this entry »
The homeland of Gautam Buddha which is described in the vast Buddhist literary texts as Kapilavastu, the land and capital city of the Sakyas is now a central point of debate regarding its location among some historians and archaeologists. It is a subject of considerable interest from the last decade of the 19th century A.D. and now it is associated with national interest and pride. Some historians locate Kapilavastu in Piprahwa, some others locate it in Tilaurkot and still others locate it in Bhubaneswar of Odisha. I have presented the arguments against the location of Kapilavastu in Odisha in the pages of The Himalayan Voice. Hence in this paper my focus is directed to the debate on the location of Kapilavastu either in India or in Nepal.
The location of Kapilavastu is to be studied in the context of Lumbini, the real spot of the birth of Gautam Buddha. We find the name of Lumbini Grama in the edicts of Ashoka as well as in the famous text Buddha Charita of Asvaghosh of 1st century A.D. Interestingly Buddha Charita explains Lumbini as Vananta-bhumi(a forest area), This term Lumbini is in all probability a local term whose Sanskrit equivalent was given by Asvaghosh as Vanantabhumi. This explains the fact that Lumbini-the spot where Gautam was born was a peculiar term of the areas on the Hmalayan zone. This compels us to think that the term was associated with ancient Nepal and not with ancient India. The text Buddha Charita states of Kapila Janapada Nagara where Sakyas and their leader Suddhodana-the father of Gautama were living with prosperity. Thus Lumbini and Kapilavastu(the land of Kapila) were connected. The inscriptions(pillar edicts) of Ashoka refer to the birthplace of Kanakamuni Buddha and Gautam Buddha which he had visited and erected stupas in his 20th reganl year. This suggests that both the sites were included in the kingdom of Kapilavastu. Considering their present location and the reading of the edicts of Ashoka it is now clear that they were in ancient time located near the Himalayan area which is now called Nepal Tarai zone. This also explains the location of Kapilavastu in Nepal Tarai.
The Sakyas of Kapilavastu were in control of a part of Himalayan region which was attached to the Kosala kingdom in 6th-7th century A.D. Sakya was a republican state in ancient Bharat Varsha. But according to Buddhist sources like Bhaddasalajataka Kapilavastu and the Sakyas were destroyed by king Vidudabha, son of Prasenjit of Kosala during the lifetime of Gautam Buddha. But probably the city was not completely destroyed because the Sakyas of Kapilavastu got a part of the ashes of Buddha after his death which were divided into eight parts-the recipients being Ajatasatru of Magadha, Lichhavis of Vaisali, Bulis of Allakappa, A Brahmin of Vethadipa, Mallas of Kusinagara, Koliyas of Ramagrama and the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, Thus even after the destruction by the Kosalan king some parts of Kapilavastu remained. By the time of Samudragupta the Sakya clan was not prominent, but Nepal was famous then as a frontier state. Accordng to Allahabad Pillar inscription Nepal remained a frontier kingdom under Samudragupta after paying all taxes. Thus this explains the fact that the remaining portions of Kailavastu must have been a part of the frontier kingdom of Nepal during the Gupta phase. Kapilavastu could not be separated from the border areas which covered Nepal then. Read the rest of this entry »
Today is a special day. Almost 30 years ago to the day, I formally learned to meditate in Cambridge, Mass. I had tried meditation before growing up in India, been preached its many benefits by my dutiful mother, even studied some of the early scientific research around it in medical school, but it wasn’t until years later when I was stressed-out physician, often abusing alcohol and cigarettes, that on a recommendation from a friend I turned to meditation as a tool for reducing my stress load.
My life has never been the same. And so today in many ways is a celebration of my discovery of meditation. And here are the three things I am doing in observance of that celebration:
1. The Chopra Center, which I founded over 15 years ago, is launching the 21-Day Meditation Challenge, which invites you to participate along with me in a free daily meditation program. The challenge will make meditation a part of your daily routine, and may be the fastest way to reap the many physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual benefits of its practice. For both beginners and longtime practitioners of meditation, the challenge promises to deepen your experience, expose you to different types of meditation, and open you to a community of others who share your interest in meditation.
2. “The Meditator” — a playful, guided daily meditation launches on my new YouTube Channel, The Chopra Well. Every day, “The Meditator” will enable you to join along for a short guided meditation situated somewhere in the world. The show is meant to be a primer, offering those who have never meditated before a very easy way into the practice, and those that already are experienced meditators a fun way to share meditation with their friends. Read the rest of this entry »
The concept of Engaged (सकृय) or Socially Engaged Buddhism is not new in a global context but it sounds may be somewhat unfamiliar to Nepalese monks and scholars. The reason behind is obvious. Nepal, although claims to be the birthplace of the historic figure Sidhartha Gautam Buddha, does not seem to have much that has had contributed to the world as a teachings of Buddhism. Buddhism has had its dazzling capacity to adopt and adjust to the environment where it went. In the present context of the expansion of Buddhism in the more elite world, it tried to seek yet another avenue of finding not only “Sit, Meditate, Realize the Three Pillars – Buddha, Dharma and Sangha” but also apply meditation and its teachings into the social, environmental, economic and political actions.”
Donald Rothberg and Hozan Alan Senauke gave the notion that came into the Western society popularly known as “Socially Engaged Buddhism” is a Dharma practice that flows from the understanding of the complete yet complicated interdependence of all life. It is the practice of the Bodhisattva vow to save all beings. It is to know that the liberation of ourselves and the liberation of others are inseparable. It is to transform ourselves as we transform all our relationships and our larger society. It works at times from the inside out and at times from the outside in, depending on the needs and conditions. It is to see the world through the eye of the Dharma and to respond emphatically and actively with compassion.
Buddhism so far in the lands of Buddha are basically divided into three categories or sects: Therabad (Way of the elders), original form of Buddhism mostly popular in Sri Lanka, plain India and other South East Asia; Mahayana (great vehicle) popular in East Asia China, Korea, Japan and part of Vietnam and Vajrayana form of Mahayana popular in Tibet, Himalayan region of Nepal, India, Bhutan, Mongolia, part of Eastern Russia. The fourth one coming up as the Western Form of practice composed with socially engaged, may be living room-based, more secular, may be non-monastic, more philosophically approached than the traditional lands of Buddhism. This is termed like Engaged, Socially Engaged, Humanistic or Navayana. In the Western context, I would also prefer to call it Dhyanayana (meditational). Read the rest of this entry »
“My life is a story of the self-realization of the unconscious.” –C.G. Jung
Those who see into the Unconscious have their senses cleansed of defilements, are moving toward Buddha-wisdom, are known to be with Reality, in the Middle Path, in the ultimate truth itself. Those who see into the Unconscious are furnished at once with merits as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. They are able to create all kinds of things and embrace all things within themselves. –Shen-hui (as translated by D.T. Suzuki)
At the end of his life, C.G. Jung dictated to his secretary an extraordinary autobiography, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections,” whose first sentence we cite above. Earlier he had observed how human nature resembled the twin sons of Zeus and Leda: “We are that pair of Dioscuri, one of whom is mortal and the other immortal, and who, though always together, can never be made completely one. … We should prefer to be always ‘I’ and nothing else.” Recent neurological studies into those “twin sons” have been exploring Jung’s insight, leading to discoveries that have many important implications, including how we might understand traditional Buddhist teachings today. Read the rest of this entry »
By2012 LGBT retreat at Garrison Institute, Garrison, NY
Towards a Multicultural Buddhist Practice
The three “jewels” or the Three Refuges is one of the core elements of Buddhist spiritual practice connected to all Buddhist traditions. In this series, the Refuges of Buddha’s Teachings — the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha — are explored through the lens of culture and cultural experience. These Refuges were offered by the Buddha to create safety and sense of spiritual home so that each practitioner can be invited to relax into the present moment of one’s Life, to be able to explore what this Life is for us, and to cultivate the Life we really wish to live. Even the word “Refuge” has a connotation, a feeling, of a safe haven wherein to go. It is said that when we invoke the Refuges, as happens in the beginning of meditation retreats or practice sessions, there is always someone else in the world taking on the Refuges at exactly the same moment. Across cultures, the intentions to create peacefulness and safety in the world are that prevalent.
And the Buddha is about Culture.
The Buddha’s expression about Freedom and Awakening has always been about culture, about diversity, and about the infinite variations in human experience with all the 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows of this life. This remains a controversial issue within some Buddhist circles, including my home lineage of Buddhist practice. It may be different for other Buddhist traditions, but within communities of Vipassana or Insight Meditation, there is sometimes a predisposition to idealize the aspirations of spiritual practice, and to assume that the highest intention is to transcend the vicissitudes of this life, to somehow obviate the sorrows of this lifetime so that we only experience the pleasant, peaceful or sublime. I have heard dharma teachers bemoan conversations in diversity and culture, and say something like “Why do we dwell on our differences? The point of practice is to see our similarities.” Read the rest of this entry »
[ Below today we re-post an article with a video taken this morning of a professor of history from Bhuvaneshowr, Orissa India. The Buddha birth place controversy was brought out of Orissa in 1928. But the speaker in the video below, Professor Kailash Chandra Dash, who himself comes from Orissa, says those were forged (his)stories to glorify Orissan as well as Indian peoples. And he added that the Indian scholars and historians should have interpreted historical information or data more scientifically, rather than any 'nationalistic zeal'. Prof. Dash says, the birth place of Buddha is present day Lumbini of Nepal, not in any part of India. For more please watch the video.- Editor (Himalayan Voice)]
By Kailash Chandra Dash
The two edicts from Paderia and Nigliva were edited by G.Buhler on the basis of the inked estampages furnished by their discoverer, Dr. A. A. Fuhrer who found the second in March 1895 and the first in December 18961. Both came from the Nepal Terai, where Nigliva was situated 38 miles north west of the Uska Bazar station of the Bengal and the North-Western Railway in the Nepalese tahsil Taulihva of the Zillah Bataul. Paderia was two miles north of the Nepalese tahsil Bhagvanpur of the same Zillah and according to Dr Fuhrer`s estimate about thirteen miles from Nigliva2. Both were incised on mutilated stone pillars and the Paderia edict which was found three feet below the surface of the ground was in a state of perfect preservation while that of Nigliva had suffered a great deal on the left side and had lost the first five letters of line three as well as the first seven of line four3.
“My life is a story of the self-realization of the unconscious.” –C.G. Jung
Those who see into the Unconscious have their senses cleansed of defilements, are moving toward Buddha-wisdom, are known to be with Reality, in the Middle Path, in the ultimate truth itself. Those who see into the Unconscious are furnished at once with merits as numerous as the sands of the Ganges. They are able to create all kinds of things and embrace all things within themselves. –Shen-hui (as translated by D.T. Suzuki)
At the end of his life, C.G. Jung dictated to his secretary an extraordinary autobiography, “Memories, Dreams, Reflections,” whose first sentence we cite above. Earlier he had observed how human nature resembled the twin sons of Zeus and Leda: “We are that pair of Dioscuri, one of whom is mortal and the other immortal, and who, though always together, can never be made completely one. … We should prefer to be always ‘I’ and nothing else.” Recent neurological studies into those “twin sons” have been exploring Jung’s insight, leading to discoveries that have many important implications, including how we might understand traditional Buddhist teachings today.
Neuropsychology of the Unconscious
Brain research over the last generation has confirmed the difference between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Our left cerebral hemisphere is the place where language is generated and received. It serves a linguistic consciousness with which we describe and think about the world. On the other side, our silent right brain hemisphere serves an unconscious awareness that cannot be coded in language. Non-verbal contemplative practices — such as being quietly present in the natural world, “open presence” meditation, tai chi chuan or yoga — elicit sustained awareness rooted in the unconscious. We are fully aware of what is happening, within and around us. Yet such experiences cannot be put into (or directed by) words because they are served by modules for sensory awareness in the right hemisphere. Focusing attention in the present suspends the usual executive functions of the conscious mind, so that the resources of the unconscious may unfold. Read the rest of this entry »
Kindness, compassion and empathy are the synonyms of Buddhism. The eyes of Buddha are the insignia of love. Lumbini is the place where mind and heart take pleasure in for peace. This is the land when eyes are closed, heart opens. And Lumbini symbolized ultimate peace and harmony. This could be the right time to work together to declare Lumbini a World Peace City to catalyze World Peace in the present critical world situation.
( May 01, 2012, Kathmandu, Sri Lanka Guardian) While the world is preparing to celebrate 2556th Buddha Purnima (Vesak), it is facing Global warming, political instability, recession, terrorism, disaster etc. as major problems and the ultimate source of these problems is not external – it is us and only us, our current lifestyles, our historical choices, our way of thinking and doing with full of selfishness and our future ambitions. We ourselves, therefore, must be the solution. Now the world is already in very crucial moment and this provides opportunity as well to the world leaders, scientists and humanitarian activists to show their capability and broadness and prove themselves as historic persons. One of the most important questions we are facing today due to the reality we are facing in the name of development is: “Do we really love our generations or not?” This is already clear that just the continuation of existing development trend without drastic changes could destroy the world very soon and we, hence, must have new perspectives to bring everything in the right track. Irrespective of interest everybody has to read, see, watch and listen to unwanted news full of violence, crime, rape, hunger, accident, war, epidemic, disaster etc in everyday life. However, dedicated persons and organizations are still optimistic for a better and peaceful globe. Buddhism is considered not only as one of the world major religions but also as science and not facing any debate. This, therefore, could play important role in World peace in the present world context.
Problems do not arise from those who do not know, but from those who know and pretend not to know. Due to this attitude, the world is in crisis. Until we purge ourselves of these problems nothing will happen on the journey to create a wonderful and safe world for future generations. Most people think seriously about their responsibilities and rights but not about their duty to others. So many use their freedom to violate others and deny them of their freedom. This attitude could be the result of mediocre thinking, selfishness and not respecting others.
Kindness, compassion and empathy are the synonyms of Buddhism. The eyes of Buddha are the insignia of love.
Buddha Jayanti, a sacred and special day for global Buddhist communities and followers of The Lord Buddha’s teachings and message of global peace and harmony. As The Buddha was born in Lumbini Nepal in 624 BC Buddha’s birthday is more special for all The Nepalese living all over the world. As People are celebrating 2556th Buddha Jayanti globally we are also going to show our respect and pay homage to The Lord Buddha organising a special event at Tempe Reserve Sydney on 6th of May in presence of hundreds of representatives from different communities and countries with many special programs all day. This time the celebration is going to be more special here in Sydney as it is going to be organised jointly by six well known Nepalese Buddhist communities in Ausralia and we will be together with hundreds of people in this foreign land supporting Nepal government’s very special campaign to promote Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini to the world ‘Visit Lumbini Year 2012’.
As our team is strongly committed to share Buddha’s teachings and messages of peace and harmony to different communities as well as our new generation which is growing up in this foreign land and to promote Buddha’s birthplace we have planned different programs suitable for them. We will be showing our respect to those who have played very important role in promoting Buddha’s peace messages and his birthplace Lumbini Nepal. Read the rest of this entry »
Even with all these profound scientific theories of the origin of the universe, I am left with serious questions: What existed before the big bang? Where did the big bang come from? What caused it? Why has our planet evolved to support life? What is the relationship between the cosmos and the beings that have evolved within it? Scientists may dismiss these questions as nonsensical, or they may acknowledge their importance but deny that they belong to the domain of scientific inquiry. However, both these approaches will have the consequence of acknowledging definite limits to our scientific knowledge of the origin of our cosmos. I am not subject to the professional or ideological constraints of a radically materialistic worldview. - The Dalai Lama
There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. - Charles Darwin
For traditional Buddhist cosmology, the life cycle of a universe is cyclical. There is a period of its formation, a period where it endures, a period where it disintegrates and a period of void before a new universe forms from the luminous space that remains. That space, according to theKalachakra Tantra (Wheel of Time) is inseparable from beginningless, universal consciousness.
The constraints of scientific materialism
A very different perspective is offered by mechanistic science. From its European origins in the 17th century to its final triumph in the 19th, it has insisted that matter is non-conscious stuff interacting in dead space. And these premises are not merely intellectual abstractions. They have become beliefs about reality, shared by a globalizing human culture. The structure of our subjective experience is inevitably influenced by the notion that we too are mechanisms located in a non-conscious mechanical universe. Read the rest of this entry »
[Lumbini-Kapilvastu Day Movement does not endorse the opinions of the author.]
NEPAL: THE NEW RAINBOW NATION?
By Gabriel Lafitte
Among Tibetans and their supporters worldwide, Nepal evokes dread. The news out of Nepal is invariably bad. The 20,000 Tibetan refugees in settlements are prisoners, unable to move freely, unable to obtain certification of their refugee status, unable to find employment or get an education, stigmatized and excluded. They may not publicly vote, protest or even hold religious celebrations of the birthdays of their most revered lamas.
China’s power over Nepal extends to equipping and financing the armed forces to patrol the border with Tibet, to apprehend Tibetans using the only route of escape. China’s ability to get the Nepali army to do its security work is aided by the willingness of Nepali politicians to be seduced by the largesse of China’s aid program, no strings attached, no accountability auditing of where the money went. From the outside, it seems that Nepal, riven by revolution, is agreed on only one thing, right across the spectrum, from Maoists to royalists: no-one likes the Tibetans.
It is not just the elite that is prejudiced. The Tibetans, like the landless urban poor in the Kathmandu slums along the riverbanks, are considered sukumbasi, a term so broad it includes all the excluded, the displaced, landless, unacknowledged refugees, with no means of subsistence, suspected of thievery, gold smuggling and an inclination for criminality. Sukumbasi are feared and sneered at, especially by the upper caste Bahun Hindus who depict them as dangerous outsiders, despoilers, polluters of the rivers, a threat to the nation. The slum dwellers are seen as puppets of the Maoists, a rent-a-mob willing to swarm into the city on command to fill rallies with their shouts. The sukumbasi are said to have toppled the king, and that behind the scenes, they are tools of foreign meddlers or get undeserved help from NGOs. Read the rest of this entry »
The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things natural and spiritual as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that could cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism. ~Albert Einstein
Many in Nepal, my country of birth, have basic understanding of Buddhism. I came to the US in 1979 and then again in 2006. I have tried to study how Buddhism is practiced in the US. I found people practicing Buddhism with great enthusiasm as compared to my fellow Nepalese back home. I have been more than a little disappointed with this observation in the past. Also, I put some sort of uncomfortable questions when we don’t dare to adore some of Buddha’s teachings. The major reason for this subdued approach toward Buddhism has been the action of erstwhile rulers of Nepal, who tried to effectively banish Buddhism by expelling everyone who practiced Buddhism; and who threatened Buddhist monks and nuns with the choice of disrobing or leave the country.
Buddha’s ideas were based on his observation of human behavior starting with his experience when he ventured outside his palace and saw an old man, a sick man, and a dead man. Buddha taught that any human being can attain Buddhahood provided he or she follows the Eightfold Paths which are included in the Four Noble Truths. His teachings of the Four Noble Truths which included the Eight Fold Path are:
1. There is suffering in the world.
2. Suffering occurs because of too great an attachment to one’s desires.
3. By eliminating the cause-attachment-you can eliminate suffering.
4. There is a method to eliminating the cause, called the Eightfold Path, a guide to “right” behavior and thoughts. The Eightfold Path is a moral compass leading to a life of wisdom (right views, right intent), virtue (right speech, conduct, livelihood), and mental discipline (effort, mindfulness, concentration). Read the rest of this entry »
A few weeks ago I began a series of posts called “Western Buddhism: The 50 Year Lessons.” In that post I mentioned three lessons: enlightenment is not what we thought, meditation is not good for everything and religious corruption is universal. Outside of ethnic enclaves, Buddhism is really quite new in the West. Even the word “Buddhism” itself — a term coined by 19th century European scholars to categorize it as a world religion along with other “isms” — is not quite right. There is no such word “Buddhism” in Buddhism. The Buddha himself used the word marga, which simply means “path.” Buddhism is a wisdom path, a long, difficult, and complex journey. It takes time and effort, and mistakes are part of it.
I would like to continue my exploration of 50 year lessons with two more: Prejudice Against Women Runs Deep, and Conflict is Part of the Path.
Prejudice Against Women Runs Deep.
Buddhism began in Northern India in the 5th century B.C., in a caste-ridden, conquistador society where women were ranked below men in nearly all things. According to scripture, the Buddha did not initially want women in his monastic order, and it was only through the pleading of his disciple Ananda, speaking on behalf of Prajapati — a leading woman disciple and the Buddha’s biological aunt — that the Buddha reluctantly agreed. Since Buddhist scriptures were not committed to writing until several centuries later, we don’t know whether this incident was literally true, but it was certainly culturally normative for that time. That bias against women has remained operative in Buddhist countries to this day. The young Karmapa — reported to me by people who were there — said recently in a public gathering that the prejudice against women in Buddhism was simply wrong and should be changed. After 2,500 years, that’s good to hear. Correcting that “mistake” is probably easier said than done, however. Read the rest of this entry »
Ngima Tendup Sherpa drives us through Sukedhara, into one of the alleys of Kapan, to meet his artist brother-in-law Ang Tsherin Sherpa (Tsherin).
On Wednesday, January 4, Tsherin had been in town for nearly a month and was returning to San Francisco a week later. But even during his short trip, Tsherin had shipped in stacks of canvases to work on, and at Kapan, he had set up his temporary studio.
A 100” x 72” canvas, laid out on a pair of wooden panels, leans against the wall in one of the rooms. A work in progress, we are faced by a large female demonic figure in blue.
Bright orange flames lick her and butterflies, in their under painting, flutter all around. The painting is very similar to Tsherin’s first contemporary work made in 2008, titled ‘The Butterfly Effect/Chaos Theory.’ Only then, it was a blue male figure painted on a much smaller scale of 22.5” x 28”.
“The Butterfly Effect/Chaos Theory was my response to the then financial meltdown in the US, where the blue figure represents the corporate giant,” Tsherin states. Read the rest of this entry »
“To be, or not to be: that is the question.”
–Hamlet
“Psychopaths are capable of taking the perspective of somebody else, but only to take better advantage of you. They’re able to play the empathy game, but without the feelings involved. It’s like an empty shell. The core of empathy — being in tune with the feelings of somebody else — seems to be completely lacking. They are like aliens among us.”
–Frans de Waal
The Believing Brain
The human brain often functions as a “believing organ.” Our beliefs develop for many different subjective and psychological reasons, and according to various contexts (family, relationships, culture, media, advertising). There is evidence that many beliefs are largely subconscious in nature. That does not stop us inventing conscious explanations for them. We rationalize, defend and fight for our beliefs — often as if our identity depended upon it. And often it does.
If some new reality challenges our mental map, our understanding of it will usually be limited by our old beliefs. Evidently human ideologies provided some evolutionary advantage in the past. But the enormous evolutionary crisis we are now facing requires rapid creative adaptation to unprecedented realities. The believing organ is being challenged as never before.
Democracy or Corporatocracy?
At the outset of the 21st century, the dominant institution is not government but business corporations, which have learned how to manipulate the democratic process. These legal entities have an insatiable appetite for profit and work to undermine any limitations on their power to pursue it. A prime example was the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to permit unlimited corporate cash donations to political campaigns. Big Carbon companies responded to this new legalization of corruption by financing lavish advertising to capture a majority in the House of Representatives. Defying the unprecedented frequency of extreme weather events occurring worldwide — including a record 12 events imposing aggregate damages of $52 billion on the U.S. itself — their “representatives” blocked any attempts to address the climate crisis. They attacked environmental regulations across the board and cut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency (which they also threatened to abolish). They organized witch-hunts of eminent climate scientists, reminiscent of the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s. Read the rest of this entry »
Ram Kumar Shrestha
sujanneupane
worldamity
[Nepal initiated an important proposal since 1993 that Buddha should be declared as "Light of the Universe" in place of 'Light of Asia' only. Dr. Bishnu Hari Nepal, former Vigya Member, Foreign Policy Draft Sub-committee, Legislative Parliament of Nepal, is strongly advocating it in the international level. International Relations and Human Rights Committee of the dissolved Legislative Parliament of Nepal had unanimously passed the vision making it a part of the campaign of the Nepalese Foreign Policy. This article is based on that concept.]
Professor Dr. Bishnu Hari Nepal
Getty Images
But it is just as well to state a thesis starkly and nakedly, if one wants to clear up one’s mind as to its nature.
