BERLIN — German scientists said Monday it may be possible to reconstruct one of two giant 1,500 year-old Buddha statues dynamited by the Taliban in central Afghanistan 10 years ago, which prompted a worldwide outcry and left behind only towering cliff caverns.
Researchers have studied several hundred fragments of the sandstone statues that once towered up to 180 feet (55 meters) high in Bamiyan province, and found that they were once brightly colored in red, white and blue, said Erwin Emmerling of Munich’s Technical University. Read the rest of this entry »
Figure of the Buddha Amida seated on a lotus pedestal, made of lacquered and gilded wood. From Dairenji Temple, Osaka, Japan, mid 18th century.
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Through sacred texts, painted scrolls and sculptures from Sri Lanka to Japan, discover the shared traditions of Buddhism – the ‘three gems’.
The exhibition features depictions of the ‘three gems’ from across Asia. The ‘three gems’ consist of the Buddha himself, his teachings (dharma), and the Buddhist community (sangha). Despite regional variations, the ‘three gems’ show remarkable similarities, sometimes across hundreds of years.
Objects featured in the exhibition include exquisite gold sculptures and paintings of the Buddha, beautiful Buddhist texts on palm leaf and paper, and a selection of images of Buddhist monks.
The objects come from across the whole of Asia, including India, China, Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea and Japan. The earliest objects are from the 1st–2nd century AD, and the latest date to the 20th century.
Many of these objects have never been on display before, making this is a unique opportunity to view rarely-seen items from the British Museum’s collection. Due to the fragility of the paintings and texts, some items in the display will be changed after three months, halfway through the exhibition run.
This exhibition provides an insight into the key elements which hold the Buddhist world together in Asia and, now that Buddhism is a worldwide faith, across the world as a whole.
Dr. Judith Rich, Speaker, trainer, writer, coach, creator of Rx For The Soul: http://www.judithrich.com
Our lives unfold between the shores of the conscious and the unconscious. The conscious mind, when unexamined, reflects the agenda of the Ego, and concerns itself with matters of survival. It experiences and interprets events through the lens of its limiting perceptions; mainly, fear, and attempts to exert its power and influence through the use of the Will, the Ego’s instrument.
When the conscious or objective mind is in service to the Ego it is concerned with appearances, safety, comfort and maintaining the illusion of control. The Ego-driven mind wants to know: “How do I look? What will others think of me? Am I right? Am I loved/ good enough? Am I safe? Am I in control? How can I avoid pain?”
On a distant shore in a faraway land, the unconscious or subjective mind resides. Both personal and impersonal agenda take up residency there. The subjective mind houses our personally repressed memories as well as the transpersonal agenda of the universe. One could say the entire universe is housed within each one of us and it is only a dream, insight, reflection or imagination away! Read the rest of this entry »
NEW DELHI (RNS) India plans to lend rare fragments of the Buddha’s bones to Sri Lanka for the 2,600th anniversary of Buddha’s Enlightenment in May, and some see it as part of India’s strategy to gain a regional edge over neighboring China.
Indranil Banerjie, head of New Delhi-based think tank Security and Political Risk Analysis, said India’s move to enhance its “existential bond” with a Sri Lanka’s Buddhist heritage could have a powerful influence. Read the rest of this entry »
[लेखक गोरखापत्रका पूर्ब सम्पादक तथा लुम्बिनी बौद्ध विश्वविद्यालयका पहिलो रजिष्ट्रार हुनुहुन्छ । यो लेख गोरखापत्रमा ७ बर्ष अघि नै प्रकाशित भएको हो । हाल कपिलबस्तु विश्व अभियान समितिका साथीहरुको जानकारी तथा प्रतिकि्रयाको लागि समावेस गरिएको छ – संयोजकः राज श्रेष्ठ]
लुम्बिनीको अशोकस्तम्भमा कुँदिएको अभिलेखलाई प्रामाणिक तथा आधिकारिक अनुवादब्याख्या तयार गर्ने क्रममा २०६० सालमा लुम्बिनीमा राष्ट्रिय गोष्ठी सम्पन्न भएको थियो । गोष्ठीमा लुम्बिनी विकास कोषका पुरातत्वबिद वसन्त बिडारी नेपाल सरकार पुरातत्व बिभागका शुक्रसागर श्रेष्ठ र त्रिभुवन बिश्वबिद्यालयका डा। दिनेशचन्द्र रेग्मीले अलग अलग कार्यपत्र प्रस्तुत गर्नुभएकोमा पत्रहरुको टिप्पणी भएपछि सहभागाीहरुबाट कार्यपत्र लेखक र टिप्पणीकर्ताहरुको भनाईमा थप टिप्पणी भएको थियो । ज्ञानबर्धक एवं रोचकपारामा थुप्रै छलफल भएको थियो ।
२०६१ बैशाख १५ गते लुम्बिनी बिकास कोषको सम्पर्क कार्यालय भृकुटीमण्डपमा दोस्रो गोष्ठी सम्पन्न भएको छ । तर गतबर्षको भन्दा खासै अगाडि बढेन । औपचारिकतामा बढी अलमलिएको अभिलेख ब्याख्या गॊष्ठी गतबर्षको भन्दा बढी सशक्त ढंगबाट अघि बढ्नुपर्नेमा त्यस्तो हुन सकेन । तथापि यस किसिमको गोष्ठी भबिष्यमा अझै सशक्त ढंगले अझबढी अनुसन्धानकर्तालिपिविशेषज्ञपुरातत्वबिद र विद्वानहरुकॊ छलफलबाट टुङ्गोमा पुग्नसक्ने कुरा उठेपछि यसलाई नै गोष्ठीको उपलब्धी मान्नुपर्ने भएको छ । दोस्रो गोष्ठीबाट ब्याख्या संबन्धी एउटा सर्बस्वीकृत निष्कर्षमा पुगिने अपेक्षा र त्यसबाट नेपालको आफ्नो आधिकारिक भनाई संसारका सामु राख्न सजिलो हुने बिश्वास गरिएको थियो । तर त्यो भएन । Read the rest of this entry »
[So I had asked the government of India what it would officially say about the controversy. They sent an email reply to me, posted as titled Reply From Government of India on Buddha Birth Place saying that “the desired information is not available in the record holdings of National Archives of India”. Then on February 14, 2010 I wrote a paper on the Buddha birth place and posted offering a title as Nepal’s Lumbini: Where The Buddha Was Born. Then followed a series of debates particularly on Kapilvastu. In the meantime Kapilvastu Forum came forward from India to debate Kapilvastu.]
By B. K. Rana
Up till now Indian scholars, journalists and writers claim Buddha was born in India which virtually is a claim that can’t be archaeologically evidenced to be true. But on the other hand the people of Nepal tell all that the Buddha was born at Lumbini in Nepal. The Himalayan Voice had published last year a series of discussions in which scholars from around the world took part. The fact is that the debate was earlier initiated with a title Where Was Buddha Born? at Indo_Eyrasia_ Research Yahoogroups on August 1, 2009, without any knowledge of on going ‘book controversy’. The Buddha birth place controversy again brought recently out by a writer had prompted a series of national and international fury over a book ‘The Post American World‘ published in 2008.
A group of people burned the book down in Chautara, Sindhupalchowk district, some 4 hours drive eastwards from Kathmandu. A Maoist lawmaker had even raised the issue, reading aloud the text in the book in front of the Nepalese parliamentarians. The Buddha birth place controversy is not new at all, it is there since August 24, 1928 as a news broke out in a local newspaper the ‘Daily Asha’ that an Ashokan inscription was discovered in Kapileswara of Orissa. The law maker and others seemed to have been concerned over the recent book only.
So I had asked the government of India what it would officially say about the controversy. They sent an email reply to me, posted as titled Reply From Government of India on Buddha Birth Place saying that “the desired information is not available in the record holdings of National Archives of India”. Then on February 14, 2010 I wrote a paper on the Buddha birth place and posted offering a title as Nepal’s Lumbini: Where The Buddha Was Born. Then followed a series of debates particularly on Kapilvastu. In the meantime Kapilvastu Forum came forward from India to debate Kapilvastu. Read the rest of this entry »
भैरहवा, २८ माघ : भगवान् गौतम बुद्धको जन्मस्थल लुम्बिनीमा रहेका प्राचीन तथा पुरातात्त्विक वस्तुको संरक्षणका लागि पहल सुरु गरिएको छ । लुम्बिनीमा रहेको मायादेवीको प्राचीन मूर्ति, अशोक स्तम्भ र मार्कर स्टोनमा जैविक तथा रासायनिक रोग देखिएकाले त्यसको वैज्ञानिक उपचार र संरक्षणको प्रयास गरिएको लुम्बिनी विकास कोषका पुरातत्त्वविद् वसन्त बिडारीले नयाँ पत्रिकालाई बताए ।
उनका अनुसार नेपाल सरकार, पुरातत्त्व विभाग तथा युनेस्कोको संयुक्त प्रयासमा ऐतिहासिक वस्तुहरूको संरक्षणका लागि पहल थालिएको हो । यसका लागि अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय स्तरका पुरातत्त्वविज्ञ डा. क्यास्किनो मुसीसहितको विषेशज्ञ टोलीले अनुसन्धान गर्नेछ । टोलीले दुई वर्ष ६ महिनाको समयमा लुम्बिनी विकास कोष, पुरातत्त्व विभागका कर्मचारीलाई ऐतिहासिक तथा प्राचीन वस्तुहरूको संरक्षण र देखिएका समस्या समाधान गर्ने उपाय सिकाउने पुरातत्त्वविज्ञ क्यास्किनो मुसीले बताए । लुम्बिनीमा रहेका अशोक स्तम्भ, मार्कर स्टोन र मायादेवीको मूर्तिमा ढुसी, लेउ र अन्य खालका रासायनिक रोग देखिएको उनले जानकारी दिए ।
मुसीका अनुसार पानी, दूध तथा फूल र अक्षता चढाउँदा अशोक स्तम्भको रूपमा परिवर्तन आउनुका साथै खिइएको र अशोक स्तम्भमा भएका शिलालेखसमेत मेटिने अवस्थामा छन् । ‘हामीले अहिले समस्या यही हो भन्न सक्दैनौँ । धेरै प्रकारका समस्या हुन सक्छन्,’ मुसीले भने ।
लुम्बिनी विकास कोषका पुरातत्त्वविद् वसन्त बिडारीले अहिलेकै अवस्था रहिरहने हो भने आउँदो एक सय वर्षपछि शिलालेखमा भएका अक्षरहरू हराएर जानसक्ने बताए । विभिन्न रसायन तथा स्प्रेहरूको प्रयोग गरी सफाइ गर्ने र सामान्य अवस्थामा शिलालेख नबिग्रने खालको बनाउने योजना रहेको बिडारी बताउँछन् । Read the rest of this entry »
संरक्षणका नाममा बिदेशीलाई गुहारेर मौलिक अस्तित्वलाई नै सखाप पारिंदै छ ।
प्राप्त स्वाभिमानलाई जोगाउन सकेनौं ।
एउटा स्वाभिमानी नेपालीलाई लाग्छ यी निशानाहरुलाई जोगाउँ कसरी?
Ram Kumar Shrestha
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statues dynamited by the Taliban in central Afghanistan 10 years ago, which prompted a worldwide outcry and left behind only towering cliff caverns.
Lumbini-Kapilvastu Day Blog 