India lost Buddha to China: Rector
Posted on March 4th, 2012

Courtesy: ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Buddhist Channel

Mumbai, India — ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Indians, over centuries, have lost their Buddhist culture to countries like China,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ said Charles Willemen, Rector, International Buddhist College, Thailand.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Willemen was present at the Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies where the Buddhist Studies Series was inaugurated with the release of first volume, Outlining the Way to Reflect – a book by Willemen which explains the basic modules of meditation from the ancient Buddhist culture.

With the series, the institute aims at introducing the young generation to this ancient culture, which originally belonged to India.

Willemen said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Buddhism originated in India, but the country has lost the culture. China can give back to India a lot of its own culture. There have been several factors from history that have contributed to this decline of Buddhism in India. Many expert minds have given different reasons for this situation. Now, when foreigners are bringing back the same thing, the locals have now started re-recognising it.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Outlining the Way to Reflect is a tribute to Kumarajiva, originally an Indian expert in Buddhism who translated many Buddhist texts from Sanskrit to Chinese. It baffles me when Buddhist studies are related to the learning of the Pali language, whereas the religion originated from Sanskrit,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ said Willemen.

He continued, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-It is important to promote Buddhist culture among students, along with other mainstream subjects.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

The Buddhist Studies Series is an initiative of the KJ Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies, which will publish research works on the diverse perspectives from which the Buddhist tradition has been studied. Encompassing all of Buddhist tradition, the series will comprise textual studies and translations, historical, sociological and philosophical investigations, as well as studies relating to Buddhist religious practices and Buddhist expressions in the art and cultures of Asia.

The series will also include such modern, inter-disciplinary dimensions to Buddhism as contemplative studies, social engagement, gender studies and perspectives on ethics and ecology, according to Supriya Rai, of the Buddhist Studies Centre at Somaiya.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

12 Responses to “India lost Buddha to China: Rector”

  1. Ben_silva Says:

    Indians realised the dangers of Buddism after the Nalanda debacle. Buddhism never recovered in India after the Nalanda debacle. China is a secular Communist state and have no place to religion.Any Buddhism left in China is mixed with Taoism and other Chinese Philosophies. Buddhism has high standards in ethics and morality but poor on dealing with agressors and highly cometitive materislistic world.

  2. Lorenzo Says:

    Ben,

    Not SL and Chinese Buddhists.

    Indian Buddhists were weak because of Hindu extremists made them weak. SL and Chinese Buddhists were strong because Indian extremists were BEATEN by us VIOLENTLY.

  3. Sirih Says:

    Ben, Don’t generalised Buddhism in China and Japan with out knowing facts… I help with temples in these countries and know how things work… Just parroting some thing you learn from media will not help your credibility .

    Up to few yrs ago Chinese need to carry a special ID card saying they are Buddhist and this include very high up party members too… Tao part is just a another break from original Buddhism and mainly active in South but conservative Buddhism is intact in the main stream Buddhism. So Pls. stick to facts.
    Japanese Buddhism is very strong and will survive there and Korea is the only place that things are slippery but Majority is still Buddhist and Christians want to say otherwise.
    I was told you are a christian and as such Pls. stick to your faith with out insulting or creating falsehood to make a point.
    You are not qualified to preach Buddhism.

  4. mjaya Says:

    **To respond to Sirth. I am a Buddhist**
    Well Ben, had you been a Muslim you would have qualified for the Al-Taqiyya of the Millennium Award! No wonder you choose your words very carefully when Christianity is criticized.

    **There are many Buddhists like me, who are prepared to defend our country and heritage rather than give up desires and seek Nirvana and ending as nobody.**
    Really?! Your self contradictory statement is hilarious! Buddhism IS A part of our heritage (in fact a major part of it!) BTW, thank you for defending our country from London.

    **Prabakaran and Jehan Perera wanted us to follow the passive Buddhist path.Clearly Buddhists have been brain washed to be passive and could not defend themselves. **
    Again, that is probably why the LTTE were defeated by Martians NOT the overwhelmingly Sinhalese-Buddhist SL Army, Navy and Airforce.

    **Even India, the source country of Buddhism has dumped Buddhism**
    No wonder they did so, people who drink cow urine, worship cows, worship rats, bath among corpses in the Ganges will never be able to comprehend Buddhism in the first place.

    **Another fact is since India and China dumped Buddhism, they have developed tremondously and countries such as Tibet and Bhutan are backeward. **
    Wrong again! India has more beggars than the whole world combined. As for China, just read the article! Did you forget countries like Somalia, East Timor, the Philippines, Albania, Romania, Afghanistan, Yemen are Buddhist as well!

    **Sikhs lwarnt that defence is an important part and their relegion was modified by a Guru so that they can defend themselves. We have no suchHurus.**
    To name a few Soma Hamuduruwo, Ellawala Hamudurowo, Kudapola Rahula Hamuduruwo……..where do you get your facts from?

  5. Dham Says:

    Fool has zero facts. Blind faith he followed from his “Non-Buddhist” birth. He stupidly thinks all Buddhists blindly believs in Nirvana and Samsara.
    This FOOL dare to say he is a Buddhist when clearly to all learned men there is no Buddhism without Nibbana.
    This fool is walking naked.
    This fool should be stopped by strong action not by respect.
    This fool is a liar pretending to be a patriot and he appears in this site using various names.

  6. Dham Says:

    India has not given the respect,honour and veneration to the greatest Indian ever. At present the most unfortunate country in the world. They honour Gandhi who taught them how to convert road to toilets.

  7. Dham Says:

    The FOOL thinks he is so big and want to teach the Sinhala Buddhist how to survive.
    He could not survive in Sir lanka and ran away to UK and learned survival.

  8. Sirih Says:

    Hmm… Ben your reasoning and logic is quite disturbing.. In a nutshell what you are saying is Just because ” drug dealer who peddle death and wealthy is respectable and should be followed”.

    What kind of a logic is this? Buddhism teach you to be a good citizen and stay on middle path contribute to humanity and look after any living being. Is this wrong?
    Our planet is so fragile and all these so called rich countries plunder those resources at gun point and became rich and this is right according to your logic?
    Read the history and also it will help you to understand that richest country also foundered on slavery and cruelty .
    I was brought up by with great Buddhist scholars and that upbringing help me tremendously when chips are down. Buddhism is all about humanity and not about false god or power.
    Compassion is in our DNA and I hope you use it for all our sake.

  9. mjaya Says:

    **Within a few years after dumping religion, both India and China have made tremondoues progress.**
    Ben Silva are you really living in this world, in this universe??? Have you lost your senses? looks like something has clouded your mind!!!!

  10. Sirih Says:

    Ben, you need to be honest with your self with out rambling and publishing untruth.

    Of course I believe in Nirvana and birth cycle. There are enough anecdotal evidence re. past life propagating to current life with past life memories being carried forward… Just because we cannot explain this, does not mean it does not happen.

    Conscious travel between life cycles and body is not important. BTW for your information, India has not progressed any where and 20 yrs behind China.. So don’t believe in media hype and I suggest you go there and find out your self.

    I went to China in 1986 and in Beijing there was only one decent hotel at that time, and I have seen Chinese progress from that year on and its amazing and if you ask where the Indians are ? They are still stuck in dark ages.

    I have given very valuable technology patents away and want them in public domain and gave away D1 Parallel interface, that develop into todays Serial Digital Broadcast Interface. Work with Sony Japan to develop SDI , which is similar to Ethernet interface on data.
    As engineers we need to donate our time and expertise for public good.

  11. Ben_silva Says:

    Sirih, thank you for your reply that you believe in rebirth and Nirvana. It appears that you believe in unproven Indian myths, just a Christians believe in unproven God and Muslims believe in unproven Allah. ie rely on blind faith. As for myself I need verifiable evidence fefore I accept things. So it is you who publish untruth, rather than me.

  12. mjaya Says:

    **As for myself I need verifiable evidence fefore I accept things. **
    So Ben Silva,
    1. Do you have a father? If did you accept him as your father after a DNA test?
    2. Did your father ever love you? Can you prove that he loved you? Can you prove that you got his love?
    You better answer these questions first before worrying about Sirih!!

    **So it is you who publish untruth, rather than me.**
    Now lets look at some of the things you say over and over again!
    1. The Sinhalese people are passive – FALSE
    2. India has dumped religion – FALSE
    3. China has dumped religion – FALSE
    4. The British gave SL independence only because of WW2 – FALSE
    5. India has made spectacular economic progress – FALSE
    6. Only Buddhists in the Silk Route ended up in blood – FALSE (the bloody Arab invasion brought death to plenty of Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus AND Buddhists)
    7. Buddhism in Sri Lanka was saved by “the sea” – FALSE (again an insult to our heroes of the past)
    8. Buddhism has made the Sinhalese people uncompetitive – FALSE
    9. People who promote Buddhism are worse than the LTTE – FALSE
    ……
    ……

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