This Week in the Press: Stories of interest to Shambhala Sun readers
This Week in the Press: Stories of interest to Shambhala Sun readers |
- This Week in the Press: Stories of interest to Shambhala Sun readers
- Buddha relic likely to displayed at state museum
- Bo Da Pagoda preserves sacred Buddhist treasures
- Miscreants trying to provoke conflict between Buddhists & Muslims
- New generation emerges at Shaolin Temple
| This Week in the Press: Stories of interest to Shambhala Sun readers Posted: 19 Aug 2012 08:00 AM PDT If you're following the Shambhala Sun on Facebook, you know that we share interesting stories from around the web there all week long. But not everyone's on Facebook, so here's what we posted in the past week.
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| Buddha relic likely to displayed at state museum Posted: 18 Aug 2012 04:00 PM PDT The Indian, Express, Aug 16, 2012New Delhi, India -- A bone relic, believed to be a tooth of Lord Buddha, kept in the strong room of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) office here since 1985, is likely to be displayed at the state museum soon, Odisha Tourism minister Maheswar Mohanty said. "ASI authorities have assured us that they will hand over the bone relic to the state government soon," Mohanty said The relic, considered sacred for Buddhist followers, was unearthed during an ASI excavation at Lalitgiri, a Buddhist site in Jajpur, in 1985. "We first found a stone pot during excavation. When we opened it, a silver cup was found and finally the bone relic was seen in a gold cover," an ASI official said. When the state government attempted to collect the relic from the ASI in 1985, it was opposed by some political leaders of Jajpur district. While the leaders demanded that the relic be housed at Lalitgiri museum, the ASI refused to hand it over to them on security reason. Meanwhile, Mohanty motivated the Jajpur leaders and got their support to keep the relic at the state Museum here. "I took one MP, who had earlier opposed the transfer of the relic to the state government, along with me to convince the ASI authorities at Delhi," the minister said. "The relic will initially be displayed at the state museum and later shifted to Lalitgiri, the place from where it was discovered," Mohanty said. Meanwhile, the state government has engaged experts to design the box in which the relic would be kept for public viewing. "We are also not ignoring the security aspect of the relic at the meuseum here," the minister said. Stating that objective of displaying the relic at the state museum here was to attract Buddihist tourists to the state, the minister said the state government was keen on bringing the Buddihist special train to the city. "The state government has requested the Railways to extend the route of the Mahaparinirvan Express till Odisha so that more tourists can visit the Buddhist circuits in the state," he said. 
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| Bo Da Pagoda preserves sacred Buddhist treasures Posted: 18 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT by Thanh NgaHanoi, Vietnam -- If you get the chance to visit the northern province of Bac Giang, you should not miss the opportunity to take in the sacred landscape around Bo Da Pagoda in Thuong Lat Hamlet, Tien Son Commune, Viet Yen District. There you can see Buddhist woodblocks and ancient architecture that has been preserved for hundreds of years.
The pagoda, also known as Quan Am (Goddess of Mercy) or Bo Pagoda for short, lies at the foot of a pine-covered hill, surrounded by earthen walls with mountains and rivers in the distance. Legend has it that the Goddess of Mercy helped a poor childless couple there. One day, the husband was cutting pine trees at the top of the mountain when 32 gold coins suddenly burst from a tree. An enlightened monk told him that it was a miraculous appearance of the Goddess. The woodcutter entreated the goddess to give him a son, saying that if she did so he would build a pagoda to worship her. The woodcutter's wish was fulfilled, and he built a pagoda just as he had promised. Many other people have also gotten their wishes fulfilled by praying to the Goddess in this pagoda, so it is named Quan Am Pagoda. The pagoda was built in the 11th century under the Ly dynasty, the golden age of Buddhism in Viet Nam, but was badly damaged during wars in subsequent centuries. It was not until the revival of the Le dynasty under King Le Du Tong (1705-28) that the pagoda was reconstructed and more or less retains the shape it has today. Bo Da is a centre of Lam Te Buddhism and has a major role in the promotion and development of Buddhism in Viet Nam. Every year, the pagoda attracts many monks and believers from across the country who come here to meditate and learn this faith. Compared to other pagodas in the North, Bo Da is unique for its architecture: while it appears to be a closed complex from the outside, on the inside the pagoda has hundreds of compartments that all open into one another. The pagoda provides visitors with a sacred, secluded refuge from the outside world. The walls, tiles, big water jars, and decorative pots in Bo Da all have a distinct brown soil colour. The pagoda is also home to many documents, objects and antiques which have great value in terms of culture, history, architecture and fine arts. These include a bronze bell, a stone stele, a horisontal lacquered board engraved with Chinese characters, and a pair of wood panels on which are inscribed parallel sentences. Special woodblock Because of the great influence of Lam Te Buddhism, most of the pagoda's famous carved woodblocks bear the Sutras of Zen Buddhism. In the 18th century, the monks at the pagoda carved Buddhist Sutras on wood to preserve the texts so they could be used for the teaching of Buddhism. Over 2,000 Sutra woodblocks are arranged on eight bookcases. Large blocks are laid on the tables so that visitors can see them easily. The woodblocks are 44cm long, 22cm wide and 2.5cm thick. Some of them are larger, measuring 150cm long, 30cm wide and 2.5cm thick. If all the Sutra woodblocks were laid side by side, they would cover an area of 250sq.m. Unique towers "For us, the most interesting part of the pagoda was the field of old tombs along the hill, which are said to belong to the chief monks of the pagoda and some others," said visitor Nguyen Thanh Hoa. Outside Bo Da Pagoda is an 8,000sq.m Tower Garden encircled by an old brick wall. "The towers here are made of stone and solid brick, coated with lime, molasses and wood-pulp and arranged layer upon layer," Hoa added. Most of the towers are 3-5m high and have three or four storeys. Inside 97 towers is the bone-ash of more than 1,000 monks of Lam Te Buddhism. These towers, inscribed with the days of birth and death of the monks, are a valuable source for researchers of Lam Te Buddhism. With its many tower tombs, Bo Da's Tower Garden is considered the biggest and most beautiful in Viet Nam. Hoa said he was lucky enough to participate in the Bo Da Festival, which is held annually on February 16-17 of the lunar calendar. The festival attracts thousands of monks and visitors nationwide and involves both prayer and sightseeing. 
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| Miscreants trying to provoke conflict between Buddhists & Muslims Posted: 18 Aug 2012 02:00 PM PDT Scoop News, August 15, 2012Dharamsala/Jammu, India -- The Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamsala deeply disturbed and concerned over the circulation of a misleading photograph in some section of the media showing Tibetan monks in their reports on the recent violence in Myanmar involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, said in a statement issued from Dharamsala. Statement said that a photograph of Tibetan monks standing in front of a pile of dead bodies appeared in many websites in the Muslim countries, especially Pakistan. This photo of Tibetan monks was actually taken during their relief work in Kyegudo (Yushul), eastern Tibet, after a devastating earthquake hit the region on 14 April 2010. The Tibetan monks extended remarkable service in the rescue and relief operations at the time. The relevant department of the Central Tibetan Administration wrote a letter to a website in Pakistan (ColumPk.com, Urdu Current Affairs Portal) on 30 July to remove the photo from its website, which it did so the next day. But the photo is still in circulation, as some Muslims carrying the photo during their recent protest in Mumbai on 11 August 2012, appeared in Zee News, a leading news channel in India. Statement appeals to the media across the world not to use this photo, which is being circulated by miscreants to provoke conflict between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. 
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| New generation emerges at Shaolin Temple Posted: 18 Aug 2012 01:00 PM PDT Xinhua, Aug 16, 2012ZHENGZHOU, China -- Tourists visiting the Shaolin Temple in Central China's Henan province were amazed to see Master Yanpei fix a crashed computer in just under two minutes.
With support from Abbot Shi Yongxin, he went to the Buddhist Academy of China to further his study of Buddhist theory in 2007. Now he is a personal assistant to the abbot and a potential candidate to take up his mantle. "I learned knowledge from college and gained an understanding of life from the Buddhist academy," he said. "The combination creates wisdom." Master Yanti, a 28-year-old monk studying at the temple, has fused his own studies of Buddhist and martial arts with more disparate fields, such as psychology and English. The man started his martial arts studies at the age of 16, leaving his school for the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Chinese kungfu, just two years later. Yanti became a formal "fighting monk" in 2004, demonstrating his skills in countries around the world before returning to his studies. Yanti studied at Nanjing University and Buddhist College Singapore in 2008 and 2009, respectively, supplanting his study of Buddhist theory with classes on calligraphy and sociology. "Overseas study allows me to teach the essence of Chinese Buddhist to our western trainees, "he said. He now teaches martial arts to 20 Italians who came to the temple after applying at the Shaolin Culture Center in Italy. The Shaolin Temple has more than 40 overseas culture centers, mainly in Europe and the United States. The centers, as well as the practice of sending its monks to study foreign languages and religious theories, is just another way in which the temple has attempted to expand its reach globally. "Training the monks is a tradition of Shaolin Temple," said 47-year-old Abbot Shi Yongxin. "Overseas training is good for the inheritance and development of Buddhist in a globalized world," Shi said. Only by broadening their knowledge and vision can Buddhists communicate well with their followers, he said. Shi said more than 40 Shaolin monks are currently pursuing degrees at institutes of higher education both home and abroad, adding that every monk who wishes to study can be sponsored. More than half of the temple's 300 registered monks were born after 1980. The younger monks are more educated and more likely to embrace the modern world, Shi said. Master Yanzheng, a 27-year-old monk who dropped out of an economics program at Anhui Normal University in 2001, might be the temple's most studious monk. After studying for five years at Buddhist College Singapore, he was able to achieve a high score on his IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam. He plans to go to the University of Hong Kong to complete a master's degree in religion. "The era of sitting in meditation by the light of an oil lamp has gone. We need to keep pace with the times," said Yanzheng, iPhone in hand. "The Internet is a good tool with which to disseminate Buddhist," he said. 
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<< Like a prayer: The entrance to Bo Da Pagoda..jpg)
Master Yanpei, 29, a 2005 computer science graduate from Chongqing University, became an acolyte in 2006 at the 1,500-year-old Buddhist temple after becoming disillusioned with his previous place of employment.| You are subscribed to email updates from BuddhaRocks ☸ Buddhist To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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