XPost: alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan, soc.culture.china, talk.politics.tibet   
   XPost: talk.religion.buddhism   
   From: peter@dharma.dyn-o-saur.com   
      
   Return of Buddha   
   by Shobhan Saxena, Times of India, Dec 4, 2011   
      
   Are Buddhist nations coming together to form a bloc that is as much religious   
   as it is political? And is India ready to assume   
   leadership of the group? If it is, China is clearly unhappy about it. But a   
   churning has begun. Sunday Times reports from the first   
   Global Buddhist Congregation   
      
   New Delhi, India -- With the smell of incense floating above their shaven   
   heads, the Thai monks in grey robes walked in a single   
   file, eyes to the ground and their hands softly beating the prayer drums.   
   Following them were the Tibetan lamas, Sri Lankan   
   monks and Taiwanese priests - all walking elegantly, murmuring mantras under   
   their breath and forming a circle around a chosen   
   spot.   
      
   Then a shiver passed down the crowd as the Dalai Lama arrived at Nehru Park   
   and placed into freshly dug-up holes saplings of   
   the Bodhi Tree - a cutting of the same pipal under which the Buddha had found   
   enlightenment 2600 years ago and which was   
   slashed and burned by King Sasanka of Bengal, an anti-Buddhist iconoclast, in   
   the 6th century AD.   
      
   On November 30, as the first Global Buddhist Congregation in Delhi decided to   
   form a new global Buddhist body based in India,   
   delegates from 46 countries - from the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana   
   traditions - were handed over the Bodhi Tree   
   saplings to be planted in their countries. Many leaders received the plants   
   from the Dalai Lama, who also gave the valedictory   
   speech at the congregation.   
      
   The message was not missed on anyone : Buddhism is set to get more organized   
   globally; India is to become the new centre of   
   this unity; and the Dalai Lama is recognized as an unofficial leader of all   
   Buddhists. "All Buddhist countries feel that in India, the   
   land of Buddha, nothing is being done to promote Buddhism. Now, all the   
   Buddhist organizations will be under the International   
   Buddhist Confederation to be based here," says Lama Lobsang, the head of Asoka   
   Mission, which organized the Delhi   
   congregation.   
      
   The idea seems to have been accepted. "The whole world looks to India because   
   of Buddhism. If someone from India takes   
   initiative, India can take leadership of the Buddhist world," says Banagala   
   Uptatissa , chief of Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka .   
   Well, not exactly the whole world. On November 26, one day before the   
   Congregation began, China kicked up a diplomatic   
   storm by putting off border talks with India after New Delhi refused to give   
   in to its demand of not allowing the Buddhist meet.   
      
   Earlier, 35 Chinese monks invited for the meet didn't turn up, making it clear   
   that Beijing was not happy with the congregation.   
   "This conference had a very clear agenda to remind the scattered Buddhist   
   communities that India is the home of Buddhism,"   
   says Gabriel Lefitte, Australian academic and environmental activist who   
   attended the meeting. "China has been quite vigorous   
   in making sure that anybody with a Buddhist background feels connection with   
   China but India has been a bit slow by comparison   
   to restore the 'Buddhist parivar' ."   
      
   It's not that the officially atheist China has suddenly fallen in love with   
   Buddhism . China is worried about the growing stature of   
   the Dalai Lama as a global Buddhist leader; it's also trying to build   
   credibility among the Buddhists so that Beijing can pick the   
   next incarnation of the Dalai Lama without any problem. "The current Chinese   
   leadership is haunted by the Tibetan issue as   
   there have been many cases of self-immolation by the Tibetan monks in mainland   
   China. There is a feeling of urgency regarding   
   the decision of the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama," says Binod Singh, who   
   teaches at the India Study Centre of Peking   
   University.   
      
   China faces an additional problem. It may have dazzled the world with its   
   growth rate, but China has not been able to check   
   social unrest and growth of religion at home. It's believed that there are now   
   some 100 million Buddhists in China, many of them   
   followers of Tibetan Buddhism. "Of late, the Chinese leaders have been talking   
   about a 'harmonious society' and they have eased   
   restrictions on all religions.   
      
   The Communist Party takes part in the selection of reincarnation of Tibetan   
   lamas. They want to control Buddhism to keep   
   control on their people," says an Indian diplomat who served in Beijing till   
   recently. "The friction with India is over the leadership   
   of Buddhist countries and trade interest in east Asia, which China considers   
   its area of influence."   
      
   Video: Dalai Lama's address at the World Buddhist Congregation 2011:   
   http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=70,10602,0,0,1,0   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)