A `Lumbini circuit` suggested for Buddhist tourism

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New Delhi, India -- Former Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Friday advocated a ‘Lumbini circuit’ of Buddhist tourism sites spanning India and Nepal which would attract millions of Buddhist pilgrims.

Nepal said he was for two different circuits, one for India, touching Buddhist spots of Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and another one in Nepal, touching Lumbini, the ?maternal house? of the Buddha, Kapilavastu, his ?father?s house?, and other sites.

?One broad Lumbine circuit should be there.. both countries can attract Buddhist pilgrims on the circuit? This should be developed to attract millions of pilgrims,? said Nepal at a talk at Sapru House organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA).

Last year, in November, an MoU was inked between a committee set up by the Nepal government and a Hong Kong-based NGO to transform Lumbini into a ?Mecca for Buddhists?.

The Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation (APEC) Foundation was to pump in investment worth US $3 to 5 billion to develop infrastructure at Lumbini.

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Pakistan hopes for Buddhist boost to tourism drought

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Amid rising violence, the country is trying to revive travel to its northwest - rich in Buddhist history and significance - which could generate billions in revenue, but lies next to Taliban havens

TAKHT-i-BAHI, Pakistan -- Religious violence may be on the rise and the Taliban still a threat, but Pakistan is hoping a rich Buddhist heritage will help it boost international tourism to its troubled northwest.

<< Religious students sit on the premises of the Takht-i-Bahi Monastery in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province on Nov. 16 last year.
Photo: AFP

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, with its balmy climate in the mountains and its wealth of history on the border with Afghanistan, was once a playground for colonial adventurers and a favorite holiday destination for upper-crust Pakistanis.

Yet after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the US ushered in war in Afghanistan and an insurgency against the Pakistani government, it has become synonymous with Pakistani Taliban and other Islamist militants who have killed thousands in recent years.

Wealthier Pakistanis and Westerners stopped visiting, scared away by attacks and the threat of being kidnapped, but the provincial government is now trying to lure thousands of visitors from wealthy Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea.

A group of about 20 Buddhist monks from South Korea made the journey to the monastery of Takht-i-Bahi, 170km from Islamabad, and close to the tribal areas that are a haven for Taliban and other Islamist militant groups.

“We really felt it is our hometown, it was a great feeling which it is not possible to describe in words,” Jeon Woon-deok, a senior South Korean monk, told reporters by e-mail of the visit last year. “We only regret that we waited so long to come here.”

The journey was no straightforward pilgrimage.

The monks defied appeals from Seoul to abandon their trip for safety reasons and were guarded by Pakistani security forces on their visit to the monastery, built of ocher colored stone and nestled on a mountainside.

From about 1000 BC until the seventh century AD, northern Pakistan and parts of modern Afghanistan formed the Gandhara Kingdom, where Greek and Buddhist customs mixed to create what became the Mahayana strand of the religion.

The monk Marananta set out from what is now northwest Pakistan to cross China and spread Buddhism on the Korean Peninsula during the fourth century.

The gardens of Takht-i-Bahi host picnicking families and daydreaming teenagers, as well as students from nearby Qoranic schools, but foreign visitors are rare.

“There used to be foreign tourists here in the past, but after the attacks there are hardly any,” local guide Iftikhar Ali said.
The flow of adventurous tourists from East Asia is no more than a trickle at the moment — Ali said he sees only one or two visitors a month on average.

“For them this place is like Mecca,” said Zulfiqar Rahim, the head of the Gandhara Art and Culture Association, which is dedicated to the promotion of Pakistan’s Buddhist heritage.

Last year, monks from Bhutan also came to visit, but the Pakistani government wants to boost numbers quickly.

“We are currently working to promote religious and archaeological Buddhist tourism,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Deputy Minister of Tourism Syed Jamaluddin Shah said.

The Pakistani authorities are even planning package tours for visitors from China, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, including trips to the Buddhist sites at Takht-i-Bahi, Swat, Peshawar and Taxila, near Islamabad.

“The tourism potential is enormous. If each person who comes spends US$1,200 with hotel costs and all the rest, and 1 million people come, that makes 1 billion dollars,” Rahim said, “And we’re not talking about 1 million people, but 50 million Mahayana Buddhists in Korea, China and Japan.”

However, there is a long way to go. It will be difficult to overcome huge security problems, poor tourist infrastructure and the challenges of getting a visa and permission to travel to high-risk areas.

Enormous floods in 2010 caused further damage, although the US has since provided US$5.4 million to help revive the local economy and rehabilitate tourism in the province’s Swat District.

For now, it is mostly local visitors who come to the remains of the Buddhist sites in Pakistan. Reflecting on his country’s woes, Sajjad, a teacher gazed at a statue of Buddha and sighed: “We need this calm so much.”

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Odisha set to explore 'Buddhist tourism' potential

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BHUBANESHWAR, India -- Odisha government is taking several initiatives to explore its vast potential to turn the state into a Buddhist tourism hub like Bodhgaya in Bihar and Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh.
Large scale excavation is taking place in Lalitgiri, Udaigiri and Ratnagiri which are hilly areas in the state with highest concentration of Buddhist remains.

?The cascade has been taken into safe custody , being conserved and will be displayed at the new museums at Lalitgiri which is undergoing construction,? Sushant Kumar Kar, assistant superintending archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) told PTI.

?During the excavation of Ratnagiri, which was carried on by former director general of ASI, Dr Debala Mitra between 1958-61, two monasteries were found; the bigger one was about 55 metre square while the smaller one had several stupas and temples,? Mr Kar said.
?The second phase of excavation took place between 1997-2003 in which we unearthed a double-storey shrine complex, stupa complex and a kitchen complex,? said Mr Kar.

In order to promote state's tourism the Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) has also conducted a week long tour jointly with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. An international Buddhist conclave is also scheduled for next month.

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Pre-dawn calls and hard beds – South Korea’s spiritual tourism

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SEOUL, South Korea -- As a paying guest at Mihwangsa, there’s no need to book a morning wake-up call.
It’s provided well before sunrise, at 4am to be precise... and it isn’t optional.

<< Participants and monks taking meditating sessions during a temple stay at a yard of Mihwangsa temple in Haenam, 350km south of Seoul. – AFP pic

Instead of a phone call - none of the rooms have phones - guests are roused by a monk walking past their rooms, knocking on a wooden block to call them for a round of pre-breakfast chanting and meditation.

The dozen guests who make their sleepy way to the temple’s main hall - clad in identical grey loose-fitting outfits - are all taking part in Mihwangsa’s Templestay programme.

Ranging from middle school students to housewives in their late 30s, and including Koreans and foreigners, they were attracted by what has become a thriving mini-tourist industry in temples across South Korea.

“I wanted to be isolated in the mountains while experiencing the traditional life,” said Helena Ranneberg, a Danish web consultant.

Mihwangsa temple is undoubtedly isolated, located halfway up a mountain in coastal Haenam county around 320km southwest of Seoul.

The Templestay programme has its unlikely origins in the 2002 football World Cup which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan.

When the government made a general appeal for help in overcoming a shortage of hotel accommodation, the Jogye Order, the country’s largest Buddhism sect, saw an opportunity and began opening its temples to short-term paying guests.

“There were shared voices within Buddhism that we needed to interact with the outside world by opening ourselves to the public,” said Kumgang, the head monk of Mihwangsa.

The rates are relatively cheap, ranging from 50,000-80,000 won (RM138 to RM230) a night, and the amenities are spartan compared to any mainstream hotel.

Guests are obliged to sleep on thin cotton mattresses on a hardwood floor, eat vegetarian food and participate in classes on Buddhism, morning meditation and evening chanting of scriptures — all led by monks.

“The most difficult part for me was to sit and lie on the wooden floor,” confessed Ranneberg.

“I just couldn’t sleep at night.”

In their free time, they can hike in the surrounding area, read books, drink tea and participate in much of the temple’s daily life. Drinking and smoking are forbidden and mobile phone use actively discouraged.

“Other than ceremonies, I can relax, drink tea with the monks and have discussions on life... It’s all I could wish for,” said Park Seung-Kyung, a housewife from Gwangju who had booked in for three days.

None of the monks at Mihwangsa speak English, but a lay Buddhist living in the temple helps interpret for foreign guests.

For Ranneberg, the language barrier was not an issue.

“Before dawn, I had time on my own in complete darkness, just sitting in front of the traditional architecture... And that really was something different, something I would never be able to experience anywhere else,” she said.

Since the programme began a decade ago, the number of participating temples has risen from 33 to 109 and close to two million people have stayed in them.

Last year, the number of Templestay guests was 212,437, of which around 12 per cent were foreigners.

Since 2004 the government has provided subsidies totalling around US$100 million (RM306 million) to the programme which the government sees as a force for promoting traditional Korean culture.

But not everybody is happy.

Last year, the Korean Association of Church Communication issued a statement arguing that there was “room for conflict” in the government subsidising a programme associated with one particular religion.

“There clearly is a problem with financially supporting missionary events by specific religion,” it said.

The official Templestay website stresses that the programme is mainly aimed at providing a cultural experience, rather than an effort to promote religious belief.

Tensions between Buddhism and the Christian Church have deep roots in South Korea.

Historically the dominant religion, Buddhism has been eclipsed by Christianity which grew at an incredible pace in the 20th century, especially after the 1950-53 Korean War.

Thirty percent of the population describe themselves as Christian, making South Korea one of the most Christian countries in Asia, ranking third after the traditionally Catholic Philippines and East Timor.

Buddhists now comprise a little over 20 per cent, and there is some resentment in the Buddhist community over South Korea’s embrace of a particularly evangelical style of Christianity that places a strong emphasis on proselytising and missionary work.

The Jogye Order plans to designate more temples as Templestay hosts next year and head monk Kumgang says Mihwangsa will continue to participate in the programme.

“Templestay can provide people who live a busy life with a place to relax and refresh... like a realm of peace and spiritual growth,” he said.

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Kashmir tourism department restore Buddhist sites to promote pilgrimage tourism

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Baramulla (Jammu and Kashmir), India -- In a bid to attract more Buddhist pilgrims, the tourism department in Jammu and Kashmir has decided set to restore Buddhist sites in the state.

<< Ancient ruins at Parihaspora

The department has already sent a plan to the Archaeological Survey of India proposing to install basic facilities at these sites.

Places like Parihaspora, Harwan and Kanispura-Ushkura, which still have ruins of Buddhist monasteries, are planned to be included in department's pilgrimage tourism initiative.

Director of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism, Talat Parvez, said on Sunday that they would develop the whole circuit of tourism.

"There are many such ancient places and monuments where we want to promote tourism. We have done a documentation, which we will bring forward in the shape of a coffee table book in the next season. This coffee table book will become a source of promotion and such places will become prominent. We are also promoting circuit tourism," said Parvez.

Besides their historical importance, these sites hold a lot of significance and emotional attachment to Buddhists the world over.

Once these sites are developed, they will give a boost to local infrastructure and generate employment for locals.

Historians said that the Buddhist monastery in Parihaspora town, which is located at a distance of 26 kilometres from Srinagar, is one of the famed sites and if the provincial government pays attention and give it facelift then tourists will visit the place in large numbers.

"People do no come here in Kashmir to look only to the scenic beauty. They also would like to see the old heritage and how the civilization has developed here. So, if we see this is one of the biggest civilizations, which was here and this was the central place at one point of time. Now nobody recognises this place, it is all in shambles. So, the need of the hour is not just to preserve them, not just to put fence around them but to also bring people here to look, so that they will themselves see and develop the area around the vicinity," said a historian, Professor Mohammad Sultan.

Tourism is one of the biggest means of earning for the people of the Kashmir Valley. It was hit hard by the separatist agitations, which had adversely affected the turnout of tourists.

Meanwhile, Kashmir of northern Jammu and Kashmir state was once a top Asian tourism destination, popular among honeymooners, skiers, trekkers and anglers, and attracting about a million tourists a year until 1989, when a simmering anger against New Delhi's rule burst into a violent rebellion. And the numbers of visitors shrunk to only a few thousand a year.

However, with peace being restored in the province, the influx of tourists has increased.

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Uproar over tourism plan for Buddha's birthplace

The Buddha evokes feelings of peace and harmony, but a plan to boost the profile of his birthplace as an international tourist site has outraged followers and prompted protests.

The reason? Buddhist organisations are questioning the involvement of a man mired in the politics of violence as the head of that initiative, contrary to their religion's path of peace and non-violence.

Lumbini in modern-day Nepal is revered as Buddha's birthplace, and was designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1997.

But despite its religious and cultural importance, it has never been seriously developed as an independent tourist site. Hotels are few and road access limited. It is often the last hop for Buddhist tours coming from India via Sarnath and important sites such as Bodh Gaya and Kushinagar.

Nepalese tour operators complain that pilgrims on such tours are returned back to India after a brief visit to Lumbini.

Now high-profile people such as United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and as many as four heads of states are apparently involved in an effort to push it into the international tourism spotlight.

But the initiative is being spearheaded by former Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as "Prachanda" or "The Fierce One'. From 1996 to 2006, he led a bloody insurgency against the state's monarchy that resulted in the deaths of more than 15,000.

A 2006 peace pact ended the civil war, and the Maoists won an election in 2008, paving the way for Dahal to take over as prime minister. But he resigned in 2009, and is now chairman of The Greater Lumbini National Development Committee, much to the concern of prominent Buddhist monks, including abbots of major monasteries in Nepal.

Dahal's project, however, is not the first one on Lumbini and neither is his interest in the holy site new.

Another initiative called the Lumbini Development Project is already being implemented as part of a vision shared by former UN secretary-general U Thant, a practising Buddhist, and the late King Birendra of Nepal. Noted Japanese architect Kenzo Tange was also involved in it.

But the pace of this project, which began in 1978, has been slow. Members of this project said they have no idea what Dahal's committee intends to do or implement. "We really don't know how the new project is going to add to the previous plan," a member, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Sunday Times.

In November last year, Dahal visited New York as chairman of the Lumbini National Development Committee to invite Ban to a conference on the holy site scheduled to be held late next month. According to Dahal, Ban readily accepted.

A spokesman for the office of the UN Secretary-General said it could not confirm the trip, and an announcement would be made much closer to the date if it happens.

Nevertheless, given Dahal's history and the concerns of Nepal's Buddhist community, Ban's alleged involvement in the initiative is already drawing controversy.

"It would be untimely and inauspicious for the Secretary-General to visit Lumbini under present circumstances," wrote Kul Chandra Gautam, a Nepali national who unsuccessfully contested for the chair of the UN General Assembly last year, a few years after he retired as assistant secretary-general of the world body.

"Nepal is at a critical juncture, struggling to overcome the legacy of a decade-long civil war that killed 15,000. Genuine peace has not yet dawned, the drafting of the new Constitution has been delayed by two years, and there is rampant lawlessness and impunity," he said in his blog, a posting that has since been carried by many Nepali papers.

Gautam wrote that the current government led by the Maoists has granted mass amnesty to Maoist cadres and leaders involved in cases like murders and abduction during the years of insurgency.

"Should Ban be chairing the international conference on Lumbini as the guest of Prachanda with that reputation?" he asked.

Ban had earlier planned to visit Nepal this month, some reports in the Nepalese press said, but cancelled that visit in the face of a series of protests by Buddhist organisations, with some of them submitting petitions to different embassies on how the development of Lumbini is being politicised, and how Buddhists - the real stakeholders - were being excluded from Dahal's initiatives.

This time, Ban is expected to be joined by the heads of Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and possibly Bhutan, foreign ministry officials said, on condition of anonymity as the plans have not yet been confirmed.

But Gautam said: "The Secretary-General co-chairing such a conference at a holy site would be a sacrilege, insulting not just peace-loving Nepalis but also millions of Buddhists around the world."

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