German scholars to visit major Buddhist sites

Home Asia Pacific South Asia India

HYDERABAD, India -- A group of scholars from Wurzburg varsity, Germany are keen to do some project work on development of Buddhist sites and monuments in the state.

The group headed by Ingo Strauch, chair of Indology, and comprising Casen Dreyer, Britta Schneider and Anke Sanger, visited the office of the director of archaeology and museums and helddiscussions with director P Chenna Reddy on the matter.

Chenna Reddy said the scholars, who had been teaching Buddhism at the German university for several years, were interested in visiting the Buddhist sites at Thotlakonda, Bavikonda, Pavuralakonda, Salihundam, Sankaram in north Andhra, and Phanigiri in Nelakondapalli in Telangana.

They will also visit Chandavaram in Prakasam district and Nagarjunakonda in Guntur district to study the distribution of Buddhist settlements across the state and their development from Theravada School of Philosophy to Vajrayana School of Philosophy up to the medieval times as noticed at Salihundam in north Andhra and Dhanyakataka (Amaravati) in Guntur district.

Chenna Reddy explained the steps taken by the state government to develop Buddhist sites and monuments as major tourist destinations.

View the original article here

S. Korea allows Buddhist group to visit N. Korea for looted artifacts

Home Asia Pacific North Asia S/N Korea News & Issues

Seoul, South Korea -- South Korea said Friday it has allowed a seven-member Buddhist delegation to travel to North Korea next week for discussions on a joint project to return artifacts seized by Japan from the Korean Peninsula during the 1910-45 colonial occupation.

The approval is the latest apparent sign of lessening tensions on the divided peninsula. Buddhist officials from the two Koreas launched the joint project in 2000, but South Korea suspended it last year, blaming North Korea for sinking one of its warships, a charge denied by the North.

Representatives from the South's Lay Buddhist Association of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism will make the trip from Tuesday to the North's border city of Kaesong and meet their North Korean counterparts to discuss the project, officials at Seoul's unification ministry said.

"The approval was made because the project is a joint effort by the South and North to return our cultural properties seized during the Japanese colonial rule," a ministry official said on the condition of anonymity.

The ministry is in charge of South Korea's policies on North Korea. Inter-Korean relations remain tense following the North's two military attacks on the South last year, but Seoul has signaled a "flexible" approach to Pyongyang in recent months by expanding civilian contacts between the two sides.

A group of South Korean historians are now working on a joint survey in progress with North Koreans in Kaesong for another project to excavate an ancient Korean royal palace in its territory.

View the original article here

Dalai Lama to visit Kashmir excavation site

Home Asia Pacific South Asia India

Dharamsala, India -- The excavation of a site in Jammu and Kashmir that is believed to be linked with an ancient Buddhist monastery has attracted the attention of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

His private office based in this Himachal Pradesh town on Monday said he will visit Ambran, located along the banks of Chenab river in Akhnoor area, some 30 km from Jammu, Wednesday.

"His Holiness will visit Ambran for a day to see the relics discovered there. He will later deliver a public talk," Tenzin Taklha, joint secretary at the Dalai Lama's office, told IANS.

Before reaching Ambran, the Nobel laureate will open a photo exhibition in Jammu town by Akshat and Vijay Kranti, a father-son duo from Delhi, on the ongoing excavation and relics discovered there.

Ambran is the latest finding of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It's believed that the site is most probably a Buddhist monastery that was active for about 900 years between the second century BC and seventh century AD, a period belonging to the pre-Kushan, Kushan, and post-Kushan Gupta eras.

The most significant findings for the site include stupas, a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, made of high quality baked bricks and surrounded by stone pathways, meditation cells and rooms.

A three-layer casket set of copper, silver and gold containing bone relics and ornaments is another major highlight of the findings.

Nearly 100,000 Tibetans live in exile in different parts of India.

View the original article here

Dalai Lama to visit Ambaran next month

"The Dalai Lama will visit Jammu on November 16 in connection with Buddhist sites at Akhnoor border belt in the district," Minister for Health and Horticulture Sham Lal Sharma said.

He will inaugurate a photo exhibition by Tibet expert Vijay Kranti and his photographer son Akshat Kranti at Kala Kendra on the day, he said. Appreciating the preservation work being done, the Dalai Lama had earlier agreed to touring the ancient sites after a photo exhibition was held on them at a hotel in New Delhi in April.

The exhibition, which will now be showcased in Jammu, will feature the stupa and relics at Ambaran as well as the historic Akhnoor Fort, majestic Chinab river, the Jia Poto Temple, Gurudwara Tapo Asthan and the Bhagwan Parsuram temple.

The site is known for its teracotta figures that include Buddha heads of various sizes and ornately dressed male and female statues, with clearly seen influences of the Graeco-Buddhist and Gandhara schools of art.

Buddhist monasteries here date as far back as the Gupta period and can be easily traced from the copper coins of about 500 AD, adding to their significance.

View the original article here

Dalai Lama Begins 3-Day Visit to France

Home Europe

Paris, France -- Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, began a three-day visit to France Saturday to attend a two-day conference on meditation and the art of happiness.

Thousands of Buddhist followers from France and other countries poured into the Zenith theater in the southwestern city of Toulouse to listen to his teachings.

On Monday, the 76-year-old Dalai Lama gave up his role as head of the Tibetan government-in-exile when Harvard-trained scholar Lobsang Sangay was sworn in as the new leader and pledged to sustain the exile movement until freedom is achieved in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, who presided over the ceremony in Dharamsala, India, will remain as the Tibetan people's spiritual leader.

The 42-year-old Mr. Sangay said his election by Tibetans around the world sent a clear message to the Chinese leadership that the movement is far from dying out. He said the system in Chinese-ruled Tibet is not socialism but colonialism.

But despite the tough language, Mr. Sangay said he would continue the Dalai Lama's pursuit of a middle-way policy seeking only autonomy for Tibet rather than outright independence.

He said his struggle is not against China or its people, but against hardliners in the Chinese government who seek to deny justice, freedom and dignity to the Tibetan people. He said he remains firmly committed to non-violence.

The ceremony ended months of transition within the exile government, sparked by the Dalai Lama's decision to step away from political affairs. Tens of thousands of exiled Tibetans from across the globe elected Mr. Sangay in April.

The exile government has operated from Dharamsala since 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

China has routinely accused the Dalai Lama and his followers of advocating Tibetan secession, despite repeated assurances from the Nobel laureate that he is seeking dialogue with Beijing aimed at establishing Tibetan autonomy.

View the original article here

Burnaby Buddhists prepare for visit of Tibetan teacher Kalu Rinpoche

Home The Americas Canada

Burnaby, BC (Canada) -- A small Buddhist centre in Burnaby is getting ready for the visit of the man believed to be the reincarnation of the person who established it nearly 40 years ago.

<< Lama Tsultrim is eagerly anticipating a visit next month of Kalu Rinpoche. Tsultrim says the 20 year-old monk is in touch with more modern methods, including maintaining his own Facebook page. MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

Before the Dalai Lama began bringing Buddhism to the world, the Kalu Rinpoche was assigned the task.

When he arrived in Canada in 1972 he first looked at Toronto but couldn’t find many interested in setting up a centre there.

So he came to the Lower Mainland and formed the Kagyu Kunkyab Chuling, one of the first Tibetan Buddhist Dharma centres in the West, that is based on Sidley Street in South Burnaby. There is also a retreat on Salt Spring Island.

Kalu Rinpoche, who went on to establish more than 100 centres in many corners of the Western world, passed away in 1989, but before he did he asked a lama and his wife to have a child.

He was born on Sept. 17, 1990, and has been recognized as being the reincarnation of the previous Kalu Rinpoche.

Lama Tsultrim has been at the centre for 10 years. He studied under the original Kalu Rinpoche, and also came into contact with the current one.

“Of course,” said Tsultrim, when asked if he believed the 20-year-old who will be visiting the Lower Mainland next month is a reincarnation of the one he grew up with.

“He is the same, pretty much in the way he acts and the way he talks just like the previous one. He cares about people like the previous one. He had a very good relationship with his previous life.”

Tsultrim moved to a monastery when he was seven years old and worked closely with Kalu Rinpoche from 1982 to 1988.

“He was a very, very kind teacher and he really cared about other people. For me, he was like a father,” said Tsultrim.

Patrick Couling, a centre spokesman, said lamas who know both men well all say the two Kalu Rinpoches are one and the same.

However, what is different about them is the young Kalu Rinpoche grew up in the age of the Internet and Facebook, even though he was raised in a monastery 7,000 feet up in the mountains near Darjeeling, India. Part of his mission is trying to integrate modern means to spread Buddhism.

“Spirituality is one thing, but you’ve got to still live in this world,” said Couling.

Kalu Rinpoche will be in British Columbia Sept. 12-25, with the Lower Mainland portion of the visit Sept. 13-17, including his 21st birthday celebration on Sept. 16.

“He’s a man believed to be a direct descendant of people who lived 1,000 to 1,500 years ago, so there’s a tremendous amount of excitement as a result,” said Tsultrim.

For more information on the centre and the events of Kalu Rinpoche’s visit go to kkc-kdol.org.

View the original article here

Richard Gere to visit Borobudur this month

Home Asia Pacific South East Asia Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia -- Hollywood star Richard Gere will visit one of the world’s most renowned and largest Buddhist temples, Borobudur, in Magelang, Central Java, on June 26, a Culture and Tourism Ministry official says.

Gere, who is also a human rights activist, was invited by the ministry to spend time at the temple, exploring and enjoying its beauty.

Apparently it took a year to bring Gere to Indonesia, Ministry of Culture and Tourism director general of marketing Sapta Nirwandar said as quoted by kompas.com.

?We did not pay him to come here. He came here as a personal guest of the ministry, not as a celebrity,? he added.

During his visit in Indonesia, Gere is scheduled to watch the sunrise at the temple and spend time with monks. He will also visit Yogyakarta and meet with Sultan Hamengku Buwono X.

?His presence will present a positive image for our country. We hope his visit will encourage other stars to visit the temple and other tourism cites nearby,? he said.

Sapta also hoped that Richard Gere?s visit would attract other visitors.

View the original article here