Articles Taken from LUMBINI magazine, May 1998, volume 1:

Lumbini’s Latest Discovery: the Birth Spot of the Buddha
Lumbini’s Facts and Figures
Keeping the Precepts
Reflections on Meditation
Living with Newar Buddhists: Some Personal Reflections
Buddhism in the Next Millennium
Lumbini--the World Heritage
 Buddha Jayanti in Nepal

 

Lumbini’s Latest Discovery: the Birth Spot of the Buddha
 Ven. Bhikshu Sudarshan Mahasthavir

    Lumbini (Lummini) 2 is the birthplace of Sakyamuni Buddha. At the age of 29, the Buddha-to-be (Bodhisattva) renounced in Kapilavastu (present-day Tilaurakot), and at the age of 35, he became the Buddha.  For forty-five years the Buddha wandered teaching the Dhamma. At the age of 80, he arrived at Upavattana where between two Sal trees (Yamakasal), he lay down in the Mahaparinibban position with his head pointing to the north. The Venerable Ananda, the Buddha’s personal secretary (upatthāpaka) for twenty-five years, asked the Buddha: “Generally, at the end of every rains-retreat (vassāvāsa), venerable monks from everywhere come to have an audience with you and I always enable them to have this opportunity. What will happen after the Tathagata’s (Buddha) demise (mahāparinibbāna)?”

The Buddha answered: “Persons of devotion will continue to visit and see the four holy places: the place where Tathagata was born; the place where he attained enlightenment; the place where he turned the wheel of Dhamma; and the place where he passed away (or attained anupādise mahāparinibbāna).” In fact, the actual meaning of making the pilgrimage to these four places was to have an audience with the Buddha and to attempt to acquire mental serenity.

In the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta3 the exact names of the four holy places are not mentioned, but in other sources of the Pali Tipitaka, such as the Suttanipata,4 Buddhavamsa5, Thera-padana 6 in the Jataka commentaries,7 in ancient Sanskrit literature such as the Lalitavistara,8 or the Buddhacaritta 9 epic, there are detailed descriptions of Lumbini (as well as mentions of the names of the other three holy places).  Moreover, there is an inscription in the Mauryan Brahmi script which attests to the fact that Lumbini is the birthplace of Sakyamuni Buddha.  Obviously, Lumbini’s epigraphic evidence is of enormous significance, since in the other holy places no Mauryan inscriptions giving such names of Sambodhi Mandap, Isipatana Migadava or Kusinara have been discovered.

 In Lumbini, there are five lines of Brahmi script engraved on the pillar erected by King Asoka (249-250 B.C.).  In the second line there are two compound words hidabudhejāte sākyamuniti, which translate as “Here Sakyamuni Buddha was born.”  Also, the two first words in the fourth line are hidabhagavamjāteti lumminigāme, which translate as “As the Bhaga-vam 10 was born here, so in Lumbini village...”

 This Mauryan inscription definitively puts an end to all previous guesses, disputes and debates on the subject of the Buddha’s birth spot.  It also establishes that the Buddha was a historical person in contrast to the beliefs that the Buddha was a deity descended from the sun, etc.

 This Asokan pillar must have been seen by many of the Nepalese inhabitants of the Terai before Major Jaskarana Singh11 saw it in 1893 A.D., and before General Khadga Shamsher was encouraged to do further excavation by Dr Alois A. Fuhrer on December 1, 1896.  It was then that the significance of the pillar was made known outside Nepal.

This inscription is the earliest paleographic evidence for the Nepali name, Sakyamuni Buddha, and for the name of the place, Lumbini.  Furthermore, in relation to the compound lumminigāme (in Lumbini village) of the Asokan inscription, archaeological excavations carried out by His Majesty’s Government of Nepal have led to the discovery of the site of Lumbini on the southern side of the pillar (where, at the present, the Lumbini police station stands).

According to the Kunālavadana of Dibyāvadāna, having led King Asoka into the Lumbini jungle, the Venerable Upagupta pointed with his right hand and said: “Oh, Great King, Here the Buddha (bhagavam) was born (asmin mahārājā paradese bhagavān jātah)!” 12 Thereafter, King Asoka made an offering of one hundred thousand gold coins and established the first pagoda (cetiya).13  This fact is also briefly noted in another chapter of the Dibyāvadāna, the Ashokāvadāna.  From the fact of the village’s existence it might be that even the cetiya was erected in Lumbini by those local inhabitants who were already skilled in the establishment of villages.

In addition, the description given in the account entitled Shui-Ching-Chu 14 dating from before the fourth century recorded that in Lumbini: (1) the Asoka tree which had been planted over and over using the old trunk that had been grasped by Mayadevi during Siddhartha’s birth was still alive; (2) a statue of the Mayadevi grasping the Asoka tree and giving birth to the prince Siddhartha which was made out of lapis lazuli was placed beneath this tree; (3) devotees offered sweet-smelling flowers at the spot marking the place where Siddhartha’s feet first touched the earth; and (4) King Asoka had shielded the imprint of Siddhartha’s feet with lapis lazuli on both sides, and had them covered over with one long slab of lapis lazuli.

According to the travel account writen by Fa-Hsien (5 century), 15 the tree which was grasped by Mayadevi stood 20 paces north of the pond where she took her bath.  However, Hiuen Tsiang (7 century) 16 noted that a decayed Asoka tree stood 24/25 steps north from the Shakyapauskarani pond of Lavani  or Lumbini.  Although Hiuen Tsiang mentions the Asokan pillar and the horse capital on its top, nothing is said about an inscription.  Probably, at the time of his visit, the part of the pillar which was inscribed was buried underground.  Otherwise Hiuen Tsiang would have surely described the Lumbini inscription just as he noted the Asokan pillar at Kusinara which records the Buddha’s demise.

Thus, among the travel documents written by visitors to Lumbini, the account given in the Shui-Ching-Chu is significant as it supports the findings made during the joint excavation carried out by the Lumbini Development Trust, His Majesty’s Government’s Archaeological Department, and the Japanese Buddhist Federation.

On February 4, 1996 the Honourable Sher Bahadur Deuba, the Prime Minister of Nepal, officially announced that the joint excavation carried out by Nepalese and Japanese archaeologists under the advice and guidance of an international team of experts had led to the re-discovery of the sacred spot where the Sakyamuni Buddha first touched the earth in Lumbini. This official government announcement had been preceded a year earlier by a report in the Japanese daily Asahi made on July 26, 1995.

 Babu Krishna Rijal, 17 the chief archaeologist associated with this excavation, states that “the recent excavation at the base of sanctum sanctorum of Mayadevi temple in Lumbini has revealed the rough block of sand conglomerate stone which is of unusual in size and put within a boxchamber by Asoka Maurya in 3rd century B.C.”  Kosh Prasad Acharya,18 the chief archaeological officer of Department of Archaeology of Nepal states that it is “a piece of rock (conglomerate?) has been put here in the centre of this chamber. Seven layers of bricks are put to make [a] platform for this piece of rock”.  Professor Satoru Uesaka, 19 the chief Japanese archaeologist who is directly associated with the excavation, declares in his report that it is “a piece of natural rock (a hard conglomerate with the dimensions of 70cm x 40cm x 10cm with axis running in the south to north direction and containing a lot of pebbles) it (sic) found at the center at the top of the discovered level.  This rock is likely a landmark stone.”  According to the decision made by the 2nd Archaeological Expert’s Meeting held at Lumbini on 16 March 1995, Professor Ahmad Hasan Dani, a prominent Pakistani archaeologist, and Professor Krishna Deva, another prominent Indian archaeologist congratulated the Excavating team for “their greatest (sic) historic discovery of the exact spot of Lord Buddha’s birth as mentioned in Asokan Pillar set up by Asoka who visited Lumbini in 249 B.C.” Confirming the significance of the discovery, Dani further states: “the recent excavations are very important because they could discover the exact location of the place of Buddha’s birth in Lumbini”.

In this connection, I am of the opinion that, because of this archaeological discovery, there can be an end to the disputes and debates which have existed for nearly century, from the work done by Pischel20 (1903) to that of Norman21 (1994), on the Asokan term silāvigadabhica kālāpita found in the Lumbini inscription. 

Notes:

1  Ven. Bhikshu Sudarshan is Vice-President of All Nepal Bhikkhu Association and lecturer at Tribhvan University. A reputed scholar on Lumbini
2  As in Asokan pillar
3  Digha Nikaya 1989: 153-4
4  Sutta Nipata 1990:140
5  Buddhavamsa 1959:330
6  Sutta Pitaka 1959:152
7  Jatakaatthakatha 1951:40-41
8  Lalitavistara 1992:178, 180-1
9  Buddhacaritta 1972:2
10  Bhagavam is in the sense of annihilator of greed, hatred and delusion
11  Deo 1968:1
12  Dibyavadana 1959:248
13  Dibyavadana 1959:251 “caityam ca pratisthapya raja prakantah”
14  Petech 1950:35-36
15  Beal 1981:l
16  Beal 1981:II:24
17  Rijal n.d.:2
18  Rijal n.d.:2
19  Rijal n.d.:6
20  Pischel 1903:724-34 [I-II]
21  Norman 1994:227-37

References

Asokan inscription of Lumbini.

A press release of announcement by Rt. Hon’ble Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on 4 February 1996.

Acharya, Kosh Prasad (n.d.) A brief report on the archaeological findings in the Maya Devi Temple, Lumbini.

Anderson, D. and Smith, H. 1990. Sutta Nipata (new edition). Oxford: Pali Text Society

Beal, Samuel 1981. Si-Yu-ki Buddhist records of the western world: Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A.D.629). Delhi: Motilal Benarasidas.

Deo, S.B. 1968. Archaeological Investigations in The Nepal Terai: 1964. Kathmandu:the Department of Archaeology, HMG.

Department of foreign language publication 1991. Travel document to West of Maha Thang dynasty  (Maha Thang Rajvamsa Kal Me Pakshim Ki Tirthayatraka Vritranta) in Hindi. Beijing.

Dharma Rakshit, Bhikshu  (ed.) 1951. Jatakaatthakatha. Varanasi: Bharatiya Jnanapitha, Kashi.

Kashayap, J. Bhikhu 1959. The Apadana (II)-Buddhavamsa-Cariyapitaka: [Khuddaka nikaya, vol. VII].  Nalanda-Devanagari-Pali-Series. Bihar: Pali Publication Board.

Kashayap, J. Bhikhu 1959. Therapadana (Sutta Pitaka). Nalanda-Devanagari-Pali-Series.

Bihar: Pali Publication Board.

News on Asahi  daily newspaper of Japan (in Japanese), 16 July 1995.

Norman, Kenneth R. 1994. ‘A note on Silavigadabhica in Asoka’s Rummindei inscription’ in The Buddhist Forum  vol. III. London: University of London.

Petech, L. 1950. Northern India according to the Shui-Ching-Chu. vol.II Serie Orientale Roma II, Rome: IsMEO.

Pischel, R. 1903. Die Inscrift von Paderiya (The Paderiya Inscription). SKPAW.

Recommendations of the First Experts’ Meeting by Lumbini Development Trust and Japanese Buddhist Federation held at Lumbini Sacred Garden on 26 February 1994.

Rhys Davids, T.W. and Rhys Davids C.A.F. 1989. ‘Mahaparinibbana Sutta’ in Dialogues of the Buddha: Translated from the Pali of the Digha Nikaya. Part II. (4th Edition). London: Pali Text Society.

Rijal, Babu Krishna (n.d.) The Discovery of Buddhaีs Birth spot in Lumbini.

________. 16 March 1995 An observation Note.

________.1983. Archaeological activities in Lumbini 1978-83. HMG.

Shastri, Mahanta Shri Ramchandra Das. 1972. The Buddha Caritta. Varanasi: Chowkhamba Vidyabhawan.

Shastri, Shantibhikshu (trans.) 1992. Lalitavistara. Lucknow: Uttara Pradesh Hindi Samsthan (in Hindi).

Smith, V. A. 1905. ‘The rummindei inscription, hitherto known as the Padariya inscription of Asoka’, in The Indian Antiquary vol. XXXIV.

Uesaka, Satoru (prepared) 10 December 1992. The 1st Phase Work Implementation Plan for the Maya Devi Temple Restoration Project in Lumbin.i

Uesaka, Satoru (n.d.) Archaeological research report on Maya Devi Temple excavation project.

Vaidya, P.L. Dr. (ed.) 1959 Dibyavadana Buddhist Sanskrit Text No 20. Bihar: The Mithila Institute.

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Lumbini’s Facts and Figures

 

1. Lumbini is the birth place of the Buddha and situated in present day Nepal.

2. It is located at 22 km south-west of Siddharthanagar (Bhairawa).

3. Lumbini was visited by the Buddha several times.

4. After the Buddha’s demise Lumbini became a Buddhist holy place.

5. In 249 B.C. Emperor Asoka visited Lumbini and erected an inscribed stone pillar marking the birth place of the Buddha.

6. The account of Shui-Ching-Chu of 4th century A.D. recorded the existence of the Asokan pillar and seven stones marking first seven steps of the Buddha.

7. Fa-Hsian (403 A.D.) and Hiuen Tsiang (636 A.D.)  Chinese travel-lars visited Lumbini..

8. 1312 A.D. Ripu Malla from Kathmandu Valley visited Lumbini.

9. 1893 A.D. Major Jaskarna Singh of Nepal rediscovered  it.

10. 1896 A.D. Alois A. Fuhrer, German archaeologist excavated the site for the first time.

11. 1899 A.D. P. C. Mukherji,  Indian achaeologist surveyed and excavated the site.

12. 1908 A.D. and 1924 A.D. P. Landon, a renowed historian on Nepal visited Lumbini.

13. 1932-1939 A.D. General Keshar Sumsher J.B.R. excavated and restored the site.

14. 1967 U.N. Secretary General U. Thant visited Lumbini and made Lumbini Development Project an international concern. A master plan for the Lumbini development was prepared by Kenzo Tange, Japanese architect.

15. 1970-1971 A.D. B.K. Rijal, a Nepalese archaeologist located and excavated Lumbini village as mentioned  in Asokan Pillar.

16. 1992 A.D. an archaeological excavation of the Mayadevi shrine was started with Japanese archaeologists’ assistance.

17. 25 July 1995 a rare terra-cotta panel depicting Prince Siddhartha at royal ease in his bed chamber with Princess Yosodhara was found at the excavation.  The image is of Gandhara art and is date could be 4th-6th century A.D. Its size is 68x37 cm.

18. On 4th Feb 1996 Prime Minister of Nepal declared the discovery of the exact location of Buddha’s birth spot.

19. Many construction works according to the master plan have finished e.g. foundation work of the whole project, Lumbini International Research Institute etc.

20. Many Buddhist monasteries representing different countries are either complete or under construction. Monasteries from Myanmar, Thailand, Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam are mostly or partially finished.
 

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 Keeping the Precepts

Prof. Peter Harvey, University of Sunderland

 Moral restraint and self-control are important as these mean that the suffering of others is diminished and one’s own character is purified:

            Irrigators lead waters,

            Fletchers bend the shafts,

            Carpenters bend the wood,

            The wise control themselves (Dhp.80).

     By abstaining from unwholesome actions, the defilements which lead to them are restrained, and their opposites are strengthened, so that the natural purity in the depths of the mind has more opportunity to manifest itself.

     The most usual set of precepts to observe is ‘five precepts’ or ‘the five virtues’: Pañca-sīlāni

1.     I undertake the training-precept (sikkhā-padam) to abstain from onslaught on breathing beings.

2.     I undertake the training-precept to abstain from taking what is not given.

3.     I undertake the training-precept to abstain from misconduct concerning sense-pleasures.

4.     I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech.

5.     I undertake the training-precept to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that are an opportunity for heedlessness.

Each precept is a ‘training-precept’, the same term as that for an item of the monastic code. The motivation for breaking a precept is seen to always include delusion, but hatred is a co-motivating factor in the case of breaking the first precept, greed is in the case of the third and fifth, and either greed or hatred in the case of the second and fourth.

     Acting in accord with precepts is said to lead to confidence and a lack of fear (A.III.203), and a person who does so is said to become wealthy through his or her industriousness, to gain a good reputation, to be confident whoever he is with, to die without anxiety, and to be reborn in a heaven (D.II.86). Breaking a precept has an opposite kind of effect.

     An important way is which the karmic result of a bad action can be lessened is by one regretting it as soon as one can, thinking ‘that evil deed cannot be undone by me’ and resolving not to do it again (S.IV.320). This can be seen to lessen the psychological impact of the act, so as to reduce its karmic fruit. The importance of regretting a bad action is seen in the refrain, ‘It is a mark of progress in the discipline of the Noble Ones, if anyone recognises the nature of his transgression and makes amends as is right, restraining himself for the future’. Regret has an impact on karmic results even in the case of good actions. Thus it is said that a man who, in a past life, had given alms to an enlightened ascetic, but then regretted doing so, was born as a rich man- due to his giving-, but as a miser unable to enjoy his wealth, due to his regret (S.I.91-2).  Likewise, the karmic fruitfulness of actions also dwindles if one brags about the relevant good act.

However much Buddhism may value genuine remorse, it does not encourage feelings of guilt; for such a heavy feeling, with its attendant anguish and self-dislike, is not seen as a good state of mind to develop, being unconducive to calm and clarity of mind. Indeed, it can be seen as an aspect of the fourth hindrance, of agitated ‘restlessness and worry.’ Such a feeling might arise as part of the natural karmic result of an action, but is not to be actively indulged in. Buddhism emphasises a future-directed morality in which one always seeks to be better, taking the precepts as ideals that one is seeking to live up to in an increasingly complete way, If a precept has been broken, this should be consciously acknowledged, and then it should be re-taken.

While each precept is expressed in negative wording, as an abstention, one who keeps these ‘rules of training’ increasingly comes to express positive virtues as the roots of unwholesome action are weakened. Each precept thus has a positive counterpart. The counterpart of the first is kindness and compassion for others, so as to be ‘trembling for the welfare of others’ (D.I.4). That of the second is generosity and renunciation: in Buddhist cultures, greed is strongly disapproved of, and generosity much praised. The counterpart of the third is ‘joyous satisfaction with one’s own wife’, contentment and fewness-of-wishes, with contentment being seen as the ‘greatest of wealths’ (Dhp.204). The counterpart of the fourth precept is, being honest, trustworthy and dependable, a ‘bondsman to truth’ (A. IV. 249; M.I. 345) and developing a love of truth: searching it out, recognizing falsity, and attaining precision of thought. The counterpart of the fifth precept is the development of mindfulness and awareness.

It is usual, when taking the precepts, to do so after taking the three refuges. When the implications of the precepts are spelled out, they become high ideals that are difficult to keep fully, and chanting them after the refuges strengthens one’s resolve, setting up a wholesome impulse in the mind. Each precept is in the form of a personal undertaking, a promise or vow to oneself, though when they are ‘taken’ by chanting them after a monk, the resolve to keep them takes on an added psychological impact. Thus in Theravada lands, the precepts may be taken at the start of each of a number of ceremonies at festival times as a kind of ritual cleansing or purification.

Given the importance of living by the five precepts, Buddhists have been concerned about various issues relating to their breaking. One concern has been: if one of the five precepts is broken, is the undertaking to observe all five broken? The commentator Buddhaghosa held that a layperson can take a set of precepts, such as the five, either as a group or individually. If taken individually, a breach of one precept does not breach the set, and the whole set becomes effective again as soon as the broken one is re-taken. In Thailand, laypeople usually ask for the five precepts from a monk using a Pali formula that says that they will be observed ‘one by one, separately’ (visum visum), so that if one is broken, the rest are not. Only on particularly solemn occasions do they ask for the five precepts in a way which means that a breach of one breaches the entire set.

A related concern of Buddhists is whether it is worse to do a bad action covered by a precept if one has formally taken the relevant a precept against, or if one has not so committed oneself. This leads on to the question of whether it is acceptable to take only those of the five precepts that one feels able to keep. Taking only some of the five precepts is not a current practice in Theravada Buddhism, but is found among some Chinese Buddhists, who see the precepts as weight vows which are powerfully beneficial if kept but lead to very harmful effects if broken.

A set of eight precepts may be taken by laypeople as an extension of the usual five. These go beyond purely moral concerns to forms of self-discipline that reduce stimulating sense-inputs that disturb calm and concentration, and develop non-attachment. The difference between the eight and five precepts is firstly that the third precept is replaced by an undertaking to avoid abrahma-cariya: ‘unchaste conduct’ or ‘conduct not of the holy life’ that is, sexual activity of any kind. Three more precepts are then undertaken after the usual fifth one:

6.     I undertake the rule of training to abstain from eating at an unseasonable time.

7.     I undertake the rule of training to abstain from seeing dancing, music vocal and instrumental, and shows; from wearing garlands, perfumes and unguents, from finery and adornment.

8.     I undertake the rule of training to abstain from high or large beds (or seats).

In the Theravada tradition, the eight precepts are generally only taken by more pious people over forty: a few do so permanently, but more do so temporarily on some of the four observance-days (uposathas) per lunar month, while staying at a monastery for a day and a night, especially at a period of monastic retreat.
 

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Reflections on Meditation

Dr. Ratna Bahadur Sakya

 What is Meditation?  It is a question. The question itself may be the beginning, the starting point of meditation. The question reflects a curiosity, an interest in something not known; wanting to know what is unknown.

Why do I ask the question?  It may be worth exploring where the question comes from. The question can be approached from different angles. On a superficial level the question could be the starting point of a conversation. On a mundane level the question may be an indication of a need to find happiness in our lives. On a profound level the question may have no answer, an expression of a sentiment that is not expressible in a concept confined by the rules of a particular language.

Who is asking the question? One could say the question comes from a human being living in this world. Such a worldly being functions with the help of its body and mind projected in the form of a personality, an individual ego. Ego is the function of our conceptual mind, programmed for survival of the body and also procreation for the survival of the species. We could spend most, if not all, of our lives under the influence of these instinctual drives.

There comes a time when we realise that our lives are beginning to fade before it comes to the end of the journey. Who am I, why was I born, why was I born as a human being, has my life a purpose, where did I come from, am I going anywhere are some of the questions that help to stimulate a different aspect of our mind-an intuitive mind.

Meditation is the doorway through which one can enter from the conceptual mind of ego to the innate awareness of the ego being the creation of our own conceptual mind. This awareness leads to the universal law of impermanence, the law of continual flow of change, an incessant vibration of movement of the universe.

Thinking is one of the functions of ego. Thinking is incessant and dominates our existence. Awake or asleep, our thoughts punish us no end, whether we know it not, whether the thoughts are of pleasure, pain or boredom. Enjoyment of pleasure makes us want to have more of it. It does not matter how much pleasure one is having the greater the pleasure, the more the wanting. The wanting is a stressful situation. Pain is part of sentient existence. However, the thinking capacity of our mind makes us not want to feel pain. This feeling of not wanting is an unending stress. Even when we are not suffering pain or pleasure, it is the turn of boredom to envelop our mind. Boredom reflects dissatisfaction with the present condition in pursuit of satisfaction.

Meditation

Meditation is a process of getting in touch with the intuitive faculty of mind.

To meditate one has to develop those faculties of mind which go against the ordinary flow of life. Ordinarily there is a tendency for life to flow in the direction where little energy is required. It is easy for us to go towards what we want and away from what we do not want.

3.  Meditation gives us the energy to resist or delay what we want and to be with what we do not want. If we can do without what we want and accept what we have (even if we do not want it), this ability gives us the freedom to choose what is wholesome and not chose that which is not wholesome.

Thus meditation also gets us in touch with the wisdom to know what is wholesome and what is not.

Our likes and dislikes persist due to a false understanding of the conceptual world as that which will give us happiness on a permanent basis. This is why we are unprepared for the dukkha of birth, aging, sickness and death.

5.  Our sense of linear time takes us away from the reality of the moment. The linearity of time in the form of the past, present and future is part of the conceptual world we have created. When our life is directed and controlled by time, our life flows with habitual defilements. Both time and defilements are part of the world that we have created, fabricated out of our habits. To develop the faculty of being one with the moment, we have to disengage from the world which is captured by time function.

The intuitive faculty of mind has altruism as its nature.  Intuition and altruism are part of the whole. Reality is wholesome. Mindfulness is to be in touch with reality, truth, Dhamma and to be in touch with reality is to have access to wisdom.

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Living with Newar Buddhists: Some Personal Reflections

Dr. David N. Gellner, Brunel University

 In April 1982 I set off from England for Nepal to carry out two years of fieldwork on Buddhism among the  Newars.  I flew to Delhi and then went by train to Allahabad to visit a friend who had studied in Oxford. I had been to Nepal twice before, and had even taken some Nepali lessons in 1976 before spending 2-3 months trekking around the middle hills in a year between school and university.  But I knew no Newari, and, though I had visited Bhaktapur as a tourist more than once, I had never crossed the Bagmati river from Kathmandu to Lalitpur, where I now planned to live.

However, I was not arriving in total ignorance of the people I would be living among. I already knew a fair amount from what previous scholars had written.  On Buddhism there were Father John Locke’s book, Karunamaya, Sylvain Lévi’s book, Le Népal, which by then was already three quarters of a century old, two articles by an anthropologist called Stephen Greenwold, and one article and the book on the Kumari cult, by the anthropologist Michael Allen.  On Newar culture and society there were the works of Gérard Toffin, Hiroshi Ishii, Anne Vergati and others.  From what they had written, I knew already that I would have to come to an understanding of the Newars’ special social and religious organizations, called guthi, and of the bahals (viharas) to which all Sakya and Vajracarya men (the Buddhist ‘clergy’) had to belong.  Mary Slusser’s great work, Nepal Mandala: A Cultural History of the Kathmandu Valley had just appeared.  Although it cost over £100, even at the suicidally high exchange to which Margaret Thatcher’s hands-off monetary policy had driven the pound sterling, I knew I had to have it with me in the field.  However, I was sure that close acquaintance with the Sakyas and Vajracaryas of today would enable me to provide a more sympathetic and less judgemental account of their religious practice than either Slusser or Lévi, with their long historical perspective and their focus on past glories, had given.

In practical matters I was helped enormously by the fact that my friend and colleague, Declan Quigley, preceded me into the field.  Declan was virtually at the end of his fieldwork in the town of Dhulikhel, beyond the eastern rim of the Kathmandu Valley, when I arrived in Nepal.  Thanks to his assistance and foresight, I managed to obtain my research visa in the record time of one week from arrival in Nepal.  And I was able to stay with him in Dhulikhel on the last leg of his research, watch him collect genealogies, and observe with him how Dhulikhel Sresthas worshipped their lineage deities.  Declan introduced me to Rajendra Pradhan, who was at that time in the middle of his fieldwork on the domestic rituals and ‘cosmic’ (i.e. city-wide) festivals of Kathmandu for a doctorate at Delhi University.  Rajendra took me with him on numerous occasions, for instance to observe ‘Father’s Day’ at Gokarna, and he introduced me to the family of Lok Darshan Vajracharya, who rented me a self-contained bed sitting room for two months while I took Newari lessons and searched for a field site.  My Newari teacher, who had also taught Declan and many other students of Newar society before and since, was Subarna Man Tuladhar, a wonderfully sensitive teacher and interpreter of his own society. 

I knew from Father Locke’s book that Kwa Bahal in Lalitpur was the largest of the Newar Buddhist monasteries.  I thought that I might as well go there, where there would be the most ritual activity, so I went with Rajendra to Nag Bahal to see if there was a possibility of renting a room or a house.  I was keen to live with Sakyas and Vajracaryas in order to participate in and observe, as far as possible, their way of life.  Rajendra made enquiries on my behalf and we were shown a house in Ila Nani; we also went to the shop of Hera Kaji Sujikar, and he said, ‘Wait a minute’.  He crossed the way to the house of Kuber Muni and Jog Maya Sakya, while we sat among the sewing machines and Theravada pamphlets.  He came back and reported that I could take two rooms with them for 250 rupees a month (at that time equivalent to about £12, and well within my student grant).  This seemed preferable to being in a house on my own, and it was agreed that I would come back in a few weeks time after I had gone on a trek around Annapurna.  I remember wondering to myself if I would ever be able to understand Jog Maya’s Newari.

I moved into Kuber Muni and Jog Maya’s house a few days before Dasain (Mohani). On normal days they lived alone in quite a large house, while the rest of the family -- their son, Mangal Ratna (Jetha), his wife, their one daughter and three sons, the oldest of whom, Bijay, was already married ‑- stayed in the new house in Pya Pukhu, ten minutes walk away at the other end of the city.  However, the family cloth shop was just outside the entrance to Nag Bahal and somebody came to visit every day.  On all festival days the whole family moved back and held celebrations and rituals together in the old house.  For three days during Dasain we ate nothing but beaten rice and buffalo meat.  I had been a vegetarian for two years, but the difficulty of refusing meat when I had no specific religious rationale for doing so and a strong anthropological compulsion to fit in with Newar life, put an end to that... Within a week of living with a Newar family I had acquired a taste for buffalo meat, and discovered the unsettling effects of beaten rice on a stomach that isn’t used to it.

At this stage my grasp of Newari was still fairly rudimentary.  Every week I would return to Subarna Man with a long list of words and phrases that I had not fully grasped and which had not been satisfactorily explained to me.  Unlike today, there was at that time no dictionary of Newari and no user-friendly account of the grammar.  I attended festivals and rituals whenever I could, I talked with whoever was willing to talk, I read Asha Kaji Vajracharya’s Bungadyo Nepale Hahgu Khan (the story of the bringing of Karunamaya/Bungadyo to Nepal).  During all this time I was talking with Jog Maya every day and I discovered that indeed I could understand her.  More than that, she came to be concerned for me like a mother.  She taught me a very large part of what I know of what Buddhism means for Sakyas of her generation.  Many years later, when it was finally completed, I decided to dedicate my book to her since it contained many of her observations.

I also needed to learn the technical details of the rituals of Newar Buddhism, since they are so important a part of the traditional religion.  For this, I eventually decided to go to Asha Kaji Vajracharya.  Some foreigners had warned me against him, but I found him always genial and helpful.  With his guidance I began to understand the logic of the Vajracaryas’ rituals.  No other Vajracarya would have been willing to give me private tutorials in this way, to explain word by word whatever ritual text I asked for.  In fact, other priests feared that he might be explaining secret Tantric matters to me, and indeed I thought it essential to study those, since it is impossible to understand Newar Buddhism without some grasp of what they are about.  I left the decision to him: he was happy to teach me about them, quoting a Sanskrit verse to the effect that to the stupid even secret knowledge is noxious, whereas the wise may learn anything.  It was a matter of great satisfaction to me that I was able to present him with a copy of my book ‑- which contained numerous references to him and his books -- in the autumn of 1992, the year before he died.  He had wanted me to acknowledge the information I received from him, and I had gladly done so.

A third close friend was Tirtha Lal Maharjan.  I met him by chance while wandering near I Bahi on the northern edge of the old city of Lalitpur.  He made sure that we remained in contact and he gradually became my main informant on matters to do with the all-important Jyapu or Maharjan farming caste.  His father and grandfather were illiterate peasants.  Poverty had forced Tirtha to leave school before completing his SLC.  But he had an amazing capacity to forge lasting friendship across all barriers of class, caste, and ethnicity.  His brick-making business was just beginning to get off the ground in 1983. Several false starts had been caused by dishonest partners, but each time he raised further loans from his vast network of friends and acquaintances.

As today Buddhism among the Newars was of three main kinds in the early 1980s. There was traditional Newar Buddhism, as found in the rituals of the Vajracaryas and the daily devotions of Kwa Bahal and Karunamaya.  There was the attachment of many pious Newar Buddhists to Tibetan Buddhism, expressed in prayer flags and prayer wheels, and the conversion of parts of Kwa Bahal and Uku Bahal to Lamaistic gompas.  And there was the relatively new Theravada movement which was active in organizing meetings, publishing magazines, leading pilgrimages, and teaching meditation.  There were, as Jog Maya remarked one day, enough different forms of religion for everyone to choose, just like vegetables in the bazaar.  Of course, I saw it as my task to study principally the traditional form of Newar Buddhism, since it was clear that this was in greatest danger of decline.  But it was also true that it still provided the ritual and social framework of life for most of those who could be classified as Buddhists in one way or another.

About nine months after I had come to live in his house Kuber Muni passed away after a distressing few weeks of illness.  I shared the family mourning.  When at the end of it, the family’s hereditary barber came to shave the hair of all the men of the household and all Kuber Muni’s grandsons, I too had my head shaved.  As I was not a Sakya he started to leave a small top-knot, as is customary with all but Sakyas and Vajracaryas (they have it cut off as a sign of their monastic status).  The young men all shouted as one, ‘Cut it off!  He is one of us!’   It is perhaps noteworthy that the rituals before and after Kuber Muni’s death were carried out by the household’s Vajracarya priest (purohit), by Theravada monks and nuns, and by the brother of Kuber Muni and Jog Maya’s eldest daughter’s husband, who was a Newar monk in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.  This combination of all three forms of Buddhism is in fact quite common, and is not seen as contradictory in any way.  I did not know it then but the book I eventually wrote was mainly an attempt to explain the ideology of Mahayana and Tantric Buddhism which enabled such apparently different forms of Buddhism to be combined in a complementary and hierarchical structure of thought and ritual action.

Kuber Muni’s demise meant a change to the family’s living arrangements.  The rest of the household moved back permanently and rented out the new house.  I still had my two rooms but now I was living in a crowded and busy household, in which, as in all such Newar households, privacy is at a premium.  But any loss on that score was more than made up for by the extra company and the insight into joint family living that I gained.

As time went on I became ever more busy, carrying out a house-to-house survey, having tutorials with Asha Kaji, collecting inscriptions (alas, as yet barely used), observing rituals, attending meetings, and interviewing all who would talk to me.  The fact that I had learned enough Newari to interview unaided (though this never amounted to total comprehension) stood me in good stead.  Often, when working in my room, I would feel the need of a break and would go for a walk around the stunningly beautiful old city of Lalitpur, or on its northern and eastern outskirts which at that time were still unbroken, cultivated fields (unlike the ugly suburban sprawl and scrub which has replaced it today).  I would invariably encounter some Newar who was so pleased that I spoke his language that he willingly answered all my questions.  My spirits would soar with renewed enthusiasm for the task of understanding the fiendish complexities of Newar society, complexities which had seemed beyond solution an hour before. 

My focus on traditional Buddhism meant that inevitably I spent more time with older people than young.  Someone once called me ‘the friend of old people’, perhaps because Jog Maya had talked of me in this way when visiting her natal home.  It was an epithet I was happy to acknowledge.  I had no interest in participating in young people’s obsession with the Hindi cinema, for example, though I now accept that this can be a perfectly valid, indeed very interesting, subject to study.  Indeed, having taken an MPhil in Indian Religion and done two years of Sanskrit as preparation for my doctorate, to have focused on anything other than traditional religion would have been something of a waste.  One highlight was the festival of Samyak which, in Lalitpur, is held in Nag Bahal every five years.  I was extremely lucky that it fell two months before my departure from the field.  It is a massive and spectacular assembly of larger-than-life cast Dipankara figures from all over the city and beyond which celebrates the Buddhist virtue of charitable giving to the Buddhist monastic community (here symbolized by the Dipankara figures and by Sakyas and Vajracaryas as the Buddhist clergy).  The festivities continued throughout the night and the next morning, the only time that I went right through the night without sleeping in the cause of anthropological fieldwork.

I was very impressed by the way in which, in one idiom or another, whether old or young, Newar Buddhists would spend an enormous amount of time and energy on religious activities.  They would get up long before dawn, in the cold of winter, and set off for an hour or two’s chanting of the Namasangiti, or to walk to Cobhar.  They would commit themselves to performing rituals every day of their life before eating.  This commitment to religious activity was not so widely shared by other castes.

At the same time there was definitely a gap between the generations.  The younger generation was much less keen on traditional rituals and very few of them were willing to take Tantric Initiation (diksa) as many of their parents had.  Instead they would wax lyrical about the benefits of meditation as taught by Goenke.  They would also occasionally dismiss what their parents did completely.  During my first year there Pushpa Sakya insisted that I contribute to a Buddha Jayanti magazine he was editing, to be called Pragya Darshan.  So I wrote a piece entitled, ‘Is Newar Buddhism corrupt?’  My point was to show that most of the charges made against Newar Buddhism are unfounded; imagine my surprise when I was accosted by a young man, who said to me: ‘I liked your article in Pragya Darshan.  You are quite right, Newar Buddhism is corrupt.’  The extremely rapid social change that has occurred in the Kathmandu Valley means that people are unusually alienated from their own traditions, at least as far as religion is concerned.  The members of the YMBA, for example, wanted to learn about Mahayana Buddhism, but were not prepared to take instruction in it from the few remaining pundits, such as Asha Kaji, because, being educated in the foreign fashion, they could only respect someone who could teach in English.  In this way the old Newar Buddhist tradition is coming to an end, though it would be quite wrong to say that Buddhism itself is showing any sign of dying out, as so many in the last century predicted it would.  Open denunciations of traditional Newar Buddhism, though I have heard them, are not common, I am happy to say.  On this I concur with Jog Maya who insisted that whatever dharma someone had a mind to do, they should do it, whether it was Mahayanist or even Hindu in form, and one should not criticize others for preferring a different kind of religion.

This general tolerance of religious form, providing one undertakes some dharma, or other has in fact benefited the Theravada movement, since the older generation is happy to see the younger doing dharma, of whatever kind.  It is undeniable that today the vast bulk of pious Buddhist activity and pious donations is directed towards Theravada Buddhism; money spent on traditional Newar Buddhism is often a case of heritage preservation rather than pious conviction.  Theravada monks have also been extremely adept at raising foreign money for Buddhist projects in Nepal.

Tolerance of different modes of spirituality was also a benefit to the anthropologist. By simply being present on numerous occasions in Kwa Bahal I acquired the reputation of being there every morning (which I certainly was not).  By sponsoring a performance of the text-reading ceremony in Kwa Bahal when my parents visited me, eight months or so after I began to live in Lalitpur, I hoped to show my serious intentions in studying Newar Buddhism.  Most seemed happy to accept that those intentions were good and nearly everyone cooperated when I began to do a my systematic survey, attempting to establish numbers of people, levels of education, who had taken which kinds of initiation, and religious preferences, for each household in what was then Lalitpurีs ward 15.  Frequently I was warmly received and learned much else besides what I wanted for my form.  In general, no one insisted that I make any kind of formal profession of faith, or that I define my position exactly.

None of the research that I have carried out and published would have been possible without the cooperation and help of all the people I have mentioned, nor indeed without official permission from HMG and the Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies in Tribhuvan University.  In particular I must thank the members of Kwa Bahal, and especially of Nag Bahal, which was my home for 19 months.  I was especially touched when they organized a farewell ceremony in the school house with speeches and the ritual of  sagan biyegu which all Newar travellers go through before their departure.  Ratna Kaji Shakya (Bahi nani), Ratna Kaji Shakya (Ananda bahal), and Bhai Ratna Vajracarya (Saraswati nani) went out of their way to help me and I am very grateful for their trust and friendship.  Daya Ratna Shakya was an extremely resourceful and proved a gifted fieldworker during the last year of my research.  The members of the small monastery-temple of Cikan Bahil also accepted my enquiries with good grace and indeed warmth.  My greatest debt is to Jog Maya, Mangal Ratna, and all their family, with whom I stayed for so long.

The festival of Buddha Jayanti is a new one in Nepal.   Traditionally the festival of Mataya, some months later, is thought to be a celebration of the Buddha’s enlightenment; those participants who circulate around all the caityas of Lalitpur dressed as Maras are supposed to be paying homage to the sage whom they have failed to defeat.  But Newar Buddhists have accommodated the new tradition of celebrating the enlightenment of the Buddha on Buddha Jayanti without the slightest cognitive dissonance.  The very first to celebrate Buddha Jayanti in Nepal was Dharmaditya Dharmacarya.  How it was received is not recorded.  It was the monks of the Theravada tradition however who made it their principal annual celebration and it was the great achievement of the late Bhikkhu Amritananda to have it accepted as one of Nepal’s national holidays.

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Buddhism in the Next Millennium

Ven. Dr. M. Vajiragnana, Sangha Nayake of Great Britain

 During the Buddhaีs lifetime his teachings spread only to that part of India known as the Madhya Mandala.  This means the central part of India comprising 16 different states, especially the kingdoms of Magadha, Kosala, Vatsa and Avanti. The teachings were confined to this small area until the time of emperor  Asoka in the third century B.C.  During his reign a great expansion of Buddhism took place.  The Third Council was held during his reign and he sent out nine different parties of missionaries. Each mission consisted of five Theras so that it would be possible to perform the upasampadā ordination in remote places.  In addition to Sri Lanka, mission were sent westwards as far as Syria, and later northwards to Tibet, Mongolia and China.  Gradually a large part of the East came to enjoy the beneficial influence of Buddhism.  This situation remained largely unchanged until the start of this century when a further expansion took place, this time to the West.

During the latter part of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century, the only Westerners who had the opportunity to learn about Buddhism were either scholars or administrative officers of colonial powers who tended to look at it from a purely intellectual point of view.  However, the studies and translations made access for later Westerners that much easier.  Throughout this time also the growing separation between science and religion led many people to feel alienated from their religious roots and it was such people -- especially those who came to the East during the Second World War-- who began to find in Buddhism an empirical, ‘scientific’ approach to the spiritual life.  These were followed by another wave of young Westerners in the 50s, 60s and 70s who were actively searching for a spiritual life.  They were touched by the lifestyles and ways of worship of Buddhist people and many were so impressed especially by the techniques of meditation that they became Buddhists, and even joined the Sangha. This process continues today through tourism. Such people, on return to the West, have done much to spread the Dhamma even more widely, so that Buddhism is established in almost every western country.  There is every reason to believe that this process of expansion will continue into the next millennium and beyond.

The reasons for the popularity of Buddhism are many.  People of enquiring minds are attracted to it because of its simplicity and the wide freedom of thought which is encouraged.  There is a welcome lack of dogma and compulsion, an absence of emphasis on notions of punishments and reward. Instead we are thought to accept personal responsibility for all our acts of thought, word and deed.  And the meditational techniques give people a strong practice around which to centre their lives.

The West has certainly produced many technological wonders, but the norm seems to be to increase production and consumption endlessly.  Both personal tastes and public opinion are subject to manipulation by the media; desire, greed and craving are stimulated by telling people that this will lead to their greater happiness.  Family ties have become weakened and standards of personal morality have often become eroded.  I do not need to go on at length about the problems faced by many Westerner countries, even though it is not all ‘gloom and doom’. However, mankind still experiences dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) and this will always be so.  Not even the increasing material affluence enjoyed by many people today will eliminate the experience of dukkha from their lives.  The Buddha taught us that the cause of dukkha is tanhā (craving or thirst) and tanhā is every bit as strong in man today as it was 2,500 years ago.  I fact, tanhā is being constantly fuelled by increasing affluence, and so we continue circling round in this samsara (the cycle of birth, death and rebirth).  Buddhism has a vital role to play, teaching proper standards of personal morality and a correct attitude towards material wealth.

Western culture is very different from the Eastern culture in which Buddhism is embedded, but it is the adaptability of the dhamma to different cultures which has enabled Buddhism to spread successfully to so many different countries.  In fact we have a very interesting situation developing in many countries which are becoming exposed to the Buddha’s teaching for the first time.  Traditionally each country was faithful to one particular school of Buddhism to the exclusion of other schools.  In the West, however, we find that representatives of many different schools are becoming established in one particular country.  Hence newcomers to Buddhism can choose which tradition they prefer to adopt or they can, as in fact a number have already done, create an eclectic school of their own in the hope of attracting an even wider following.  This may well lead to the development of Western schools of Buddhism.  This is perfectly in order as long as the school remains faithful to the essential teachings, namely the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the doctrine of Dependent Origination.  Dr. Rahula has written on this subject, ‘If Buddhism is not adapted to Western culture, it will always remain a tropical plant in a hot-house there, and it is unlikely to grow freely in the natural soil of the land.’

At the same time, however, it is vital that the purity of the Sangha is maintained. Before the Buddha died Venerable Ananda asked whether he would appoint anybody to lead the order of monks after his death.  He said, ‘No.What I have taught is the teacher.’  The Sangha has played a very important role in preserving the Buddha’s teaching throughout the last 2,500 years and it is our responsibility to continue this even today.

The expansion of Buddhism is, of course, to be welcomed because the benefits of the teachings are so profound, but Buddhism is not a missionary religion.  It does not seek out converts and it must remain tolerant of other peoples’ points of view.  This means that Buddhists must be careful not to criticise or condemn the religious beliefs of others, especially those beliefs which have been established for a long time in countries where Buddhism is a new arrival.  In the Buddha’s opinion the denouncing of other faiths was a profitless exercise.  He likened it to a man spitting at heaven. ‘It is as a man who looks up and spits at heaven--the spittle does not soil the heaven, but it comes back and defiles his own person.’ (Anguttara Nikaya, Vol. I. p. 79)  We must be prepared and willing to cooperate in establishing sincere Inter-faith dialogue.  True dialogue means listening to the viewpoints of other people and allowing them to hold them without trying to win them over to one’s own views or trying to ‘prove’ that one’s own beliefs are the right ones.

Here it is relevant to mention the story of Upali, the millionaire. Upali was a well-known and prominent supporter of Nigantha Nataputta (Jaina Mahavira).  Mahavira, the founder of the Jain religion, differed with the Buddha in his teachings on the subjects of Kamma and he dispatched his disciple Upali to the Buddha in order that Upali might defeat the Buddha in argument on this subject. Now it so happened that during the course of their discussion, Upali became convinced that the Buddha’s point of view was right and he asked the Buddha to accept him as one of his lay followers.  Far from hastening to accept him as one, the Buddha counselled Upali to think again, saying, ‘Now, householder, make a proper investigation.  Proper investigation is right in the case of well-known men like yourself.’  This surprised and pleased Upali, who remarked that other religious sects would have marked the arrival of a prominent, new convert by hoisting flags and beating drums. When he re-confirmed his wish to follow the Buddha, the Buddha then asked him to continue to respect and give alms to his former teachers, the Jains.  It is in this same spirit of tolerance and understanding that we must participate in the expansion of Buddhism in the years ahead.

We Buddhists must also be hopeful of being shown similar respect and understanding by followers of other faiths.  Because we do not accept the idea of a supreme, creator god or a permanent, enduring soul, followers of other religions sometimes fear Buddhism as a subversive influence which is trying to destroy their existing beliefs.  If we can establish an open and frank dialogue with other religions, we can dispel any misunderstanding and give reassurance that we do not wish to cause friction or anxiety in the minds of others.

Even in his own time, the Buddha was aware of the potential dangers of taking a dogmatic approach to other religions.  He said that he did not teach simply in order to increase the numbers of his own followers.  People may continue to follow the teacher of their own choice.  Speaking to Nigrodha the wandering ascetic, he said, ‘Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think: the Samana Gotama has said this from a desire to get pupils; but you are not thus to explain my words.  Let him who is your teacher be your teacher still. Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think: the Samana Gotama has said this from a desire to make us secede from our rule; but you are not thus to explain my words.  Let that which is your rule be your rule still.  Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think: the Samana Gotama has said this from a desire to make us secede from our mode of livelihood; but you are not thus to explain my words.  Let that which is your mode of livelihood be so still.  Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think: the Samana Gotama has said this from a desire to confirm us as to such points of our doctrines which are wrong, and reckoned as wrong by those in our community; but you are not thus to explain my words.  Let those points in your doctrines which are wrong and reckoned as wrong by those in your community, remain so still for you.  Maybe, Nigrodha, you will think: the Samana Gotama has said this from a desire to detach us from such points in our doctrines as are good, reckoned as good by those in our community; you are not thus to explain my words.  Let those points in your doctrines which are good, reckoned to be good by those in your community, remain so still.’

‘Wherefore, Nigrodha, I speak thus, neither because I wish to gain pupils, nor because I wish to cause seceding from rule, nor because I wish to cause seceding from mode of livelihood, nor because I wish to confirm you in bad doctrines, or detach you from good doctrines.  But, O Nigrodha, there are bad things not put away, corrupting, entailing birth renewal, bringing suffering, resulting in ill, making for birth, decay and death in the future.  And it is for the putting away of these that I teach the Dhamma, according to which if ye do walk, the things that corrupt shall be put away, the things that make for purity shall grow and flourish, and ye shall attain to and abide in, each one for himself even here and now, the understanding and the realisation of full abounding insight.’ (Digha Nikaya vol. II p. 56)

We should also maintain equanimity when meeting non-Buddhists, no matter what their attitude may be.  The Buddha said, ‘If anyone were to speak ill of me or my teaching, or of my disciples, do not be upset or perturbed, for this kind of reaction will only cause you harm.  On the other hand, if anyone were to speak well of me, my teachings and my disciples, do not be overjoyed, thrilled or elated, for this kind of reaction will only be an obstacle in forming correct judgement.  If you are elated, you cannot judge whether the qualities praised are real and actually found in me, my teachings and my disciples.’

Let us remember that the words used by the Buddha when he sent out his first sixty disciples to spread the dhamma.  ‘Go forth, O Bhikkhus, for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, benefit and happiness of gods and men.  Let not two go by one way. Preach, O Bhikkhus the Dhamma, excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle, excellent in the end, both in the spirit and in the latter.  Proclaim the holy life, altogether perfect and pure.’ (Mahavagga p. 10-20)  It is only through Buddhism that peace of both the individual and of the majority can be secured.  Let this be our aim for the next millennium.
 

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Lumbini--the World Heritage

Bhikkhu Sugandha

 The World Heritage Committee meeting in Naples, Italy, has formally included LUMBINI--the birthplace of Lord Buddha in the World Heritage List. This was announced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Thursday, 4th December 1997 in Naples, Italy.

The World Heritage List states Lumbini is inscribed on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria iii and vi:

As the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, the sacred area of Lumbini is one of the holiest places of the world’s great religions, and its remains contain important evidence about the nature of Buddhist pilgrimage centre from a very early period.

According to Association Press Lumbini was included with dozens of other sites like Pompeii as world cultural treasures, and wildlife parks in Africa and an ancient Albanian village on UNESCO’s endangered culture list.

All of the 10 cultural and natural sites proposed by Italy won entry on Unesco’s World Heritage list, announced at a conference in Naples.

Selection makes sites eligible for UNESCO’o funding and improve their chances in lobbying home countries and international organizations for money and technical expertise needed for restoration and improved security.

Before this conference, 506 sites had earned UNESCO’s designation during the last quarter-century. Four dozen sites were added to the list on 4 December 1997.

The committee’s recommendation for future action at Lumbini is to mobilize international resources in scientific and technical fields and in site management, especially with regard to ancillary services for visitors and pilgrims.

The original nomination of Lumbini, which was deferred by the World Heritage Bureau at its 17th Session in June 1993, included a number of separate archaeological sites associated with the life and work of the Lord Buddha. Two of these, Kapilavastu (Tilaurakot), where the Lord Buddha lived as Prince Siddhartha before his enlightenment, and Ramagrama, the only relic stupa not opened by Ashoka, now figure as individual sites on the tentative list submitted by the State Party, which has been advised by a former President of the World Heritage Committee to combine them with Lumbini as a serial nomination.

The committee for considering, ICOMOS has shown no objection in principle to this proposal, but it is of the opinion that the current state of knowledge, conservation, and management of both is not sufficiently advanced to permit their being included in the present nomination. It recommends that this should await the completion of the programme of non-destructive archaeological investigation, using geophysical techniques, during the coming biennium and preparation of satisfactory conservation and management plans.

Once this work has been completed, the State Party should be invited to submit the two sites as extensions to an existing inscribed site of Lumbini, with a change of title indicating the association of all three with the life and work of the Lord Buddha.
 

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Buddha Jayanti in Nepal

 Vesakha full-moon day is a very sacred day for all Buddhists. On this day Buddhists everywhere commemorate the Buddha who is the great son of Nepal with their devotion and veneration. In many parts of the world Vesakha full-moon day is celebrated as Buddha Day, marking the three major incidents his life.

2622 years ago (623 B.C.) on the full-moon day of Vesakha constellation, Siddhartha Gautama was born in the beautiful and peaceful Lumbini garden of Sala trees (Shorea robusta), situated in the Rupandehi district in Nepal. It is said that immediately after his birth, Buddha took seven steps towards the north and said raising a finger in the air, ‘Supreme am I in the world and this is my last birth’. At the time of his birth flowers showered from the sky. Prince Siddhartha was given a bath at the nearby pond in the Lumbini garden which is known nowadays as ‘Siddhartha kunda’. Mayadevi shrine was built at the very spot where Siddhartha was born.

To affirm the birth of the Buddha to all mankind Emperor Asoka had erected a stone pillar indicating his birth place which still stands in Lumbini today. It is said that from his birth it was foreseen by the great sage Asita that if Prince Siddhartha concentrated on spiritual cultivation instead of the monarchy he could help to bring benefit and happiness to all beings in the world.

Sadden by birth, decay, sickness, death and suffering, which make up the very nature of this physical world, the Buddha started meditating since his childhood, left the palace at the age of 29 in search of the path that will release all beings from suffering. By careful examination and analytical thinking he found the path of liberation which can emancipate people from birth, decay, sickness, death and suffering. With that discovery he was enlightened, attained Buddhahood and became the Buddha.

On the cool and peaceful full-moon night of Vesakha, obtaining knowledge of remembrance of past lives, at the first hour of the night Prince Siddhartha attained ‘Pubbenivāsānus-satiñāna’. Respectively, at the second hour of the same night he achieved ‘Cutũpapātañāna’ by obtaining knowledge of the death and rebirth of beings. And on the third hour of the night by understanding the nature of the chain of phenomenal cause and effect and the knowledge of the destruction of mental intoxication, he attained ‘Āsavakkhayañāna’. Thus by obtaining the wisdom which led him to achieve Nirvana he became the Buddha. Hence is the significance of Vesakha full-moon day as the sacred day for all Buddhists.

 After attainment of the Buddhahood after six years of severe practices, Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha, remained for seven weeks to reflect upon his enlightenment and enjoyed the bliss of liberation. Afterwards, he went on search of disciples in order to share the sweetness of the noble wisdom which he had obtained. He arrived at Saranath in Isipatana of that time to meet with his five former disciples. The Buddha travelled from place to place to deliver his knowledge for the benefit and happiness of all beings for 45 years. He established hundreds of thousand of communities of Order (Bhikkhu Sangha) in different places. With regards to professing religion the Buddha says, ‘do not accept anything just because it is said by someone or written somewhere. Accept it only after one’s skilful investigation.’ In another occasion, the Buddha told the Subhadra, a wandering religious mendicant who came to seek him to be his last disciple that ‘it is normal for all to claim that their religion is the best but whichever religion has Four Noble Truths is supreme.’

Finally, at the age of 80 on the Vesakha full-moon day having laid down between two Sala trees at Kusinagara, the Buddha passed away while cultivating his mind through the first, second, third and fourth absorption (Jhānas). He manifested the truth of impermanence that all beings are destined to death. Leaving his physical body behind, he attained Nirvana. This is called ‘Mahaparinirvana’ -- the Great Decease of the Buddha. Significantly, these three major incidents of the Buddha’s life occurred on the very same day, the Vesakha full-moon day.

Buddha Jayanti reminds us of three other things: First, the noble truth of impermanence, the truth of suffering that every birth ends in death. Second, human life is short and fragile, therefore we should realise that we have to obtain noble wisdom within that short period. And third, the inspiration of attaining enlightenment which leads to ultimate peace i.e. nirvana. We should value our birth as humans on earth. In fact, Buddha Jayanti is to contemplate the virtues of the Buddha, to purify one’s mind once again by contemplating his teachings. And to be industrious in generating loving-kindness and compassion for the sake of harmony, brotherhood, and peace. This is the real meaning of taking refuge in Triple Gem.

Gautama Buddha is the national hero of Nepal. Therefore, Buddha Jayanti which is celebrated on the Vesakha full-moon day is our national festival. As the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and final decease all happened in the Vesakha full-moon day it is celebrated as the victory day because it is the day when the Buddha attained wisdom. It is also celebrated as a meritorious day because it is the day when the Buddha left his temporal body behind and attained supreme nirvana. For Nepalese what honour could be greater than this? Therefore, it is the main duty and responsibility of all Nepalese to celebrate this national festival widely and magnificently.

Buddha Jayanti is celebrated with great devotion and significance in many Asian countries like Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Japan and Korea etc. in their own traditional and unique style. In Nepal, some celebrate it by worshipping Buddhist stupas and Buddha images, others by visiting Swayambhu, Anandakuti and other Buddhist shrines and Viharas in the early morning and observing precepts, doing the Buddha puja, and giving Dana. On this day there is a Buddhist congregations at Anandakuti Vihara to celebrate Buddha Jayanti at the national level. Here the celebration is held every year by observing precepts, Buddha puja, listening to sermons, and paying homage to the Buddha’s holy relic which is put on display just for that day.

At Patan, the living museum of Buddhist arts and culture, Buddha Jayanti is celebrated by Buddha Jayanti Trust in traditional Buddhist monasteries. Each year the central place of celebration changes according to which Buddhist temple’s turn it is. In the Kathmandu valley and all over the country there is a week long celebration of Buddha Jayanti. This includes organising Buddhist sermons, Buddhist quiz contests, Buddhist art exhibitions, Buddhist seminars, blood donation, and distribution of food and medicine in jails and hospitals etc. There are also devotional processions preceded by the image of Buddha.

The Swayambhu Gyanmala Bhajan Khala (Swayambhu Buddhists hymn choir) organise the singing of Buddhist hymns every evening during the week long celebration. The hymn singers believe that Buddhist devotional songs can help to concentrate one’s restless mind.

We can see that the teachings of compassion and peace improve morality and help people to purify their minds as well as their behavior and fill their minds with loving-kindness and virtues. Therefore, it is necessary to give Buddhist education to students of today who are our future generation in order to raise awareness, peace, compassion and harmony in them.

On Buddha Jayanti day Swayambhu and other Buddhist monasteries are bustling with Buddhist devotees from early morning. They commemorate the Buddha, the guru of the world with great devotion with fragrant garlands, bouquets and scented incenses in their hands. They express their devotion by lighting lights, symbolising the illuminating wisdom of the Buddha. They remember Buddha wishing to obtain the noble wisdom which will enable them to understand the ultimate truth of suffering of birth, decay, sickness, and death.

Swayambhu is the most sacred place for Nepalese Buddhists. They worship it as Adi Buddha. It is believed that a very long time ago the Kathmandu valley was a huge lake. Vipassi Buddha, meditating on the top of Jamacha mountain which lies at the west of the lake, predicted that the lake would be significant in the future. He planted a seed of lotus in the lake and predicted that this seed will make a lotus flower with a thousand petals and on the top of the lotus will be born Swayambhu Adi-Buddha. After a long time, there appeared the beautiful thousand petal lotus with brilliant light of wisdom beaming out from its centre. Further it is said that all former Buddhas--Sikhi Buddha, Vishvabhu Buddha, Krakuchanda Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, and Kasyap Buddha--came to pay homage to this Swayambhu, the self-emerged light of wisdom.

On Buddha Jayanti day most Buddhists fly five coloured Buddhist flags at their houses. In every house the picture of the Buddha is beautifully decorated with garlands and Buddhist flags. The main parts of the city and monasteries are decorated with small Buddhist flags and fly flags inscribed with the Buddha’s teachings. Thus the Buddha Jayanti is celebrated throughout Nepal as a National celebration.

On this auspicious occasion of the Buddha Jayanti Theravadian Bhikkhus, nuns, and lay devotees congregate at Anandakuti Vihara and other Theravadian monasteries to celebrate the day with Buddha puja, listening to sermons, recitation of Jayamangala gatha and by offering sweets, fruits and donation etc. Buddhist devotees clean stupas and Buddha statues in their own localities and decorate them with Buddhist flags before venerating them as the part of Buddha Jayanti celebration.

Likewise, venerable Lamas of Swayambhu Karma Gumba, Khasti Baudha, other Buddhist Gumbas and Ghyangs also celebrate the day by various activities such as reciting Choy puja, lighting oil lamps, listening to sermons etc. Annually at Cabahil on Buddha Jayanti day there is a traditional custom of worshipping the stupa of the Licchavi period and installing Buddha’s statue on an elephant to take towards the Baudha Khasti after the procession in the town. At the Khasti stupa there is another grand celebration; like stupa puja, Pelamhmu, and worshipping Ajima goddess. There is also a procession, taking a Buddha image on a decorated elephant through the town before its termination at Cabahil.

On this day, there is also a special custom of attaining merits by offering Kheer or rice pudding, giving away sweets and fruits to sick people in hospitals, and donating clothes to the poor etc.

On Vesakha full moon day thousands of men and women go to Swayambhu and Anandakuti Vihara to pay homage to the sacred relic of the Buddha. This reflects the Buddha’s teachings of impermanence that one day our bodies will also change to bones as well. This reminds us that one must escape from unwholesome acts of life like lust, greed, anger, craving etc. and should practice the Noble Eightfold Path instead. This is inspired by enlightenment which overcomes suffering of birth, decay, sickness and death and achieves ultimate peace, so that like the Buddha, one does not have to reborn again.

The Buddha Jayanti culminates with the observance of Buddha’s teachings for world peace harmony and happiness for all. The celebration ends by wishing loving-kindness, compassion, harmony, worldly brotherhood and Buddhist unity for all beings. 
 

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