India and Singapore join forces to revive ancient Buddhist university

Kalinga SENEVIRATNE from Singapore

BUDDHIST REVIVAL: 'Reviving Buddhist Cultural Links' was the theme of a one day symposium held in Singapore recently to initiate an ambitious plan to revive India's ancient Nalanda University as a leading international seat of learning which would revive the old intellectual and spiritual ties between South and East Asia.

The project is a joint venture between the Bihar State Government - where the city of Nalanda is located - and the Singapore government that is estimated to cost about $150 million.

Opening the symposium on Monday, Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo said that this symposium is not about the Buddhist religion as such, but "about Buddhist values and philosophy which have become an integral part of East Asian civilization".

He added that as Asia re-emerges on the world stage, Asians could "look back to their own past and derive inspiration from it for the future".

Thus he noted, "we should develop Nalanda as an icon of the Asian renaissance attracting scholars and students from a much wider region as the ancient university once did".

Evolution of Enlightened Citizen

India's President Dr Abdul Kalam delivering his keynote address via a live multimedia videocast from his office in New Delhi said that this project is a "model for evolving a happy, prosperous and peaceful society in our planet", which he described as "Evolution of Enlightened Citizen".

He argued that this process would have three components, such as education with a value system, religion transforming into spirituality and economic development for societal transformation.

"The mission of Unity of Minds is indeed gaining momentum from Bihar, the birthplace of ancient Nalanda" observed President Kalam, who is a Muslim.

The symposium was attended by over 200 Asian scholars, government officials and Buddhist monks and nuns from Singapore, India, Thailand, Japan, China and a number of other countries.

Expressed interest

N.K. Singh, Deputy Chairman of the Bihar Planning Board told the meeting that land for the project has already been allocated near the ancient Nalanda university site, and a bill to establish the university is expected to be passed by the Bihar State Assembly in the third week of December.

"The government of Bihar is going to put in its own resources .. but we also hope to supplement it through an international consortium" Singh said, adding that Japan and Singapore have already expressed interest in funding the project with the latter showing a desire to be the "principle catalyst" in conceptualising the project.

He expects Singapore to play a role in bringing together countries in the region to participating in the project and probably offering its expertise in the management of the university.

Responding to concerns raised by some Buddhists that this university may have a secular framework, Singh said the concept of the university would be very broad ranging and "represent what Nalanda was at the time".

Nalanda was founded by Kumaragupta I of the Gupta dynasty during the golden age of classical Indian culture and it came into pre-eminence and a renowned centre of Buddhist scholarship from 5th to 12th century.

Nalanda was the biggest university in India at the time, and at the height of its glory, it accommodated over 10,000 students / monks and 2000 teachers from across the region.

The famous Chinese scholar Hsuan Tsang is believed to have spent many years there, lecturing and writing his 3000 stanza work on the 'Treatise on the Harmony of Teaching'.

As a center of Buddhist theology and education, Nalanda university has been instrumental in the spectacular spread of Buddhism right across South East and East Asia during this period with scholars from countries like China, Indonesia and Korea studying there.

Largest archaeological complex

Nalanda was destroyed in the 12th century by the Turk Muslim invaders who burned down the library and the buildings, and killed many of the monks and scholars who could not flee.

The site was rediscovered by a British army engineer Alexander Cunningham in the 1860s, and today Nalanda is one of India's largest archaeological complexes with stupas, temples, monasteries, hostels, meditation halls and libraries spread over 16 square kilometres.

Chinese Buddhist scholar Prof. Tan Chung speaking about China's links with Buddhism and India described Nalanda university as "the oldest precursor of Oxford and Cambridge - symbols of fortress of learning, if not ivory towers of modern civilization".

He said that, "China would not have been what it has been, without the beneficial cultural influence of India".

He went on to argue that when the Han Dynasty was on the verge of collapse by the 6th century, it was the widespread of Buddhist influences which reunified China under the banner of Sui, whose rulers Emperor Wen and Emperor Yang both proclaimed themselves as disciples of the Buddha.

Prof. Chung argued that Nalanda has offered China a model where great centres of learning based on monasteries and temples could provide commoners' life throbbing with spirituality and wisdom.

"China during pre-Buddhist days could not have such vitality, and learning was the monopoly of a handful of families.

The advent of Buddhism made a sea-change and China came alive as a popular land of spiritualism and wisdom. This development co-prospered with the introduction of the all-China Imperial Examinations and the civil service".

In an emotional plea to the symposium, Dr Wang Dehua, of the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies said "let's forget about the 1962 incident (India-China war). This project will symbolise the rebuilding of our old friendship and understanding. In the future we will be able to reach the dream of an Asian community with a project like this".

Buddhist revival

It was pointed out by one of the Chinese scholars during discussions that after decades of repression under communist "ideological rule" both in China and Vietnam there is currently a great Buddhist revival with thousands of young people taking up robes and entering monastic life.

But, he warned that many of the restored Buddhist temples in China are becoming big tourist attractions and hence succumb to commercial activities.

Therefore he said that a project like this could help to give the much needed intellectual lift to the study and spread of Buddhist values in the region as a symbol of modernisation.

Japanese Prof. Ishii Yoneo talked about the "practical context" of Buddhism in Asia and pointed out, that for example in Thailand, Buddhism is a living religion where without a temple in their community their daily lives will not be functional.

Whereas in Japan, though many profess to be Buddhists, the religion has little to do with living and more to do with paying respects to their dead ancestors.

"Ordinary Japanese are seldom exposed to the fundamental teachings of the Buddha" he observed. But, thanks to the temple as the core of peoples' daily life, in Thailand " even children become knowledgeable of fundamentals of Buddhist doctrine, such as the principle of impermanence or anicca".

Thus, professor Yoneo argued that reviving a great Buddhist intellectual tradition in the form of Nalanda university should give a much needed boost in instilling knowledge of the fundamentals of Buddhist thought in modern Asian youth.

Prof. Tavivat Pantarigvivat of Thailand's Mahidol university, suggested that Nalanda should be established with a clear idea in the framework of a world religious university with a Buddhist focus, "to propagate compassion towards other religions" and she offered Thailand's expertise in running such Buddhist universities in the development of the project.

Though Sri Lanka too professes some expertise in this area it is unfortunate that, no Sri Lankan Buddhist scholar nor government official was present at the symposium.

During the discussions a number of scholars made reference to Sri Lanka's historic role in the spread of Buddhism in South East Asia.

Introductory notes on the history of Buddhist links across Asia provided to the symposium participants said: "At various times when there was deemed to be a need for a restoration of Buddhism, continental South East Asians kingdoms would despatch monks to Sri Lanka to be re-ordained into the purer tradition".

Even at this late stage one hopes that Sri Lankans will begin to show an interest in the project and get involved in its planning, which will help to restore these historic linkages with Asia.

Singapore's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Balaji Sadasivan summed up well the concept of the project, when he observed that, with India emerging in the 21st century and becoming a knowledge based civilization, "reviving Nalanda symbolise hopes and aspirations of South and East Asians that the civilisations of Asia will rise again based on knowledge and co-operation".