Exploring India

[INDIC]

Imagine what it would have been like to have actually been there.

Xuanzang came from Zhongyuan (Central plains of China), and he traveled a ridiculous distance over insurmountable obstacles like the Himalayas. And I bet it was all worth it in the end. To have seen such sights, and to have brought back the world-changing ideology called Buddhism back to the heartland of Chinese civilization.

Map of Xuanzang's journey into India.

 

[KRAIT]

I do wish, Krait, you would screen such videos for accuracy before uploading them and endorsing their claim to present an authentic aspect of Indian culture. Its inaccuracies are positively lethal.

Thanks Sir. I will research more about it.

Kindly edit the quoted part of my post, I am editing that Video post.

Thanks again.

 

[Joe Shearer]

Yogi, please tell us more about the complex of universities of which Nalanda was just one.

 

[Yogi]

Yogi, please tell us more about the complex of universities of which Nalanda was just one.

R u puling my leg @Joe Shearer...
I don't know much about others except for Nalanda n Taxila, i remember i read about it in my school time too....
but if really u wanna know here is a link for about 12 Ancient Universities of the Subcontinent -

Category:Ancient universities of the Indian subcontinent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Yogi]

here is an interesting video on how Indian Spirituality n Philosophy impacted the American society, their intellects, artists, etc...

 

[l3hdf]

Sometimes I'm left in awe at how rich ancient India was, that a great civilization like China could learn and adopt its philosophies in their own unique way. The deeper you look into history, the less digestable all this warmongering between India and China is, no thanks to the West trying to drive a wedge between us. But they will fail, for they were barbarians at the time of both of our golden ages. When they were beheading each other, we were pondering on mathematics, science and the purpose of life, sharing ideas back and forth over the himalayas. It is only a matter of time we come to our senses and return to the spirit of those ages, regardless of what outsiders wish to happen.

Asia is one. The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilisations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of the Vedas. But not even the snowy barriers can interrupt for one moment that broad expanse of love for the Ultimate and Universal, which is the common thought-inheritance of every Asiatic race, enabling them to produce all the great religions of the world, and distinguishing them from those maritime peoples of the Mediterranean and the Baltic, who love to dwell on the Particular, and to search out the means, not the end, of life.

- Page I, The Ideals of the East by Kakuzo Okakura, Author of The Book of Tea​

An interesting look at the ancient interaction of culture between China and India, through the travels of Faxian, Xuanzang and Yijing, truly reveals the level of respect and admiration we had for one another during the contemporaneous Tang Dynasty and Empire of Harsavardhana, and even far before that. East Asia truly developed and enriched Buddhism, accepting its true essence as Buddha had intended, perhaps far more than any Indian had done. They were the people who kept Buddhist values and teaching alive, lived its philosophies to the extent of being seamlessly merged into Taoism and Shinto. That is why when anyone thinks of Buddha, he is thought of as a human most resembling East Asians in virtue, practice and thought.

 

[indushek]

Nagarjunakonda (meaning Nagarjuna Hill in Telugu: నాగార్జునకొం&#3105 is a historical Buddhist town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Nalgonda district,[1][2][3][4][5] in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is 150 km south east of the capital, Hyderabad. It was formed when a hill was submerged in the waters of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, constructed in the 1960s. It is one of India's richest Buddhist sites, known in the ancient times as Sri Parvata. It now lies almost entirely under the Nagarjunasagar Dam. It is named after Nagarjuna, a southern Indian master of Mahayana Buddhism who lived in the 2nd century AD, who is believed to have been responsible for the Buddhist activity in the area. The site was once the location of many Buddhist universities and monasteries, attracting students from as far as China, Gandhara, Bengal and Sri Lanka. The Buddhist archaeological sites there were submerged, and had to later be dug up and transferred to higher land on the hill, which had become an island.

Nagarjunakonda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nāgārjuna (Devanagari:नागार्जुन, Telugu: నాగార్జున, Tibetan: ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ klu sgrub, Chinese: 龍樹, Sinhala නාගර්පු&#3505 (ca. 150–250 CE) is widely considered the most important Buddhist philosopher after the historical Buddha.[1] Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is credited with founding the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Nāgārjuna is also credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras and, in some sources, with having revealed these scriptures in the world, having recovered them from the nāgas (dragons). Furthermore, he is traditionally supposed to have written several treatises on rasayana alchemy as well as serving a term as the head of Nālandā University.

Nagarjuna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is from my state ANdhra Pradesh

 

[curioususer]

It is interesting how it was always Ancient China that sent travelers to Ancient India (such as Xuanzang) but rarely the other way around.

We have many loanwords borrowed from Sanskrit (mostly in connection with Buddhism such as 阿修&#32599... but India hardly has any from us. We have many ideologies taken from the Vedas, such as Karma and Reincarnation, but not the other way around?

It would have been better if China sold hardware for cheap to India for this. Like graphics cards, CPUs, phones and whatever gadgets, hardware is made in China.

 

[curioususer]

@Yogi Kindly watch all the videos and refrain from few conflicting and less proved myths. There are many videos which are huge exaggeration, even if concept is valid. Alien theory is one of the example which is nothing but something made out of Thin Air.

@all

I hope few will also talk about Medieval period and evolution of Indian culture as western school of thoughts and tradition assimilated and brought direct or indirect change.

@isro2222 wouldn't like you spreading these lies.

 

[Joe Shearer]

R u puling my leg @Joe Shearer...
I don't know much about others except for Nalanda n Taxila, i remember i read about it in my school time too....
but if really u wanna know here is a link for about 12 Ancient Universities of the Subcontinent -

Category:Ancient universities of the Indian subcontinent - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thanks. See below. From your link.

A number of monasteries grew up during the Pāla period in ancient Bengal and Magadha. According to Tibetan sources, five great Mahaviharas stood out: Vikramaśīla, the premier university of the era; Nalanda, past its prime but still illustrious, Somapura, Odantapurā, and Jaggadala.[1] The five monasteries formed a network; "all of them were under state supervision" and there existed "a system of co-ordination among them . . it seems from the evidence that the different seats of Buddhist learning that functioned in eastern India under the Pāla were regarded together as forming a network, an interlinked group of institutions," and it was common for great scholars to move easily from position to position among them.[2]
Vikramaśīla was founded by Pāla king Dharmapala in the late 8th or early 9th century. It prospered for about four centuries before it was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji during fighting with the Sena dynasty along with the other major centers of Buddhism in India around 1200.[3][4]
Vikramaśīla is known to us mainly through Tibetan sources, especially the writings of Tāranātha, the Tibetan monk historian of the 16th-17th centuries.[5]
Vikramaśīla was one of the largest Buddhist universities, with more than one hundred teachers and about one thousand students. It produced eminent scholars who were often invited by foreign countries to spread Buddhist learning, culture and religion. The most distinguished and eminent among all was Atiśa Dipankara, a founder of the Sarma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Subjects like philosophy, grammar, metaphysics, Indian logic etc. were taught here, but the most important branch of learning was tantrism.

 

[faithfulguy]

Map of Xuanzang's journey into India.

What I had learned about Xuanzhang is from the following book. Its a fictionalize version of the journey and it made good reading. Of course, I was very young back then and its a simplified version of the book.

Journey to the West - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Yogi]

Vikramaśīla University

Vikramaśīla University was one of the two most important centers of Buddhist learning in India during the Pala dynasty, along with Nālandā University. Vikramaśīla was established by King Dharmapala (783 to 820) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nālandā. Atisha, the renowned pandita, is sometimes listed as a notable abbot.

Vikramasila (village Antichak, district Bhagalpur, Bihar) is located at about 50 km east of Bhagalpur and about 13 km north-east of Kahalgaon.

Layout and excavation

The remains of the ancient university have been partially excavated at village Antichak in the Bhagalpur district, Bihar state, India, and the process is still underway. Meticulous excavation at the site was conducted initially by Patna University (1960–69) and subsequently by Archaeological Survey of India (1972–82). It has revealed a huge square monastery with a cruciform stupa in its centre, a library building and cluster of votive stupas. To the north of monastery a number of scattered structures including a Tibetan and a Hindu temple have been found. The entire spread is over an area of more than one hundred acres.

The monastery, or residence for the Buddhist monks, is a huge square structure, each side measuring 330 metres having a series of 208 cells, 52 on each of the four sides opening into a common verandah. A few brick arched underground chambers beneath some of the cells have also been noticed which were probably meant for confined meditation by the monks.

The main stupa built for the purpose of worship is a brick structure laid in mud mortar which stands in the centre of the square monastery. This two-terraced stupa is cruciform on plan and about 15 metres high from the ground level accessible through a flight of steps on the north side. On each of the four cardinal directions there is a protruding chamber with a pillared antechamber and a separate pillared mandapa in front. In the four chambers of the stupa were placed colossal stucco images of seated Buddha of which three were found in situ but the remaining one on north side was possibly replaced by a stone image after the clay image was somehow damaged.

About 32 metres south of the monastery on its south west corner and attached with the main monastery through a narrow corridor is a rectangular structure identified as a library building. It was air-conditioned by cooled water of the adjoining reservoir through a range of vents in the back wall. The system was perhaps meant for preserving delicate manuscripts.

A large number of antiquities of different materials, unearthed from this place in the course of excavation, are displayed in the site museum maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikrama%C5%9B%C4%ABla_University

here is nice video of Vikramasila University, hope u guys will like it...

PS - Special Thanx to @Joe Shearer for bring this to my notice...

 

[Yogi]

Here is another wonderful video of world famous Nalanda University....

@Chinese-Dragon this one is specially for u, there is a small animated version of Xuanzang in this video, hope u'll like it...

 

[Joe Shearer]

Nagarjunakonda (meaning Nagarjuna Hill in Telugu: నాగార్జునకొం&#3105 is a historical Buddhist town, now an island located near Nagarjuna Sagar in Nalgonda district,[1][2][3][4][5] in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is 150 km south east of the capital, Hyderabad. It was formed when a hill was submerged in the waters of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam, constructed in the 1960s. It is one of India's richest Buddhist sites, known in the ancient times as Sri Parvata. It now lies almost entirely under the Nagarjunasagar Dam. It is named after Nagarjuna, a southern Indian master of Mahayana Buddhism who lived in the 2nd century AD, who is believed to have been responsible for the Buddhist activity in the area. The site was once the location of many Buddhist universities and monasteries, attracting students from as far as China, Gandhara, Bengal and Sri Lanka. The Buddhist archaeological sites there were submerged, and had to later be dug up and transferred to higher land on the hill, which had become an island.

Nagarjunakonda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nāgārjuna (Devanagari:नागार्जुन, Telugu: నాగార్జున, Tibetan: ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ klu sgrub, Chinese: 龍樹, Sinhala නාගර්පු&#3505 (ca. 150–250 CE) is widely considered the most important Buddhist philosopher after the historical Buddha.[1] Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is credited with founding the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Nāgārjuna is also credited with developing the philosophy of the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras and, in some sources, with having revealed these scriptures in the world, having recovered them from the nāgas (dragons). Furthermore, he is traditionally supposed to have written several treatises on rasayana alchemy as well as serving a term as the head of Nālandā University.

Nagarjuna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is from my state ANdhra Pradesh

For some reason not well understood by me, Nagarjuna's central position in Buddhist philosophy and theology is not very well publicized. Scholars know, of course, but we lay people are largely kept in the dark about his monumental contributions. It would take a lifetime to summarize his work and put it into perspective. I wish someone knowledgeable would appear and help us all. Thanks to Indushek for the reference. Thanks also to Yogi for his interesting posts. Now I have an urge to go and see the sites for myself before it becomes too hot.

Our Bangladeshi friends, incidentally, have an advantage over us: I understand three of the five monasteries lie within Bangladesh today, and that they are being maintained with scholarly attention and care, and most educated Bangladeshis seem to be aware of the sites.

 

[KRAIT]

@Joe Shearer Sir, you go to Sarnath too. Good experience.