India-China ‘battle for Buddha’ reaches Myanmar

[Android]

The India-China “battle for Buddha” has now reached Myanmar, with New Delhi
sponsoring an International Conference on Buddhist Cultural Heritage in Yangon
over the weekend, while Beijing has since last year been trying to leverage the
legacy of “Shakya Muni” to connect with the religious majority in its south-
western neighbour.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will join Myanmar’s Vice-President U
Sai Mauk to inaugurate the international conference at Sitagu International
Buddhist Academy in Yangon on Saturday. The three-day conclave is expected to
bring together Buddhist scholars, not only from India and Myanmar, but also
from other countries in the region, like Cambodia, Lao PDR, South Korea,
Vietnam and Malaysia. The Indian government is co-sponsoring the event along
with the ministry of religious affairs of Myanmar.
A spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday stated that
Khurshid would also attend a ceremony to mark the unveiling of a 15-foot-
statue of Gautama Buddha in Shwedagon Pagoda, the most revered Buddhist
shrine in Myanmar. India had gifted the statue to Myanmar during Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the neighbouring country last May.
India’s move to bring Buddha at the centre of its cultural engagement with
Myanmar is intended to reach out to the country’s 89 per cent people, who
practice Theravada Buddhism. And it came apparently in response to communist
China’s move to invoke Buddha to widen its influence in Myanmar.
China in November 2011 sent the Buddha’s tooth relic preserved and worshipped
at Lingguang Si Temple in Beijing to Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon and other cities of
Myanmar. A large number of people offered obeisance to the sacred relic for
more than 40 days and China’s state-controlled media widely reported
ceremonial processions and rituals held across Myanmar for several weeks.
Beijing followed it up with an agreement between Lingguang Si Temple and the
Shwedagon Pagoda of Yangon for religious ties.
K Yhome of Observer Research Foundation, a think-tank in New Delhi, said that
India’s move to leverage its own Buddhist heritage to expand its soft-power in
Myanmar would help it strengthen the people-to-people bond between the two
countries in the long run.
“Soft-power is hard to leverage because it attempts to connect with people and
society at large. Soft-power diplomacy is based on long-term perspective and
while the current efforts towards that direction need to be deepened, expecting
short-term influence, whether political and cultural, in a country or immediate
geo-political advantages from the initiatives may not serve the purpose,” said
Yhome.
Myanmar is one of the countries in the region where India and China vie for
greater strategic influence. New Delhi has since long been concerned over
China’s foray into Myanmar, particularly in infrastructure projects in road,
railway, port, aviation, power and hydrocarbon sectors.
India last year responded to China’s move to finance a $ 3.0 billion project to
develop Buddha’s birthplace at Lumbini in Nepal by supporting a Delhi-based
Ashoka Mission to hold a Global Buddhist Congregation. The meet saw top
monks and nuns from around the world re-endorsing Dalai Lama as the global
leader of the Buddhists. The Tibetan leader, who lives in exile in India, is set to
be one of the patrons of the International Buddhist Confederation, which was born
out of the November 2011 conclave.
India in August this year took the “Kapilavastu Relics” preserved in the National
Museum in the country’s capital to neighbouring Sri Lanka – another country
where Beijing’s growing strategic influence is a cause of concern for New Delhi.
A large number of Buddhists of Sri Lanka offered prayers before the sacred
relics, as an exposition travelled across the island nation for weeks.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/298629/india-china-battle-buddha-reaches.html

 

[Srinivas]

India should revive the Buddhist temples and relics in India to reach out for ASEAN.