BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Buddhism Buddhism new obstacle between India, China

NEW DELHI: India and China are engaged in a competition for soft power supremacy in Asia - the battlefield is ownership of one of the world's oldest religions, Buddhism.

At stake is not only India's civilisational space but, on a more temporal note, it will determine how Asia is defined - with China or India is the mother civilisation.

It's no coincidence that India built a Buddhist temple - in the Indian style - in Luoyang in China in 2006. The message, said senior MEA sources, was simple: Buddhism travelled from India to China over 2,000 years ago and made its first landing in Luoyang.

The Baima temple complex, which is generally regarded as the cradle of Chinese Buddhism, was built after a Chinese emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty welcomed the first Buddhist monks from India - She Moteng and Zhu Falan - and a white horse which carried the sutra and the figure of Buddha.

This week, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee followed up on the Nalanda University initiative by setting up a Nalanda Mentor Group in Singapore, headed by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and Singapore foreign minister George Yeo.

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as far as I am concerned, Buddhism was born in India, is Indian in origin, and can't be changed according to Frontier whims.....
The Buddha was Indian, and a new movement, called Buddhism, was founded after his awakening.
But Buddhism is Buddhism. it can't be 'owned', surely....?

India is redeveloping Nalanda University where a Chinese traveler had come in I think 700 BC or so to learn about Buddhism.

China is very sore with India for giving shelter to Dalai Lama.
That is a big issue between both the nations.

The problem is very simple. China wants to say that Buddhism came from China. That way China will influence all the Buddhist countries in the region.

That is why China is claiming that Tawang monastry belongs to China.

The absence of democracy in China will hit China very badly in future. Remember USSR?

The real war is for supremacy. India being democratic can not act the way it likes. For building a road, it may take years if people are living there. China just displaces them and builds the road.

But we are sure that India will emerge ahead of china in next 50 years because of democracy. One day the companies from west will learn a very bitter lesson for investing so heavily in China.

It is sad that democracies are investing so heavily in a communist regime.

I actually came across this forum while checking out mine. My name is Kathy L. and I am the 12 Step Recovery Editor. I am not Buddhist but have found the principles and the 12 steps in sync with each other offering me a spitirual program.

I read last week that the Chinese had taken down a Buddhist statue in Tibet for whatever reason the Chinese govt felt it necessary. I would like to agree with my friend who wrote before me. I work with Chinese students every day and the changes in that country are by leaps and bounds. China is certainly not a democracy but hearing first-hand about the country, they are becoming more and more democratic in many ways. That does not mean they will ever become democratic but there are choices there that were not possible years ago. China, the country, is rich and the doors are open to all for business. China, the people, are still poor but the rich are getting richer. Sounds like a democracy, doesn't it. Regardless, China gets richer and stronger every day and I would hope that it is not a force that we will have to reckon with in the future.

Kathy L.
12 Step Recovery Editor

Yes China is very angry about this. As far as China is concerned, it seems as India is harboring a fugitive.

It is so hard here in America to go shopping and not purchase something made in China or a part of it not made in China. China has a huge economic hold on many countries of the world. When people are work complain that so many jobs are being outsourced to India (especially if you call customer service of some companies, you speak to someone from India), I ask them would they rather these jobs go to China! India has come a far way from what I have read and from what I have listened to from the INdian men I work with. If people rally together against China, maybe things will change. it is a shame that the Tibetan people can not go home