New Delhi, India -- With the smell of incense
floating above their shaven heads, the Thai monks in grey robes walked
in a single file, eyes to the ground and their hands softly beating the
prayer drums. Following them were the Tibetan lamas, Sri Lankan monks
and Taiwanese priests - all walking elegantly, murmuring mantras under
their breath and forming a circle around a chosen spot.
Then
a shiver passed down the crowd as the Dalai Lama arrived at Nehru Park
and placed into freshly dug-up holes saplings of the Bodhi Tree - a
cutting of the same pipal under which the Buddha had found enlightenment
2600 years ago and which was slashed and burned by King Sasanka of
Bengal, an anti-Buddhist iconoclast, in the 6th century AD.
On November 30, as the first Global Buddhist Congregation in Delhi
decided to form a new global Buddhist body based in India, delegates
from 46 countries - from the Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana
traditions - were handed over the Bodhi Tree saplings to be planted in
their countries. Many leaders received the plants from the Dalai Lama,
who also gave the valedictory speech at the congregation.
The message was not missed on anyone : Buddhism is set to get more
organized globally; India is to become the new centre of this unity; and
the Dalai Lama is recognized as an unofficial leader of all Buddhists.
"All Buddhist countries feel that in India, the land of Buddha, nothing
is being done to promote Buddhism. Now, all the Buddhist organizations
will be under the International Buddhist Confederation to be based
here," says Lama Lobsang, the head of Asoka Mission, which organized the
Delhi congregation.
The idea seems to have been accepted. "The whole world looks to India
because of Buddhism. If someone from India takes initiative, India can
take leadership of the Buddhist world," says Banagala Uptatissa , chief
of Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka . Well, not exactly the whole world.
On November 26, one day before the Congregation began, China kicked up a
diplomatic storm by putting off border talks with India after New Delhi
refused to give in to its demand of not allowing the Buddhist meet.
Earlier, 35 Chinese monks invited for the meet didn't turn up, making
it clear that Beijing was not happy with the congregation. "This
conference had a very clear agenda to remind the scattered Buddhist
communities that India is the home of Buddhism," says Gabriel Lefitte,
Australian academic and environmental activist who attended the meeting.
"China has been quite vigorous in making sure that anybody with a
Buddhist background feels connection with China but India has been a bit
slow by comparison to restore the 'Buddhist parivar' ."
It's not that the officially atheist China has suddenly fallen in
love with Buddhism . China is worried about the growing stature of the
Dalai Lama as a global Buddhist leader; it's also trying to build
credibility among the Buddhists so that Beijing can pick the next
incarnation of the Dalai Lama without any problem. "The current Chinese
leadership is haunted by the Tibetan issue as there have been many cases
of self-immolation by the Tibetan monks in mainland China. There is a
feeling of urgency regarding the decision of the reincarnation of the
Dalai Lama," says Binod Singh, who teaches at the India Study Centre of
Peking University.
China faces an additional problem. It may have dazzled the world with
its growth rate, but China has not been able to check social unrest and
growth of religion at home. It's believed that there are now some 100
million Buddhists in China, many of them followers of Tibetan Buddhism.
"Of late, the Chinese leaders have been talking about a 'harmonious
society' and they have eased restrictions on all religions.
The Communist Party takes part in the selection of reincarnation of
Tibetan lamas. They want to control Buddhism to keep control on their
people," says an Indian diplomat who served in Beijing till recently.
"The friction with India is over the leadership of Buddhist countries
and trade interest in east Asia, which China considers its area of
influence."