India's President, PM skip Buddhist meet amid China row
With China upping the ante over the Dalai Lama issue, President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh skipped the four-day Global Buddhist Conference that began yesterday with the chanting of prayers to mark the 2,600th year of Buddha's enlightenment.
Patil, who was invited by Asoka Mission, the organisers, to inaugurate the conference, opted out of it as China strongly objected to the Dalai Lama's valedictory address at the conference on November 30.
A week ago, the president's office called the organisers to tell them it may not be possible for her to attend the function, a well-placed source said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, too, was invited by Asoka Mission as guest of honour, but is understood to have stayed away due to Chinese sensitivities.
Instead Sikkim Governor Balmiki Prasad Singh presided over the function and Karan Singh, an eminent scholar and president of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), was guest of honour at the conference. Around 1,000 Buddhist scholars, thinkers and followers from over 30 countries assembled at the convention hall in Ashoka Hotel on day one of the conference.
A 40-strong contingent of Chinese scholars was expected, but with Beijing taking objection to Lama's valedictory address, only 7-8 Chinese Buddhist scholars have managed to come, Ashok K Wangdi, a member of the organising committee of the conference, said.
Despite Chinese objections, India has refused to cave in. The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader who made India his home over five decades ago, will come to New Delhi on Nov 30 for the valedictory address.
When India conveyed to China its oft-reiterated position that the Lama was a spiritual leader and an honoured guest and was, therefore, free to speak on spiritual matters, Beijing hardened its stand and is said to have demanded the cancellation of the conference.
India, however, stuck to its position, leading to the postponement of boundary talks between special representatives of t! he two c ountries in New Delhi which coincided with the Buddhist conference.
"It's unfortunate, this attempt to give a political colour to a religious function,"said Tempa Tsering, Dalai Lama's chief representative in New Delhi.
The Asoka Mission has strongly objected to the politicisation of the event.
"The overriding theme of the conference is to commemorate the 2,600th year of Buddha's enlightenment. The conference aims at evolving a collective Buddhist response to pressing global challenges like climate change, violence and pressures of modern living," said Wangdi.
"It is first and foremost a religious event. We are very upset by China's attempt to politicise it," he said.
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"Meditation is not on the level of the object but on that of the subject - you are the business of your meditation."Bodhicitta is very practical, I tell you. It's like medicine. The self-cherishing thought is like a nail or a sword in your heart; it always feels uncomfortable. With bodhicitta, from the moment you begin to open, you feel incredibly peaceful and you get tremendous pleasure and inexhaustible energy. Forget about enlightenment - as soon as you begin to open yourself to others, you gain tremendous pleasure and satisfaction. Working for others is very interesting; it's an infinite activity. Your life becomes continuously rich and interesting.
"Historically, Shakyamuni Buddha taught the four noble truths. To whose culture do the four noble truths belong? The essence of religion has nothing to do with any one particular country's culture. Compassion, love, reality - to whose culture do they belong? The people of any country, any nation, can implement the three principal aspects of the path, the four noble truths or the eightfold path. There's no contradiction at all.""Meditation is not on the level of the object but on that of the subject - you are the business of your meditation.
"Bodhicitta is very practical, I tell you. It's like medicine. The self-cherishing thought is like a nail or a sword in your heart; it always feels uncomfortable. With bodhicitta, from the moment you begin to open, you feel incredibly peaceful and you get tremendous pleasure and inexhaustible energy. Forget about enlightenment - as soon as you begin to open yourself to others, you gain tremendous pleasure and satisfaction. Working for others is very interesting; it's an infinite activity. Your life becomes continuously rich and interesting.
"Historically, Shakyamuni Buddha taught the four noble truths. To whose culture do the four noble truths belong? The essence of religion has nothing to do with any one particular country's culture. Compassion, love, reality - to whose cul! ture do they belong? The people of any country, any nation, can implement the three principal aspects of the path, the four noble truths or the eightfold path. There's no contradiction at all."
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