लुम्बिनीको प्रश्नमा धमिल्याइएको पानी धमिल्याइराख्न खोज्नेहरु

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on November 6, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rate This

By रामकुमार श्रेष्ठ 

शक्तिको भर र बुद्धको बिस्वब्यापी महत्वबाट लालायितहरुको सीमित स्वार्थका कारण बुद्ध जन्मस्थलबारे सिर्जना गरिएको असान्दर्भिक, निर्लज्जतापूर्ण र अनाबस्यक दिग्भ्रमका कारण बुद्ध जन्मस्थल मुद्धा अनपेक्षित तवरले विस्वब्यापी समस्या बन्न पुगेको छ भलै अझै पनि धेरै नेपालीहरु समेत युनेस्कोले नेपालको लुम्बिनीलाई विस्व संपदा सूचिमा राखेका कारण बुद्ध नेपालमा जन्मेको कुरा सारा संसारलाई थाहा भएकोले यो अनाबस्यक बिबादको औचित्य नभएको तर्क अगाडि सार्ने गर्छन् । बुद्ध सबैको साझा भएकोले पनि यस किसिमको बिवाद निरर्थक भएको तर्क अगाडि सार्ने गरेको पनि पाइन्छ । बुद्ध बिस्वकै साझा संपत्ति भएको कारण आस्थाका आधारमा कसैले पनि मेरो अथवा हाम्रो भन्छन भने त्यस्मा कसैले प्रश्न उठाइराख्नु पर्ने देखिन्न, तर उनको महानता र प्रसिद्धीका कारण नाजायज एबं गलत ढंगले आफ्नो भनी प्रमाणित गर्ने दुस्प्रयास मार्फत बिस्व जनमतलाई दिग्भ्रमित तुल्याउन गरिने कार्यमा भने मौन बस्न सकिन्न र मिल्दैन पनि । किनकि प्रश्न यहाँ बुद्धको नभएर बुद्ध जन्मिनु भएको ठाउँको हो, सवाल यहाँ बुद्धप्रति नतमस्तक भएर उन्को जन्मस्थलको दर्शनार्थ जान चाहनेहरुलाई सीमित स्वार्थका कारण झुक्याइएर गलत ठाउँमा पुर्याइएर उनीहरुको आस्थामा कुठाराघात गरिंदै मानब अधिकारबाट बन्चित गरिएकाहरुको अधिकार सुनिस्चित गर्ने कि नगर्ने भन्नेको हो, मुद्धा यहाँ बुद्धको मात्रै नभएर विस्वब्यापी महत्व भएका कारण उनको जन्मस्थलमा आँखा लगाउने निकृस्ट प्रबृत्तिलाई परास्त गर्ने कि स्वीकार्ने भन्नेको हो, प्रसंग यहाँ सत्यका पर्यायबाची बुद्धमाथि असत्यको खेती गरेर उन्कै नाममा झूटको ब्यापार गरिएको नाजायज कामलाई टुलुटुलु हेरेर बसिराख्ने हो कि सत्यलाई सत्यको रुपमा उजागार गर्ने भन्ने पनि हो ।

छिमेकी भारतले सन् २०१२ भित्र नेपालको कपिलवस्तुसंग सीमा जोडिएको उत्तरप्रदेशस्थित अलिगढवामा देवदह र लुम्विनीसहित नक्कली कपिलवस्तु बनाउन अन्तिम रुप दिइरहेको, दबाबका कारण केही समय अघिमात्रै जानकारी सच्याए पनि सर्च इन्जिन गुगलले पनि यसअघि ‘गौतम वुद्ध भारतमा जन्मिएको’ जानकारी राखेको, लाखौं बुद्धिस्टहरुमा समेत बुद्ध नेपालमा जन्मिएको भन्ने जानकारी नहुने मात्रै नभएर बौद्धमार्गीहरुका बीच अत्यन्तै सम्मानित मानिने रिङपोछे (जोग्छेन पोनलोप रिङपोछे) ले समेत दैनिक लाखौं पाठकको आकर्षणको केन्द्र मानिने विस्वमा नै सबैभन्दा बढी पाठक भएको पत्रिकामध्येको अनलाइन पत्रिका हफिङ्टन पोस्टमा बुद्धलाई भारतीय परिचय दिंदै लेखहरु प्रकाशित गरिएको, वर्षेनी विश्वभरका करिव ६० लाख पर्यटकले अवलोकन गर्ने सेन्ट्रल लन्डनस्थित ब्रिटिश संग्रहालयमा शान्तिका अग्रदूत गौतम वुद्ध भारतमा जन्मिएको भ्रामक र गलत सन्देश राखिएको, मासिक संसारभरिका ११५ मिलियनभन्दा बढी जनताका बीच आफ्ना सामग्री लिएर पुग्ने ३५० भन्दा बढी टिभी स्टेशनहरुको सन्जाल पिबिएसले “द बुद्ध” फिल्ममा बुद्धलाई भारती परिचय दिएको, अधिकांश देशको पाठ्य सामग्रीहरुमा बुद्ध नेपालमा नभएर भारतमा जन्मिएको उल्लेख गरिएको,  न्यूजवीकका संपादक एबं सिएनएनका कार्यक्रम प्रस्तोता जाकारीया जस्ता प्रभाबशाली ब्यक्तिले आफ्नो पुस्तकमा बुद्धलाई भारती परिचय दिएको पाईन्छ । यति हुँदा पनि नेपालको तर्फबाट भने झन्डै झन्डै मौनता प्रदर्शन गरिनु र भारती पक्ष भने बुद्धलाई भारती परिचय दिन अरबौं खर्चेर नेपालको देबदह र लुम्बिनीसहितको हुबहु नक्कली कपिलबस्तु बनाउँदै आफ्ना संचार माध्यम र बुद्धिजीबिलाई सकृय बनाउनुले समस्याको गांभीर्यतालाई पुस्टि गर्दैन र? 

पत्रकार नविन पोखरेल कपिलवस्तु दिवस अभियानद्धारा सम्मानित

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on November 18, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rate This

१७ नोभेम्बर, लण्डन: नेपाली पत्रका संपादक एबं कान्तिपुर दैनिक सम्बद्ध पत्रकार नविन पोखरेलले वर्षेनी विश्वभरका करिव ६० लाख पर्यटकले अवलोकन गर्ने ब्रिटिश संग्रहालयमा बुद्धबारे राखिएको भ्रामक जानकारीसम्बन्धी सामग्रीहरु बिस्तृत रुपमा कान्तिपुर दैनिकमा १३ कार्तिक (अक्टोबर २९) र कार्तिक १६ (नोभेम्बेर २) र नेपाली पत्रको बर्ष ६, अंक १८ मा प्राथमिकताका साथ प्रकाशित गरेर म्युजियमको ध्यानाकर्षण गरेकै कारण संग्रहालयले फेसबुकको आफ्नो पेजमा नोभेम्बर ४ तारिख दिनको ३:४६ बजे संग्रहालयले बुद्ध नेपालमा नजन्मेको भनी उल्लेख नगरेको सूचना जारी गरेको र सोही सूचनालाई आधार बनाएर संग्रहालयलाई दबाब दिन जन परिचालन गर्ने सहज वातावरण तयार भएको थियो । छोटो समयमा नै सोही सूचनामा भएको ब्यापक जन दबाबका कारण नोभेम्बर ७ तारिख दिनको ११:०५ मा संग्रहालयले वुद्ध लुम्बिनी नेपालमा जन्मिनु भएको उल्लेख गर्ने सूचना जारी गरेको थियो । यसरी विस्वभरका त्यत्ति  ठूलो संख्याका पर्यटकहरुले अबलोकन गर्ने ब्रिटिश संग्रहालयमा वुद्धबारे भ्रामक जानकारी सच्याउने बातावरण सहज बनाउने महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निर्बाह गर्नु भएकोमा पत्रकार नविन पोखरेललाई कपिलवस्तु दिवस अभियानले बिभिन्न देशमा तेश्रो कपिलवस्तु दिवस मनाउने क्रममा कपिलवस्तु दिवस अभियान वेलायत राष्ट्रिय समितिले लण्डनस्थित नेपाली दूतावासमा आयोजना गरेको तेश्रो कपिलवस्तु दिवस कार्यक्रमका वीच सम्मान गरेको छ ।

सम्मान गर्ने क्रममा कार्यक्रमका प्रमुख अतिथि वेलायतका लागि नेपाली राजदुत महामहिम डा सुरेशचन्द्र चालिसे, कार्यक्रमका बिशिस्ठ अतिथि सांसद माननीय भान्ते आनन्द पथ र कपिलवस्तु दिवस अभियानका विस्व संयोजक रामकुमार श्रेष्ठद्धारा संयुक्त रुपमा हस्ताक्षरित प्रमाणपत्र राजदुत महामहिम डा सुरेशचन्द्र चालिसे र माननीय भान्ते आनन्द पथले संयुक्त रुपमा प्रदान गर्नु भयो । प्रमाणपत्रमा लेखिएको छ, “वर्षेनी विश्वभरका करिव ६० लाख पर्यटकले अवलोकन गर्ने ब्रिटिश संग्रहालयमा बुद्धबारे राखिएको भ्रामक जानकारीसम्बन्धी सामग्रीहरु तयार गरी संग्रहालय र सम्बन्धित सरोकारवालाहरुको ध्यानाकर्षण गराएर जानकारी सच्याउने वातारण सहज बनाउने महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निर्बाह गर्नु भएकोमा सम्मान स्वरुप यो प्रमाणपत्र प्रदान गरिएको छ ।”

वेलायतमा तेश्रो कपिलवस्तु दिवस कार्यक्रम

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on November 19, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rate This

१७ नोभेम्बर, लण्डन: लन्डनस्थित नेपाली दूतावास हाताभित्र तेश्रो कपिलवस्तु दिवस कार्यक्रम मनाइको छ । २००९ देखि कपिलबस्तु दिवस विश्व दिवसका रुपमा मनाउन शुरु गरिएको हो । प्रत्येक डिसेम्बर १ र बिभिन्न देशमा आ-आफ्नो समयानुकुल सो दिनको आसपासमा कपिलबस्तु दिवस मनाउने गरिएको छ ।

कार्यक्रमका प्रमुख अतिथि बेलायतका लागि नेपाली राजदूत डा. सुरेशचन्द्र चालिसेले आफू प्रधानमन्त्रीको सल्लाहकार रहेका बेला श्रीलंकाली राष्ट्रपति राजपक्ष नेपाल भ्रमण आएको स्मरण गर्दे डा. चालिसेले राजपाक्षले सबैभन्दा पहिला लुम्बिनी भ्रमण गरेपछि मात्र अन्य कुरा गर्ने बताउनु, नेपालका लागि बर्माका राजदूतले आफ्नी आमालाई लुम्बिनी लिएर जानु, आफ्नो ओहोदाको प्रमाणपत्र पेश गर्ने क्रममा बुद्धको मूर्ति वेलायतकी महारानीलाई उपहार स्वरुप दिंदा उपहारको अत्यन्तै प्रसंशा गरेर सो मूर्ति शाही संग्राहलयमा राखिने जानकारी दिनु, जापानीहरुले लुम्बिनी भ्रमणको क्रममा त्यहाँको माटो लिएर जानु जस्ता दृस्टान्तहरुले उनीहरुको वुद्धप्रतिको अगाध आस्था प्रतिविम्बित गर्ने बताए । डा. चालिसेले वेलायतको कुनै पनि ठाउँमा बुद्ध जन्मस्थलबारे दिग्भ्रम देखिएको खण्डमा त्यस्को समाधानको लागि कपिलवस्तु दिवस अभियान र सरोकार संस्थाहरुसंग मिलेर काम गर्न संधै तत्पर रहेको बताउनु भयो । 

कार्यक्रमका बिशिस्ठ अतिथि सांसद माननीय भान्ते आनन्द पथले नाम लिंदा मात्रै पनि आनन्दानुभूति हुने अलौकिक स्वभावका भगवान बुद्धले नेपाली माटोको बिशिस्ठ पुत्रको रुपमा नेपालको नाम विस्वभरी सगरमाथा जस्तै उँचो राख्ने काम गर्नु भएको उल्लेख गर्दै उहाँ संसारकै आदर्श पुरुष भएको बताउनु भयो । मन्तब्य दिने क्रममा भान्तेले वुद्ध विस्व शान्तिका प्रणेता भएको उल्लेख गर्नु भयो । 

May the Corrupt Rot भ्रष्टाचारीलाई किरा परोस्

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on July 29, 2011

बुद्धको जीवनी एनिमेसन फिल्ममा

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on July 29, 2011

 

Rate This

सन्तोष रिमाल, काठमाडौं, साउन १३- ’म हिन्दुस्तानी हुँ। तर, भारतले बुद्ध आफ्नो देशमा जन्मेको हल्ला फैलाउँदा साह्रै झोक चल्छ,’ बुद्धको जीवनकथाझल्काउने एनिमेटेड फिल्म ‘गौतम बुद्ध’ बनाउन व्यस्त निर्देशक तुलसी घिमिरे यसलाई बुद्धबारे धेरै भ्रम चिर्ने फिल्म दाबी गरे।

‘हामीलाई धार्मिक र दार्शनिक पक्षसँग त्यति धेरै सरोकार छैन। तर, अकाट्य कुरा के हो भने गौतम बुद्ध कपिलवस्तुको लुम्बिनीमा जन्मिएका हुन्। जुन नेपालमा पर्छ,’ भारतीय फिल्मकर्मीले समेत बेलाबखत बुद्धको जन्मस्थलको विषयमा भ्रामक प्रचार गरिरहेको चर्चा गर्दै त्यसलाई चिर्ने अठोट गरेका छन् उनले। बुद्धको जीवनकथाका थुप्रै रोचक तथ्य फिल्मले उजागर गर्ने जिकिर समेत छ उनको।

कपिलवस्तुका राजकुमार सिद्धार्थ गौतमले गृहत्यागको बाटो रोजेको कथा उनको फिल्मले भन्नेछ। ‘विभिन्न श्रोतव्यक्तिको भनाइ र अनुसन्धानका आधारमा केही नयाँ र अभिरुचिपूर्ण तथ्य देखाउन खोजेका छौं र त्यसलाई तर्कसंगत ढंगले पुष्टि गर्ने प्रयास पनि,’ थरिथरिका मिथकको जालोबाट बुद्धको स्पष्ट जीवनी देखाउने काम उनलाई निकै चुनौतीपूर्ण लागेको छ।

Russian solar probe to predict Earthly cataclysms

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on July 29, 2011

 

Rate This

Some scientists believe bursts of solar activity cause natural disasters on our planet, but until now the star has been too

Photo from www.nasa.gov

difficult to reach or explore in any detail. Some Russian researchers think they have the solution.

Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis – apocalyptic pictures are becoming an ordinary part of news bulletins across the globe. And scientists are not giving out reassuring forecasts.

“Unfortunately, we’re expecting more severe cataclysms which may lead to large-scale human losses and destruction,” says Baku-based Professor Elchin Kakhalilov of the Global Network for the Forecasting of Earthquakes.“I’m talking about even a possible shift of the centers of our entire civilization.”

The change in the Earth’s seismic activity coincides with the rise of activity on the sun. Scientists have been witnessing gigantic bursts of plasma on its surface and say they are affecting our planet, even though it is over 90 million miles away.

Each burst sends billions of particles into space which impacts the Earth’s magnetic field. This may trigger some of the processes going on deep bellow its surface, leading to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Scientists predict solar activity will increase and say in the next few years, large-scale disruptions of electronic equipment, radio transmissions, computer failures and massive black-outs could become parts of everyday life.

The sun is currently monitored either by stations on Earth or in orbit. But sending a probe four times closer to the star would be far more helpful. And it may not be science fiction much longer, thanks to a project currently being developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

Russia eyes scientific mission to Venus

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on July 29, 2011

 

Rate This

A leading Russian firm specializing in automated probes is preparing a mission to Venus. Planned for 2016, its mission is to study the planet’s turbulent atmosphere and surface, and find out why it has no water.

The preparation work on the spacecraft has started even though the contract for it has not yet been signed, told head and chief designer of the Lavochkin construction bureau Viktor Kharnov.

The Venera-D (Venus-D) station is to be launched in December 2016 and delivered to Venusian orbit in May 2017. It will be carried by a heavy Proton-M or Angara-A5 rocket.

The orbiting craft will launch a lander module and two atmospheric probes, which will gather samples of the atmosphere at altitudes of 55-60 km and 45-50 km. The orbiter will have scientific instruments of its own and will also relay data from the probes and the lander to Earth.

Beyond the Dalai Lama: Profiles of Four Tibetan Lamas-in-Exile

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on July 29, 2011

 

Rate This

This is a guest post by Elizabeth Dias, a TIME contributor based in Washington.

When the Dalai Lama came to Washington this month, he wasn’t alone. Accompanying the spiritual leader of Tibetans-in-exile were a group of other leading rinpoches, or reincarnate lamas and teachers. These Tibetan clerics, or “precious jewels” as the term rinpoche means, often keep their national and international influences low profile. Kate Saunders, director of communications for the International Campaign for Tibet, says this in part because the “one thing virtually all Tibetans share is loyalty to the Dalai Lama.” Yet as His Holiness nears the twilight of his life, attention has already shifted to those who are shouldering the mantle of his spiritual leadership overseas — the Dalai Lama already ceded his political powers earlier this year. TIME caught up with four of these leaders to hear their own stories of Tibetan leadership.

Gomo Tulku Rinpoche (Photo: Courtesy Gomo Tulku Rinpoche)

Gomo Tulku Rinpoche, 22

A “Recording-Artist Rinpoche” may seem unlikely, but then you have Gomo Tulku Rinpoche. He hails from the same Gelugpa lineage as the Dalai Lama, who recognized Gomo Tulku’s reincarnation at age three.

While his previous incarnation reportedly enjoyed ritual dance and music, Gomo Tulku takes this passion to an entirely new level. Three years ago he quit the Sera Je Monastery in south India to pursue a music career in Italy. That was not an easy decision. Since age 7 he’d been trained to become a teaching monk. Without telling anyone, “I booked the tickets myself and I left,” he recalls. “Being a lama, if that is my role, as a teacher, then at least I need to know what life is.”

Today he has created his own sound, one that trades traditional chant for a fusion of contemporary hip-hop and R&B with some slash and pop, and on July 28, he is set to release his first single, “Photograph.” Gomo Tulku works with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition and its 160 centers worldwide even as he is busy “spitting lines.” Here’s the line he spit for TIME: “I’m constantly dazed and confused, I never cease to be amazed by the views.” It’s an impromptu composition, but nevertheless it reveals his honest approach of self-discovery. As he describes it, he is trying “to find myself in a different way and experience life and share it with my people” and to “have that direct interaction instead of being on the throne. I want to come down with you guys, just chill with you guys and talk.”

World Population Predicted to Hit 7 Billion This Year

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on July 30, 2011

 

Rate This

By: MEGAN GIBSON

If this keeps up, things are going to get crowded.

Stocktrek/ Getty IMages

A new study shows that the earth’s population will hit 7 billion in 2011, which is double what it was in the 1960s,

according to Discovery News. What’s more, researchers predict that another 2.3 billion people will be added to our planet over the next 39 years. In case you were wondering, that’s a lot of people in not a lot of time.

(PHOTOS: Garbage Wars in Naples)

Worryingly, the study adds:

SINO-NEPAL RELATIONS: ECONOMIC AGENDA FOR A 21ST CENTURY STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on July 29, 2011

 

Rate This

[China is an opportunity for Nepal and South Asia –at least the Hindu Kush Himalayan regions of it - because, with China’s new economic and development policy, the centre of gravity of its  economic growth has and will move towards the hinterland of South West China and Central Asia from its currently dominant eastern seaboard. In the process, unfolding right before our eyes, unimagined opportunities with many new Silk Routes. It may be hypothesized that the ‘centre’ of Asia, henceforth, shall be in the regions of Tibet, Qinghai, Guansu, Sichuan, Kunming and Xianjian, which are all in the immediate neighbourhood of  South and Central Asia.]

By Madhukar Shumshere  J B Rana

Journalist  Kanak Mani Dixit has just written that ‘Between Sycophancy and Adventurism’  (Republica; July 27- Image: Naxi Manuscript collection 28,2011) that “China’s diplomacy is meant to serve China and not Nepal” , as if Indian diplomacy or US diplomacy or Norwegian diplomacy is to serve Nepal and not their own national interests? Perhaps, he’s been smitten by the once-upon-a-time Bush-Blair’s airy- fairy ‘ethical diplomacy’ that saw nations as ‘good’ and ‘evil’ albeit with Christian lenses.

The fundamental question we, as Nepalese, must ask ourselves is this: is China a threat or an opportunity for Nepal? This author believes that it’s an opportunity not just for Nepal but all of South Asia. And that is why all South Asian nations welcomed it into the SAARC as Observer—albeit India reluctantly: since, other than the George Fernandez who sees China as an undiluted threat, India is yet ambivalent. Being still undecided as to what, where and how much cooperation, coordination, competition, conflict or just communication for confidence building?

Asia has emerged as the new geo political and geo-economical power house of the globe after around 300 years of imperialism and colonialism with total marginalization of the once flourishing Asian economies; exploited and left to forcibly trade with the metropolitan country only as slaves.

This structural change has been made possible, firstly, by the post-WW II rise of Japan from the ashes with its spellbinding economic miracle and its judicious adaptation of tradition with modernity during 1945-80. Japan laid the seeds of Asian geo-political and geo economic independence and self reliance: and implanted geo-psychological self confidence by virtue of its modernization found on its own civilization and cultural ethos.

Thereafter, the four modernization drives of China, since the late 1970s to this day, rendered China as the world’s factory for manufacturing of mass based, high quality consumer goods with intermediate technology maximizing economies of scale with economies of scope. And, since the 1990s, with the initiative of Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in India,  Asia’s renaissance is  irreversible  as India, reluctantly, launched its economic and financial reforms by dropping the ideology of Nehruvian socialism that engulfed Nepal too.

Women gain power in Brazil’s Planalto palace

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on June 20, 2011

 

Rate This

Brazil’s first woman president now has ten women in her cabinet, two short of her 30 per cent target.

Fabiana Frayssinet

“]

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (R) greets presidency minister Gleisi Hoffman during her inauguration at Planalto palace, Brazil. [EPA

By appointing women to two key ministries this month, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has nearly met her goal of having a cabinet comprising at least 30 per cent women, with women in predominant roles at the Planalto Palace, the seat of government.

Rose Marie Muraro, a writer and pioneer of Brazil’s feminist movement in the 1970s who, like Rousseff herself, inspired many of the women in politics today, is enthusiastic.

“The hard core of power is in the hands of women, and that is very important,” said Muraro, who was declared by law a “National Patron of Feminism” by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010).

Muraro is also a role model for women such as Gleisi Hoffmann, who was appointed chief of staff on June 7.

A lawyer and former senator, Hoffmann is nicknamed “the tractor” in the capital’s political circles because of her hard work and ability to get things done. She replaced Antonio Palocci, forced to resign over questions about the sudden 20-fold expansion of his personal fortune.

Although there is no proof of illicit enrichment, Palocci’s position as Rousseff’s “right-hand man” became politically untenable for the governing Workers’ Party (PT) and its allied political forces.

Nepal to build £1.9 billion ‘Buddhist Mecca’

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on June 20, 2011

 

Rate This

China is providing funds to Nepal to build a $3 billion (£1.9bn) ‘Buddhist Mecca’ to attract millions of pilgrims and spiritual tourists to the birthplace of the religion’s founder Gautama, Lord Buddha.

China and Nepal signed an agreement earlier this year to develop the site in Lumbini Photo: REX

By Dean Nelson, New Delhi, Peter Foster in Beijing

Lumbini is a Unesco world heritage site that attracts half a million pilgrims every year from China, India, Japan, Sri Lanka and Thailand to its sacred ponds, gardens and temples.

Planners hope to build an airport, hotels, convention centres, new highways, temples and a Buddhist university at the site on Nepal’sWestern border with India, where Lord Buddha was born about 2,600 years ago.

The scheme is supported by a Chinese government-backed foundation and has brought together an unlikely alliance of Nepali government ministers, Prachanda, the former prime minister and leader of the Maoist insurgency, and Paras, the former crown prince, whose family Prachanda ousted from power.

It also has the support of Steven Clark Rockefeller, the heir to the Rockefeller dynasty. According to Nepali officials devout Buddhists spend more time at the other three main pilgrimage sites in India because Lumbini does not have the infrastructure necessary for longer stays.

Sarnath, in India’s Uttar Pradesh, where Buddha first taught “dharma” or natural law, Bodh Gaya in Bihar, where he found enlightenment under the Bodhi tree and Kushinagar where he found “nirvana” in death, are all drawing increasing numbers of high-spending tourists, and Nepal’s government wants to increase its share of the spoils.

Another Chinese foundation plans to raise $ 3b to make Lumbini ‘magnet for Buddhists’

Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on June 20, 2011

 

Rate This

Months after plans of a Chinese private sector company to invest Rs 8 billion to develop Lumbini as an International

Buddha Center hogged media headlines there comes news that a Chinese-backed foundation is planning to raise $ 3 billion to help Nepal develop Buddha’s birthplace.

According to Reuters, the Asia Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation plans to raise the aforesaid amount at home and abroad “to build temples, an airport, a highway, hotels, convention centres and a Buddhist university in the town of Lumbini.”

Interestingly, UCPN (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is the vice-chairman of the foundation which aims to transform Lord Buddha’s birthplace in southern Nepal “into a magnet for Buddhists in the same way as Mecca is to Muslims and the Vatican for Catholics”, the report adds.

The foundation signed a memorandum of understanding with Nepal government last month to jointly develop and operate Lumbini.