Tracing the path of enlightenment

by Jiro Ikeguchi, Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct 26, 2006

Buddhist treasures from Silk Road featured at Shoso-in exhibition

Tokyo, Japan -- The Silk Road, which has a long and multifaceted history as the ancient trading route for a variety of goods, was also a conduit for Buddhism, which was brought to the East by monks who risked their lives to undertake the perilous journey along the road.

Marking the 1,250th anniversary of the death of Emperor Shomu, who dedicated his life to guarding ancient Japan through his Buddhist beliefs, many of the treasures brought via the Silk Road to the emperor are on display at the 58th Annual Exhibition of Shoso-in Treasures in Nara.

Prior to the opening of the exhibition, Yomiuri Shimbun writer Jiro Ikeguchi traced the ancient routes looking for the footprints of Buddhism along the Silk Road. Here is his account.

-------------------------

In Taxila, the ancient capital of northern Pakistan, I saw ruins of a Buddhist temple known as Dharmarajika, which is famous for its domed-shaped shrine known as a stupa. Located in a fertile plain near the banks of the Indus River, the archaeological grounds--a World Heritage site--attracts many tourists.

According to legend, a stupa was first built about 2,500 years ago to hold the remains of Buddha, who founded Buddhism in ancient India. In 300 B.C., King Ashoka divided the remains and constructed 84,000 stupa to hold them. They served as hubs of religious belief and later prospered.

Dharmarajika is one such stupa. In addition to a small temple and ruins of a monastery, which were both built later, there are many small minars (a type of tower) that were dedicated by followers, illustrating the way the Buddhist temple was formed.

A local archaeologist, Fidaullah Sehiai, 78, said, "Because Dharmarajika served as a religious hub, Buddhism was brought to Gandhara."

Located in the west of Taxila, Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, and its vicinity were called Gandhara in ancient times.

Known as the place where Buddhist culture flourished in the first to third century, Gandhara is nestled in the foot of the eastern edge of the Hindu Kush range, which has mountains as tall as 7,000 meters. Gandhara was a crossroads of the Silk Road as it leads to Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass in the west, and also to China through Karakoram Range in the north.

Buddha was first embodied in a stupa or a lime tree, also known as the tree of Buddha, since he is said to have become enlightened while meditating under the tree.

People are believed to have begun depicting Buddha in the shape of a human being in Gandhara around the first century. Some of these images created in the early stages are on display at Peshawar Museum. The faces of the blue-black schistose images are craggy, as is often the case with sculptures of the Greek gods, implying a Hellenic influence.

According to the archaeologist Sehiai: "The Buddhist sculpture was created as a result of a marriage of different cultures, and it helped spread Buddhism to the world. All this was made possible by the Silk Road."

Buddhism eventually came down to faraway Japan. The great influx of treasures representing the origin of Buddhist culture is also represented in the Shoso-in repository in Nara.

Swat, another city along the Silk Road, is located 150 kilometers northeast of Peshawar.

I visited a local craft shop in a bazaar after learning it had an incense burner with a handle similar to Oudo no Egoro, a brass incense burner with a long handle, one of the Shoso-in treasures.

The 38-year-old owner of the shop showed me the incense-burning custom known as nazar mar.

"It's a way of expelling evil spirits and praying for business prosperity," he said. The custom is said to have continued among the people of the Pashtun tribe, including the shop owner, who mainly lives in the North-West Frontier Province.

Although they are now Muslim, the tribe used to follow Buddhism.

Burning incense was performed in Buddhist rituals in India in ancient times and then spread to Japan. Nazar mar may be a remnant of Buddhism, which still remains in the Muslim nation.

Karakoram Highway, linking Islamabad in Pakistan to Kashgar in the Chinese autonomous region Xinjiang Uygur, stretches about 1,300 kilometers, and the areas around The Karakoram Range have much rough terrain.

Most of the highway was constructed by broadening the ancient Silk Road. Fa-xian, a Chinese priest, and many other Buddhist priests once traveled the road, which overlaps with the highway. Some of them headed to India to search for fundamental truth, and others spread Buddhist teachings in China by carrying holy scriptures. Many of them risked their lives to travel the road.

In Chilas, in north Pakistan, various pictures were inscribed in the rocks in the bank of the Indus River. The whitish line drawings depict various things, including stupa, an illustrated biography of the Buddha, and bodhisattva. Chinese characters and letters of ancient India were also inscribed there.

The travelers of the Silk Road carved the drawings and their names. Among the drawings is said to be a stupa dating to before Christ.

I wonder whether they carved the drawings out of their anxiety over crossing the border or from relief after getting through the rough area safe and sound. The line drawings conjured up images of the Chinese and Indian monks who inscribed them on the surfaces of rocks.

---------------------

For more information of the exhibition, please go here:
http://www.yado-nara.gr.jp/shosoin/pdf/shosoin_57th.pdf

We Need Your Help to Train the
Buddhist AI Chat Bot
NORBU!
(Neural Operator for Responsible Buddhist Understanding)



For Malaysians and Singaporeans, please make your donation to the following account:

Account Name: Bodhi Vision
Account No:. 2122 00000 44661
Bank: RHB

The SWIFT/BIC code for RHB Bank Berhad is: RHBBMYKLXXX
Address: 11-15, Jalan SS 24/11, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Phone: 603-9206 8118

Note: Please indicate your name in the payment slip. Thank you.


Dear Friends in the Dharma,

We seek your generous support to help us train NORBU, the word's first Buddhist AI Chat Bot.

Here are some ways you can contribute to this noble cause:

One-time Donation or Loan: A single contribution, regardless of its size, will go a long way in helping us reach our goal and make the Buddhist LLM a beacon of wisdom for all.

How will your donation / loan be used? Download the NORBU White Paper for details.



For Malaysians and Singaporeans, please make your donation to the following account:

Account Name: Bodhi Vision
Account No:. 2122 00000 44661
Bank: RHB

The SWIFT/BIC code for RHB Bank Berhad is: RHBBMYKLXXX
Address: 11-15, Jalan SS 24/11, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Phone: 603-9206 8118

Note: Please indicate your purpose of payment (loan or donation) in the payment slip. Thank you.

Once payment is banked in, please send the payment slip via email to: editor@buddhistchannel.tv. Your donation/loan will be published and publicly acknowledged on the Buddhist Channel.

Spread the Word: Share this initiative with your friends, family and fellow Dharma enthusiasts. Join "Friends of Norbu" at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/norbuchatbot. Together, we can build a stronger community and create a positive impact on a global scale.

Volunteer: If you possess expertise in AI, natural language processing, Dharma knowledge in terms of Buddhist sutras in various languages or related fields, and wish to lend your skills, please contact us. Your knowledge and passion could be invaluable to our project's success.

Your support is part of a collective effort to preserve and disseminate the profound teachings of Buddhism. By contributing to the NORBU, you become a "virtual Bodhisattva" to make Buddhist wisdom more accessible to seekers worldwide.

Thank you for helping to make NORBU a wise and compassionate Buddhist Chatbot!

May you be blessed with inner peace and wisdom,

With deepest gratitude,

Kooi F. Lim
On behalf of The Buddhist Channel Team


Note: To date, we have received the following contributions for NORBU:
US$ 75 from Gary Gach (Loan)
US$ 50 from Chong Sim Keong
MYR 300 from Wilson Tee
MYR 500 from Lim Yan Pok
MYR 50 from Oon Yeoh
MYR 200 from Ooi Poh Tin
MYR 300 from Lai Swee Pin
MYR 100 from Ong Hooi Sian
MYR 1,000 from Fam Sin Nin
MYR 500 from Oh teik Bin
MYR 300 from Yeoh Ai Guat
MYR 300 from Yong Lily
MYR 50 from Bandar Utama Buddhist Society
MYR 1,000 from Chiam Swee Ann
MYR 1,000 from Lye Veei Chiew
MYR 1,000 from Por Yong Tong
MYR 80 from Lee Wai Yee
MYR 500 from Pek Chee Hen
MYR 300 from Hor Tuck Loon
MYR 1,000 from Wise Payments Malaysia Sdn Bhd
MYR 200 from Teo Yen Hua
MYR 500 from Ng Wee Keat
MYR 10,000 from Chang Quai Hung, Jackie (Loan)
MYR 10,000 from K. C. Lim & Agnes (Loan)
MYR 10,000 from Juin & Jooky Tan (Loan)
MYR 100 from Poh Boon Fong (on behalf of SXI Buddhist Students Society)
MYR 10,000 from Fam Shan-Shan (Loan)
MYR 10,000 from John Fam (Loan)
MYR 500 from Phang Cheng Kar
MYR 100 from Lee Suat Yee
MYR 500 from Teo Chwee Hoon (on behalf of Lai Siow Kee)
MYR 200 from Mak Yuen Chau

We express our deep gratitude for the support and generosity.

If you have any enquiries, please write to: editor@buddhistchannel.tv


TOP