In search of an identity
E very summer, young Chinese from the country's far corners gather at the foothills of the Taibai Mountains in China's east. The gathering includes doctors, lawyers, college graduates and, last summer, even a couple of nuclear scientists; in short, the kind of white-collar crowd one might usually find at a Starbucks coffee-shop in downtown Shanghai.
But these young Chinese weren't at Taibai on holiday; they were there in search of answers. The cool Taibai Mountains are home to the Tiantong monastery, a few hours' drive from the eastern port city of Ningbo. Tiantong Si is a 1,700-year-old centre of Buddhist learning, and it has influenced the thought and culture of much of China's east.
There are an estimated 100 million followers of Buddhist faith in officially atheist China (some estimates say there are more than 300 million, but in the absence of any surveys or a census, as well as the ambiguity of its practice, no one really knows for sure)
In 1959, the year the Dalai Lama went into exile in India, Dakpa's family — who have lived in Gyalthang for generations— left for India. He was born in an exiled Tibetan community in Madhya Pradesh. He studied in monasteries in Karnataka and Dharamshala to become a monk. After China's opening up in 1978, Dakpa's family decided to return to Gyalthang, primarily to reunite with long-lost relatives. After his return to Gyalthang, Dakpa decided to open a school for young Tibetans. {Excellent} The school is hard to find, nestled in the maze of the town's narrow cobbled streets, hidden away between the rows of handicraft shops. “The main focus is for young Tibetans to learn about their heritage, to learn about traditional knowledge that they will not learn elsewhere,” he says. “This is important for their identity, and also for the community. Growing up in an exiled community, you are always taught that preserving your identity, your culture, is the most important thing, no matter what you do.” (The town itself, known as Zhongdian in Chinese, was renamed “Shangri-La” by the government in a bid to promote tourism.)
Visitors to Songzanlin are usually surprised to find a giant portrait of the Dalai Lama adorning the main hall, and the curious sight of Han Chinese, China's majority ethnic group, lighting incense sticks and kneeling down in front of the Tibetan religious leader. Vilified by the Communist Party as a “splittist”, his image is banned in many of Tibet's monasteries.(I couldn't visit Brahm's project in Tibet, as journalists in China are not allowed to travel to Tibet unless on a government-guided tour.)
“The Chinese people are seeking for their identity,” she said. “Buddhism, as part of our culture, is becoming an integral part of modern young Chinese beliefs.”
“In the sutras, I found deep thoughts that spoke of the questions I had in my mind,” he explained. “In China, the only logic we're driven by now is the logic that ‘You should get more money'. We are taught that the answer to life's problems is to make more money. But the thing is: it's not solving the problems. It's only creating new ones.”
.....being chankiya baniya brahmin is all bull crap..its all about gobbling up whatever you can in which ever way you are comfortable with when it comes to world politics.....and we ain't there...its just a show off...."Paina Pataram Lona Lotaram"(shiny from outside but worthless from inside) is the best way to describe India and her establishment.....