[Assam] Bamiyan Statue & ATAN BURAGOHAIN SAKO

[Himendra Thakur]

Dear Rajen,

Demolishing of Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan on March 11, 2001, a precursor  of 911, is a well-known tradition of Islamic supporters. Mr. Chandan Mahanta demolished the ATAN BURAGOHAIN SAKO even "before" it was built !

Has anybody any record as to how many Buddhist, Jain, Hindu and Jewish Temples and Christian Churches were demolished by supporters of Islam throughout history?

As for Nehru's question "What Happened to Buddhism in India?" --- my answer is "Buddhism is there is India." Nehru had to "discover" India. He was never with India. In his process of discovering India, he missed a great deal of things, including the Advaita Philosophy. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru proudly recorded in 1945 that he did not understand Advaita, probably to glorify his socialistic style which was rather an erroneous tunnel view of Marxism. Nehru went on using "monism" to mean Advaita to the last day of his life, whereas Advaita, with its "tena tyaktena bhunjeethah" was the highest form of socialism and Marxism. 

Throughout his life, Nehru proved himself to be a very light minded individual. When Gopinath Bordoloi opposed the Cabinet Mission proposal where Assam was grouped in a pre-pakistani grouping, Nehru retorted "Assam must sacrifice for the greater cause of India." There are many more instances of Nehru's light talks. One was "thora kuch de do" to his cousin Teja. 

Simple folks of India worship Buddha as an Avatar of Vishnu; they follow Buddha's teaching of love --- the simple folks of India do not reject anything --- a highest form of human wisdom --- a trait that was not seen by superficial cursory observers like Nehru. 

As for "As you know Buddhism is the only thing which China imported from outside, and China still has a inner resentment that India dominated her mind for 2000 years through Buddhism",  I must point out that Taoism of China [ Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE)]  is as old as Buddhism [ Buddha 536 -483  BCE]. The words like "resentment" "dominated" "imported from outside" are extremely mundane in Taoism, which is Advaita.   

With the best wishes,
Himendra

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Barua25 
  To: Himendra Thakur 
  Cc: Manoj Das ; assam at assamnet.org 
  Sent: Thursday, June 29, 2006 12:44 AM
  Subject: Re: Bamiyan Buddha Statues in Afghanistan


  Hemenda:
  Recently I had the honor to speak about Buddhism in a small Chinese gathering in Houston through the Tzu Chi Foundation. Incidently that was arranged as a reaction to the demolishing the Bamiyan Buddha in Afghanistan.  As a reaction in the most Buddhist manner, Tzu Chi Foundation have organized this Exhibition titled "Journey to the West" depicting the classic pilgrimage of Xuan Tsang (Pronounced Suan-Chang, previously spelled as Hsuan Tsang). I sopoke about Xuan Tsang's historic journey to Kamrup in the 7th century and meeting king Kumar Bhaskar Varman. BTW one of the questions, I was asked "What Happened to Buddhism in India?". This is a legitimate question, one Nehru asked himself at one time and tried to explain. Anyhow, I explained my views taking help from Nehru and as well as the Chinese scholar Lin Yutang who seemed to grasp the essense of the spirits of India and China well (His book, "Wisdom of China and Wisdom of India" are worth reading). I also explained my way why Buddhism succeeded in China and not in India. As you know Buddhism is the only thing which China imported from outside, and China still has a inner resentment that India dominated her mind for 2000 years through Buddhism. Ironically, I think these things have some bearing why China opted for Communism after the WW-II and India did not. etc.
  More later.
  Rajen   
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