India should return Tawang to China

OK, this confuses me, but I'm not a super genius or even a mapmaker for that matter. China wants a Buddhist town back from India that is important to Tibetan Buddhists. As expected, they don't want to hand it over to China. HHuuummmm well how about this, if China gave Tibet back to the Tibetans, they could leave India and be able to go home. Yeah, I don't see that happening either.......

Zee News, Nov 15, 2006

Beijing, China -- Amid the heat generated by the latest Chinese claim of sovereignty over entire Arunachal Pradesh, prominent scholars here have backed Beijing's claim over Tawang, a strategic Buddhist town nestled in the Himalayas.

<< Tawang monastery

Speaking at the first-ever seminar on the 1962 India-China war and the boundary issue, held ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao's maiden state visit to India from November 20, prominent Chinese scholars on South Asia voiced their firm support for Beijing's stand that India should return Tawang to China as part of the final settlement.

"India entered into Tawang, the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, in 1951. For Tibetan Buddhism Tawang is important," the Deputy Director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Professor Sun Shihai said.

"In the negotiations for the settlement of the boundary issue, both countries should be sensitive to the national sentiments of each side," sun said.

Sun, who presided over the seminar, told here that Chinese scholars were of the view that both India and China should be willing to make 'adjustments' in the eastern and Western sectors of the disputed boundary for the final settlement of the border dispute.

"The McMohan Line, drawn by British is illegal. Successive Chinese governments have not accepted it. There is no question of the current socialist government accepting it as well. But we can discuss and make adjustments," he said.

India enshrines Buddha's remains after 2000 years

This is so cool! Just the fact that they have relics to re-enshrine is a great touchstone back through time. Here is the full story.....

By Laura MacInnis, The Star (Reuters), Oct 29, 2006

MUMBAI, India -- Thousands of Buddhists gathered in Mumbai on Sunday to lay to rest part of the ashes and bones of Lord Buddha in a ceremony resurrected after almost 2000 years.

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Monks in flowing orange robes chanted hymns from scriptures as the remains were lowered into a shallow pit on top of a 90-ft high stone dome, as part of celebrations to mark the 2,550th anniversary of the spiritual leader's enlightenment.

Organisers of the ceremony said this was the first time in around 2,000 years that Buddha's mortal remains were being enshrined.

"The relics now kept in this magnificent pagoda came from an ancient dome discovered during an archaeological expedition in south India in early-1900s," Acharya S.N. Goenka told reporters.

After Buddha's death, his remains were divided and kept in eight separate domes built by his disciples across Asia.

They were later taken by Buddhist convert Indian emperor Asoka, who placed them in many smaller domes about 2000 years ago.

The remains being enshrined on Sunday were found in an ancient pagoda in southern India in 1920 and have been kept in a Buddhist monastery for over 85 years, before being handed over for enshrining.

Buddhists, some of whom came from other parts of the world, including the United States, Britain, Australia and Cambodia, sat in meditation inside the dome, which can accommodate 8,000 people, many looking up in the direction of the roof where the remains of their guru lay.

According to believers, the enshrined relics of their leader emit spiritual energy and vibrations which helps meditation.

The organisers said the newly-constructed dome was unique as it was not only the world's largest stone dome unsupported by pillars, but was built with millions of inter-locking stones using ancient architectural techniques.

"No cement, concrete or metal has been used. There are no pillars to support the dome which is 280 feet in diameter," said Subhash Chandra, a Buddhist and an Indian media baron.

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=42,3351,0,0,1,0

Ah an answer, perhaps this is why I am Hindu in India now....

India's Untouchables turn to Buddhism in protest at discrimination by Hindus

By Justin Huggler, The Independent, October 13, 2006

New Delhi, India -- Across India this month, thousands of Hindus from the former Untouchable castes are converting to Buddhism in protest at the continuing discrimination they face. Mass conversion ceremonies are being held throughout the month, from Delhi in the north, to Hyderabad in the south. Organisers are claiming that more than 100,000 people have already converted.

Conversion is a highly charged political issue. Several states have passed laws this year making it harder to convert, and the mass ceremonies will infuriate Hindu nationalist parties that have been campaigning to stop lower caste Hindus changing their religion.

But for many Dalits, as Untouchables are now known, conversion is the only way to escape the oppression they still face in Hindu society. Untouchability has been illegal in India since independence, but it is still commonly practised. In many villages Dalits are not allowed to drink clean water from a well. In some areas, tea shops keep a different glass for Dalits to use, so higher-caste Hindus are not "polluted" by drinking from the same vessel, even after it has been washed. After the 2004 tsunami, Dalit survivors in Tamil Nadu were prevented from sharing water in relief camps.

See rest of article HERE.