I consider it a great privilege to be here on
the occasion of the “Golden Jubilee Celebration of Department of Indo-Tibetan
Studies, Visva Bharati, Shantiniketan.
Permit me to state at the very outset that I
am experiencing today a rare feeling of being Blessed by the Almighty on three
specific counts:-
Firstly, to be associated with a function of
“Visva-Bharati”, “Shantiniketan” – Gurudev Rabindranath Togore’s hallowed
and world renowned seat of Learning
– is a Blessing from the Almighty!
Secondly, this is a unique occasion of “Golden
Jubilee” Celebration of an Institution dealing with one of the most important
areas of study viz., INDO-TIBETAN Studies, so vitally important for our well-being
and progress!
And, thirdly, we have today in our midst the
august presence of one of the greatest living souls of the 21st
Century “His Holiness Dalai Lama”!
My dear friends, each one of us present here
should consider ourselves to be extraordinarily “Lucky” and “Blessed” by the
Almighty to be here and also deeply grateful to the authorities at Shantiniketan
– our hosts – for having taken the trouble of inviting us on the occasion
of their Golden Jubilee.
When I meet His Holiness Dalai Lama again here
today, I remember the quotation
of the great poet Kalidasa – he says
“BaavaisqaraiNa
jananaantrsaaOh`daina” – “the joy arising on seeing beautiful forms and listening to sweet melody, comes from memories of
past joys and the traces of
connections in the previous births”.
Now to say a few words on Indo-Tibetan Studies
– Past & Present, Cultural
interaction between India and Tibet started after the establishment of Buddhism
in Tibet. In Mid-Seventh Century,
during the reign of the King Stron-tsen gam-po Buddhism was established in
Tibet for the first time. He married the princesses of Nepal and
China, who were strong followers of Buddhism. But the actual spread of “Dharma” began
only after the arrival of three Indian scholars viz., Santaraksita, Padmasambhava
and Kamalsila. During this time
a large number of works on Buddhist religion, and on other subjects such as
grammar, logic, poetics and literary works, were translated into Tibetan from
Indian literature by many great scholars, from both India and Tibet.
Thus, Indian Buddhism exercised considerable
influence over the Tibetan Buddhism in the literary and philosophical spheres.
The Tibetan art, architecture, education, dance, drama and even agriculture
were influenced by the Indian systems.
Besides the Buddhist works, the Tibetans also translated the secular
Indian works on art, architecture, lexicon, poetics, medicine, law, grammar
and Sanskrit literature into Tibetan.
Almost all the translations have been preserved in the Tibetan canon. Tibetans made the translations in a scientific
way. In the 8th Century
A.D., a committee was constituted for standardization of the translated works
which were completed earlier. They also composed a dictionary containing original Sanskrit Technical
words of Buddhist religion and Philosophy and allied words and their Tibetan
equivalents.
Tibetan Language contains the richest collection of Buddhist literature in the
world today and all aspects of the Buddhist tradition – Hinayana, Mahayana
and Vajrayana are contained within its scope.
The tradition of modern Tibetological research
was practically founded in India by the Hungarian Scholar, Alexander Csoma-dekoros.
His activities in the field bore fruit in the publication of illuminating
and revealing papers and memoirs in the Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal. The tradition was successfully followed
up by the great scholar explorer Sarat Chandra Das. His valuable papers on ‘Tibet and Tibetan
Culture’ published in various journals and his monograph entitled “Indian
Pandits in the Land of Snow” revealed Tibet in a new light.
Gurudev Ravindranath Tagore realized the importance
of Research and Higher Training in Tibetan Studies and invited scholars including
learned Lamas. In the study of
Tibetology, Bengal and Calcutta have given a lead to the rest of India.
The Asiatic Society of Calcutta, the University of Calcutta and the
Visva-Bharati have been the three prime institutions in the country to take
to the study first and now we have a number of institutions in almost all
parts of India for higher training and research in Tibetology.
With this background of Tibetan Studies in the
country, a full-fledged Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies was founded at
Shantiniketan in the year 1954. The
Department has promoted a systematic study and investigation of Indo-Tibetan
cultural contacts down the ages. Indo-Tibetan
Studies have been an important feature of the Buddhistic studies programme
of Visva Bharati.
Many Sanskrit Buddhist Texts – lost in their
original – are available either in Tibetan or in Chinese Transliteration. Scholars found it easier to reconstruct
the original Sanskrit text with the help of Tibetan source rather than the
Chinese. This is so because Tibetan Buddhist Studies were influenced primarily
by Sanskrit Text rather than Pali Texts. Even the recent publication of the
K. J. Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies,
Lokaprajnapti of Prajnapti Sastra, based on palm leaf manuscripts preserved
in Japanese temples, could be identified correctly only with the help of Tibetan
Manuscript by Prof. K. Matsuda. The
K. J. Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies has also taken up a Research Project
on “Japanese Esoteric (Kukai’s Shingon) Buddhism with Indian Perspective”
jointly with the Department of Buddhist Studies, Visva-Bharati under the guidance
of Dr. S. K. Pathak of Shantiniketan and Dr. Motohiro Yoritomi of Shuchin
University, Kyoto, Japan. The
K. J. Somaiya Centre of Buddhist Studies has been recognised by the Otani
University of Japan. I am proud
to state that the book published by the Centre, “Traditional Cultural Links
Between India and Japan – the 8th & 9th Century A.D., prescribed
as text book in Otani University. The Centre has been attracting scholars
from Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, USA and
Belgium.
I may add that the K. J. Somaiya Centre for Buddhist
Studies inaugurated in the year 1993 by His Holiness Dalai Lama is one of
the several Cultural Institutions at Somaiya Vidyavihar. The other Institutions seek to promote
Indian Culture, Indological Research, Yoga, Sanskrit and Jain Studies. In Yoga we are training students for B.A.
& M. A. Degrees of Kavi Kulguru Kalidas University, Nagpur, Maharashtra.
We are teaching Sanskrit, Pali and Japanese languages at an advanced
stage and are shortly starting the teaching of Ardha Magadhi and Chinese languages. The Centre for Jain Studies established
in April 2003 was inaugurated by Acharya Mahapragnaji is the most recent addition
to Somaiya Sanskriti Vihar.
We believe that constant dialogue and interaction
among leaders of different faiths is the most effective way to promote mutual understanding, tolerance and respect
for each other. This, in turn,
would promote spirit of harmony and peace among people of different faiths.
On this occasion, I would like to make a reference
to a series and practice of annual “Hindu Christian Dialogues” initiated by
the K. J. Somaiya Trust six years ago. Every alternate year, scholars from Turin
(Italy) and from the Vatican come and have week long Dialogues and Discussions
at our Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham at the Vidyavihar Campus. In turn, our scholars also go the next
year to Rome and visit the Vatican and have corresponding discussions. Thus a unique symbiotic Inter-Religious
Communion has been established leading to greater understanding and appreciation
of faiths on both sides.
The last Dialogue at the Vatican was held in April 2003. This was based on the concept of devotion
under which “Narada” and “Shandilya” Bhakti Sutras were presented to Vatican
scholars at an intense Workshop which lasted for four days. I may mention that next month from 15th
to 19th December 2003, as a part of this Hindu Christian Dialogue
an important “Inter Religious Symposium on Meditation” has been fixed at our
Campus which would be inaugurated by Cardinal Fitzgerald, President, Pontifical
Council for Inter Religious Dialogue Vatican. Further, Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham,
Mumbai and Focolare Movement, Italy have decided to hold Conference and Dialogue
in Rome from 17 to 21 April 2004 on the subject of “Streams in Spirituality”.
During the Seminar private audience with His Holiness the Pope is always
held at Vatican.
Our Buddhist Centre is endeavouring its best to keep up series of exchanges
and dialogues with foreign scholars on Buddhism beyond the shores of India.
We have endeavoured to hold as well as participate in Conferences in
Japan, Thailand and Far East countries.
Similarly, we have been inviting scholars from the East
During March 2002, last
year, we had an “International Conference on Buddhism in Global Perspective”
at the Vidyavihar Campus which was well attended by 22 foreign scholars apart
from 40 Indian scholars. The
next similar International Conference is scheduled to be held at our Campus
at Vidyavihar from 10th to 16th March 2004 on the subject
of “Contribution of Buddhism to World Culture”. This Conference is being jointly organised
by our Buddhist Centre with the cooperation of Otani University, Kyoto, Japan
and Nava Nalanda Mahavihara of Nalanda (India).
Before I conclude, may I say that the presence
of His Holiness Dalai Lama here or at any time is a great inspiration and
source of strength to all of us. I
would like here to publicly acknowledge my deepest personal gratitude to His
Holiness. I cannot still forget
the spontaneity and warmth with which His Holiness had not merely greeted
my revered father and mother but physically held their hands in each of his
hand in his round on our Campus when he came to Vidyavihar in 1993 for the
inauguration of the Buddhist Centre.
His inspiring presence and down to earth warmth are a unique experience.
Friends, may I express my sincere gratitude to
the organizers for giving me an opportunity to participate in the Golden Jubilee
Celebration of the Department of the Indo-Tibetan Studies, Visva-Bharati,
Shantiniketan.
I wish the celebration all success and pray to
the Almighty for the continued growth and advancement of the Department of
Indo-Tibetan Studies.
While taking my seat, I pay my most humble salutations
to His Grace His Holiness Dalai Lama.
