The Kashmiri monk who helped spread Buddhism across Asia

 

Javanese folklore contains the story of a late 4th century Hindu king named Vadhaka who converted to Buddhism. According to the legend, one night, Vadhaka’s mother had a dream about a holy man coming to Java on a flying boat. The very next day, a Kashmiri monk named Gunavarman reached the shores of the island.

On Gunavarman’s arrival, Vadhaka’s mother asked the king to welcome the monk. The conversations that followed between the monk, the king and his mother are recorded in Memoirs of Eminent Monks, a combination of biographies of monks in China that was compiled by Hui Jiao of the Jiaxiang temple in the 5th century.

Buddha’s teachings with dhrupad in a leap of artistic faith (Scroll.in)

“Buddha, Kabir, or the many abhangs in Marathi, the vachannas in Kannada or the cryptic verse from Thirukkural that talk of life, death and everyday truths,” he said. “There’s so much of good secular poetry in the many languages of South Asia that can be sung in raga. If I sing something that’s over 2000 years old today, am I not being more traditional? The parampara of ragas is to me truly modern because I am modern. My practice is influenced by Ambedkar who led me to both Kabir and Buddha.” details Click for a link in Scroll. in) 

A Sinhalese missionary’s quest to reclaim the Mahabodhi Temple (Scroll.in)

 

In the 19th century, when the English poet and journalist Edwin Arnold called on Buddhists everywhere to help restore their religious shrines in India, a young Sinhalese man decided to take up the cause of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya. Anagarika Dharmapala was just 26 then and had a religious status that lay between a monk and a layperson. In 1891, spurred by Arnold’s exhortation, he decided to go on his first pilgrimage to the Mahabodhi Temple and pray at the spot under the Bodhi Tree that is believed to be where the Buddha attained enlightenment. For details  click on the link on Scroll.in  Claim on Bodhgaya Temple