[Buddha-l] The battle of Lumbini

[Joy Vriens]

Hi Chris,

During the Karmapa controversy last year, I read (India Today?) about 
the border tension between India and China going up a notch because of 
Chinese development (motorway, railway) very near the Himachal Pradesh 
border. Probably to transport all the Chinese pilgrims wanting to visit 
holy places.
On the other hand, I personally am not a fan of turning places like 
Bodhgaya, Lumbini, Kushinagar into mini-Disneylands. But that seems to 
be unavoidable. This reminds me of The Sun Also Shines at Night (Il sole 
anche di notte), a movie by the brothers Taviani (inspired by Tolstoy's 
Father Serge). Where a hermit turns into a saint and his hermitage into 
a busy holy place against his will.

Joy

"Does Lumbini really need a six lane expressway connecting it with 
Nawalparasi when much more vital road links in Nepal are in a terrible 
state? I remember a couple of earlier grand proposals to redevelop 
Lumbini - one of which involved Trungpa Rinpoche's organization - but 
nothing ever came of these, though I suspect a fair bit of money found 
it's way into the pockets of corrupt government officials. For about 30 
or 40 years the only continuously active Buddhist establishment in 
Lumbini seemed to be the small Sakya monastery founded by the late 
Chogyey Trichen Rinpoche - which was probably built with the help of his 
patron, the hereditary ruler of the Nepalese principality of Mustang on 
the border with Tibet. Since they have shown a real long term commitment 
to the place perhaps any re-development project should be put in charge 
of the Nepalese monks of that monastery - rather than with some PRC 
front organization."