[Buddha-l] The battle of Lumbini

[Jo]

Hi Joy,
This theme must be a universal within the IE group, because it's also found
in one of RK Narayan's best loved stories, _The Guide_.

Joanna


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."

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