The soft power of Buddha’s relics coming to Ladakh

THE past few days in Leh have been momentous. The Buddha's relics from Piprahwa (Uttar Pradesh) were brought from Delhi to Ladakh on April 29 to a rapturous reception by the local population. Residents lined the route from the airport to the Shiwatsel Teaching Ground, which backs on to the Dalai Lama's residence in Leh, carrying khatas, incense and the beautiful Aryan peoples' flower offerings. They had good reason to, as the last time the Buddha's relics came to Ladakh was in 1950, when it was organised by Bakula Rinpoche.On May 1, Buddha Purnima — the 2,570th anniversary of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment and parinirvana — the 'Sacred Exposition of the Holy Relics of the Tathagatha: Peace Beyond Borders' was inaugurated in Leh. The event was opened by Home Minister Amit Shah at the Shiwatsel Teaching Ground.This two-week event, organised jointly by the UT of Ladakh, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and the International Buddhist Confederation, features exhibitions and conferences in Leh (including on 'The Contribution of Himalayan Buddhism to the Spiritual and Cultural Heritage of India and Beyond'), as well as the travel of the relics to Zanskar (villages in other areas have been assigned specific days when residents may see the relics in Leh).In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha emphasised the significance of his physical remains as a source of great inspiration and merit-gathering for all who came into their presence and honoured his relics. Along with the dharma or the Buddha's teachings as well as the vinaya or monastic discipline, each symbolised his continued presence in its own way for later disciples who did not have the good fortune to live in his time. It therefore carries profound significance for Buddhists to be able to not just see the relics, but have them bless their place of stay, in this case the UT of Ladakh.Against the backdrop of a prolonged standoff over Ladakh's demand for statehood, constitutional safeguards and environmental protection, this event assumes added significance, both internally and externally. It is especially so following the release of Sonam Wangchuk only in mid-March and right after the notification of five new districts in the UT of Ladakh on April 28, with the reorganisation resulting in five Buddhist-majority districts (Sham, Changthang, Nubra, Leh and Zanskar) and two Muslim-majority districts (Kargil and Drass).As per the 2011 Census, 46.4% of Ladakh's population is Muslim, while 39.65% of its population is Buddhist. Both the creation of the new districts and the cultural and spiritual diplomatic masterstroke of bringing the Buddha's relics to Ladakh after 76 years signal strong support to the Buddhist population of the union territory. The crowds patiently queuing to pay their homage to the Piprahwa relics as well as the rapturous reception by the Ladakh Buddhist Association and tremendous signage and hoardings across Leh suggest that this event is one of the most meaningful in recent times for them.Most interestingly, Amit Shah's inaugural speech sent a strong message to China. He began by noting that His Holiness the Dalai Lama, whenever he visits and speaks of Ladakh, does so not merely as a geographic location, but also as a place of great spiritual significance. Tremendous practitioners of wisdom and dependent origination as well as compassion and mahakaruna have been born here. He went on to explicitly reference Tibet, in the context of the Silk Road, which was especially poignant as the podium faced the Dalai Lama's Shiwatsel Palace Choglamsar residence a stone's throw away, hidden behind sentinel poplar trees.The Home Minister also referred to Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, as well as the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism — Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu and Gelug. This was a clear acknowledgement of the Dalai Lama's influence in revitalising Buddhism across the Himalayan region since 1959, as also the origin of the Buddhism of the Himalayas in Nalanda University, preserved in Tibet after Nalanda's decline for the last 1,300 years. In this regard, in his speech, the Home Minister also mentioned the great 11th century dharma translator — or lotsawa, as the Tibetans call them — Rinchen Zangpo, who is associated with the most famous monasteries of Alchi, Sumda and Mangyur dotted around Leh.With the Mongolian Ambassador to India, Ganbold Dambajav, in attendance for the inaugural ceremony of the Buddha's relics, there could not be stronger signalling to China that as much as it lays claim to the Buddha and Buddhism as a soft power tool, the real epicentre of the great being’s life and legacy lies in and with India. This is true not only as historical fact and heritage, but also as indicated by the Home Minister's remarkably direct and forthcoming speech, as a living tradition of India, Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, Mongolia and all the Himalayan and Trans-Himalayan region, wherein people, ideas, religion, goods, animals, nomads and much more flowed freely beyond borders not so long ago. Today, monastics from across the Himalayas, including Ladakh and Mongolia, make up to 60% of the student body of Tibetan monasteries and nunneries set up in exile in India.Bakula Rinpoche's own life is testimony to such a beautiful tightly-woven tapestry. He was born in Ladakh, travelled to study in the Drepung Loseling Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, and later served as Ambassador for 12 years in Mongolia, where he is venerated to this day as one of the 16 Arhats or foremost disciples of the Buddha.There was a powerful exhibition on the great Indian Buddhist mahasiddha, Guru Padmasambhava, presented in the Bhoti language so that locals could engage with it, and organised by the Ladakhi Gompa Association. His life — marked by journeys across these regions, or even flight, as legend has it — underscores a larger truth: the Buddha’s legacy cannot be claimed by any one nation-state as a cynical instrument of power and geopolitics.

The soft power of Buddha’s relics coming to Ladakh

The Buddha’s legacy cannot be claimed by any one nation-state as a cynical instrument of power and geopolitics

Kaveri Gill

The soft power of Buddha’s relics coming to Ladakh

The Buddha’s legacy cannot be claimed by any one nation-state as a cynical instrument of power and geopolitics

Kaveri Gill

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