Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

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gavesako
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Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by gavesako »

Who owns the Buddha really?

Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl

A strong demand for bringing back the begging bowl of Lord Buddha from an Afghan museum and installing it at its “original” place at Vaishali in Bihar was made by RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh in Lok Sabha on Monday.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour, he said the Buddha, who was on his way to attain ‘nirvana’ (salvation), had presented the ‘bhikshapatra’ (begging bowl) to the people of Vaishali.

The bowl was later taken away to the capital of Kanishka, ‘Purushputra’ (now Peshawar), by invaders and then further to Kandahar (then Gandhar), Mr. Singh, who represents Vaishali constituency, said, adding several noted historians have written about the historicity of the vase.

As din prevailed in the House, Speaker Meira Kumar told the members, “He (Singh) is raising an issue concerning Lord Buddha. Please maintain peace in the House.”

Mr. Singh said he had referred the matter to former External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and learnt that the vase was now kept in Kabul museum.

He urged the External Affairs Ministry and the Archaeological Survey of India to take steps to bring it back to India and install it at its “original place in Vaishali.”

http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 061201.ece

:buddha1:


NEW DELHI, August 27: Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, a member of the Indian Parliament and former union minister, has launched a campaign to retrieve Gautama Buddha’s "Bhiksha Patra" (bowl) that was taken away to Afghanistan some two thousand years ago.

Singh, a Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, says the people of Vaishali in Bihar state (his Lok Sabha constituency) are the right claimants of this national treasure because Buddha had donated it to the people of the region when he was leaving for his "mahanirvan" (abandoning his mortal body) around 500 BC, after delivering his last speech.

For the next 500 years, a regular ‘puja’ of the bowl had been done at Vaishali.

Emperor Kanishka, who invaded India in the 1st century AD, took away the "patra" to "Purushpur" (present day Peshawar in Pakistan). During the term of former Afghanistan President Mohammed Najibullah (1987-1992), it was moved to the Kabul Museum.

Singh, whose campaign is being supported by 60 international Buddhist ‘maths’ (schools), has furnished historical material supporting his case to the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"Former External Affairs Minister SM Krishna had assured me that the Indian Government will take steps to retrieve the treasure. I have now sent a reminder to the present minister, Salman Khurshid," Singh said.

The MP is also planning to write a letter to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, seeking his cooperation in the matter.

"Chinese travelers including Fa Hein and Huang Tsang have referred to the presence of the Buddha’s bowl in Afghanistan, as has Alexander Cunningham (first Director General of the Archeological Survey of India). Historians, including Dr. Shreedhar Vasudev Sohani and Romila Thapar, have also supported the theory that the ‘patra’ had been taken away by Emperor Kanishka", Singh said on Monday.

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat ... itle=86776
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

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Ceisiwr
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by Ceisiwr »

How do you know that is his begging bowl?
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
SarathW
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by SarathW »

As Buddhist we should not try to reverse the history.
We should stay in the present moment.
Most important thing is to make sure someone take proper care of it.

By the way I didn’t know that Buddha’s begging bowl is still there!
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Kare
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by Kare »

According to the Dhammadayadasutta, MN 3, the Buddha said:

"Monks, be my heirs in Dhamma, not my heirs in material things."

So forget about the begging bowl. Let us focus on the Dhamma.
Mettāya,
Kåre
daverupa
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by daverupa »

Kare wrote:According to the Dhammadayadasutta, MN 3, the Buddha said:

"Monks, be my heirs in Dhamma, not my heirs in material things."

So forget about the begging bowl. Let us focus on the Dhamma.
Hear, hear!
  • "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
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gavesako
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by gavesako »

The legend goes that at the time of his Enlightenment or after his Enlightenment, the Buddha
didn't have a begging bowl, so the four kings of the four quarters, the four guardian kings,
each brought him a bowl, one from each quarter - one from the north, one from the east, one
from the south, one from the west. So the Buddha had four bowls; so what to do? He took
them, and he merged them, he joined them into one bowl.

See Relics of the Buddha by John S. Strong

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xqAB ... 22&f=false
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

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pilgrim
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by pilgrim »

The stone begging bowl weighs about 400kg and has Quranic verses inscribed on it. That settles the question. :roll:
http://sdhammika.blogspot.com/2011/11/b ... -bowl.html
daverupa
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by daverupa »

"The bowl was probably an early larger copy of the Buddha’s actual bowl placed in a monastery in Vesali for people to offer their first fruits in, a custom common in ancient India and which survived even in Sri Lanka and elsewhere up to the 19th century. The bowl’s great size may well have encouraged the acceptance of the widespread belief amongst ancient Buddhists that the Buddha was 18 feet tall. Only someone that big could have used or even lifted a bowl this size."
Much ado about not much.
  • "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
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gavesako
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by gavesako »

More info here:

Buddha’s Original Alms-Bowl

http://chandrashekharasandprints.wordpr ... alms-bowl/
Bhikkhu Gavesako
Kiṃkusalagavesī anuttaraṃ santivarapadaṃ pariyesamāno... (MN 26)

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Bhikkhu Ariyananda
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by Bhikkhu Ariyananda »

With Metta
Bhikkhu Ariyananda
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"Wanting has no END but freedom from WANTING has an END" - Ajahn Brahm
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Re: Bring back Lord Buddha’s begging bowl to India

Post by Bhikkhu Ariyananda »

gavesako wrote: Sun Sep 01, 2013 7:37 am More info here:

Buddha’s Original Alms-Bowl

http://chandrashekharasandprints.wordpr ... alms-bowl/
This bowl is so huge that it appears to be a pot kept in Buddhist Viharas to collect alms, like what we have in Hindu temples even now and known as ‘Hundi’ or Charity Box. . In ancient days alms would be given in form of grains or gold ornaments, coins etc. This would make it necessary to have a large bowl for receiving alms.

While this interpretation maybe unlikely because Monks don't accept Gold..but maybe requisites like ghee, oil, butter etc.

This above statement makes it highly likely that kind of Bowl probably accepted by Buddha which he probably gave to the people of Vesali
With Metta
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"Wanting has no END but freedom from WANTING has an END" - Ajahn Brahm
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