Soft Power of a country in most crude terms is how good it is in
telling its stories. Modi, like a true statesman knows how to play the cards in
his hands. Faced with great challenges of mammoth proportions in our neighborhood,
he has now asserted India’s Buddhist linkages to enhance India’s soft power in
the world particularly in South and South East Asia. To a curious watcher of
India’s foreign relations it will be very perplexing as to why India has not
played its Buddhist linkages with the world so far. Read the passages below to
find why this is a well-timed and inevitable step now.
Chinese Context
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China, back in 2006 hosted something called “First Buddhist Forum”, an
initiative of the then party secretary and now the president Xi Xingping. China’s
active promotion of Buddhism in recent years has generated some alarm
in New Delhi. China held the first World Buddhist
Forum in 2006 at Hangzhou.
I find it very amusing as China is a country where communists call all
the shots and religion is not very encouraged if not abhorred. Marx once called
religions opium of mankind. As a country that doesn’t have a very good
relationship with opium (read Opium Wars) it becomes even more puzzling. It was
an effort of Chinese to strengthen their soft power, an area where they cannot
complete with India.
As part of its Buddhist diplomacy, China has created
a World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) which meets every year and
provides liberal grants to Buddhist groups across the world.
Modi asserts India’s Buddhist links
Despite being the birthplace of Buddhism (religion not Buddha himself,
he was born in present day Nepal), India receives barely .005 percent of
Buddhist tourists in the world. This should be enough to shift focus to address
this now.
Modi plans to play the Buddha
card, our country’s first ambassador to the world and undeniably the most
admired one. A Chinese scholar once said that India had colonized China year
ago with Buddhism without sending even one soldier. This is in line with India’s
action east policy. With this there is definite shift in India’s East Asia
Diplomacy.
Narendra Modi has already hosted hosting a dialogue on Vinaya (code of
conduct) between high-ranking Theravada monks from Sri Lanka and counterparts
of the Nalanda tradition — the first dialogue at this level
between the two Buddhist traditions. Modi had met the Maha Nayakas during his
visit to Sri Lanka where he had also offered prayers at the sacred Mahabodhi
tree.
Modi’s personal
interest in Buddhism was reflected in his step to restore the rich
Buddhist heritage of Gujarat.
Historical
context
Our magnificent country with heritage going more than 5000 years in the
past has left a deep imprint on cultures all over the world. Cities with names
sounding similar to Ajodhya are found in Thailand (Ayutthaya) and Indonesia
(Yogyakarta). Angkor Watt in Cambodia and Borobudur in Indonesia also speak of
India’s influence in the ancient times.
The Buddha has always
figured prominently in India’s international engagement. It was prominent
in the opening ceremony of Commonwealth Games too. As the land from where
Buddhism (the religion, not Buddha himself, he was born in present day Nepal) was
born and spread in the world, India did not have to work too hard to
make it part of its cultural engagements with the rest of the
world.
One out of six tourists to India visits
Bodh Gaya. India’s support for Dalai Lama since 1959 has been an enduring
source of tension with China.
Action
East Policy and its Buddhist initiatives
The work on phase-I
Buddhist Tourist Circuit has gathered pace. As a native of Uttar Pradesh which
has many Buddhist sites, I see an increase in foreign tourist traffic. Now 1 in
6 tourists visits Bodhgaya (Bihar). This also includes Lumbini in Nepal where
the Buddha was born, Bodhgaya where he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi
tree
Sarnath in Uttar
Pradesh where he delivered his first sermon, Rajgir in Bihar where he lived and
taught, Nalanda which became the centre of Buddhist learning and teaching. All
these are already part of the proposed Buddhist circuit.
Kushinagar in UP where
he departed from the world, Kapilavastu, Vaishali in Bihar where he delivered
his last sermon, Sravasti in UP where he spent 24 rainy seasons at Jetavan
monastery and Kausambi where he preached; are all part of India’s Buddhist
Diplomacy.
India as the birth
place of Buddhism has not used its soft power to its utmost potential. Sikkim
in India is the home to all sects of Buddhism and connects the three sects of Buddhism
namely; The Mahayana, The Hinyana, Thervada and The Vajrayana.
Believers from several
Buddhist countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh, China, Japan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka,
and Thailand have set up monasteries around the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya
for their pilgrims
India can use these to
attract Mahayana Buddhists from China, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore
and Vietnam, Theravada Buddhists from Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Sri Lanka,
Myanmar and Vajrayana Buddhists from Tibet, Mongolia, Bhutan, western China,
Russia and Nepal.
Countering
Chinese Rivalry in Buddhist countries
Narendra Modi indicated this change by choosing Bhutan as his first
official visit abroad and then to Nepal, where Buddha was born. His first
official visit outside South Asia was to another Buddhist country, Japan. In
his outreach to leaders in the subcontinent and Asia, from Nepal to Japan and
China to Myanmar, Modi has projected Buddhism as one of India’s bridges to
these nations. Incidentally, these are also the nations where China and India
are engaged in contest for influence.
To the self-proclaimed
secularists his overt expression of his Hindu and Buddhist religiosity may be
controversial but I do not see a problem with that. After all Italy also tried
to use Christianity links to seek release of its marines. Kerala has a significant
Christian population. In fact, even China used Hinduism card by giving access
to Man Sarovar via an easier route.
Summarizing
Buddha has always been
very prominent in India’s foreign policy, however this aggressive shift has
come in light of China’s assertion of projecting itself as a bridge between the
Buddhist countries. It is something India would not let happen as the origin
place of Buddhism. Some may object to using religion as a tool of foreign
policy but as explained in the preceding passages, it is more about our
heritage and our identity as the Birthplace of Buddhism that no country can
snatch from us. Buddha diplomacy can be an effective
tool and soft power for India’s engagement with South Asia, South-East
Asia, East Asia and even China which share an interest in Indian mysticism.
Note: This article written by me was originally published on a portal on Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi
You can find my profile at : http://thekarmayogi.com/team_member/sachin-diwakar/
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