New Nalanda University in China!
(By Tsem Rinpoche)
Dear friends around the world,
It is wonderful to know that China recently completed the construction of Nanhai Buddhist College, their version of Nalanda University in India. I am very happy to see that the Chinese government are willing and able to invest billions into the growth of Buddhism, and to have a variety of Buddhist courses available for interested people from all over the world.
I do not mean any offence to India, which is home to the original Nalanda Mahavihara, and I wish them tremendous success in reviving such a great and important Buddhist institution. At the same time, I rejoice that more people will be exposed to Buddhism through Nanhai Buddhist College, and I hope they will learn, practice and eventually gain attainments.
Do read the article below and enjoy the beautiful pictures. May many more Buddhist universities and institutions be built all over the world so that Lord Buddha’s teachings will pervade the ten directions.
Tsem Rinpoche
China Gets Its Own Nalanda, Shames India
By Yatish Yadav | Published: 04th June 2017 08:12 AM |
Last Updated: 04th June 2017 08:12 AM
Nanhai Buddhist College
NEW DELHI: China has scored a major victory in soft power diplomacy by quietly launching its own Nalanda University while the original Nalanda campus in Bihar, planned almost a decade ago, is still stuck with 455-acre dead space.
China’s education ministry had managed to keep the plan a secret till a few weeks ago when it formally announced the enrolment for Nanhai Buddhist College in Hainan province in May. The first batch is set to take off from September with a strength of 220 students to occupy the vacant Buddhist diplomacy space. Nalanda in 2014 had started with just 14 students and 11 teachers. Sources said the secrecy is baffling since China was part of the global team, which first promoted the idea of reconstructing Nalanda University in the ancient Indian city in 2006.
Nalanda was hit by the careless approach of its mentors, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and his team, since the beginning of 2007 when the Manmohan Singh government appointed them to work out the plan for the institution.
“In 2011, China had given a million-dollar cheque as donation for reconstruction of Nalanda. It appears now that Chinese were working in parallel to create the Buddhist university. Such sprawling campus cannot be built in one or two years. They must have started construction in 2012,” sources said.
The Chinese Nalanda version is a sea-facing structure located on scenic Nanshan Mountains spread across 618.8 acres. Chinese have rechristened the university’s coastline as “Brahma Pure Land”, a concept borrowed from ‘Yoga Vashistha’ and Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Nalanda will offer courses in three languages—Pali, Tibetan and Chinese in six departments—Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and the Buddhist Architectural Design and Research Institute.
The Chinese Buddhist university is closely linked to the Buddhist centres in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Cambodia, which is seen as an attempt to completely sideline the Indian side in soft power diplomacy. China has appointed monk Yin Shun as the dean of the university, who is interestingly abbot of Lumbini-based Zhong Hua Buddhist temple. Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha, and China has been aggressively pushing to promote the Nepalese pilgrimage site to counter India’s Sarnath and Bodhgaya, where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment. Since early 2010, Yin Shun has been advocating “the South China Sea Strategy” and had closely worked with Thailand and Nepal to create Buddhist ‘One Belt and One Road’ (OBOR).
It is a known fact that India recently boycotted China’s high-profile economic design flagging sovereignty concerns over China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The plan, according to sources, is to link Lumbini, Wuxi and Hainan through Buddhist OBOR, usurping the Buddhist legacy of India. Wuxi, near Shanghai, has been turned into a permanent venue of world Buddhist forum by the Chinese government. According to sources, students as far as South American countries are applying to the Chinese university, which, along with knowledge, promises to provide best air and seawater quality in entire South Asia.
Dafa Church. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Abbot and masters’ residences. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Han Chuan Temple. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Stadium. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Library. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Office and teaching area. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
International Conference Center. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Dormitory. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Professor and expert dormitory. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Cloud Water Hall. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Ju Shi-Lin and meditation district. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Home. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Logistic area. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Campus night view. Picture by The Nanhai Buddhism Academy.
Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/thesundaystandard/2017/jun/04/china-gets-its-own-nalanda-shames-india-1612588.html
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China to Open its Own Nalanda University in Hainan Province . The campus of Nanhai Buddhism Academy was designed by internationally acclaimed architect which is located in the scenic Nanshan Cultural Tourism Zone. That’s wonderful. It’s the only institute of higher education in the world offering instruction. Offering various programs on Buddhist Studies in Han-Chinese Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Southern Buddhism . The Chinese government are willing to invest billions in having such a university to benefits the people and for most spreading Buddhism .
Thank you Rinpoche for this sharing.
It is very nice to see Buddhism is starting to flourish and grow in China again. Buddhism has spread to China at least 2200 years ago. Chinese culture including art, politics, literature, philosophy, medicine and material culture are very much influenced by Buddhism.
The most prosperous periods in China were the periods when Buddhism was widely practised. For examples, the Tang Dynasty and Qing Dynasty during the Qianlong and Kangxi reign.
The establishment of the Nalanda University shows that China sees the good values of Buddhism. Buddhism promotes respect, tolerance and harmony. With a big population like China, these values are very important in order to maintain the stability of the country.
This is a positive and important step the Chinese government has taken to restore her glory as the leader in the dissemination of Lord Buddha’s teaching throughout the world.
For the benefits of the people and the growth of Buddhism the Chinese government are willing to invest billions.
The sea facing structure of this university is very beautiful and is a nice place to visit as well.Thank you very much for sharing this good article with us.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the article about new Nalanda University in China with beautiful pictures of Nanhai Buddhist College. Positively, the Chinese government can observe the benefits of building a strong foundation to spread Buddhism in China as well as attracting students from other countries to study Buddhism in Nanhai Buddhist College. The well-structured utilities, facilities and buildings in Nanhai Buddhist College show the significance effort from China to become the world leader in spreading the Buddhism practice, other than the worldly aspects. The Nanhai Buddhist College can be a key example for many other governments or countries to follow.
May more and more Buddhist learning centers and colleges will be developed in many countries to bring the Buddhadharma to every corner of the world. Our fast degenerating age needs a faster pace of spreading and sustaining the Buddhadharma in order to save many sentient beings from endless suffering and pain in samsara. Every sentient being deserves to meet with Buddhadharma teachings and be liberated from any form of suffering.
Humbly with folded hands,
kin hoe
It is good news that this New Nalanda University has manifested. I rejoice for the first batch of students who will begin in September their studies in this beautiful and inspiring environment.
Dharma needs to be promoted more in the world as we are overwhelmed by consumerism and shorttime pleasures.
I hope that the Nalanda institution in India will manifest swiftly now and be inspired by the work of their Chinese neighbours.
Thank you for sharing,
It is wonderful that a global power is supporting and promoting the growth of Buddhism. Hope this is spur the Indians to also re-build Nalanda in India, and get to to work, Nalanda existed in India first so it is right that a new Nalanda is rebuilt back to India. May there be even more Nalanda institutions to bring the dharma to the world.
It is a great news that China government has invested in building a huge Buddhism learning, that is Nanhai Buddhist College in Hainan province. It is good opportunity for many to learn and practise dharma. The learning center is so huge and even has their own international conference center. This would definitely encourage a lot of dialogue and forum from many spirituals leaders around the whole to share their knowledge. I hope this learning center will continue to grow and produce more people with great Buddhism knowledge and spread of dharma
This is a very exciting news!
A Buddhist University have established in China. This university come in time, where many people thought that Chinese are very materialism, but by having a Buddhist university in China, it balance up the society.
The university, name as The Nanhai Buddhism Academy is so beautiful, just by looking into it. It make many people wanted to study in the university.
The University is located just in front of newly inaugurated 108 metre tall statue of Avalokiteshwara( December 2016). Picture attached
Nanhai Buddhist academy will have three language teaching-Pali, Tibetan and Chinese. The tri-lingual University is being led by monk Yin Shun( 1974 born). Panchen lama, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Thai and SriLankan Buddhist Centres are closely associated with the University. With the land of 618.18 acres, Nanhai Buddhist College consists of seven regions: Buddhist research area, cultural exchange area, south Buddhism area, Han Buddhism area, Tibetan Buddhism area, Lay practitioners area and other functional areas, teaching, research, communication, facilities, readily to meet the different languages of the disciples of the diploma of education, training, research and exchange and real Shenxiu repair.
July 1 , 2017 , the first phase of the project completed, until now, the college teaching area, dormitory area, logistics area main building have been capped, into the interior decoration stage: the second phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in December 2018.
About Nalanda and China
Nālandā was an ancient center of higher learning in Bihar, India. At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as Tibet, China, Greece, and Persia.
In fact, China have a deep connection since Tang Dynasty started where The Chinese pilgrim-Monk Xuanzang ( Monk that the chinese movie always like to show on Journey To The West movie). In its heyday, it accommodated over 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. The university was considered an architectural masterpiece, and was marked by a lofty wall and one gate. The university not only collected religious manuscripts but also had texts on such subjects as grammar, logic, literature, Astrology, astronomy, and medicine.
The last throne-holder of Nalanda, Shakyashribhadra, fled to Tibet in 1204 CE at the invitation of the Tibetan translator Tropu Lotsawa (Khro-phu Lo-tsa-ba Byams-pa dpal). In Tibet, he started an ordination lineage of the Mulasarvastivadin lineage to complement the two existing ones.
A vast amount of what came to comprise Tibetan Buddhism, both its Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, stems from the late (9th–12th century) Nalanda teachers and traditions. The scholar Dharmakirti (ca. 7th century), one of the Buddhist founders of Indian philosophical logic, as well as and one of the primary theorists of Buddhist atomism, taught at Nalanda.
By reading this article, a Buddhist monastery can be establish says that, it have market value or there are requirement for learning Buddhism. I believe that Kechara Forest Retreat, in year to come will become a Buddhist university, a monastery that truly spread teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa to the ten directions.
Thank you Rinpoche for building a Buddhist Monastery in Malaysia.
With folded hand,
Freon
The essence of having Buddhist colleges, centres and monasteries is to bring Dharma to others, benefit and help others through Buddha’s teachings. People able to practice Buddhism, transform their mind, changing their lives and achieve attainments and at the end enlightenment.
I rejoice to see Buddhism is flourishing in China. We all need Dharma desperately. Indulge in Dharma is the way to world peace. China’s effort of building The Nanhai Buddhist College may not be purely for spirituality but It is still a brilliant strategy to connect with other Buddhist countries via Buddhism. In this way Buddha’s teachings from all schools and lineages will be preserved. May the blessings from Buddha continue without break through all the gurus to all their students. Attainments will not be achieved without Guru’s blessings.
The completed of new Nalanda University in China is a great news to world spiritual seeker. This new Nalanda University named as Nanhai Buddhist College. China government willing to invest million dollar to build up this university for sake of Nalanda tradition.
The sea facing structure of this university is very beautiful and is a nice place to visit as well.
This university also very close link with Buddhist center in Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Besides that, this university did offer courses in theee languages, Pali, Tibetan and Chinese. I am sure many Buddhist will join the courses in this university.
I am proud of China to contribute so much to help Buddhism growth and many people will be benefited.
Jason
The completed construction of China’s recent Nanhai Buddhist Colledge is said to be China’s version of “Nalanda University in India”. The Chinese Buddhist University is closely linked to Buddhist centre in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Cambodia. As said, this is seen as an attempt by China to completely sideline the Indian side in soft power diplomacy, for which is said to have scored a major victory in that respect! China has appointed Yin Shun as Dean of the University, who presently is also the Abbot of Lumbini-based Zhong Hua Temple. China is aggressively pushing to promote the Nepalese pilgrimage site to counter India’s Sarnath and Boahgaya, where Gautama Buddha is said to have achieved enlightenment. Wuxi, near Shanghai has been turned into a permanent venue of World Buddhist Forum by the Chinese Government. Accordingly, students as far South American countries are applying to the Chinese University, which is well-equipped with knowledge to provide best of quality services to entire South Asia! We join in to rejoice that more people are given the opportunity to learn and practice Buddhism for the sake of peace, harmony, and to free themselves from ignorance, hatred, attachment and endless unnecessary sufferings! Thank you once again, Rinpoche, for your kind and wise sharing of such precious information.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article. China is really amazing. They can do anything to promote Buddhism in their country. Looking at the pictures in this article, this China’s version of Nalanda University is very big and well organized. Rejoice to China. May more will come and study and eventually gain enlightenment.
With folded palms,
Vivian
Yes I would like to see India launch its Nalanda University ASAP too. The world will benefit from more educational facilities like these.
This is exciting – Nalanda University being revived. Hopefully, the essence of Nalanda University will not be lost in the transplanting from India to China. But then again, even if it were to be in India, the Nalanda of old cannot be duplicated. It’s beautiful that “Nalanda University” will be alive again after all these years. May the teachings of the Buddha be carried forth and not be lost to the kaliyuga age.
In a way, this is really good news. I think it is healthy competition for the Indian side to do much more to speed things up if they really want to revive the great Nalanda tradition. I think that India has been the home to great spiritual traditions of the world and its only right that its modern heirs of this great tradition would attempt to revive it. However, in doing so, a lot of merit, faith and determination is needed as an institution of this magnitude in terms of benefit.
The reporting from the side of the Indians have a suspicious overtone that the Indians have that I noticed is typical in Indian news reporting. Such misgivings and lack of understanding of the Chinese is not going to be beneficial for the Indians because they unable to make full use of future partnerships with the Chinese. In the future, influence and dealings with the West would decline even further and the partnerships with the east would rise. It would be far wiser for the Indians to learn and understand the Chinese mentality and work ethics. In fact, a stronger mutually beneficial partnership between India and China could and would dominate the world economics and world balance of power.
谢谢仁波切的分享。
随喜！！ 没想到在那烂陀寺院被毁坏那么多年后还是有如此热心的人士把那烂陀寺重建。 虽然名字不一样， 地点也不一样， 不过以弘扬佛法和成为一个佛法教育机构为重任的目的还是一样。
而且这家佛教大学还把不同传承的佛教纳入学习的课程中。 让大家学习不同传承的佛法。
希望这间佛教大学可以把佛法更发扬光大。
谢谢
Goods news…..China has its own Nalanda University, dubbed as Nanhai Buddhism Academy, in Hainan Province.With the failure of Nalanda University in India,China has taken this opportunity to fill the void of Buddhist education by opening its doors sson. Located on the scenic Nanshan Mountains and coastline has been renamed as “Brahma Pure Land”.
For the benefits of the people and the growth of Buddhism the Chinese government are willing to invest billions.
May many more Buddhist universities be built all over the world so as the Dharma teachings will be spreading in all ten directions.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing. I do enjoyed the article so as those beautiful pictures.
It is encouraging to read about the launching of the Chinese version of the infamous Nalanda University. This is a positive and important step the Chinese government has taken to restore her glory as the leader in the dissemination of Lord Buddha’s teaching throughout the world. Just like how it was during the Tang dynasty, Buddhism forms the very fabric that adequately deals with humanistic values, in this and future lives. Buddhism during the Tang dynasty was the main reason for far-reaching implication on public work, artwork as well as literature. May the Chinese Nalanda University be the catalyst for the renaissance of Buddha’s teaching and the reunification of the many Buddhist schools.
With the motivation to bring Dharma to a greater heights, benefitting many more sentient beings and specifically in preserving Dharma, this news is indeed a great news.