Dear Venerables & Mitras,
I hope the new year augurs well for all of you. May you find joy in whatever you do & may you have peace, good health in both body & mind to progress on your spiritual path. The old year had been an eventful one for me esp. participating in the Dalit project with Bhante Sangharatana of Sri Lanka. I really admire his commitment & energy - shuttling btw S.L where he has his own organisation, Malaysia (to teach the Diploma class at BMV), Bangalore to help in a project with the Dalits & now in Bidar. Sometime this year, he is invited to Vancouver & Germany to conduct a meditation retreats.
I would like to share my experience in Bidar last November. I'm sorry i've to to this mass posting.
Bringing Buddhism Back to India
- Dalit Livelihood Assistance Project - 17-22 Nov, 2010
On 17 Nov, 2010 bro Wuan Thong Lok & I went to Bidar, India upon the invitation of Ven. Dr. Talawe Sangharatana from Sri Lanka to witness the opening ceremony of the Bhikkhu Training Centre which the late sis. G.G. Tan had helped to raise funds for in 2008. Other friends who were supposed to come with us could not make it to the trip. We collected some funds for the Dalit Livelihood Assistance Project to help individuals learn a trade. (See details in attachment).
Welcoming Reception at Bidar, India
It was something we had never imagined, not even in our wildest dreams. About 5,000 people, from 7 villages came to Bidar town to welcome the 2 of us. It was a public holiday (Hari Raya Haji) & there was an air of festivity. In the morning, the Muslims had a celebration & procession. The majority of the people in the Karnataka State are Hindus & Muslims.
The journey by car from the airport to Bidar took about 3 hours. We were supposed to arrive a day earlier to give us time to prepare & buy things. However, Air Asia cancelled the flight without even informing us!
All these while, Dalits who were Hindus were not permitted to enter a temple & never had a religious day to call their own to celebrate. There was social isolation and a sense of deprivation. Being Buddhists now gave them a sense of recognition, self worth, self respect & feeling of joy. There was a sense of belonging & connectedness as a community. It enhanced their self image as they came in their Sunday best, some dressed in white. They thus took every opportunity to celebrate – Vesak Day, anniversary of Dr Ambedkar who is himself a Dalit & whom they consider as a Boddhisatva.
We started with paying our respect at the statue of Dr Ambedkar in the town centre. He was lawyer & was the first law minister who drafted the Constitution when India gained independence! Thanks to him, the Dalits are given a quota for university education. He was also responsible in getting India to accept the Asoka pillar in Kushinagar as the national emblem. When his struggles to gain equality for the Dalits failed, he led half a million people to convert to Buddhism in 1956. Presently, there are 1.5 million Buddhists in India.
The people wanted to touch our hands n even touch & kiss our feet which we felt to be very uncomfortable. We found out later that it was to get our blessings. One woman even held up her baby to be blessed and I was oblivious to it. Subsequently, we diverted them to the venerables instead. We were showered with so many garlands, bouquets n shawls that they really wore my small frame down.
The journey from Bidar to the Centre at Veisali Anadur about 15 km away, was at a snail pace. One of the trainee monks n bro Wuan were asked to go on an open lorry to wave at them. The consequence - they were pelted with bouquets of flowers. An Indian samaneri from Kushinara jumped on the lorry too. At a stopover in a small town for a photo shoot, there were more flowers. We felt this expenditure as rather unnecessary & could be put to better use. At one point, the security found it difficult to control the crowd & we were advised to quickly return to the car. Then Bhante requested them to meet us at the centre. The convoy of cars, vans, lorries & motor bikes then escorted us to the temple.
One thing struck us is that the place is clean & not littered with rubbish & it is not dusty. Along the route, we saw huge welcoming posters & also that of the late sis GG Tan. I felt a tinge of sadness but also felt that she was sharing the joy with us that day.
Opening & Ground Breaking Ceremonies
We were requested to open the ‘K. Sri Dhammananda Mahanayaka TheraMemorial Bhikkhu Training Centre.’ Presently there are 4 bhikkhus staying there the chief of whom is Ven. Dhamananda. They also receive training in Bangalore as well. We did the ground breaking of their temple to be named‘Sister G.G. Tan Memorial Buddha Vihara.’
After puja, we briefly met over tea to hand over the funds we brought. We also discussed some changes to the Livelihood Assistance Project. We were very impressed with the sincerity & dedication of bro Chandima Jayatilake who came all the way from Bangalore to help with the organisation of the event. He is president of the Maha Mahinda Dhammaduta Propagating Society there and the Ananda Bodhi Society.
The crowd of about 1,000 patiently waited for us at an open air stage for the opening ceremony & cultural show that evening. The weather was fine. There were speeches & more people coming up the stage to shower us with garlands & touching our hands & feet. When an old woman knelt down, I also did the same & we hugged each other instead. I don't know how they felt when we hugged, but we felt joyful.
The following day, we sneaked back to the Centre for more discussions & visited some of the families in the village nearest to the Centre. It has 25 families. The children beamed with great delight when we gave them a toy or pencil box– the first one in their lives. Although their houses are small & bare, they were kept clean & neat. By being Buddhists greatly transformed their lives. The Centre also gave them an opportunity to offer dana to the Sangha & to listen to the taped chantings daily.
Now that the monk training centre is almost complete, they are embarking on building their temple. This 16 acre land was given by the state to the Chief Venerable for his missionary work. The whole area is very rocky with red granites & not easy to grow anything. A future plan is to build a centre for nuns. Together they will be able to run projects & services for the community. Next to the Centre, the construction of the Buddhist school built by a Dalit benefactor is underway.
Allocation of Funds
Ven. Dhammananda, chief bhikkhu of the Training Centre advised us that we first focus our help to the village nearest to the Centre as the money we collected to support 60 individuals for the Livelihood Assistance Project would not be sufficient for the 7 villages. This will cause unnecessary jealousies & ill will for those who do not get the assistance. He will help us find suitable individuals for the 10 tailoring & 10 barber/hair-dressing training jobs as we have already bought the items.
Free English class
The Committee said that the standard of English in the rural areas is poor & the graduates had difficulty finding jobs. They suggested that Rs. 20,000 be used for an English tuition class for pre-university & under-graduates. This will be 2 hours daily, 5 days a week for 6 months & will start on 1stJanuary, 2011. It will be extended to another 6 months if the project is successful. The teacher is paid Rs.2,000 per month & materials like a white board, marker pens, exercise books & pens were purchased. As they were using the semi-completed Dhamma sch. next door, we recently received donations to get the floors of 2 classrooms cemented. Funds for the class to continue to Dec. 2011 has been given to Bhante on his trip here last month. We also bought a first aid kit & have requested Bhante to help us buy a tools kit for the centre. We were given receipts for all the money donated.
We were informed that an active volunteer at the Centre, bro Babun Anadure had finished his law studies but did not have the funds (Rs.5,000) to get his law degree registration in order to practice. They suggested that we help him too. He is married with 2 children. We agreed to all the suggestions. (We hope that our donors will agree to this too).
Temple
We donated RM2,000 to start the groundwork to the temple. It measures 20ft x 40ft & will have a Buddha rupa similar to the one in Buddhist Maha Vihara shrine hall, including the image of the Buddha’s 2 chief disciples. Total cost is about RM150,000. To date, we have collected about RM25,000 for it.
Leisure Tour
The next day, we set off to visit the Ajanta & Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, the home state Dr. Ambedkar & which has a large Buddhists population. Bhante kindly offered to accompany us there, even though he had already been there 6 times! It gave us the opportunity to offer him meals dana, while Buddhists he met along the way offered him free hotel accommodation.
At Gulbarga, Bhante took us to visit a huge, white Buddhist temple, Gulbarga Buddha Vihara which has sprawling grounds & meditation facilities. The Minister, Mr Karge who is a Buddhist had it built by the State & it is now a popular tourist destination.
Appreciation & Greetings for the New Year
We would like to thank everyone for your generous contributions without which the Project would not have taken off. We still welcome donations as any contribution will help them make their aspiration to have their own temple a reality. Contribution of Dhamma books in their language is also welcome. The Buddhists in India have not made much progress since 1956.
with metta,
Sis Barbara Yen & Bro Wuan Thong Lok
February, 2011
0 comments:
Post a Comment