A 2000-year-old Ashokan stupa near eastern Tibet had made news in 2012 for being a milestone of the Mauryan emperor’s propagation and spread of Buddhism and emerging as a cultural frontier of his peace mission beyond borders. Its formal consecration on Tuesday in Nangchen, Qinghai province, where it has been lovingly restored by followers of the Drukpa lineage of Buddhism over three years with the help of a Chinese Government-recognised charitable trust and sponsors, shows that both India and China are willing to take a small step of faith in keeping their vexatious border issues at abeyance and giving peace a chance. Or at least acknowledge each other’s cultural endorsement of Buddhism in equal measure.
Amid chanting of mantras, fluttering of flags, a huge international congregation and officials of the Yushu administration, the ladakh-based leader of the Drukpa lineage of Himalayan Buddhism, His Holiness Gyalwang Drukpa, formally inaugurated the stupa, believed to be more than thousands of years old and containing a relic of the Buddha.
Significantly, the stupa is fronted by the remains of an original rock edict which elaborates its features. The stupa itself houses many excavated sculpted stones that establish its archaeological veracity. An Ashokan pillar also looms large against a blue sky, a transcreated one, which brings the Indian link to the fore, seen by many as an exception and a cultural coup of sorts in mainland China, particularly in the highlands of the Tibetan plateau. The guru even consecrated a 35-metre mixed alloy statue of the Amitabha Buddha adjoining the stupa.
Speaking on the occasion, His Holiness said, “The meaning of the stupa is to represent Buddha dharma. Ashoka was the biggest Buddhist emperor and the key contributor to the spread of Buddhism internationally. I am glad it comes at a time when the Indo-China relationship is improving and this project is my little way of contributing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s wish of better bilateral relations.” He even promised to preserve and forward Ashoka’s legacy. “If any significant and symbolic relic of Ashoka is found anywhere, I will be glad to restore it. The time has come to forward his work.”
Disconnecting himself from any politics of religion, a question that is bound to come up in any Indo-China discussion, the Gyalwang Drukpa said: “Religions are always misunderstood, misinterpreted and defended in a sectarian way. Buddhists should not be fanatic about religiosity.”
The restoration of the Nangchen stupa assumes significance following the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return trip as a goodwill gesture resulting in the promise of $20 billion worth of investment. It also becomes important in the context of historicity. Ashoka’s emissaries, his own son and daughter included, travelled far and wide to spread Buddhism, and had erected 19 such Ashokan stupas in China, all of which are recorded in the Tang dynasty history.
A temple in Ashoka’s name in Ningbo indicates that he was an influential character in the history of China as a disseminator of Buddhism. China has used the cultural contiguity of the historical Silk Route countries to extend its soft diplomacy, emerge crusader of the dissemination of neo-Buddhism and couch its economic and political overlordship of the region. The fact that Nangchen was a prosperous centre of trading and learning of the Ashokan empire and the Chinese endorsement of this legacy shows that perhaps accommodation is now a keystone of diplomacy.
The stupa is protected by Mahakala, who also figures in Hinduism as a protector deity. It houses five million mini stupas made by local villagers over three years, 150,000 Mani stones and 160,000 engraved stone tripitakas. It has a mandala of Avalokiteshvara or Shiva. The five levels of the stupas embody the five eras of Buddhism. Each of the 500 mini stupas adorning the exterior hemisphere has a story to tell. The topmost one is the first-ever stupa you will ever find anywhere. The second layer stupa is from India. In short, the structure documents the stupa-making history of the Buddhist world by incorporating all its key architectural elements. Valued at over $20 million, the gold-encrusted stupa is a shell which hides the original stupa in a glass chamber inside it. And in the Indian tradition of calendar art, the life of the Buddha is represented in murals encircling the glass.
Most of the Ashokan edicts and stupas in China were denuded during the Cultural Revolution or collapsed due to human negligence. The Nangchen stupa was also a casualty as locals used foundation rocks to make their homes. Some old-timers recalled a spherical earth mould while the process of piecing together the structure revealed a stone pillar recording the history of the stupa. It disappeared later though. The devout saved whatever little they could of the stupa by covering it up with small Buddha statuettes.
The Drukpa followers, who have held on to their identity in eastern Tibet as pursuants of a philosophy of philanthropy rather than religion and have resisted Tibetan Buddhism fearing political takeovers, took up the task of restoring the stupa. They asked their spiritual master, the late Trulshik Adeu Rinpoche, to fulfil their wish. He compiled a brief history of the stupa after studying relics and ruins and even drew up a draft design. However, he could not finish the project which Gwalyang Drukpa took up with help from his Asian devotees, such as the lim family of the Genting group of Malaysia.
