Chronicles of a monk

Buddhism that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha is practiced by an enormous section of the world population. Its popularity is attributed to several monks, scholars, rulers and empires all of whom devotedly spearheaded the dissemination of Buddha’s teachings through-out history. Delving deep into the history of one such great strategic Buddhist scholar and seer, Dr Shashi Bala exhibits the life of Kumarajiva at an ongoing photo exhibition titled “The life and legacy of Kumarajiva” at India International Centre. He was famed for his encyclopedic knowledge of Indian and Vedantic learning and was also recognised as one of the chief translators of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Chinese. It was owing to his efforts and influence that Buddhist philosophical ideas were disseminated in China.

“Isn’t it so interesting to discover that a half-Indian, half-Chinese Prince-turned-monk-scholar devoted his entire life to uplift and awaken humankind ” puts forth Dr Shashi Bala as she sits down to unveil her vast collection of scriptures, chant sutras translated by him, images of murals from ancient caves, sacred objects and manuscripts. Guiding you through the exhibition, one photo at a time, Dr Bala who is a Buddhist scholar explains, “Kumarajiva, a son of a Kashmiri Brahmin and a Chinese princess was one of the eminent scholars of 5th century who broke political, geographical, cultural and linguistic barriers with a long cherished mission: propagation of the true spirit of Buddhism. His penetrating intelligence, philosophical and spiritual training also made him earn the title of ‘Teacher of the Nation’ (rajaguru). He presided over a team of Chinese specialists before an audience of hundreds of monks. Within a few years he translated 54 texts from Sanskrit to Chinese in about 300 volumes. He is also one of the greatest examples of the four noble truths comprising the essence of Buddha’s teachings: the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.”

Interrupt her to understand her mission behind the exhibition and she politely smiles, “I want young children and their malleable minds to be enlightened and ignited with the understanding of history: our history, our roots. You can teach them science, engage them in technology and introduce them to art but you need to go back to the spiritual roots to help them to be better human beings from inside out. We have to teach our children to walk the spiritual path. Spirituality teaches you morality and morality teaches you self-discipline. Ancient scriptures are like the Milky Way, yet to be explored and tapped into. I want children to study more than just the Mughal Empire and I wish that someday our textbooks will be filled with stories of our glorious past.” She shares, “India has contributed a great deal to the world’s history but sadly Indians themselves are not aware of it. This is primarily because modern historians who have written the history of India have only taken the Mughal and British chronicle as their base or foundation. Unfortunately they didn’t touch upon the historical documentations of South-east Asia where Hinduism and Buddhism, their scripts, epics and teachings have prevailed and helped monasteries grow. I just tried to show a glimpse of that through this exhibition — how Indian culture survives and how we share a common bond with so many other nations.”