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Buddhist congregation turning into a slug fest

Soroor Ahmed in Gaya

The holy city of Bodh Gaya has been reduced to a battleground with opposing factions hijacking the 10-day Kalchakra puja, which started on January 21, to settle their own scores.

About 100,000 Tibetan Buddhists have assembled at Bodh Gaya for the puja, the biggest such congregation in Bodh Gaya in the last 17 years.

Among the warring factions, on one side are the Tibetan Buddhists and the temple management committee while neo-Buddhists (read Ambedkarites) are on the other.

Four Indian Buddhist monks have been on fast unto death since January 16 and have even threatened to commit suicide if their demands, which include the liberation of the Mahabodhi temple, are not met.

They also seek immediate halt to the highhandedness of the temple management committee and its secretary Kalicharan Yadav, a nominee of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav.

They lambasted Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama for opposing the liberation movement and accused him of being an agent of the Hindu fundamentalists.

While outgoing secretary of the temple management committee Bhante Pragyasheel questions the very claim of the Dalai Lama to be the spiritual leader of the Buddhists, general secretary of the All India Monks Association Bhante Anand pointed out that the Tibetan leader never spoke out against the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues by the Taliban militia.

However, those in the know are of the view that the neo-Buddhists are raking up the liberation issue as they are unhappy with the state government's appointment of Kalicharan Yadav as secretary of the temple management committee in place of Bhante Pragyasheel.

Bhante Anand went so far as to say that the Kalchakra puja had nothing to do with Buddhism.

He accused the Dalai Lama and Tibetans of defiling the sanctity of the Mahabodhi temple by entering the sanctum sanctorum wearing shoes and slippers.

Continuing his tirade, he objected to the lighting of oil lamps in the temple complex, which he said has led to blackening of the walls, as such rituals had nothing to do with Buddhism.

The neo-Buddhists accuse the government of pampering the Tibetans while ignoring the Indian Buddhists. Bhante Anand openly accused the Dalai Lama of being an American agent.

The liberation movement was launched by Bhante Sasai Surai, the Nagpur-based Indian Buddhist of Japanese origin in 1993.

However, he has been a keeping low profile since 1998 after Pragyasheel was appointed secretary of the temple management committee.

Recently, his followers have become active after Prayagsheel was removed from the committee in August last.

Sasai himself has been calling for a re-launch of the liberation movement.

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