A major religious conference has been held by an Indian Buddhist group in the strategically-located town of Zeminthan in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Organised by the Indian Council of Nalanda Buddhist Tradtion, the conference was attended by 500 to 600 Buddhist Rinpoches, Sangha members and scholars from Leh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal, among other places.
Maling Gombu, the general secretary of Indian Council of Nalanda Buddhist Tradition, told Sputnik that the conference was held to “reinforce” the message that India is the birthplace of Buddhism.
He said that the conference was titled ‘Nalanda Buddhism – retracing the source in footsteps of Acharyas: From Nalanda to Himalayas and beyond’.
The Tibetan Buddhist tradition is regarded to be a continuation of Nalanda tradition. The conference was meant to convey the message to countries like China,” he said.
Gombu said that Buddhism spread to Tibet through the travels of Indian scholars from the ancient Nalanda University.
Praising the Nalanda Buddhism, Khandu said that teachings of Lord Buddha could be brought under the “ambit of reasoning and analysis”.
“This logic is based on science and perhaps Buddhism is the only religion that gives its followers this liberty,” he added.
Significance of Zeminthan
The conference was held at the Gorsam Stupa in Zemithang -- the same place from where the Dalai Lama and his followers entered the Indian territory in 1959 after fleeing a failed uprising against Beijing.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama even stayed at the Gorsam Stupa for a night during his flight in 1959,” he said.
The event was also attended by Arunachal Pradesh state chief Pema Khandu.
India-China Row over Arunachal Pradesh
The conference takes place against the backdrop of diplomatic tensions between India and China, after Beijing last month released a list “renaming” 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh. China rejects India’s sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh.
New Delhi has rejected Beijing’s “invented” names and said that Arunachal Pradesh has and will always be an “integral” and “inalienable” part of India.
This month, Beijing also criticised the Indian home minister Amit Shah for undertaking a trip to Arunachal Pradesh. In its rebuttal, New Delhi said that Indian officials were free to travel to Arunachal Pradesh like any other Indian state.
At present, there is a global row over the succession of the 87-year-old Dalai Lama. China has maintained that the successor to the current Dalai Lama must be approved by the political leadership in Beijing, something which Tibetan government-in-exile based in India has rejected.