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10 National Upliftment Monthly Cover News Year : 1, Issue : 4 in Lumbini. Emperor Ashoka erected a stone pillar in Lumbini in 2049 BC to mark the auspicious birthplace of Lord Buddha. Fahim from China visited and described about Lumbini in 399-414 AD. Another Chinese traveler Huan Tsang visited here in 606 AD. Ripu Malla paid homage in 1312. Khadga Shumshere Rana and Dr. A Fuhrer discovered Asokan pillar in 1886. Mukherjee carried out archeological exploration and excavation in 1932-39. King Mahendra presented a proposal to develop Lumbini as a Buddhist Pilgrimage at the assembly of World Fellowship of Buddhists in 1956. UN Secretary General U Thant formed a UN International Committee for the development of Lumbini in 1967. In 1975, Lumbini Development Committee was formed. Kenjo Tange prepared a Master plan in 1978. UNESCO enlisted Lumbini as a World Heritage Site in the culture category in 1997. In the following year, the World Buddhist Summit passed a resolution to declare Lumbini as “the Fountain of the World Peace and Holiest Pilgrim Center for the Buddhist and Peace Loving People of the World”. The 20th General Conference of the World Buddhist Fellowship unanimously endorsed it. Later in December 1999, UNDP has commissioned Dr. Kwaak Young Hoon and Dr. Abelardo Brenes to carry out a vision and scooping evaluation of the Lumbini Master Plan. All above historical documents indicate that there are no other religious or cultural sites in Nepal which has drawn so much of international attention. These concerns are substantial enough to explore a vision of how Lumbini could be positioned as a World Peace City. Pride and Prejudice – Lumbini is a peerless landmark of the Buddhist world. Every Nepali loves to be proud of Lumbini. But the sad paradox is Lumbini remained always neglected. Nepalese Buddhist is a highly dedicated community. Somehow the government could not win their heart and mind. The government seem sympathetic towards Buddhism but with prejudice. We claim Buddha as a son of Nepal but we have failed to implement his teachings. For hundreds of years, Lumbini lay hidden beneath the earth. Even after its discovery, it remained in the state of hibernation and oblivion until U Thant resurrected its importance. Finally, with the help from United Nation, Kenzo Tange drew a master plan. At that time, there was a tremendous euphoria for Lumbini. Actually a remarkable progress was made in getting land, rehabilitating people, demarcating boundaries, afforestation, building road to Lumbini including avenue plantation. Obviously the credit goes to Lok Darshan Bajracharya. Tange did draw a vision in the paper, but Darsan carved the mission on the ground. Tange had forgotten Lumbini long ago, but Lumbini remembers Tange all the times, contrarily, Darshan consistently involves in Lumbini from the very beginning but Lumbini sometimes tries to forget Darshan. I am sorry to say that lack of sense of judgments has often created lots of misunderstanding in Lumbini. Critical appreciations may reform the quality of work, but elements of ungratefulness deform the whole project. Certainly World Peace City cannot run with pains in the neck. Despite UN support, Lumbini master plan could not kick-off in a full scale. For just face saving reasons, the government provided a meager sum of money for basic administration, but had always failed to provide enough financial resources available for Lumbini development. The Lumbini master plan schedules were always procrastinated failing to implement it for more than 30 long years. However, in mid nineties, Lumbini began to metamorphose into a vibrant Buddhist pilgrim site, thanks to various international Buddhist cooperation agencies. Surprisingly enough, the Nepalese Government put holy pictures of Lumbini in denomination and currency notes, but failed to fulfill promises to provide infrastructure in Lumbini. In 1998, the World Buddhist Fellowship unanimously passed the resolution to declare Lumbini as “the Fountain of the World Peace”. But even after an official endorsement, the Nepalese government has not yet even gazetted this declaration. The government argues that Fountain of the World Peace is just a slogan. I don’t understand why the World Buddhist Conference has to declare the congress “a mere slogan”. Who is fooling around whom? Pride alone is not enough to make Lumbini a World Peace City; the most important commitment for this venture is a dire need of performance that is unprejudiced. It is high time that we realize the importance of this place and start from here a cooling process in the politically boiling condition of our country and provide relief to the tormented minds of our people. If we don’t do this now, then don’t blame others, blame us. Cultural landscape – Most of the office bearers in Lumbini Development Trust are committed and dedicated. Despite good intention, the project could not achieve good results due to obstacles arising in the process of development from myopic but unpredictable political biases. Sometimes unnecessarily pocking nose in project affairs by outsiders and so-called well-wishers have also disturbed a lot. A World Peace City cannot be built on the hot bed of criticisms and arguments. In many cases, witch hunting and destructive criticism have marred the sprit of euphoria in Lumbini. A World Peace City needs harmony. There should be an element of trust, sense of judgment and most importantly unanimous consensus followed by coordination and cooperation between Lumbini Development Trust, monasteries, local communities, religious leaders, archeologists, historian and common devotees. Once, there was a criticism leveled against LDT of turning pilgrimage site into Disneyland. The comment is harsh and hurting, but the criticism is valid to some extent. The lack of vision, scrutiny, and regular supervision and most importantly the administrative acumen on the part of LDT have encouraged some concessionaries to build few irregular, illegal and a bit iconoclastic physical
Year : 1, Issue : 4 National Upliftment Monthly 11 structures that are unpalatable in the beautiful landscape of serene Lumbini sanctuary. This is not acceptable in the World Heritage Site or the proposed World Peace City. Refined perception, positive thinking and understanding other’s point of view are very necessary to build a World Peace City. I have a great respect for the devotion and dedication of the religious leaders who actually have made Lumbini a great place of worship. Nevertheless, we cannot overlook the obsession of recreating monasteries their own niches. That may unknowingly hamper the overall cultural landscape of Lumbini. The significance of Lumbini is not restricted to the four walls of individual monasteries. What one may think right is not enough to make a rule of thumb? One has to see things from other side of fence. Living in, practicing on and creating things inside Lumbini is sensitive. If we are determined to develop Lumbini as World Peace City, then no one can do what they want simply because they think they are right, Cover News pious, virtuous and acceptable. The Future of the Asia’s Past- Lumbini is perhaps the first and only active religious place that is listed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The reason that the world’s most prestigious secular organization listed Lumbini in the world heritage site is not because of religious importance but because of its immense historical and archeological significance. The United Nation Education and Cultural Organization UNESCO seek to encourage the identification, protection, and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. Lumbini falls in cultural category. Cultural heritage refers to monuments, group of buildings and properties with historical, aesthetic, archeological, ethological, or anthropological value. In this classification, religion is not mentioned. For us Lumbini may be a holy sacred religious place, but for rest of the world, it is an outstanding place of peace, harmony, archeology and history. The raison d’etre of Buddhism is not based on folklore or legend, it is a history nothing less than history. Lumbini is not a ‘never-never-land’; it is the terra firma where the time has signatured loud and clear. If we ever try to confine Lumbini in a small pocket of religious and communal boundary, we are doing a great mistake and we are the big looser. We cannot hold a sun in our palm. Lumbini is a sun that belongs to the world. Developing Lumbini as a World Peace City is an attempt of showcasing the Future of the Asia’s Past. Whether we develop Lumbini as a World Peace City or the Fountain of the World Peace or Zone of Peace or the Sanctuary of Serenity or whatever, we have, first, to learn many things from our mistakes that we have had committed in the past. If someone asked me what are the main problems of Lumbini, I instantly give three most important causes of
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