THE MAITREYA PROJECT AT BODH GAYA

By Lama Shree Narayan Singh

The refusal of the Govt. of Bihar to sanction land for the Maitreya Project at or near Bodh Gaya might have come as a surprise to many. This should not be the case for the following reasons.

Initially the project was far too ambitious and sought to detract from the Vajrasana, the sanctum sanctorum of all Buddhists.

Secondly this was a project undertaken by the Gelugpa tradition of Himalayan Buddhism. This is a 'reformed' school founded in the fourteenth century and one which came to power in Tibet through a bloody war in 1642 C.E. when the Vth. Taala'i Lama was instated as the King of Tibet by Goshir Khan, a petty Mongol chieftain. Until then, authentic spiritual masters, notably the Gyalwang Karmapas, had confined themselves to the Buddha Dharma, its praxis and exposition, leaving politics and governance to local kings and chieftains. Nearly two hundred monasteries of the other Himalayan traditions were destroyed or forcibly converted to adhere to the peculiar Gelugpa view. The Xth. Gyalwa Karmapa was nearly killed, his monasteries and lands confiscated, sectarian taxes levied and strictures issued that he could ordain only three monks every year.

The Gelugpa tradition was declared the state religion in direct contravention of the tradition of freedom of religious persuasion which had been in vogue for nearly a thousand years. In fact much earlier on, both the Gyalwa Karmapas and the Sakyas had been offered the option of having their respective traditions declared the state religion of Tibet by powerful emperors such as Kublai Khan and his descendants. These offers had invariably been politely refused, upholding the principle of tolerance and freedom of religion. Thus began an era of obscurantism, obfuscation and religious persecution of the like never seen before in Tibet .

It is possible that amity between the various traditions would not necessarily have existed in Tibet previously, however, for some mysterious reason, the Kadampa tradition established in Tibet by Dipankara Atisha, seems to have had problems with jealousy from its early days. The great saint Milarepa, scion of the Kagyu traditions, it is documented, was poisoned by an old lady who had been paid to do so by a Kadampa Kalyanamitra or Geshe. The so-called reformed Gelugpa tradition derives from this very same Kadampa tradition.

The credit for stalling this project must necessarily go the Indian Army. For a start, the site chosen for the Maitreya Project, was perilously close both to the army cantonement and the airport near Bodh Gaya. Moreover the area is vulnerable to various terrorist groups such as the Maoist Communist Centre of Bihar and the Peoples' War Group of Andhra Pradesh. The Maitreya Project would merely facilitate the establishment of yet another source of terror, logistics, supply and so on in which the Dalai Lama in his eagerness to placate the Chinese would happily comply.

Military intelligence has been keenly following the activities of the Taala'i Lama, scion of the Gelugpa tradition, for many years now.

It is now no hidden secret, courtesy the media, that the Taala'i Lama, behind a façade of promoting world peace, has been the prime mover behind the Karmapa Affair. In this he has the overt support of the USA and various european nations. Colluding with the Chinese Govt., north of the Indian border, he is seeking to dismember Sikkim from India by recognising the Chinese-sponsored Urgeyn Thrinlay Dorjee as the XVIIth. Gyalwang Karmapa. Infiltration of Chinese agents in the guise of monks into Darjeeling and Sikkim is now a fact openly admitted and associated with the other prime mover in this sordid affair, a Karma Kagyu high priest known as Tai Situ Rinpochhe. He is currently being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation for his pro-Chinese activities in India . The media in India is also now taking an interest in these anti-Indian activities!

Moreover Dharamsala, HP has been deeply infiltrated by the ISI, read the Sino-Pak axis, which is extremely dangerous in itself. This serves as a conduit for interaction in every conceivable way between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese, not to mention all the various tricks of the ISI which incidentally includes drug trafficking. The free availability of drugs in Dharamsala, HP, the Seat of the Holiest of Holies, was the topic of an investigation by India Today in its issue July 22, 02. Clearly the Taala'i Lama has far too many skeletons in his cupboard!

Given the current scenario, Sikkim is poised to turn into another insurgency front for India with yet another foreign-sponsored secessionist movement in the offing. Hence the proposed Maitreya Project in Bodh Gaya, or actually anywhere else in India would have emerged as a hub of political intrigues aimed at destabilizing the country being hatched by the Taala'i Lama and his Gelugpa government.

The greatest problem being faced by this country is the avid attachment to lucre, irrespective of its sources. Copiously funded from abroad, the Taala'i Lama runs a 'Govt. of Tibet in exile' which has no legal or constitutional sanction. He uses the seal of the Dewar Zhung – the name of the Govt. of Tibet 1642 – 1959 C.E., proclaiming himself as the head of this so-called govt. He has his own 'council of ministers' or 'ka-shag' which draws its validity from its days in independent Tibet as also a Central Tibetan Administration and a recently constituted parliament called Assembly of the Peoples Deputies. The Govt. of India having conceded that Tibet is an integral part of China, refuses to recognize him as a deposed head of state, referring to him as 'Tibet's spiritual leader'. This also he is not since he has no spiritual jurisdiction over the other traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, viz. the Sakya, Kagyu and Nyingma tradtions each having their own scions and independent of the Taala'i Lama. The Gelugpas are merely one part of the vast mosaic which comprise the Himalayan traditions.

Over the last twelve years since the break-up of the Soviet Union, he has established a vast network of sympathizers abroad, particularly in the countries of the north, where asia-craft is unknown, and people easily swayed through good publicity. He is known for his close connections with aggressive Hindu organizations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad as a result of which he has distanced himself from the Buddha shasana in India simultaneously becoming inextricably involved in schismatic movements in the country. Moreover, it is not known as to why the Govt. of India spends in the neighbourhood of Rs. 60 crores or approx US$150 million, of the taxpayers money per annum for maintaining him, at best a controversial figure with a dubious track record, when he can very well afford to pay for his own upkeep, or even letting him remain in this country!

Neither is he an erstwhile king who had ceded to the Indian Union. Interestingly, even the Privy Purses of these monarchs had been forfeited in 1972. The Taala'i Lama has emerged as the undisputed modern 'king' in India, who rules an alien nation with elan even though a refugee therein.

It does need to be mentioned at this juncture that the Taala'i Lama's escape from Tibet in 1959 had been planned and executed by India and the USA. It was this country which had granted him and his one lakh compatriots refuge when they had nowhere else to flee. It was this country which facilitated their settlement as refugees, establishing entire villages to accommodate the diaspora in various parts of the country. It was this country which created a congenial environment for the Tibetans to go beyond the sub-human conditions in which they had arrived from across the border and then lived in for two decades. And now, when these very same Tibetans are settled and prosperous, it is these very same people who, under the able guidance of the Taala'i Lama, are conniving against the Govt. and peoples of India to destabilize it. Out of plain and simple gratitude they should be treating India as their motherland and doing nothing which would endanger it in any way!

The Taala'i Lama is not a 'king' in this country in spite of which he is treated as such. He fled his kingdom since amalgamated with the Peoples' Republic of China in 1959, in spite of which he proclaims himself as the ruler of a non-existent kingdom. Perhaps there is a reason for Tibetans to refer to him as such and gather around him as an icon.

The Himalayan state of Sikkim however, has never been under his governance. On the contrary, it had been openly despised by the Tibetan govt. in the past. Nor has this state any ethnic or sectarian affiliations with the Taala'i Lama, as Sikkimese subscribe to the Nyingma or Kagyu schools of Himalayan Buddhism, with the Gelugpas not even having a token presence in this erstwhile kingdom. Hence, it is curious indeed that this state, its government and administration and a section of its populace should show allegiance, doctrinal and/or temporal, to one who is none other than a foreigner to them.

"Is the Taala'i Lama the final arbiter of India's destiny?" is a question which emphatically needs to be asked now.

The Indian Army, loyal to this country and its constitution, has bravely protected the country from international conspiracies and intrusions, at tremendous sacrifice, has done the correct thing by refusing permission to the Maitreya Project to take-off in Bodh Gaya. It is now the turn of politicians and administrators in this country to follow suit concerning the Karmapa Affair in Sikkim as they have done in Bihar in this context.