Subir Bhaumik
The first Sakyan International Convention in Buddhism’s holiest town attended by top monks and scholars on Wednesday called for bringing together of the various Sakyan clans and unity amongst various Buddhist denominations. Lord Buddha, born Prince Siddhartha Gautam, was from the Sakyan clan 2500 years ago but different branches of the clan migrated to different parts of the Eurasian landmass over the centuries.
“In many countries, where Buddhists are a minority, the Sakyan descendants face persecution from majoritarian regimes. The best examples of such persecution is the one faced by the Chakma Buddhists, who trace their lineage to the Sakyan clan, in Chittagong Hill Tracts of Muslim-majority Bangladesh,” said scholar Mrinal Chakma, one of the lead organisers.
The Chakmas and other Indigenous tribes, mostly Buddhists, formed 97 percent of the population in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) but now state-sponsored settlement of Muslims have caused huge demographic change and reduced them to less than half the population of this border region with India and Myanmar.
Assembled monks and scholars expressed the apprehension that a future Islamist government may scrap the British-era CHT Regulations, 1900 and abrogate the CHT peace accord that ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government signed with tribal insurgent groups in CHT.
They said that if that happens, it will deprive the Indigenous tribes of constitutional protection to pursue their unique lifestyle and traditions that is so different from the majority Bengali Muslims.
Vietnamese monk Thay Huyen Dieu (popular as Dr Lam) called for unity amongst all Buddhist denominations to protect the ‘descendants’ of Sakyas from persecution.
“I don’t care anymore about Mahayana or Hinayana, but am only interested in Buddhyana,” Dr Lam said during the concluding address.
Japanese monk Junsei Terazawa called for efforts to track down the different branches of the Sakya clans.
Prof Abhay Singh, former vice chancellor of the Nalanda University (oldest Buddhist University now revived by India) called upon powerful countries like Japan and South Korea to help vulnerable Buddhist communities in countries where they were in trouble.
“These countries should particularly help Buddhist students get quality education so that they can go back and serve their people,” Prof Singh said.
The Convention ended with an appeal to the Indian government and other Buddhist countries to help develop Bodh Gaya into a ‘Buddhist Vatican’.
“That will help India in its outreach to the Buddhist world and the Buddhist countries to create a global Centre to coordinate their efforts in a world increasingly torn by conflicts,” said Mrinal Chakma.
Subir Bhaumik is a former BBC and Reuters correspondent and author of books on South Asian conflicts.
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