Buddhist Heritage Research Articles

The 'Sāṃkāshya' As A Sign of Ancient Buddhist Traditions: Past and Present.

Buddhist heritage or historical place refers to the place where the works left by the famous ‘Thera-Therī’ or monks and nuns and the Buddhist kings-mahārājās of the past, great or renowned Mahāpurusha, are presented. Some of these feats have survived, and some have been lost. What was lost was later rediscovered by historians. The Buddhist tradition encompasses numerous historical sites, all of which hold significant importance. In the history of Buddhism, the famous historical places known as ‘Ashtamahātīrthasthāna’ have survived as witnesses of the ancient Buddhist tradition. Likewise, ‘Sāṃkāshya’ is one of the ‘Ashtamahātīrthasthāna’ and one of the ancient Buddhist traditions. The name of this ‘Sāṃkāshya’ is mentioned in Tipiṭaka, or Buddhist history, as well as in the Ramayana-Mahabharata and other ancient texts. People still carry its history and tradition with pride. ‘Saṃkassa’ is a village in the Farukkabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Currently, its name is ‘Saṃkisha-Basantpur’. This ‘Sāṃkāshya’ is one of the most glorious places among the memorials of Lord Buddha and Dhamma. India is a rich land with diversity of culture, language, religion, and topography, and this ‘Sāṃkāshya Nagar’ of India has earned a prominent place as the best destination in the world.

The Development of Tourism Areas in Abang Temple Yogyakarta, Using Engineering Geological Capability

Temples are interesting objects used for the exploration, exploitation, and development of tourist areas. However, these cultural sites and the surrounding environment need to be adequately preserved to prevent disasters. One of the interesting aspects of temples needed to be developed as tourist areas is its engineering geological capability. Therefore, this study aims to determine the engineering geological capability of Abang Temple located in the village of Jogotirto, Berbah, Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This Buddhist heritage temple was built on an isolated hill with the constituent materials of red bricks, tuff, and andesite that have experienced weathering over the decades. The temple is geographically located in an interesting natural nuance, thereby making it a dilemma for developing tourist areas. This research was carried out by mapping and measuring field data on several influential aspects, including the carrying capacity of rocks and soil, slope, the potential for geological disasters, the depth of groundwater level, the ease of excavation, the land use, the rock weathering level, and the discontinuity field density. The results shows that there are three zones of engineering geological capability for developing temples into tourist areas, namely high, medium, and low capabilities.

Leveraging Social Media for Enrichment in Buddhist Tourism: A Mixed-Methods Study between Pakistan and China

This research work takes a strategic perspective on how social media can be leveraged for use between Pakistan and China, considering cultural and historical ties under the roof of Buddhist tourism. The Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) is applied in this qualitative study, complemented by the quantitative analysis of engagement through social media, to gain insights into why people visit different websites and how effective social media is in promoting tourism. The paper considered WeChat, Weibo, Instagram, and Facebook as they all have something unique to give to a tourist. The research has found that culturally relevant and visually rich content is much more effective in attracting Chinese tourists to the Buddhist heritage sites of Taxila and Takht- i-Bahi in Pakistan. Different online platforms have different preferences in presenting information and visual engagement, so WeChat is ideal for the dissemination of information and Instagram for visual engagement. Findings highlight the importance of cross-platform strategies and localized content for maximum outreach of tourism. Tables have been provided to compare the engagement metrics across the platforms, indicating which content types work well. This research provides actionable suggestions for tourism boards and marketers to develop targeted social media policies that can support higher tourist visits between countries and strengthen cultural bonds.

Salience of Buddhism as an Instrument of Soft Power in India’s Neighborhood

This research paper explores the salience of Buddhism as a potent instrument of soft power within India's neighborhood. Buddhism, with its profound historical and cultural roots in India, has transcended geographical boundaries to become an influential force that shapes diplomatic relationships and socio-cultural ties in the region. This study delves into the multifaceted dimensions of Buddhism's role in India's foreign policy and its impact on fostering closer relationships with neighboring countries. The paper begins by tracing the historical trajectory of Buddhism in India and its subsequent diffusion to neighboring nations. It examines how Buddhism has not only endured as a spiritual and philosophical tradition but has also evolved into a dynamic tool for international engagement. In this context, it delves into the significance of Buddhism as a cultural bridge that connects India with its neighboring countries, transcending linguistic and religious differences. The study also evaluates the geopolitical implications of Buddhism's resurgence in India's neighborhood. It assesses the impact of India's Buddhist diplomacy on regional stability, security, and economic cooperation. Special attention is given to India's relations with countries like China, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Myanmar, where Buddhism holds particular significance. In conclusion, this research underscores the enduring relevance of Buddhism as an instrument of soft power in India's neighborhood. It emphasizes the need for India to harness its rich Buddhist heritage and promote intercultural dialogues as essential components of its foreign policy toolkit, furthering its diplomatic objectives and fostering enduring bonds with its neighbors.

Cloned Buddhas: mapping out the DNA of Buddhist heritage preservation

ABSTRACT This article considers how technological innovation transforms the value of religious materiality in Buddhist heritage reproduction projects in Japan. To illustrate the religiously and politically charged landscape of heritage care, I focus on the reproduction technologies developed by the Tokyo University of Arts researchers to create highly precise replicas of Buddhist heritage. One such ‘super clone’ replica of Japan’s National Treasure homed at Hōryūji temple in Nara – a 1400-year-old ‘Shaka Triad’ sculpture of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha – was put on display at the Nagano Prefectural Art Museum in Japan in April 2021. The ‘cloned’ statue is a highly precise copy that goes beyond the practices of exact duplication. With the use of 3D measurement, digital modelling technologies, and advanced casting techniques, this cloned religious heritage object transports the viewer back in time to the aesthetic moment of creation and allows them to experience anew the object’s affective presence as crafted centuries ago. In drawing on this example and its potential to intervene in other religious heritage reproduction projects globally, I argue that technology transforms religious heritage to generate alternative socio-economic afterlives of Buddhist objects. By analysing the scientific narratives and processes of heritage care, I show how the religious heritage reproduction is where the aesthetic, political, and economic dimensions of Buddhist material futures are imagined and realized. It is also a space of contestation between devotion, science, and memory-oriented practices of care in transnational heritage preservation.

Towards religious landscape: Protection of Tibetan Buddhist heritage in Aba Prefecture

Aba Prefecture is a prominent Tibetan inhabited area with profound Tibetan Buddhist sites that need to be protected. This study demonstrates that the value of religious sites lies in their terrain-based nature with perceptions by people, and advocates to interpret and preserve them from the religious landscape perspective. Using geographic data and online geo-tagged images, geographical and visual characteristics of religious landscapes in Aba Prefecture are drawn with the support of MaxEnt and FCN models. The results of the two models are cross-validated and complimented, to ensure that the analyzed religious landscape is interpreted in religious atmosphere, geographic context, and visual perception. Further, this study provides region-specific preservation proposals for religious landscapes in Aba Prefecture and a transferable preservation framework for religious landscapes in other regions.

Buddhist Heritage With(out) Borders: The Mahābodhi Temple in the Thai National Imagination and Cultural Practices

ABSTRACT This article seeks to examine Thailand’s involvement in the revival of Bodh Gayā, the site of the Buddha’s enlightenment during the twentieth century, and shed light on the motives and results stemming from Thai cultural practices. To this end, I will analyse the specific elements of Thai culture at the original site, primarily through the symbolism of Thai Buddhism, art, and the theory of the righteous rulership, and explore the virtual evocations of the Mahābodhi in Thailand. I argue that the re-invention resulted in two things. On the one hand, it provided tools for the legitimation of the Thai monarch through the concept of righteous kingship, as well as for the demonstration of Thailand as the paramount contemporary Buddhist centre of the world. On the other hand, it has revived and popularised the practice of constructing life-size replicas in Thailand, thereby enriching, and changing previous habits of pilgrimage.

Conservation of Buddhist Heritage in Afghanistan, 2016–2022

This article describes activity at two Buddhist sites, Topdara (Parwan province) and Shewaki (south-east of Kabul) in Afghanistan undertaken by the Afghan Cultural Heritage Consulting Organisation (ACHCO) between 2016 and 2022. It entailed documentation, excavation, conservation and partial reconstruction of stupas and other structures associated with Buddhist monastic orders. The sites are part of a string of religious institutions situated along trade and pilgrimage routes that traversed the region, some of which have been the focus of previous surveys, archaeological excavation and analysis. The primary objective of this work was to document and conserve the surviving physical fabric of the stupas and adjacent buildings, while examining their siting and similarities in form and architectural style with other Buddhist monuments in the region. The interventions also provided an opportunity to observe the attitudes of both the Afghan work-force and members of the Afghan public towards their Buddhist heritage, for which there seems to be a degree of curiosity and respect that tends to be lacking in recent accounts of such sites being “endangered.”

Buddhist heritage landscape evolution of Mount Wutai: a path dependence approach

An adequate understanding about the evolutionary process, mechanism and influencing factors of cultural landscapes is crucial for their efficient preservation and sustainable development. The theoretical framework of self-reinforcing sequence in path dependence analysis appears applicable but has not yet been well explored as a tool for broader historical landscape analysis like the evolution of cultural landscapes that may last thousands of years. Within such a framework, an empirical case of Buddhist heritage landscape of Mount Wutai is used to account for the institutional genesis, reproduction and change associated with landscape evolution over time. The findings suggest the framework provides an essential toolkit to reveal the specific ways in which path dependence shapes the evolutionary trajectories of cultural landscapes and, based on that, to detect management options that steer development and change of cultural landscapes into a direction that aligns with desired outcomes.

A Tibetan window into the twentieth-century Himalayan world

This article examines interconnections between parts of the Indian Himalaya and Tibet in the period encompassing the escape of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to India in 1959. While Buddhism served as connecting tissue binding together communities across recently drawn national borders, networks linking families in Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet were also forged through monastic patronage, colonial education, intermarriage, seasonal migration and trade. Through a reading of colonial and postcolonial archives from Delhi, London and Gangtok, as well as the private papers of Indian political appointees in the Himalaya, the article shows how, far from blazing a trail, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans who followed him into exile were treading well-worn migration routes and leaning on relationships forged over centuries. Archival evidence from press and parliamentary proceedings in the 1950s and 1960s reveals a shared religious history and information that India claimed to be the cradle of the subcontinent’s Buddhist heritage, which helped garner greater support for the Dalai Lama and his countrymen.

Determinants of Inclusive Tourism in Borobudur Temple

Inclusive tourism has gained increasing attention as a means to provide accessible and enriching experiences for diverse groups of visitors. This study aims to identify the determinants of inclusive tourism in Borobudur Temple, a renowned Buddhist heritage site in Indonesia, using a mixed-methods approach. The research integrates qualitative and quantitative methods, employing descriptive analysis, a survey with 305 respondents, validity and reliability assessments, as well as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) conducted with SPSS and JASP tools. The qualitative phase involves in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with various stakeholders. Following the qualitative phase, a survey is conducted to quantitatively measure the identified determinants of inclusive tourism. A structured questionnaire is administered to 305 visitors to Borobudur Temple, incorporating Likert-scale items related to the identified themes. Descriptive analysis is used to summarize the responses and provide an overview of visitors’ perceptions of inclusive tourism. The validity is assessed through content validity, ensuring the questionnaire items adequately represent the construct of inclusive tourism. Reliability is evaluated using internal consistency measures, such as Cronbach’s alpha, to examine the consistency and stability of the questionnaire’s items. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is conducted to test the measurement model and assess the fit between the data and the proposed theoretical framework. Additionally, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is employed to explore the underlying factor structure of the determinants of inclusive tourism, further refining the measurement model and identifying potential new factors or dimensions Additionally, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is employed to explore the underlying factor structure of the determinants of inclusive tourism, further refining the measurement model and identifying potential new factors or dimensions.

The Buddhavanam Replica Stupa in Telangana

Abstract The Sri Parvata Arama, or the Buddhavanam, is a Buddhist theme park near the banks of the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir in Telangana. Sponsored by the state government, this park features at its center a full-scale replica of the Amaravati stupa. While this replica stupa might seem to revivify the largely destroyed stupa at Amaravati, this article also examines how the Buddhavanam engages with a wide-ranging visual archive in order to create a home at which every imaginable visitor—foreign and local—will encounter familiar imagery. The stupa's sculptural adornment primarily takes inspiration from limestone sculptures that once adorned ancient Buddhist sites along the Krishna River Valley. However, additional scenes on the stupa are drawn from disparate sources: reliefs carved from photographs of M. K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, and the current chief minister of Telangana appear alongside stone versions of paintings from the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang and Alchi in Ladakh. This article examines how this replica stupa and the surrounding theme park allow the new state of Telangana not only to articulate its claim to the Buddhist heritage that is now shared with the state of Andhra Pradesh but also to participate in a boom in state-sponsored religious monuments across India.

Rethinking the history of Buddhism through female Buddhist heritage investigation

As the merits of Buddhism in history gave rise to architectural constructions, the preserved historical heritage opens a window to a better understanding of the past. However, most of these cultural-historical treatises have been read and narrated only from a paternal perspective. Even though there is an increased awareness of female Buddhism, a number of Buddhist constructions built under female patronage have yet to receive full recognition. Based on a field survey conducted by the author, this paper examines three representative female Buddhist architectural relics in China: the Yungang Grottoes, the Great Vairocana (or the Lu-she-na Buddha) of the Longmen Grottoes, and the Tiantai’an Nunnery, in order to understand the diversity of Buddhist practise and discuss the role of women in early Chinese Buddhism. Through case studies and comparative analysis, this paper presents Buddhist practise based on female engagement, social context, and female traditions in China. The author argues for a re-evaluation of the history of Buddhist architecture and for it to be placed into a broader framework that takes into account female Buddhist communities and their contribution to the history of architecture.

Bhutan's Living Buddhist Traditions: Past, Present, and Future

The study looks at the present state of Buddhism in Bhutan, highlighting the key features of the country's religious practices and the role of the monastic community. The research investigates how the government has incorporated Buddhist principles into its development policies, including the adoption of the Gross National Happiness (GNH) philosophy, which emphasizes the importance of spiritual and cultural values alongside economic growth. Finally, the paper explores the challenges and opportunities facing Buddhism in Bhutan in the future. The study identifies the impact of globalization, modernization, and technological advancement on Bhutan's traditional Buddhist practices and values. The research also examines the ways in which Bhutan can continue to promote and preserve its Buddhist heritage in the face of these challenges. In conclusion, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of Bhutan's living Buddhist traditions, highlighting their historical roots, present state, and future prospects. The research underscores the importance of Buddhism in shaping Bhutan's identity and provides insights into how the country can continue to preserve and promote its unique cultural heritage in the 21st century.

Comprehending genius loci, towards spiritual sustainability: lessons from Buddhist heritage city Anuradhapura

ABSTRACT The world heritage city Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, significant for spiritually cherished spatial orientation manifests in the city; reflecting ‘spiritual sustainability’, that integrates nature, natural elements, topography, built elements with the performances of people. This research examines comprehending ‘genius loci’ in heritage city Anuradhapura, and how this occurrence relates to spiritual sustainability. It explores in-depth dimensions of the place, related to ‘spiritual orientation’; a novel approach for understanding heritage sites. This paper proposes an original interdisciplinary study and method to examine ‘spiritual sustainability’ of the place and meanings by employing contextual concepts, and generalised concepts. It utilises Buddhist concepts, to explore in-depth meanings of the place, attached with the locus, vision, and cultural/religious views. Further, it discusses how these meanings shape and sustain the heritage city between divine/mundane dimensions. The same universal concept flourished upon architecture, landscape, villages and cities, from pre-history to the Buddhist city Anuradhapura, gathered in the same locus comprehending ‘genius loci’, established ‘spiritual sustainability’. In conclusion, the Buddhist heritage city sustains between physical and non-physical dimensions, a dynamic process, reveal more in-depth meanings of the place. This study presents a new insight to value heritage places and a new perspective for sustainable developments.

Between Buddhist ‘Self-Enlightenment’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence’: South Korea Emerging as a New Balancer

As artificial intelligence (AI) outpaces the human brain, it is invoking wide-spread fear that men and machines are moving into a conflicting zone. Some even suspect that AI machines may one day consider human beings as slow and sloppy, and thus worthy of subordination or elimination. A growing challenge to mitigate the looming crisis requires science to expand its artificially augmented intelligence by incorporating elements from the ethical–spiritual and human universe. Our endeavor to bridge the prevailing gap between science and spirituality focuses on Buddhism, which stands out in its ability to achieve a rare fusion between natural, spiritual and human worlds. This unique synthesis is specifically mediated by Buddhist ‘causality’, where one aspect explains reality based on a scientifically proven cause and effect paradigm, but the other aspect interprets it by compassionate humanism. It argues that the missing human–spiritual dimension in artificial intelligence can be remedied by the Buddhist concept of ‘causally’ linked to the idea of ‘self-enlightenment’. Being an integral part of Buddhist heritage and a leading player in cutting-edge science, Korea demonstrates abilities to emerge as a new balancer to incorporate the best of science, spiritually and humanism to build next-generation AI machines with distinct human qualities.

Buddhism in Aotearoa New Zealand: Multiple Sources and Diverse Forms

This article presents a provisional survey of Buddhists and Buddhist organizations in Aotearoa/New Zealand, identifying their key characteristics in terms of national origin, ethnicity, and areas of geographical concentration. We draw on three decades of the New Zealand census (1991-2018) to analyze demographic data about those who identify as Buddhist, and information from the NZ Charities Register to identify general characteristics of the diverse range of Buddhist organizations in the country. Based on this demographic data, we identify three main types of Buddhist institutions: (1) centers/temples serving heritage or “migrant” communities from Asian countries with Buddhist heritage; (2) centers which we refer to as “Pākehā/Multi-ethnic” because they serve newer Buddhists (“converts”) who are primarily but not exclusively Pākehā (NZ European), and (3) “multi-ethnic” organizations that include varying combinations of heritage and non-heritage Buddhists. Within each of the three categories we see diverse organizational forms and streams of distinctive Buddhist traditions, including sectarian, ethnic, and hybrid forms, each of which have contributed to a diverse religious landscape in significant ways. Most Buddhist centers are in urban areas, with 70 percent in or near Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. The main Buddhist traditions are almost equally represented across these institutions with 35 percent identified as Mahayana, 32 percent as Theravada, and 35 percent as Vajrayana (and 0.7% as mixed). The number of Buddhists in New Zealand has increased over the past three decades from 12,705 to 52,779, and approximately 80 percent identify with at least one of the Asian ethnic groups. Buddhists constitute only 1.1 percent of the total population, with at least 134 centers of varying sizes across the country. However, Buddhism may be exerting a cultural influence beyond these numbers, as recent research identified Buddhists as the “most trusted” religious group in contemporary New Zealand. In presenting this preliminary survey, we aim to provide a base for more in-depth investigations.

How Effective Is a Buddhist Pilgrimage Circuit as a Product and Strategy for Heritage Tourism in India?

Buddhist heritage in India is receiving reasonable attention for tourism development with a particular emphasis on promoting Buddhist circuits. One Buddhist pilgrimage circuit covering eight locations including four most sacred places, namely, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, and Lumbini, is popular for spiritual and religious reasons. Fieldwork conducted in these four sites reveals complex patterns of visitation that question the idea of a circuit as a tourism product. The primary circuit-goers are foreign Buddhist followers, but the magnitude of their visitation is very low. They constitute less than 10 percent of visitors and are far outnumbered by domestic visitors. Domestic visitors driven by recreational purposes hardly complete the entire circuit; their visits are directed to two popular sites while other sites are used as “middle-of-the-trip centers” or places for daytrips. The interviews with various stakeholders including religious institutions, private tour operators, and relevant government agencies, show that the itineraries of circuit-goers depend on several factors including the convenience of travel, accommodation facilities, the ability to perform pilgrimage rituals, and institutional governance for tourism. This paper argues that Buddhist pilgrimage circuits operate more as a cultural landscape at a cognitive level rather than as a distinct physical route and a product that can be effectively translated into as strategy for tourism development in Buddhist sites.

Цифровая трансформация письменного наследия тибетского буддизма: состояние и перспективы

Introduction. Making public knowledge pertaining to Buddhist culture proves important and topical enough due to the steady growth of global significance attributed to East and Central Asia. Therefore, insights into monuments of Buddhist heritage represented in vast collections of Russia — at advanced academic and technological levels with an emphasis on the active use of digital technologies — shall yield solutions to quite a number of sociocultural development problems, and strengthen positions of our nation in Asia’s geopolitical environments. Goals. The study aims at analyzing the current state of the art in digitization of Tibetan Buddhism’s written heritage and assessing some promising AI related technologies development trends. Materials and methods. The study provides a comparative analysis of activities by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC) consortium, an oldest and most successful initiatives operating since 1999, for advanced approaches in this field. The use of artificial intelligence methods to solve the problem of creating a machine-readable text corpus of Buddhist writings and machine translation is considered as a promising direction. Results. The work discloses key principles of digitization and representation of written monuments implemented on the new digital platform BUDA (Buddhist Digital Archives), shows effectiveness of the underlying IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) and LOD (Linked Open Data) architectures. The efforts to assess artificial intelligence technologies prospects included a pilot study on the use of ‘deep learning’ neural network methods to create an experimental model for optical recognition of Tibetan characters which yielded a result of 94 % of recognized characters. This lays a foundation for flow-line decoding of Tibetan-language scans and creating a comprehensive corpus of Buddhist writings in a machine-readable format, which offers the challenge of developing new efficient digital textual tools. Conclusions. The integration of existing and promising approaches allows for a digital transformation of Buddhist written traditions, the latter to open new functioning forms and development opportunities in the contemporary world backed with a possibility to reveal the cultural and intellectual potential of Buddhist civilization for modern society to the full.

Цифровая трансформация письменного наследия тибетского буддизма: состояние и перспективы

Introduction. Making public knowledge pertaining to Buddhist culture proves important and topical enough due to the steady growth of global significance attributed to East and Central Asia. Therefore, insights into monuments of Buddhist heritage represented in vast collections of Russia — at advanced academic and technological levels with an emphasis on the active use of digital technologies — shall yield solutions to quite a number of sociocultural development problems, and strengthen positions of our nation in Asia’s geopolitical environments. Goals. The study aims at analyzing the current state of the art in digitization of Tibetan Buddhism’s written heritage and assessing some promising AI related technologies development trends. Materials and methods. The study provides a comparative analysis of activities by the Buddhist Digital Resource Center (BDRC) consortium, an oldest and most successful initiatives operating since 1999, for advanced approaches in this field. The use of artificial intelligence methods to solve the problem of creating a machine-readable text corpus of Buddhist writings and machine translation is considered as a promising direction. Results. The work discloses key principles of digitization and representation of written monuments implemented on the new digital platform BUDA (Buddhist Digital Archives), shows effectiveness of the underlying IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) and LOD (Linked Open Data) architectures. The efforts to assess artificial intelligence technologies prospects included a pilot study on the use of ‘deep learning’ neural network methods to create an experimental model for optical recognition of Tibetan characters which yielded a result of 94 % of recognized characters. This lays a foundation for flow-line decoding of Tibetan-language scans and creating a comprehensive corpus of Buddhist writings in a machine-readable format, which offers the challenge of developing new efficient digital textual tools. Conclusions. The integration of existing and promising approaches allows for a digital transformation of Buddhist written traditions, the latter to open new functioning forms and development opportunities in the contemporary world backed with a possibility to reveal the cultural and intellectual potential of Buddhist civilization for modern society to the full.