Nalanda University, Bihar

As a follow up to my previous blog, my visit to Nalanda monastery made me interested and curious about the original Nalanda university in India. So here is something that I found out -

 

Nalanda was a large Buddhist monastery in ancient Magadha (modern day Bihar), India. Located about 95 km southeast of Patna – centre of learning from the fifth century CE to c 1200 CW and was at its high of glory during the Gupta era.

Covering an area of around 12 hectares the residential school, constructed mostly in red bricks, during its heyday it claimed to have accommodated 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers. There were eight separate compounds and ten temples, along with many other meditation hall and classrooms. Lakes and parks created a sense of peace and tranquility.

The library was an immense complex separated into three large buildings. The largest building known as the Ratnadadhi (Ocean of Gems) was nine stories high and housed most of the sacred manuscripts. Though the exact number of volumes of the library is not known, it is estimated to have been in the hundreds of thousands. The library had not only religious manuscripts but also had texts on such subjects as grammar, logic, literature, astrology, astronomy and medicine and attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey.

It is believed that the library burned for three months after invaders set fire to it, ransacked and destroyed the monasteries and drove the monks from the side.

 

 

Now around 800 years after it was razed to the ground, the University reopened its doors with the first academic session starting on September 2014 with 15 students, five of whom were women, in temporary facilities in nearby Rajgir. The modern complex is expected to be finished by 2020 and will have seven schools for postgraduate and doctorate students.

Tolerance

The world today is rifted in strife. When one switches on the television or picks up the newspaper, one is always flooded with news about wars and calamities. Everywhere around the world - at all times, there is tension, there is conflict, and there is unhappiness.

One wonders why that is so. Ultimately, I think, it boils down to one thing.

Tolerance.

One simple word.  

One profound attitude.

Tolerance is the ability to accept or be patient with the beliefs, opinions or practices of others.

I believe that it is the lack of tolerance among most people that is the root of so much problems and tension in the world. When one believes that one is right and that one knows more and is better than the others – it often leads to intolerance for other people’s views and opinions. It does not leave space for people to be different, to be special each in their own way. It does not create a platform for people to co-exist in harmony.

In our personal relationships as well - if we cannot agree to disagree, if we cannot respect the views, thoughts and opinions of people around us, then there will be no true harmony.

Tolerance is a vital ingredient to every happy and healthy relationship. It is a core element of Buddhism – the willingness to allow others to hold different views from ourselves and to allow them to be different in their views and actions.

Tolerance is an important attitude that we each need to cultivate so that we can have happier relationships and live together harmonious in our one world.

Sometimes it feels as though it is just you and the world. The weight of the universe feels as though it is on your shoulders and you feel overwhelmed. The ordinary day to day task of living feels like a gigantic task and you wonder why things are so difficult for you.

It is in these moments that it is important to take a step back, take a deep breath and try to put things into perspective. During these moments you need to look beyond yourself - at the stranger briskly walking down the street or the person sitting next to you concentrating on his work. Take a look at the old lady slowly going around the chorten or the small child with a big heavy bag on his back walking briskly to school. Take a look at the taxi driver with a grumpy look on his face or the fashionably dressed lady driving a big vehicle.

If you take the time to talk to any of these people, you will find that each of them are facing their own challenges and difficulties. While they also enjoy their share of joy and laughter, each of them have their own battles to fight and have their own hurdles to overcome.

So sometimes it is important to keep in mind that it is not only you who is struggling with life's challenges. Being human means that suffering exists. That is the first of the four noble truths. Suffering comes in different sizes and shapes. It comes in different magnitudes. But it does not make it any less real for anyone. So it is important to keep in mind that we must be kind to each other because we are each fighting our own battles.