Spiritualism’s win over Communism in China

Spiritual dance show held in China’s Great Hall
Source:http://timesofindia.com

BEIJING: The Great Hall of the People on Thursday saw a dance drama featuring themes like “nirvana”, karma and rebirth being staged in the very hall of Chinese Parliament, where Communists laws and rules on atheism have been framed over the past five decades. This is a strong sign of the Chinese leadership opening up on the issue of religion after years of economic reforms.

In another rare move, the government allowed archaeologists in its pay to hand over a precious relic – -that some believe to be part of the skull of Gautama Buddha — to a temple. A sarira made from the skull relic will be enshrined in the Qixia Temple in the eastern city of Nanjing and shown on State television on Saturday morning.

“Buddhism is part of the cultural tradition of China,” Xue Cheng, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China told TNN recently. “People are enjoying material wealth after 30 years of economic reforms. They now want to enrich themselves in the spiritual aspects of life,” he said.

The enthralling dance drama ‘Cosmos’ shown at the Great Hall employed China’s best known names in choreography, dancing, music and stage craft indicating the close collaboration of Communist Party at different levels.

The Chinese foreign ministry said the show gave “an oriental cosmic view” about life’s dimensions on earth and celestial premiers in heaven. The Beijing Municipality, which organized the event, described it as a human quest “to find answer in the eyes of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism”. Such words from Chinese official agencies are rare.

Archaeological findings are rarely handed over to places of worship anywhere in the world. In this case, government archaeologists, who discovered the skull relic from a structure called the Ashoka Pagoda, are being involved in the entire proceedings that include a news conference to exhibit photographs of the finding and the enshrining ceremony. It will be kept in a special case to ensure suitable temperature for preserving the relic at the Qixia temple, the official media said.

Qi Haining, head of the archaeological team and an expert at Nanjing Museum, was quoted by China Daily as saying that it was the only known part of the Sakyamuni’s skull in the world. It is part of the Buddha relics sent to China and other parts of the world by the Indian king, Ashoka, it said.

The archaeological discovery took place in 2008 in the ruins of Nanjing’s Changgan Temple, built in the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279). A wooden Pagoda containing the skull fragment was found below the temple. The researchers also found a stele with an inscription, reading, “A Seven-Treasure Pagoda of King Asoka” that contained a miniature gold coffin nested inside a silver one.

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