Written by Laurence Brahm - Published by South China Morning Post on 05/08/2007

China’s May Day “golden week” holiday, traditionally a socialist celebration of workers’ rights, began slightly differently this year. Crowds packed the roads leading to Badachu, a mountain park beyond Beijing’s western hills – not to see Communist Youth League performances, as one might expect, but to glimpse a tooth.

This, however, is no ordinary tooth. It is one of two authenticated teeth of the Buddha and is kept within an ancient pagoda at Lingguang Temple. The other tooth is protected in a gold-encrusted shrine in Kandy, the last royal capital of Sri Lanka.

This link between China and Sri Lanka is no longer being overlooked. The master of the May 1ceremonies, a monk and leader of China’s Buddhist Association, had returned from Hangzhou , where he is overseeing construction of the world’s largest pagoda. So, is China on the cusp of following Sri Lanka and becoming a predominantly Buddhist-oriented, multifaceted ethnic and religious society? “There is no ownership of Buddhism,” said Sri Lanka’s ambassador to China, Nihal Rodrigo. “It is a way of life rather than a religion. Whether it is Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana Buddhism, expression in their art forms differs but they have the same precepts – compassion, nonviolence, rational and balanced thinking, economic self-sufficiency and shared prosperity.”

Increasingly, countries such as China and Sri Lanka are calling for a new, more holistic and rational approach to a range of concerns, from poverty to environmental protection and a peaceful resolution of conflicts. “Nobody has a copyright on the moral principles which should govern the world,” Mr Rodrigo reflected, proposing the “middle road” as a path for a rising Himalayan consensus. An emerging Buddhist diplomacy, personified by the strengthening bilateral relations between China and Sri Lanka, underscores this set of developing paradigms that is spreading through China and the rest of South Asia. For the first time in nearly 50 years, the Himalayas symbolises not a sharp divide between China and South Asia but rather a bridge connecting a new consensus. “This is taken from the Buddhist path of purity,” Mr Rodrigo said. “It is a middle path of non-alignment, walking between giants without pleasing or offending anyone.” Just as Buddhism spread to China from India, ironically, deep-rooted South Asian influences underlie the concepts of China’s “peaceful rise” and a “harmonious society” being promoted by President Hu Jintao after nearly two decades of frenetic materialistic growth.

A precedent exists. In 1955, at Bandung, Zhou Enlai and Jawaharlal Nehru penned five principles of “peaceful cooperation”, a positive non-alignment among nations facing the cold war standoff. The five precepts were respect for international integrity and sovereignty; mutual non-aggression; noninterference in each other’s internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful co-existence. To a great extent, these ideals are being revived by China, which recognises it must play a positive role on the international stage to sustain its growth.

On the domestic front, Mr Hu talks about “putting people first”, as if it came from an old Chinese saying. Former Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa (killed by Tamil Tigers in 1993) was also known to talk of “putting people first”, long before China’s leaders even began thinking about their citizens.

It all goes back to the countryside. Just as Mao Zedong started his revolution from villages, so Premadasa set up textile factories in villages, bringing roads and electricity to rural areas while providing free meals for workers and avoiding the “Latin Americanisation” of cities. China, instead, enlisted villagers to power its industrial zones, marooning them in cities to survive on their own with a resulting rise in crime and social disparity.

Now Mr Hu talks of a “harmonious society”. Ultimately, this will probably have to come from Buddhism to work.

Laurence Brahm is a global activist, international mediator, political columnist and author. He is the leading advocate of a fresh development paradigm - The Himalayan Consensus - an innovative approach to development.

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