Written by Laurence Brahm - Published by South China Morning Post on 03/07/2007

It is said that many Chinese emperors found the wisdom to rule through the benevolent fung shui influence of the mountains to the north and west of Beijing. They are the Western and Fragrant Hills, and they’re dotted with Buddhist temples.

The Ling Guang Temple is nestled at the base of those hills, in western Beijing. That was the gathering place, on a cool morning just after the Lunar New Year, for hundreds of Buddhist monks from different sects throughout China.

They had gathered to honour an unusual visit by Sri Lanka’s liberal-minded President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He came to Ling Guang bearing a gift – a third-century-BC replica of the famous Samadhi Buddha from Sri Lanka’s ancient Buddhist centre, Anuradhapura.

It is said that, when the historical Buddha was cremated over 2,500 years ago, one relic – a tooth – was embedded in the pagoda at Ling Guang Temple: another was whisked off to Sri Lanka, where it remains enshrined. The symbolism of Mr Rajapaksa’s gift – as a means of building new bridges of parallel values between China and South Asia – was not lost on anybody.

This event marked the second recent use of “Buddhist diplomacy” between China and South Asia. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing visited India last month, and he used the opportunity to commemorate a memorial to the monk Xuan Zang, who took scriptures and Buddhist teachings from India to China during the Tang dynasty.

The memorial’s construction began in the 1950s, when ideals of nonalignment, multilateral equality, pacifism and mutual respect for ethnicity reached a heady fever among developing nations that were newly decolonised, yet still seeking economic independence.

Mr Rajapaksa’s statement that morning at Ling Guang reflected those ideals: “In our history, we have never sent troops to intervene in another country. As a Buddhist nation, that would be unthinkable. In the past we sent monks to study from each other. This tradition should be revived.” That is exactly what Mr Rajapaksa did, on the spot: inviting a delegation of Buddhist monks to Sri Lanka.

Two days earlier, Premier Wen Jiabao had touched on a similar theme: “We should respect multiculturalism,” he said. “The world has 2,000 ethnic groups. In human history, multilateral, mutual exchange among many ethnic groups created the rich civilisation that humanity has today. This is world multiculturalism and multicivilisation, and it has existed in the past, exists today and will exist in the future.

“Science, democracy, the law, freedom and human rights are not exclusively for capitalists,” he said. “In humanity’s long history, these values have been sought in many places. At different times in each nation’s historic development, there have been different expressions of this [search].”

China shares a vision, with the countries of South Asia, of eliminating poverty and establishing sustainable economic security. South Asian leaders often comment on how China has pulled some 400 million people out of poverty over the past two decades of development.

Maybe a Buddhist emphasis in diplomacy marks a re-awakening of ideals.

Athuraliye Rathana, a monk who leads the Sri Lankan Buddhist political party Jathika Hela Urumiya, sees opportunity in a Buddhist style of diplomacy: “A new, modern era needs new sets of aesthetic values and morality to replace the old,” he said. “If [there were a Buddhist ruler in China], then China could have true international influence.”

What is the significance of a smaller country like Sri Lanka presenting a Buddhist image to populous China? “China is a huge nation, but it, too, is about to change,” said Athuraliye Rathana.

That’s where Buddhist diplomacy comes in, he said: “It’s a great opportunity for the small wheel to activate the big wheel. We as a small mechanism can activate the big mechanism.”

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.

Back to Top