This special award was nominated on by an international round table of more than 200 religious leaders from every part of the spiritual band. It was mesmerizing to remind that many religious leaders voted for Buddhism rather than their own religion though Buddhists actually make up a tiny minority of ICARUS membership.
Here are the remarks by four voting members: Director of Research for ICARUS Jonna Hult, alleged "It wasn't a surprise to me that Buddhism won Best Religion in the World, because we can find literally not one single occurrence of a war fought in the name of Buddhism, in disparity to every other religion that seems to keep a gun in the secret just in case God makes a mistake. We were hard pressed to even find a Buddhist that had forever been in an army. These people practise what they moralize to an extent we simply could not document with any other spiritual tradition."
Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today alleged that teachings and high moral values mainly the path of non-violence spreaded by Buddhism have become increasingly related inthe present day trouble-torn world and our endeavour to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood, harmony, peace and amity.
The Governor was speak to the Golden Jubilee celebration function of the Central Institute of Buddhist Studies (CIBS).
Referring to the effort being done at the CIBS, the Governor supposed it has played a major role in circulating the teachings of Buddhism and donated in a big way in preserving and promoting the rich art, culture and language of Ladakh.
The Governor said organization of CIBS in Leh has assists and promoted opportunities for students and scholars to study Buddhism.
Distinguishing the important contributions made by the Institute in the past 50 years, he said that he strongly favours being CIBS being accorded the status of a deemed university.
He observed that this would attract students not only from the Ladakh and Lahaul and Spiti regions but from all over the country and even from abroad to follow Buddhist studies in CIBS.
The Governor mentioned that this Institute could act as a role model in provided that quality education and advised the Governing Body of CIBS to gradually enable this institution to provide education and research opportunities in identified areas of the Sciences and Humanities.
He assumed that there is also need for providing a much larger number of trained persons to teach Bodhi and restated that the glorious tradition of this region needs to be optimally preserved.
Mr Vohra congratulated the staff members, scholars and students of the Institute, and the people of Ladakh, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee of this institution.
He released a memorial memento brought out by the CIBS to mark this occasion.
On behalf of the Institute, the Governor presented cash awards of Rs 10,000 each to two prominent scholars Prof Ishey Thabkhas and Mr Tashi Rabgias for their lifetime achievements in promoting the history, culture and language of Ladakh.
On his own behalf, the Governor proclaimed cash awards of Rs 25,000 each, to both of these scholars.
The 'Caves of the Thousand Buddhas', or Qianfodong, are located at Mogao, about 25 kilometres south-east of the oasis town of Dunhuang in Gansuprovince, westernChina, in the center of the desert. In the late fourth century, the area had turn into a busy desert crossroads lying on the caravan routes of the Silk Road linking Chinaand the West. Traders, pilgrims and other travelers stopped up at the oasis town to stock up with provisions, pray for the journey forward or give thanks for their survival.
At about this time peripatetic monks carved the first caves into the long cliff stretching almost 2 kilometres in length next to the DaquanRiver. Over the next millennium more than 1000 caves of changeable sizes were dug. About five hundred of these were decorated as cave temples.
When the Silk Road was deserted under the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), oasis towns lost their importance and several were deserted. Even though the Mogao caves were not entirely abandoned, by the nineteenth century they were largely forgotten, with only a few monks residing at the site. At some point in the early eleventh century, an absurd archive - with up to 50,000 documents, hundreds of paintings, collectively with textiles and other artifacts - was preserved up in one of the caves (Cave 17). Its entrance covered behind a wall painting, the cave remained hidden from sight for centuries, until 1900, when it was discovered by Wang Yuanlu, a Daoist monk who had allotted himself abbot and guardian of the caves.
Rituals form is an essential part of the Tibetan Buddhism. Throughout the year, in the temples and the different other places, daily as well as special rituals are performed. The special rituals are carried out to settle the deities; to carry rainfall and good harvest; to avoid disparaging storms, disease and death; to control devils and evil spirits and finally to overpower the passions of the mind and ego.
Meditation is an important ritual which is agreed out with the help of certain hand signs and chanting of mantras. The method for meditation varies in different traditions but the aim is same, to assist the inner spiritual development.
Non initiates of Tibetan Buddhism perform rituals like contribution of food, flower and water. They assume religious pilgrimage, song prayers, light butter lamps at the local temple and occasionally also fund monks to carry out the rituals on their behalf.
Ritual Objects :
Concerts of rituals require the presence of certain objects. Each ritual object has an emblematic meaning and many of them are in addition the hand held objects of different Buddhist divinities.
Offer Bowl :They are kept on the altar and hold seven outer contributions including drinking and cleansing water, flower, incense, light, perfume, food and music.
Butter Lamps :Butter Lamps are consistently seen in BuddhistTemple and Monasteries and help in centering the mind while meditating. Initially, simplified yak butter was used; however now, it has been restored by vegetable oil. They are seen as eliminator of darkness externally while theoretically, they turn tedious and uninspired mind into enlightened one. The lamps are handled by the monks of the monasteries and are sometimes kept in a separate enclosure so as to avoid any accidental fire hazard.
Mandala :A mandala is a blessed geometric figure representing the universe. It functions as a holy area open to deities and forces. Thecentre of Mandala is used for focusing attention during meditation.
Prayer Wheels and Prayer Flags :Prayer Wheels are wheels on spindle and decorated on them are the prayers and the mantras. It is supposed that spinning of the prayer wheel in a clockwise direction sends prayer to all the Buddhas. This spiraling of the prayer wheel is comaparable to oral performance of prayers. The prayer wheels are made of copper and silver and have bamboo grip.
Phurpa :Quiet often referred as a magic blade, phurpa is made use of by high level tantric practitioners to overcome evil spirits and to destroy obstacles. It indicates stability on a prayer ground during ceremonies. Guru Padmasambhava is thought to be the creator of this implement.With the help of this implement that he bound the evil spirits and sacred the ground which became the site for the Samye Monastery. The practitioner first believes and then performs the sadhana of the phurpa. This is followed by an invitation to the divinity to enter the phurpa. Though doing so, the practitioners imagines that he is shocking and overpowering the evil spirits by insertion them under the point of the phurpha.
Dorje :It is a small clubs which the Tibetan lamas hold in their right hand during religious ceremonies. Dorje obtains from the Sanskrit word vajra and is believed to eliminate all kind of ignorance. It is itself considered eternal. It is representative of the male belief which represents kindness of Buddha. In rituals, dorje is paired with a bell, drilbu, which symbolises female principle.
Drilbu :The bell or the Drilbu is an enormously important ritual object in Tibetan Buddhism. The sound of the bell, very much like that of a trumpet and the drum, is believed to advise the evil spirits to keep a remoteness from the sacred area where the rituals are being performed. It is used beside with the dorje in rituals and is representative of the wisdom. The male and the female principle, as indicated by the dorje and dribul, combine to achieve enlightenment. The use of the bell and vajra differs as per the ritual performed or the sadhana songs.
Kapala or the Skull Cap :The skull cap is developed as a libation ( pouring out of liquid offering in honour of a deity) vessel for a number of Vajrayana deities, primarily furious. During rituals, it is very important that the right kind of skull cap is chosen.
