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March 11, 2011

Recalling Nalanda University

Photo: Buddhist Master and Harvard Ph.D. Trungram Gyaltrul Rinpoche examines the proportions of a hand-made copper Buddha statue as the artist constructs it. World Center for Peace and Unity, a large Buddhist temple complex, is being built in Lumbini, Nepal, where Prince Siddhartha Guatama, the Buddha, was born in 583 B.C. Lumbini is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The 48,600-square-foot structure’s central building, named Mahachaitya, is modeled on one of the surviving structures of Nalanda (Bihar, India) in order to recall the greatness of Nalanda University, the ancient Buddhist seat of learning that served as the Harvard of Asia from the 5th to 12th centuries A.D. Nalanda has been called “one of the first great universities in recorded history.” Some of its buildings were constructed by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Great. At its peak, the university attracted scholars and students from as far away as China, Greece, and Persia. Courses were drawn from every field of learning, foreign and native, that included science, astronomy, medicine, scriptures (all religions), metaphysics, and logic.

|GlobalGiants.Com|

Edited & Posted by the Editor | 11:50 PM | Link to this Post

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