RESOURCE CENTER

South Asian Resource and Research Centre

South Asia Foundation-Nepal is setting up of a resource and research center along with the larger project which will take the visitors at Lumbini through the journey of Gautam Buddha. As thousands of visitors come to Lumbini in search of spiritual quest and message of Gautam Buddha, the center will be able to reach out to a large audience.

The establishment of the South Asian Resource and Research Center at Lumbini by the South Asia Foundation-Nepal is an initiative to expand the legacy of Gautam Buddha. A comprehensive library with an extensive collection of books, digital information, research material and periodicals, the center will be a place of reference materials, offering a valuable resource for scholars, researchers and visitors at Lumbini and Kapivastu. This will address the existing lack of materials on Buddha's impact in South Asia, making it a hub of knowledge and information center.

The integration of the South Asian Resource and Research Center into the larger Light and Sound Project in Lumbini is an effort to reach out to a large audience, as Lumbini and Maya Devi Temple that attract thousands of visitors daily, the center will have greater opportunity to connect with scholars, researchers, and others interested in exploring Buddha's life and his teachings.

The Foundation's plan to collaborate with renowned scholars and academic institutions to host lectures, research presentations and seminars will further enhance the center's importance at Lumbini. The visiting scholars and academicians will be able to explore the various aspects of Buddha's life with special emphasis on Lumbini and Kapilvastu (Ancient Shakya Kingdom of Kapilvastu).

Eventually, this resource center would propagate Buddha's message of peace, harmony and human integrity, spreading the legacy of Gautam Buddha with special reference to South Asia. It will organize cultural events and festivals that celebrate the teachings of Buddha, including traditional music, dance and art performances of that region.

It is pertinent to mention that there are very limited materials concerning Buddha's footprints in South Asia, particularly in Nepal, the role of the center is significant as a center of excellence that will provide wide opportunities to the visitors. The Foundation envisages to set up this facility and develop it into a major resource center in the near future.

By leveraging social media and other platforms, the Foundation aims to create opportunities for visiting scholars and researchers to have access to Buddha’s life at Lumbini and Kapilvastu.

It will also launch soon a publication on South Asian News and Views on important issues in South Asia.

Maya Devi Temple at its serenity

Institution that carries the legacy of Gautam Buddha’s teachings

Nalanda University is one of the most significant institutions, the oldest residential university in the world, home to nine million books that attracted more than ten thousand students across Asia. Students used to gather at Nalanda to learn medicine, mathematics, logic and the principles of Buddha from some of the era’s most revered scholars. More than 7 centuries before Nalanda flourished, there was nothing else like it in the world. The Buddhist Monastic University of Nalanda with its core multidisciplinary academic curriculum witnessed the phenomenon growth of Buddhist intellectual fervour and philosophical writings of the time. It helped spread Asian culture and higher education in a variety of fields long after the university closed its doors. Nalanda is as yet the best illustration of the festival of the immortal lessons of Buddha. Even though such an institution no longer exists, it holds a lot of significance for the Buddhist era's knowledge and learning.
Nalanda University was the significant centre for the propagation of Buddhist teachings and Buddhism, as many of their graduates became teachers around Asia spreading the teachings. This university is in close proximity to Bodhgaya, a town in Bihar, India where Budhha is believed to have attained enlightenment. (Excerpts from “Places That Changed the World”, a BBC Travel series) The University speaks of the influence that Gautam Buddha had created all over the world right from the ancient era.

The seminar of Buddhist scholars from Nepal and India that was held to get inputs and views on the script and the contents of the project. It was set to get the ball rolling in the direction of setting up a State-of–the-Art Light and Sound Project on the life of Gautam Buddha with cutting edge technology. The project is envisaged as an important milestone in Lumbini and its surrounding areas highlighting the ancient Shakya Kingdom of Kapilvastu.

Reminiscence of old Nalanda University

Source: Scroll.in