'Viveka's understanding of Buddhism ignored in History'

Bhagwan claims the saint has mentioned about the religion

Writer K S Bhagwan, on Sunday, asserted that history related to Swami Vivekananda’s understanding on Buddhism has been distorted. What remains now is the history built on the citadel of lies.

Addressing the gathering, after inaugurating Dr B R Ambedkar Samatha Samaja Sangha at Mahabodhi School, Saraswatipuram here, Bhagwan said, Vivekananda had gained more knowledge of Buddhism rather than Hinduism. “Adding credence to it, Vivekananda has mentioned about it in his works. However, such facts find no mention in history,” he added.

Saying that by delving deep into history, one can find many truths, Bhagwan said, it was Buddha who proclaimed human beings as one in the world. No thinkings equating the wisdom of Buddha can be found in the history of any other countries.

Buddhism
Alleging that Buddhism that was once the religion of farmers was deliberately destroyed, Bhagwan gave an account of the life of Buddha. “Buddha’s father was a farmer, who used to plough his field with a golden plough. Most of the populace then were followers of Buddhism and remained its followers for 1,300 years. So, people worshipped and continue to worship peepul tree in rural parts of the country. However, the cultural colonialism of Hindus destroyed Buddhism,” he said.

He said, unlike other religions, Buddhism is not based on beliefs, but has a strong foundation of ideologies. Even after 2,600 years of its existence, fundamentalism has not creeped into it.

Those religions, in which there is no room for debate will corrode. One should not just follow Buddha, but also practice his ideologies.

Though Mahatma Gandhi freed us from the shackles of Britishers, Ambedkar liberated us from mental slavery, but, the latter has been restricted to a particular class in the society, he added.

Additional Regional Commissioner M R Ravi released a book ‘Buddha mathu bouddha dharma: Mathanthara Yake?’ authored by L H Balakrishna.