Monday, August 19, 2013

Buddha is the Light of Civilization & Bengali Words In Thai Language by Sona Kanti barua

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Introduction

Is there a Bangla district in Thailand?  Bengali Buddhist migrants came to Thailand and discovered Bangla Mong (or Mukh as a face of Bangladesh) in Siam 1200 years ago.  On the way to Pattaya from Bangkok, we could find Bangla Mong is a district in Chon buri province of Thailand. When Hindu and Muslim rulers were confiscated Buddhist Rights and survival then many Buddhists forced to leave Bangladesh and founded home at abroad including neighboring Buddhist countries.

 Buddhistic Culture of Bangladesh & Thailand

Suvarnabhumi (it seems Bengali name) is the name of Bangkok International Airport and its meaning is South East Asia.  Indian Buddhist emperor Asoka -the great introduced  Buddhism to the world including Thailand and Suvarnabhumi (South East Asia) by  the mission of Buddhist Monks led by great Bengali  Bhikkhu Sona Thera  and great  Bhikkhu Uttara Thera (of Orissa)  2300 years ago.

There are Bengali words in Thai language:  Raja, rajini (Rani),  manush (Thai pronunciation is manut), stri (woman as in Thai satri), dan (donation), Pali (Bali), Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, Vihar (Wat),  sujib, mata (mada), pita (bida), bhgini (sister), namaskar, purush (man or burut), balika, desh, sundari, karuna, maĆ®tri, mudita, upekka (ubekkha), samakam (association or samiti), Lekhadhikarn (secretary;  in Bengali sampadak), ratha (car), mulanidhi (foundation), adhitthan (adhistan), mano (mind), asana (seat),  upakara, hetu (cause, in Thai het), rattha sabha (Rastra sabha),  etc. and all words according to the Pali Dictionary (b. Abhidhan  & T. bachanukrom).
Thai words are : vibidha   bhanda (museum),  Guna (merits, in Bangla guna),  Dhup (incense), Desha (country ) kala (time), Samadhi (meditation) and Buddha Mandal, Visakha  Buja (Vaisakhi Puja / Purnima), Sahai (friend), samagam (Samiti), sangit sala, nayak, pradhan, golap, ratna, mali, sundar, suchin, guru, mantra, etc.
Bengali and Thai languages were originated from the Pali language and their alphabets were derived from the Brahmi alphabets. Devanagari (of Sanskrit language) alphabets are also derived from Brahmi and there are deep relations among Bengali, Sanskrit and Thai languages. Pali, Bengali and Sanskrit were spread to Suvarnabhumi (South East Asia) Nakhonpathom (the present Thailand). Relating to the past Buddhas Lord Gautama Buddha said, “Health is the highest gain, Nibbana the highest bliss. But Magandiya, this verse was uttered by former Buddhas, fully self-awakened Ones (Majjhima Nikya Sutta No. 175 – Magandiya Sutta). 
Buddhist Bangladesh had been mirrored in present day Thailand several times specially while Thai people paid respects to king Ramkamhaeng the great  with 700th  hundred years’ anniversary of the Thai alphabet at Sukhothai (national historical park) Loy Krathong festival in November 1983. Chakma women’s celebrated dresses (during the kathin ceremony at Rajaban Vihar, Rangamati) are as like as Thai women dressed in Sukhothai style. Once upon a time Bangladesh had been a Buddhist kingdom of the Pala Dynasty like present day Thailand. Ancient great Buddhist king Dharmapala had a very good relation with Burma, Thailand and other Buddhist countries.
In Bengali language what do we mean by Mangala (highest blessings) ?   Thai great scholar monk of Chiangmai Venerable Srimangala Achariya wrote his great book entitled “Mangalattha  Dipani”  (An exposition of highest blessings) in Pali.
The Buddha taught 38 categories of Life’s highest blessings (Mangala Sutra) which make up the high road of success and happiness:
1. To dissociate from the foolish    2. To associate with the wise
3. To adore those worthy of Adoration   4. To reside in proper locality,  5. Merits done formerly,  6. Right self  direction 7. Committed in great learning, 8. Arts,  9. To be well-informed in moral discipline, 10. Well –spoken words,   11. To support one’s parents, 12. To cherish one’s children, 13. To cherish one’s wife,   14. To avoid entanglements in one’s work, 15. Charity, 16. Observance of Dharma, 17. To help relatives 18. To perform blameless pursuits 19. Avoidance and Abstinence from evil, 20. To refrain from intoxicating drinks, 21. Vigilance in the dhamma 22.  Reverence, 23. Humility,  24. Contentment, 25. Gratitude, 26. Timely hearing of the Dhamma, 27. Forbearance 28. Amenable to advise 29. Inspiring  sight of holy person 30. Timely discussion of the Dhamma (Buddhism)  31. Sincerely try to  self control, 32. Religious and chaste life, 33. Perceiving the noble Truths, 34. Realization of Nibbana, 35. Mind unshaken by loka dhamma (fail, success etc.)  36. Mind free from sorrow 37. Mind free from passion 38. Mind filled with peace. (Study of these blessings is a boon to all). This is called Mangla Sutra.
The current status of Buddhism in the world owes itself to the initiatives of Bangladesh to a degree that one could hardly with a nation of first Bangla book Charyapada and Lord Buddha’s residential temple in Mahasthangar Bogra.  Buddhist glory relating to the great monk delegate Sona Thera, great hero Bijoy Singh  (who discovered Sri Lanka) and national sage Atish Dipankar.  The statue of a Bodhisattva  (in Bengali and  Thai or a saintly king)  in the Mohenjodaro described the magnificence and grandeur of a Bodhisattva king (Universal King) who ruled over the four quarters of the world.  According to the Mahaparinibbana Sutta and other Buddhist text revealed that hermit king ruled over his dominations righteously and finally abandoning all attachments and practicing absorption (Jhana) he passed away and reached the blissful Brahma realm.
Aryan Vedic King Indra took over Mohenzodaro and Harappa according to the Rig Veda (10/86/23, 8/6/46 (for money and security Vedic saints prayed to King Indra 1/105/8 & 10/33/2).     King Indra (1600 B.C.) destroyed Kassapa Buddha’s Pre-historical Buddhism. Former Buddhas and archaeological evidences are recorded in his famous book entitled “Buddhism: The Religion of Mohenjodaro and Harappa Cities by Swapan Kumar Biswas” West Bengal, Calcutta. Brahmanism has rejected the South Asian Assura civilization before the Ariyan intruders. Emperor Asoka’s rock edicts were written in Pali of Brahmi alphabets.  Thai, Bengali, Burmese, Tibetan, Combodia, Laos, Nepal, Tamil, Sri Lanka,  & Sanskrit’s Devanagari alphabets (40 languages alphabets)  were originated from the Brahmi alphabets.

Emperor Asoka recorded Pre-Vedic Buddhas: 

As the Buddha taught, “Seeing the danger (originating) in sensual pleasures let one wander alone like a rhinoceros.” The Way of the Buddha (published by the Govt. of India in 1956), reports, “The Nigliva Pillar inscription of Asoka, recording the enlargement by him of the Stupa of Buddha Kanakamuni (to double its size), including Vipassi Buddha, Bharhut, Visvabhu Buddha, Krakucchanda Buddha and Kasyapa Buddha (pages 13 – 16).”  Unfortunately, Vedic Hinduism and its books prescribed only one Buddha Gautama and Mr. Foucher writes in his French book entitled on Etude sur l’ iconographic Bouddique de l’ inde, “Buddhistic influences was transmitted to the Prasna and Mundaka Upasanisads of the Atharva Veda. This shows that Upanasads are not unaffected by outside influences.”
 Relating to tree as we found in the Mohenzodaro and Harappa, all Buddhas including Lord Buddha were supremely enlightened under the Bodhi Tree (Asvattha) thereafter he spent the second week gazing at the bodhi tree with unblinking eyes (animisalocana Puja), thus displaying his deep gratitude and extreme veneration to the sacred tree which had given shade and solitude, and stood beside him in his night long struggle that ended with his attainment of Buddha-hood.
Gautama Buddha is the light of world, father of Indian languages and Buddhist countries  civilization. India emphasizes her mother she abiding Lord Buddha’s teaching and Great Emperor Asoka’s Buddhist heritage. The wheel in the centre of the Indian national flag is the wheel of the Law of the Buddha’s Teaching – the Dharma, and the state emblem of India is an adaptation of the famous Lion Capital was erected by the Great Emperor Asoka at Saranath, where the Buddha –Enlightened One first delivered his teaching of compassion and wisdom to the Gautam Buddha is not the enemy of Hindu society and now Hindu politicians use the Buddha as the Hindus’ trade mark. 
Through the centuries Buddhist civilization has been the main driving force in the world including the first Bengali book ‘Charyapada of Bangladesh’ and daily life of Sri Lanka including Thailand.  The Charyapada book reminds us the monumental statues of standing Buddhas in the Bamiyan valley of ancient Buddhist Afghanistan. Asian countries, as it has been for centuries, Buddhist cultural power and Pali language remain a till death do us part proposition. The Emerald Buddha came to Thailand from Patna (Pataliputra), India. There is a glorious mural art heritage at Wat Kong karam (Gangaram) Buddhist Monastery in Bangkok featuring the ancient city Kapilavaastu, home town of the Lord Buddha.