The Great Indian sage & poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore will arrive very soon and meet our students to the number of several thousands. I take this opportunity, therefore, of preparing a welcome for him.

First of all, I want you to understand that all great personalities are many-sided. They are like the seven colored Mani, which presents different aspects of brilliance to different observers. You all know that I am fond of treating things from a historical point of view; you know too that I have deep faith in Buddhism. As the proverb says: ‘No man can speak three words without disclosing his craft.’ So what I am going to tell you today is but my own impression as a historian and a Buddhist. I cannot give a proper introduction to Rabindranath Tagore, still less can I pretend to give adequate expression to the enthusiastic welcome of all sections of our people.

Rabindranath Tagore has visited Europe, America and Japan. Whenever he goes he receives a tremendous welcome. You will recall that outburst of enthusiasm in the Chien Men Station, on the day he arrived, such as never been corded to any other foreign guest, so warm it was, and so sincere.

The meaningless idolatry of here-worship is common amongst the peoples of Europe and America. We, Chinese, have not yet acquired this fashionable habit. We, who welcome Rabindranath Tagore, may each have our several reasons,-it may even be that, like the Europeans and Americans, some of us are merely hero-worshipping him; but we must all recognize the one great central idea, that he comes to us from the country which is our nearest and dearest brother,-India.

To say that the country of India is our brother is not mere matter of courtesy to our guest. It has its foundation in history.

In ancient times China did not enjoy that facility of communication which was the privilege of the races bordering the Mediterranean Sea.We suffered from the disadvantage of being shut up in one corner of eastern Asia without any means of communicating with other great races and cultures. The islands in the eastern and southern oceans were populated by savages. America, on the far side of the Pacific, gave no sign of civilization. Beyond our western and northern frontiers there were those barbarous and ferocious races, whose business it ever was to threaten and devastate, but never to help us.

It is well for us to remember that this little privilege of culture, which we possess today, has been handed down to us by our ancestors, who labored long within secluded boundaries, unaided and single-handed. It is also due to this seclusion, un aided and single-handed. It is also due to this seclusion of its environment that our culture gives the impression of being monotonous and conservative to an extraordinary degree.

But across our south-western boundary, there was a great and cultured country, India. Both in character and geography, India and China are like twin brothers. Before most of the civilized races became active, we two brothers had already begun to study the great problems which concern the whole of mankind. We already accomplished much in the interests of humanity. India was ahead of us and we, the little brother followed behind. But nature had not been kind. She had placed between us a vast area of unfeeling desert and two great ranges of cruel snowy peaks, which separated us for thousands of years. It was not till two thousand years ago that we were given gradually to know that we had good elder brother on the earth.

When did these two great countries begin to communicate with each other?

According to Indian history, King Asoka sent a number of missionaries to propagate Buddhist ideas. Probably come of them ha d travelled as far as China. Our own tradition says that in the time of the famous Can Sze Huang (who built the Great Wall), there were already more than ten Hindus, who had been to Chang-an and who were imprisoned and killed by him. Asoka and Chin Sze Huang were contemporaries and therefore this might have been true. But we need not worry over half fairy tales.

What we historians are able to vouch for is that the first communication between us as brothers occurred in the first century of the era of Christ. From the tenth ear of Hang Yung Tsian to the fifth year of Tang Chen Yuan (67-789 AD), roughly during eight hundred years, the Hindu scholars, who came to China, numbered twenty-four, to which may be added thirteen from Kashmir (which in Tang times was not recognized as part of India) thus making thirty-seven in all, not counting those who came from other countries on the eastern and western side of Chung Lin (Turkestan). Our scholars, who went to India to study, during the period from the western Tsin to the Tang dynasties (265-790 AD) numbered 187, the names of 105 of whom we can ascertain. Among the most famous from India were Tamolosa (Dharmaraksha), Chu Shien (Buddha-bhadra), and Chen Ti (Jina-bhadra) and from China, Fa-Hien, Yuan Chuang and I Tsing.

During the period of 700 or 800 years, we lived like affectionate brothers, loving and respecting one another.

And now we are told that, within recent years, we have at least come into contact with civilized (!) races. Why have they come to us? They have come coveting our land and our wealth; they have offered us as presents cannon balls dyed in human blood; their factories manufacture goods and machine which daily deprive our people of their crafts. But we two brothers were not like that in the days gone by. We were both devoted to the cause of the universal truth; we felt the necessity for cooperation. We Chinese specially felt the need for leadership and direction from our elder brothers, the people of India. Neither of us was stained in the least by any motive of self-interest-of that we had none.

During the period when we were most close and affectionate to one another, it is a pity that this little brother had no special gift to offer to its elder brother, whilst our elder brother had given to us gifts of singular and precious worth, which we can never forget.

With the India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, India and China could potentially join forces and foster economic power.  This dialogue could lead to gaining high-speed Chinese trains and to having Indian information technology experts working in China.  This dialogue would also open up more opportunities for foreign direct investment between the two countries.  The India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue aimed to achieve $70 billion of trade by the end of 2012 and hopes to achieve more than $100 billion of trade between the two countries by 2015.  This could even strengthen their strong trade relationship.  Currently, China is India’s biggest trade partner.   Photo: AP

Now what have we received?

1. India taught us to embrace the idea of absolute freedom,- that fundamental freedom of mind, which enables us to shake off all the fetters of past traditions and habits as well as the present customs of a particular age,- that spiritual freedom which casts off the enslaving forces of material existence. [1] It was not merely that negative aspect of freedom, which consists in ridding ourselves of outward oppression and slavery, but that emancipation of the individual from his own self, through which men attain greater liberation, great ease and great fearlessness.

2. India also taught us the idea of absolute love, that pure love towards all living beings which eliminates all obsessions of jealousy, anger, impatience and disgust, which expresses itself in deep pity and sympathy for the foolish, the wicked and the sinful,-that absolute love, which recognizes the inseparability between all beings, ‘The equality of friend and enemy,’ ‘The oneness of myself and all things.’ This great gift is contained in the Ta Tsang Jen (Buddhist classics). The teachings in these seven thousand volumes can be summed up in one phrase: to cultivate sympathy and intellect, in order to attain absolute freedom through wisdom, and absolute love through pity.

3. But our elder brother had still something more to give. He brought us invaluable assistance in the field of literature and art. In the first place, these came indirectly through Si Yu; and then directly from the Indian sages, who came to China bringing with them as gifts for presentation to our Emperor, their pictures, sculptures and books. Thirdly, they were brought by the Chinese scholars on their return from India; for instance in the biography of Tuan Chuang, besides his observation on the classics, there was a list of articles in which were included all kinds of works of art. Lastly, we learnt from the translated classics not only of India’s wisdom, but also of its art.

UNQUOTE Liang Chi Chao

In the speech Liang went onto enumerate of minor gifts from India to China

Indian influence upon on Chinese music, Architecture, Painting, sculpture, drama,, poetry and Fiction, Astronomy & colander, medicine, literary style, educational method 7 social organization

Footnotes by bunpeiris

[1] Liang Chi Chao seems to refer to the concepts outlined by Buddhism and not the customs and traditions that still being practised in the Indian society to date.

TAGORE & CHINA

Following is an extract from the speech of You Jianhua, at China-India People’s Dialogue in December, 2011. You Jianhua is the Secretary-General of China NGO Network for International

http://www.icec-council.org/india-china/index.php?param=news/379046/74

QUOTE

The year 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), the famous Indian writer, artist, philosopher and social activist. In 1913 Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature as the first laureate from the Oriental for his anthology of poems – Gitanjali. During those days under Britain’s colonial rule, he was the pride of India, and a hero in the Oriental world that was suffering from humiliation by western powers. Tagore is a big name in China. During China’s New Culture Movement, he and many of his works were introduced to China, influencing generations of Chinese readers. Tagore had always been very friendly with the Chinese people.

In 1881, a young 20-year-old Tagore harshly condemned British imperialists for dumping opium on China and forcing the Qing government to cede territory and pay indemnities. In his famous article China Maraner Elyabasay (The Death Trade in China) in the Bengali Magazine Bharati, he wrote:

“Britain sits on the chest of the biggest Asian civilization, dripping poison into her healthy body and soul, driving her to death. One makes a killing while the other suffers tremendous loses. Such cruel robbery is indeed unprecedented.” 

Tagore made a speech in Japan in 1916, condemning the malefaction of Japan’s invasion of China’s Shandong Province.

After China’s War of Resistance against Japan broke out, Tagore published letters and speeches several times to condemn Japan’s atrocity. He also took the lead in raising funds to support China in the war at his best. He once said with all emotion, “I believe I was a Chinese in my previous life!” In the International University of India, where Tagore served as the President, he established a China Institute for Chinese students. At the invitation of two great Chinese scholars, Liang Qichao and Cai Yuanpei,

Tagore paid his first visit to China on March 21, 1924. While setting foot on China, he couldn’t help but say,

“I do not know why but as soon as I alighted on the land of China, I felt that I have come home.” He added, “But I may put it this way, India feels that it bears an extremely close alliance with China. China and India are both very old and beloved brothers.” 

He also said, “I have come to China not to observe the sceneries as a tourist, nor to bring some gospel as a missionary, but to seek the way as a pilgrim and pay homage to China’s cultural community. I have come to China for some invisible emotion: to be general, my mission is to repair the bridge between China and India which was broken more than a thousand years ago; to be more specific, I want to get sincere sympathy from you—the youth of China.

Let us work together, Chinese and Indians. We shall not be afraid of difficulties for we have the hoes on our shoulders to root out misunderstanding, and we have fresh seeds in our pockets that will bear fruits of humanity. Sun or rain, let us clear the land and sow the seeds, while singing loud new songs to encourage sprouts to grow out of darkness.”

His words are remembered even today.

UNQUOTE You Jianhua