SOMEONE recently asked, “Why is Gandhara important to Buddhism?” The thought behind the query perhaps was “Why are you promoting Pakistan’s Buddhist Heritage to the world? What is Pakistan’s claim on Buddhism?” Admittedly, I only had a partial answer being simply a self-educated novice on this regions Buddhist past.
To be able to better express the links in the future, I decided to dig further into Gandhara’s ties to Buddhism. It was a pleasant surprise that the more I researched, the more I realized that Gandhara’s links to Buddhism were both wide and deep. Considering that many in Pakistan – government, Green Tourism Pvt Ltd, academia and private sector actors – are diligently working on creating a Buddhist heritage related mega sector to attract a portion of 550 million Buddhists of the world, I thought it worthwhile to document the ties between Buddhism and Gandhara to facilitate the promoters of Gandhara in the Buddhist world. Admittedly, the arguments presented here are a dumbed down version for laymen and non-academic people like myself.
One can arguably claim that Gandhara was pivotal to the development and expansion of Buddhist philosophies in the world. Perhaps it is because all the three major schools of Buddhism – Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana – have roots and linkage to Gandhara. Consider each Buddhist school and its links to Gandhara.
The earliest school of Buddhism is Theravada. Theravada is closely linked to the teachings of Lord Buddha who was born in the Northern India/Nepal region. Theravada Buddhism is also called “Southern Buddhism” and it is dominant in India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia, etc.). So, it appears that Theravada, linked directly to Lord Buddha, expanded east and south of Northern India, not to the western regions of Gandhara. This would make a tie between Gandhara and Theravada moot. However, it appears that Gandhara is linked directly to Lord Buddha none the less since many Buddhist claim that he had travelled to Gandharan region and Taxila in his prior lives. The famous Chinese pilgrim Faxian noted that Taxila or Takshasila meant “cut-off head” because in a previous life Gautama Buddha travelled to this region and cut off his head to feed a hungry lion. Incidentally, the Margalla hills surrounding Taxila mean “cut-off throat”. So Gandhara is closely linked to Lord Buddha and Theravada
Mahayana is the largest school of Buddhism with some 350 million followers. It is also called the “East Asian Buddhism” with adherents in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. The foundation of Mahayana teachings are the Sutras or records of the oral teaching of Lord Buddha. The Sutras, according to some scholars, were passed on from Gandhara to China, forming the basis of Mahayana. Further to this, the relatively recently discovered birch bark scrolls from Gandhara have been carbon dated to be the earliest forms of Buddhist teaching dating back to 1 – 3 BCE. Not only are they the earliest written teachings of Buddhism, but they are in Gandhari language, a previously unknown language. Hence, one can state that Gandhara was foundation of Mahayana Buddhism as well as the earliest recorded Buddhist writings.
Furthermore, one of the prominent Buddhist King and promoter of Buddhism was Lord Ashoka. Ashoka was the 3rd ruler of the Mauryans dynasty and ruled between 268 – 232 BCE. His empire stretched from Bengal to Afghanistan consisting of regional administrative units. The main capital was near Pataliputran in the NE of India, and a regional capital was at Taxila. It is here in Taxila that his youngest son, Kunala, set up a monastery and a stupa is dedicated to him. Gandhara hence held great significance in the reign of the Lord Ashoka, one of the most powerful Buddhist ruler in history. Once again, the most powerful and revered Buddhist Kings was tied to Gandhara.
Finally, a small yet significant school of Buddhism is Vijrayana. This school of Buddhism is prominent in Tibet, Bhutan, Sikim, and the Himalayan region and follows the footsteps and teachings of the 2nd Buddha – Padmasambhava or Lotus Buddha or Guru Riponche or Precious Guru. Once again, the ties to Gandhara of Vijrayana Buddhism are direct and strong since the founder, the Lotus Buddha, was born in Odhiyana (meaning Garden or Orchards in Sanskrit) in current day Swat, a part of Gandhara. Lotus Buddha later travelled to Tibet in 7th – 8th CE and laid the foundation of Vijrayana Buddhism.
So here we are, Gandhara is not only linked to all three major Buddhist schools and their spiritual founders, but was a prominent region under King Ashoka and also home to the oldest Buddhist written manuscripts, the Gandharan scrolls. Pakistan is the patron of this amazing region and after thousands of years, Pakistan is taking ownership of its Buddhist past. Gandhara was the epicenter of Buddhism, and hopefully we can make it so again.
—The writer is a former Senior Advisor to the Government and a sector development specialist. He is a member of the APP Think Tank and Pakistan’s Buddhist Heritage Promotion Ambassador for Green Tourism Pvt Ltd, a company under SIFC.
