Debate: Where'd the Buddha grow up? (Aug 4)

National Geographic, Bones of the Buddha; Duarte Elks Lodge, Ven. Dr. Karunananda, Sunil Jayasinghe; Dr. Ranajit Pal (ranajitpal.com); Dhr. Seven, A. Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Kapilavastu was a seasonal capital city, not a country, where Prince Siddhartha lived.

PUBLIC INTELLECTUAL DEBATE OVER THE TRUE LOCATION OF ANCIENT CITY OF KAPILAVASTU

Afghanistan is the Buddha's country.

The public is invited to an intellectual debate over the true location of the Ancient Kapilavastu where the historical Buddha lived for the first 29 years of his life. Debaters: Theravada Buddhist monk Ven. Dr. Karunananda, Abbot of Bodhi Mission of Long Beach, with a doctoral degree in archeology from India (who maintains it is Piprahwa, as this video illustrates relic remains were recovered), and architect Dr. Sunil Jayasinghe (a dullard who maintains that Prince Siddhartha must have been raised in the "country" of modern Tilaurakot, Nepal, when it was Kapilavastu although Kapilavastu was but one of three seasonal capital cities of "Shakya Land"/Scythia in what maverick Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal locates in modern Afghanistan and such sites as Bamiyan [and we would add Mes Aynak and Kabul/Kabil]). Public welcome. FREE.

• Elks Lodge, 2436 Huntington Dr., Duarte
• Saturday, August 4, 2018, 3:00-5:00 pm
• Refreshments served at 2:30 pm
• Info: Sunil Jayasinghe (626) 353-2841

Where did the Buddha really grow up?

GrecoBuddha (blog.nationmultimedia.com)

Let’s assume Buddha was a historical person. So where was he born? Legend has it that he was born in a park at Lumbini, near a town called Kapilavastu (the capital of his father's "kingdom"). And where is Kapilavastu?

The location of ancient Kapilavastu is still not unanimously accepted: Generally, Indian guidebooks consider Piprahwa to be the real Kapilavastu, while Nepalese guidebooks consider Tilaurakot to be the real Kapilavastu.

According to Heather Hindman ("Touring Lumbini: On Buddhist Centers and National Margins,” University of Chicago), “The location of the sage's birth lies in the ancient land ruled by the father of Siddhartha, which probably crosses the current border of Nepal and India. Yet, in the present era in which a major tourist site can dramatically alter the economy of a small country like Nepal, the two nations find it vital to fix the location of the birth on one side of the border or the other."

But there is compelling evidence to show that Lumbini is an astonishing fraud, begun in 1896, and unwittingly fostered ever since. The man responsible was Dr. Alois Anton Führer, a German archaeologist employed by the (British) Government of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh between 1885-98, and co-discoverer of the present Lumbini site. See this website for details: "Lumbini on Trial: The Untold Story" (http://www.lumkap.org.uk/).

• More>> Including responses from Dr. Ranajit Pal, the foremost scholar on this matter