Planes, Trains, Cable Cars: It's Buddhist News

There is more to Buddhism in the news these days than just Tiger Woods. In fact, as these stories show, Buddhism is often involved with modern technological advances Click on the links to read more.

Bhutan gets railroad line

According to The Times Online, the Oxford educated King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of the predominantly Buddhist country of Bhutan, on his first foreign trip since officially being named king a year ago, signed an agreement in India for Bhutan's first railroad link to another country. The railroad will have compatible standards with Indian railroads, not Chinese railroads.

Bhutan, the world's newest democracy, waited until 1960 for telephones and until 1999 for television. It was in Bhutan that the concept of "Gross national happiness" was developed.

Fifty-foot Buddha is airport hazard

According to a report in The Guardian, planes arriving at the new face Indira Gandhi International Airport two unlikely hazards. When the airport was built, a statue of the Hindu god Shiva, almost eighty feet high, was standing in line with a runway for planes landing from the east. A statue of the Buddha, over fifty feet high, is under construction. And, if that is not enough, pilots also have to cope with dense fog.

Cable car controversy in Sri Lanka

In The Island Online, Dr. S. Abeyesundere, writing from the United States, comments on a controversy in Sri Lanka about providing a cable car line to the Sri Pada or"Sacred Footprint," a rock formation near the summit of Adam's Peak, which is said to be the footprint of the Buddha (according to Buddhists), Shiva (according to Hindus), or Adam (according to Muslims).

Dr. Abeyesundere, responding to a statement that the cable car would provide an "easier way" for elderly and disabled pilgrims, says that those who have to use wheelchairs or who have cardiac problems simply cannot make the pilgrimage at all now. He points out that things have already gotten easier, because in earlier times, pilgrims made the trek barefoot.

A Buddhist destination

Since all of these stories are about transporation, just where might you travel to maintain the Buddhist theme? According to The Washington Post, China is preserving its oldest statue of the Buddha, not as an unlikely act of devotion by the officially atheistic country but as a tourist attraction. The almost eleven million dollars set aside for the project will be spent on stabilizing the nearby mountain slopes, restoring the statue and reforsting the mountain. All of this is possible since coal mines in the area, responsible for considerable pollution, have been closed. According to the BBC, the cliff-carved statue was discovered by a local farmer only in 2005.

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Tiger Woods
Jigme_Khesar_Namgyel Wangchuck
Bhutan
"Gross national happiness"
Indira Gandhi International Airport
Shiva
Sri Lanka
Sri Pada

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