Speech by George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs, at the Nalanda Buddhist Symposium on 13 November 2006 - The Asian Renaissance

The Asian Renaissance

1. Today's symposium is about the past and the future. It is a celebration of the Buddhist heritage that has contributed so much to the cultures of Asia. This is not a symposium about the Buddhist religion as such, but about Buddhist values and philosophy which have become an integral part of East Asian civilization. Whether consciously or not, Buddhist values and philosophy influence the daily actions of hundreds of millions of East Asians, helping to shape a persistent pattern of social interactions which makes East Asia an identifiable civilizational area.

2. Let me for clarity confine East Asia to the chopsticks people - the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Vietnamese. I will talk about the influence of Buddhism on the rest of Southeast Asia later.

3. Three great value systems undergird East Asian civilization - Confucianism, Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism. Confucius and Lao Zi lived at about the same time as the Buddha. Both Confucianism and Taoism were adopted very early by Korea and the Taoist yin yang symbol is at the centre of the South Korean state flag. During the Nara and Heian Periods, Confucianism from China took hold in Japan and its influence is still evident in Japanese society today. Mahayana Buddhism reached China about 2000 years ago but did not become widespread until it was thoroughly Sinicized, a process which took many centuries. Buddhism had first to become Chinese in its grammar, invocations and iconography. From China, the different Buddhist sects spread to Korea and Japan with relative ease. Chan Buddhism (禅宗佛教) and Taoism melded in China, and it was that evolved form of Chan that became popular in Japan, giving Japanese Zen Buddhism its present character. Thus one could say that Taoism reached Japan through Chan Buddhism.

4. I am painting in very broad strokes and you could rightly criticize me on the details. But in the same way as one could identify the origins of Western civilization in Greece, Rome and Judeo-Christianity, so too one could trace the origins of East Asian civilization to the influence of Confucianism, Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism.

5. As Asia re-emerges on the world stage in this century, its civilizational origins will become a subject of intense study and debate. Asians will look back to their own past and derive inspiration from it for the future. This inspiration will cover the entire spectrum including governance, scientific inquiry, architecture and aesthetics. A tremendous burst of creative adaptation is becoming evident across much of Asia. The Western world went through a similar phase as it emerged out of the medieval ages. Hence the word 'renaissance' has come to be applied to Asia's re-emergence today. Just as Europe's past was partly retrieved through the Arab vehicle, for it was the Arabs who were fascinated by the civilization of the ancient Greeks and had its works translated into Arabic when Western Europe was still in the Dark Ages, Asia's past has been partly retrieved through the Western vehicle. Without the massive contribution of Western scholars, our knowledge of our own past in Asia would be much poorer today. I include here Alexander Cunningham's identification of Nalanda from an English translation of Xuan Zang's record of his journey to the West and Joseph Needham's encyclopaedic study of Science and Civilization in China. I say this only to remind ourselves that we stand on the shoulders of others.

The Buddhist Heritage

6. The recovery and celebration of our Buddhist heritage is an important part of the Asian renaissance. The revival of Mahayana Buddhism in East Asia is a big phenomenon. With the end of ideology, religion has become more important, most recently in China and Vietnam. I don't have the statistics but it is clear to the casual visitor that Buddhist temples are once again flourishing in both these countries and quite a number of young people are becoming monks and nuns.

7. Buddhist pilgrimages are growing in popularity and proceeding farther and farther afield. The interest in visiting the holy sites in India is bound to see a sharp increase in the coming years. This is a huge opportunity for Indian tourism which calls for the Central and State Governments to put in much more effort. But, much more than tourism, renewed interest in a pan-Asian Buddhist heritage will facilitate the re-encounter of the two great civilizational areas of East and South Asia.

8. At a seminar on South Asia's contribution to the global community last week, I mentioned that it is much easier to talk about the Buddhist heritage than to discuss the interactions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the case of the religions derived from Abraham, there is too much politics and pain associated with those interactions. In the case of Buddhism, however, after the bloodbath in Kalinga which shocked Ashoka and set him off on a different path, the message is generally one of peace, compassion and acceptance. Buddhism teaches us that nothing is permanent. This reminds us not to be arrogant. Buddhism teaches us that every action has consequences. This reminds us to be good. The deep humanism in Buddhism is a value we need more than ever in a shrinking world where no religion, no ethnic group is in a majority.

Southeast Asia

9. In between East and South Asia is Southeast Asia where all the world's great religions and cultures meet and co-exist. If we are not able to live with people who profess different faiths or who are different from us, there can be no peace or development. Over the centuries, there has evolved in Southeast Asian cultures a softness which enables us to co-habitate. That softness has its roots in the Hinduism and Buddhism which came to our shores more than a thousand years ago. Many of the great monks like Fa Xian and Yi Jing who travelled between South and East Asia spent time in Southeast Asia especially in Sriwijaya, Sumatra. Syncretism is a way of life in Southeast Asia. Here in Singapore, it is not uncommon to find mosques, temples and churches operating side by side, cheek by jowl. Are there problems? Yes, of course, every day! But we have learnt how to overcome them, by being fair to one another, by a spirit of give and take, by learning from our mistakes, and by religious and community leaders playing their roles.

10. Buddhism came to Southeast Asia from different directions. From the earliest days, it travelled overland and along the coast to Myanmar, Thailand and Indo-China. By sea, it crossed the Bay of Bengal to Sumatra, Java and the Malay Peninsula. The first influence was Mahayana Buddhism together with Hinduism. Later, via Sri Lanka, Theravada Buddhism became dominant in Mainland Southeast Asia except Vietnam which received its Buddhism from China, and remains Mahayana to this day, as is also the case with many of the ethnic Chinese who are scattered throughout Southeast Asia. In recent years, with globalisation, other Buddhist groups have established themselves in the region including Soka from Japan and Tantric Buddhism from the Himalayas. We have in Singapore today quite a diverse mix of the different Buddhist schools.

Islam and the West

11. In addition to the Buddhist heritage, the Islamic heritage and the Western heritage are also important unifying elements in Asia. Unlike Islam's historical contact with the West which was usually unhappy, Islam's arrival in Southeast Asia was very different. It brought hygiene and a system of trust which facilitated trade. For centuries, the maritime silk route from the Mediterranean to China was dominated by Muslim traders. The Ottoman influence among Muslims in Southeast Asia was profound. The songkok which Southeast Asian Muslims wear is a relic of that influence. It was not only from the Middle East and India that Islam came to Southeast Asia. It was also from China. The great fleets from Ming China that sailed to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean 600 years ago were commanded by Muslim Admirals, the most famous being, of course, Zheng He. The Islamic heritage is therefore another theme in the Asian renaissance which should one day be taken up. We should not only be preoccupied with the dangers of Jihadist extremism.

12. The Asian renaissance is also incomprehensible without taking into account the Western influence of the last 500 years. Although the Western dominance has receded, its impact on every aspect of life in Asia is obvious and enduring. Any honest treatment of the Asian revival must acknowledge the many positive contributions of the West including the ideas of democracy, socialism and individual rights. The Christian influence in Asia is pervasive. Without Christian missionaries dedicating their lives to the education of millions of Asians, Asia's modernisation would have taken much longer to happen.

South Asia and the Meaning of Nalanda

13. Whether we are talking about the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic or Western influence, South Asia played a major role as a source and as a conduit.

14. The Nalanda project should therefore not be about Buddhism only although Buddhism is a big part of it. For hundreds of years, the great university in Nalanda was a centre of learning for a wide range of subjects including philosophy, science and mathematics. We should develop Nalanda as an icon of the Asian renaissance attracting scholars and students from a much wider region as the ancient university once did. It should be a centre of civilizational dialogue and inter-faith understanding as it once was. In this way, the Nalanda project is not only a celebration of the past but also an inspiration for the future of Asia and the world.

15. We are very honoured to have joining us at this Symposium by video-conference, the President of India, Shri Abdul Kalam. When I called on him during his official visit to Singapore earlier this year, we discussed Nalanda and I knew then that this is a subject dear to his heart. A Muslim, a nuclear scientist, a great humanist, a devoted teacher, the President of India, with a deep passion in the Nalanda project - we could not have a person more fitting to deliver the keynote address. President Kalam, Sir, we thank you for joining us in our discourse.