Lotus Academy, affiliated to
Tribhuvan University,
Nepal
has been established in 2007 as a sister organization of
Lotus research centre.
Nepal
has a long history of Buddhism and Buddhist culture. Shakyamuni
Buddha was born in Lumbini of southern
Nepal
and he preached his philosophy of equality, freedom and
peace for the purpose of saving people from human
sufferings. Buddhism in
Kathmandu
Valley is Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna in
nature and in the present day, it holds a special place
in the history of South Asia. But the Buddhism of Nepal has been facing a
crisis to sustain its tradition in this time of
globalization.
Nepal
became open to the world after the revolution of 1950
and since then, many western scholars have studied the
Buddhist culture of the Valley. But still to this day,
there is a lack of academic centre inside Nepal that specializes in the
comprehensive study of its Buddhist heritage. Some
universities, including the state owned
Tribhuvan
University began post
graduate level studies of Buddhism in 1999 which
recently took the form of a department and started
teaching master's level courses. In the private sector, Lotus Research Centre, established in 1988 for the
purpose to preserve and conserve the Buddhist Heritage
of Kathmandu Valley, has been continuing academic
activities at both local and international level.
Today, in the world opened due to globalization, we have
a challenging task to preserve the cultural heritage of Kathmandu Valley.
Academic method can be a tool to achieve the task and
also to create a network with the world. So, due to such
reasons, we think this is the right time to initiate a
University specializing on the Buddhist heritage of
Nepal Mandala.
About Lotus Research Centre
Lotus Research Centre (LRC) is a non-profit,
non-government and government registered organization
dedicated to the cause of preserving and promoting
Buddhist culture through research and studies with a
view to contributing to the quality of life of all
Buddhists in Nepal.
Encouraged by the moral support and the assistance of
Shozo Iijima, Esq., President and Members of Shishin–kai,
Japan, Lotus Research Centre was established in 1988, at
the initiative and joint efforts of a group of
enthusiastic Buddhists, intellectuals and other
well-wishers and got registered as a non-profit
organization in 1993 under Institution Registration Act
of His Majesty’s Government of Nepal. For the continuous
running of the organization to the present date the
roles of Rev. Shucho Takaoka, Mr. Norimichi Iijima and
HMG Nepal have been very appreciable and encouraging.
Since its establishment LRC has been moving ahead with
various programmes actively participated by the
intellectuals, the national and international scholars
and other local gentry in the field of research,
seminars, conferences, trainings, essay competitions
held on various topics. It also publishes journals and
sacred Buddhist scriptures on a regular basis. LRC has
been creating a large digital collection of information
on Buddhist culture of Nepal as felt
necessary for a standard Information Centre.
Birth of Lotus
Academy
The 4th International conference on Buddhist
heritage of Nepal Mandala participated by the recognized
scholars form home and abroad and held at Kathmandu in the month of September 2005 unanimously came
to a decision to establish Lotus Research centre as an
academic centre. The participating members believed that
the centre that have been playing influential roll in
the preservation, conservation and promotion of the
Buddhist culture in Kathmandu valley could easily
introduce a system of
studying a culture in a comprehensive way and
reconstruct the mode of existence
of the tradition for long term survival in modern
times. Immediate after the conference, LRC members at
the initiation of Rev. Shucho Takaoka, Buddhist Library,
Japan, in the annual meeting in
2006 decided to run Lotus Academy
to provide opportunity for the wider audience to study
on Buddhism of Nepal and establish a Network among the
Buddhists of Asia in a view to study in the platform of
equality. It also formed a team of local experts under
the head of Dr. Bhadra Ratna Bajracharya, associate
Professor and the acting president of Lotus Research
Centre to achieve the goal. After academic exercises, Lotus Academy
could win the favor of the authorities of
Tribhuvan
University, the biggest state University of Nepal, to get its affiliation. Dr. Bhadra
is now the Principal of the Academy.
