On 28th
August 2016, a group of forty plus of us joined Acho Rinpoche on a visit to
Karimum Island of Indonesia situated about 30km from the southern part of
Singapore, in search of a Sakyamuni Buddha’s footprint. There
is a Sanskrit inscription believed to be written in the 10th CE bearing
the following translated message: “This is a holy footprint of the most revered
Sakyamuni Buddha. ~~ A Mahayanist from Bengal.”
We boarded a ferry
from Singapore’s Cruise Centre early in the morning. The whole journey took
us about one and half hours. After arriving at Karimum Island, we had our breakfast
somewhere in town before heading towards the northern part of the island. It
took us about 45 minutes to drive from town to our destination, Pasir Panjang. The
location is just next to a lovely beach; it is actually a granite quarry. About
100 meters from the main entrance of the quarry, there stood a small pavilion painted
in yellow. The Sanskrit inscription was actually done on a boulder enshrined within
the pavilion, with the words clearly visible still. We saw a few pictures of
Hindu saints placed above the inscription and some used incense sticks. Just a
few meters away from the pavilion, lied the Buddha’s footprint. It was a very
huge foot print indeed, obviously Buddha was huge in size. Buddha left his
footprint on the rock as a form of blessing, hinting the flourishing of
Buddhism in this land in future. According to the locals, there are several similar
footprints in this area which can be rediscovered gradually. There is a much
smaller footprint next to the big one. There is a spring behind the footprints,
on top of a rock. According to the locals, the spring never runs dry. Someone
even tasted the spring water and found it sweet; so it cannot be just rain
water collected overtime nor sea water. Acho Rinpoche led a group prayer at the
Pavilion. After which, he blessed the footprints and the spring, liberating the
spiritual beings and consecrating this land, wishing that Buddhism may flourish
again in future like how it did in the 8th CE.
Actually, between
the 8th and 12th CE, Indonesia was a Buddhist country
(with Vajrayana being the mainstream Buddhism); it was called “Srivijaya” then,
with Palembang being its capital city in the Sumatra Island. Srivijaya was a
huge empire in the south east Asia during the said period, with its territory
covering the current Sumatra Island, Java Island, Peninsular Malaysia,
Singapore, and the southern parts of Thailand and Cambodia. Srivijaya was located at
a very strategic location, at the entrance to the Malacca Strait which is an
important sea route for merchants plying between India
and China. Srivijaya was in control of the Malacca Strait and built its wealth
from collecting taxes from the merchants. During the same period, there was
another strong empire emerging in the north eastern part of India - Pala. Pala dominated the current Bihar Province and Bangladesh
(called Bengal then). Vajrayana Buddhism also flourished in this kingdom during
this time. Pala and Srivijaya established a strong diplomatic tie then which
facilitated the exchange of Buddhism teachings between the two countries too.
Buddhism was flouring
in the Sumatra Island then. A Sumatran prince was sent to study Buddhism in
Pala as the renowned Buddhist institutions such as Nalanda, Vikramshila and
the-likes were mainly within the region of Pala then. The prince spent eleven years in Pala studying
Buddhism. When he returned to his homeland in Sumatra, he became a renowned Buddhist teacher and propagated the
teachings actively, which contributed much to the flourishing of Buddhism in
Srivijaya. He was Dharmakirti - the teacher of the renowned Atisha. As Pala and
Srivijaya became the strongholds of Buddhism in the region then, both countries had established their own renowned Buddhist Institutions attracting many Buddhist scholars. Atisha from Bengal
went to Sumatra to study under Dharmakirti for twelve years. Atisha was in
Srivijaya around the time when the Sanskrit inscription was done, which made
him the likely candidate who did the inscription found in Karimum Island. According
to our tour guide, the history about this Sanskrit inscription and the Buddha’s
footprint could be found in the British Museum. We will need a volunteer to
study the historical artefact kept in the British Museum to confirm the fact
then. When Atisha finally returned to India, he was invited by a Tibetan King
to help rebuild the Buddhadharma in the snow-capped Himalayan region, which is yet
another beautiful story to be told on its own.
Sakyamuni Buddha's Footprint
Reported by Sun-moon
KFS
