Sanskrit summer camp attracts 60 intellectuals in China

A general view shows the settlements of Larung Gar Buddhist Academy in Sertar County of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

A group of 60 Chinese intellectuals have enrolled at a Buddhist Institute for a free summer camp to study Sanskrit to understand the religious and yoga texts better as the ancient Indian language is becoming popular among the new generation of Chinese in the Communist nation.

The trainees were selected from more than 300 candidates and cover a broad sphere of professions, including yoga instructors, mechanical designers, performers, hotel management and environmental protection personnel.

Their study at the Hangzhou Buddhism Institute in eastern China over the next six days will focus on reading and writing Sanskrit.


"The language has very complicated grammar. For the present tense alone, the inflection of one verb can have 72 alterations," Li Wei, an instructor who holds a doctorate in Indology from the University of Mainz, Germany, said.

Sanskrit has gained prominence in China since Buddhist texts were brought by famous monks like famous Chinese Monk Xuan Zang after 17 year long journey to India in sixth century.



Since the several Chinese monks made their way to India, brought a number of religious and texts about ancient Indian medicine.

The Peking University has a separate department for Sanskrit where over 60 study the language. Renowned Indologist Ji Xianlin has been awarded Padma Shri for his contribution.

There is renewed interest in Sanskrit ever since yoga has become popular in recent years specially after UN designated June 21 as international yoga day. Many of the trainees in Hangzhou class have been required to work overtime beforehand to get the six days off, some used their annual vacation while others working night-shifts to save the day for study, state- run Xinhua news agency reported.

Trainee He Min, who graduated with an economics degree from Renmin University of China in Beijing and now works as a yoga practitioner in Hangzhou, says the chance was "too precious" to pass up.



"Sanskrit is a common language used by yoga practitioners across the world. Though many yoga textbooks are written in English, the postures we practice remain named in Sanskrit and the chants are also in Sanskrit," the 39-year-old said.

Teaching herself Sanskrit for almost three years, she said she was "still a rookie" due to the lack of professional instruction.
Chinese schools began Sanskrit classes in the late 1940s. But the discipline has developed slowly due to the lack of proper textbooks and a teacher shortage.

梵文夏令营吸引了60知识分子在中国

一般的视图显示洛若乡佛学院在甘孜藏族自治州色达县定居点

A组60名中国知识分子都就读于一个佛学院一个免费的夏令营学习梵文，了解宗教和瑜伽文本更好地为古印度语是在共产主义国家成为深受中国新一代的。

学员是从300多名候选人中选择，涵盖的行业，包括瑜伽教练，机械设计师，表演者，酒店管理和环保人员的广泛领域。

他们在杭州佛学院在未来六年天的研究在中国东部地区将重点读，写梵文。

“这种语言具有非常复杂的语法，对于单独存在时，人们动词的活用可以有72改变，”骊威，教师谁持有美因茨，德国的大学在印度学博士学位，说。

梵文颇具知名度在中国，因为佛教典籍中历经17年之久的旅程，印度在公元六世纪带来的著名高僧像中国著名高僧玄奘。

由于一些中国僧人作出自己的方式向印度，带来了一些关于古印度医学的宗教和文本。

北京大学拥有的梵文一个单独的部门，其中超过60个学习的语言。著名Indologist季羡林被授予莲花士勋章为他的贡献。

有梵文新的兴趣，自从瑜伽还特意后联合国指定的6月21日为国际瑜伽一天成为近年来流行。许多在杭州班的学员被要求先加班，以获得6天休息，有的用自己的年假，而其他工作夜班的一天保存研究，语句运行新华社报道。

见习何敏，谁毕业于中国北京人民大学的经济学学位，现在作为在杭州瑜伽练习者，说的机会是“太珍贵”错过。

“梵语是由世界各地的瑜伽练习者的共同语言。虽然许多瑜伽教材都用英文写的，我们的做法在梵文属于一个名为姿势和圣歌也梵文，”这位39岁的老人说。

教学梵文自己近三年来，她说她是“还是个新人”，由于缺乏专业的指导。

中国学校开始梵文班在20世纪40年代后期。但学科发展缓慢，由于缺乏适当的教材和师资短缺。