Agreed here... but we are not discussing a common culture... we are discussing about the commonalities that we share religiously. Just because Buddhism is a minority religion in India does not disprove the fact that the origins are from Hinduism and its root emanating from India.
Actually, we are discussing common culture, more specifically, common
contemporary culture. Nobody is disputing the history of Buddhism in India; the question here is how much does modern Indian culture have in common with Buddhism?
The factual answer is "not much", except for sites of historical significance. And the repeated claims of Buddhist revival in India are beyond ridiculous. There is more Buddhist "revival" going on in Western countries than in India.
You guys can continue to spout this nonsense propaganda, but the hard facts (0.8% Indian Buddhists compared to 1.7% in USA) demolish your attempts.
On that, my man, you are going a little too far I am afraid. I first of all confess that I am somewhat of an "Indian apologist" myself.
But you have a balanced view: hopeful optimism tempered with caution and a realistic appraisal of India's behavior regionally.
That "tag team", in all honesty, is to me infinitely more preferable to the poisonous posse consisting of "SIF, Greyboy 1/2/3, and SHChinese" from the days I first joint the forum ...
Really, I say the above despite my frequent disagreement with the tag-team.
I think Cardsharp indistinctively understands something that's largely unspoken (base on his posts that I read in the past), i.e., the real future China-India Relationship significantly despends on the health of India-Pakistan relationship, whereas India-Pakistan relationship does not necessarily turn on India-China relationship.
But little Dragon, in his "cooperation is the end-all and be-all" mantra, may or may not get this.
Well, I don't want to talk about people behind their back since CardSharp is supposedly ignoring me, but the other half of the dynamic duo, Chinese-Dragon, is reading so he can respond for the both of them.
To be honest, I don't really keep track of people's posts and their biases, except some very obvious posters, so I was quite taken aback at CardSharp's over-the-top tantrum when I seconded challenger's question why some India-loving Chinese members would showcase their lvoefest on PDF, rather than taking it to an Indian forum.
I specifically said I wasn't questioning anyone's integrity or implicating any specific poster. However, CardSharp went ballistic, in the classic "the lady doth protest too much" fashion and it got me to thinking...
When I started looking back at some of the posts, I noticed the tag-team pattern between these two and the consistent pro-India apologist streak.
Praising the enemy at the dinner table? Sort of like this?
In all my dealings with Chinese people in real life, I have not found any that hated the Japanese. Maybe it's a generational thing and the younger people are more forgiving about the past, or maybe it's because the subject never came up. So, while I understand there is historical baggage between China and Japan, I don't see the two countries as being adverserial in the same way as India/Pakistan.
At least, that is my understanding and, of course, individual Chinese or Japanese members may have a different view.
So, yes, I did write the above, but I also wrote that Japanese have committed crimes in the past and it is an internal matter for the Chinese if and when to forgive them.
Are you talking about this whole Bharat movement?
No, no, I am talking about the claim that, throughout its history, India has been peaceful and restrained. You yourself showed one of the maps which showed the alleged breadth of ancient Indian empires.
