“Imported Buddhism” or “Co-Creation”? Buddhist Cultural Heritage and Sustainability of Tourism at the World Heritage Site of Lumbini, Nepal

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Author,

It was a pleasure to have reviewed your manuscript.

I put forward the following suggestions:

1-Figure 1's source (The Lumbini Master Plan) being "collected by author during fieldwork" can be improved. If you created this graphic, you may want to state it as such. If the material was provided to you by one of the monasteries or key informants, then the monastery or key informant is the source. Just nomenclature, really.

2-In the breakdown of visitor numbers, "the remaining 11%" can be recast at "the remaining 11.4%", as one of the other figures had a decimal to it anyhow. The total will thus be 100%.

3-Since you made the argument that the increase in the number of visitors was exponential, you can prove the point by plotting the figures on a logarithmic scale.

4-To further buttress the argument of seasonality in visitor arrivals, please consider running a Chi-square test for Goodness of Fit.

5-Would you like to provide suggestions or solutions to the issue of foreigner monks not getting an appropriate visa stay? I think that this is the easiest to address of the laundry list of issues we have regarding Lumbini,

6-Please consider major expansions of the section on cultural diplomacy and the seeming conflict between hotels and monasteries. To my mind, these are the two strongest features of your work.

7-Line 631 has the author name misspelled. While there are many other lapses in grammar and proofreading in the manuscript (lines 6, 7, and 8 being a start), they do not detract from the overall merit of the paper. They are slight irritations to my damaged eyes, but I am grateful for the opportunity to help a dedicated scholar.

8-Is there any particular reason why Chinese Buddha is enclosed in quotes? If there will be no change in meaning when the quotation marks are removed, I will go for removing them.

9-In regard to spiritual ambiance, exoticity, and otherness, I request that you consider Ian Reader's Pilgrimage in the Marketplace and Pilgrimage: A Very Short Introduction.

10-Where the seeming collisions of tourism and sacredness occur, I have always found the complaints of Compostelan purists most amusing. My theory, it's just me of course, is that religion is moribund, however slowly. Its relics are visited by its adherents of course, but these adherents are outnumbered by the secular crowd. I have no numbers for this assertion, but I would love to correspond with you and flesh this out.

Again, I am grateful for the opportunity to read your work. There is a lot of good to be said for random chance today.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I thank you for all the positive comments and encouraging feedback- really appreciate such encouragement.

In the attached file are my responses [in blue] to the main points suggested for improving the manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Overall this was a very interesting and generally well-written article. However, I found a number of minor issues which the author might want to correct or address. They are as follows:

Line 49

Change “are declared” to “were declared”

Line 51

Change “enormous increase” to either “an enormous increase” or “enormous increases”

Line 65

The text “All three main schools of Buddhist thought - Vajrayana, Tibetan, and Theravada” seems rather odd. Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism are not distinct schools of Buddhism. A more normative list might be Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. However, in the context of Buddhism in Nepal, it might be better to distinguish Theravada, Newar Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. You could then indicate that the latter two incorporate both Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings and practices.

Line 77

The expression “religious lores of Kirtans and bhajans” seems awkward and unclear. Is “lores” the right word here?

Note 2

Change “Only later, was” to “Only later was”

Line 185

The phrasing “discipline as is in” seems unclear. Could this be revised to “discipline as in” or “discipline as is [done] in”

Line 195

Change “Maya devi” to “Maya Devi

Line 196-199

Is the requirement that guests follow the strict monastic scheduled enforced in all monasteries, or just the Thai Monastery? Tibetan monasteries often have guest houses attached, and in my experience, lay guests are not required to follow the monastic schedule.

Line 345

Change “combine visit to” to “combine visits to the”

Line 379

Change “Lumbini – as” to “Lumbini as”

Line 395

Change “called as” to “called”

Line 401

Change “Mayadevi” to “Maya Devi” (for consistent spelling of the temple’s name)

Line 407

The term “Royal-Thai-wat” seems awkward. Is this the same as the “Royal Thai Monastery” discussed above?

Line 433-434

The text “some-time interpretation” seems awkward. I’d recommend that you rephrase this.

Line 435

The text “other Buddhist heritage” seems awkward.

Line 480-482

You state that “making offerings in the main temple is banned,” then discuss the donation box in the temple. This latter fact seems to contradict the former statement. I think you should provide more explanation about this issue of donations at the main temple.

Line 511

Change “Visa” to “Acquiring a visa”

Line 512

Change “generic to monks” to “a challenge for monks”

Line 513-14

Is this failure to give Korean monks long term visas a recent development? I’d recommend that you indicate when this problem began.

Line 517

Change “In Thai” to “In the Thai”

Line 538

“that is why we have”

This text is clearly a quotation, but it is not clear who is being quoted here. Please indicate clearly what exactly is the quoted text, and who the source is.

Line 547

Change “foreigners not giving” to “foreigners [are] not giving”

Line 547-8

Change “benefit; Local life not changing and not much business” to “benefit; local life [is] not changing and [there is] not much business”

Line 551

Change “means, that” to “means that”

Line 557

Change “should realize for local economy are much-less” to “should be realized for the local economy are much less”

Lines 557-558

“in comparison to what flows out”

What exactly do you mean by this? What benefits are flowing out?

Line 563

Change “creates hostile” to “creates [a] hostile”

Lines 568-9

Change “commercial complex” to “commercial complexes”

Line 602

Change “means-” to “means,”

Line 604-5

Change “Only some prepared annual reports” to “They are only required to submit annual reports,”

Line 613

Change “channelize this potential and balances” to “channel this potential and balance”

Lines 615-6

Change “embarking” to “embark”

Line 631

Change “Rodrqiguez” to “Rodriguez”

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I thank you for all the positive comments and encouraging feedback- really appreciate such encouragement.

In the attached file are my responses [IN BLUE]  to the main points suggested for improving the manuscript.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Thank you for considering my suggestions and acting on most of them. I look forward to corresponding with you soon.