New Delhi

Does Buddhism offer solutions to the myraid problems faced by the nation states and humans?

This is what 180 Buddhist dharma gurus, thinkers, and exponents from 30 countries including far-off Mexico and Brazil will explore in the first-ever global Buddhist Conference to be organized in New Delhi on April 20-21.

The conference is part of India’s approach to dealing with the rise of extremism and confrontational politics in the world. Uniting religions of the world and seeking solutions from their leaders is also part of India's policy.

This conference comes a couple of months after a conference - The Role of Ulema in Fostering a Culture of Interfaith Peace and Social Harmony in India and Indonesia was held in Delhi - with great success.

The two-day Global Buddhist Summit is being organized by the New Delhi-based International Buddhist Confederation (IBC). The theme of the summit is ‘Response to Contemporary Challenges from Philosophy to Praxis’.

Poster of the Global Buddhist Summit

Renowned scholars, Sangha leaders, and Dharma practitioners from around the world will debate global problems and seek solutions from Buddhism’s universal values. It will cover subjects such as Buddhism and peace, environmental crisis, health and sustainability, and the preservation of the Nalanda Buddhist tradition, as well as Buddhist pilgrimage, living heritage, and Buddha relics.

This Buddhist gathering aims to discuss and find answers to the problems that humanity is currently facing on a global scale.

Speaking about the summit, Dr. Dhammapiya, General Secretary of the IBC, said that “many issues in the parallel world can be resolved by following the precepts of the Buddha.”

He said there is a conflict between two extreme viewpoints in the universe, and the Buddha’s middle path and balance hold the key to its resolution.

The conference will have sessions on Moral and cultural degradation, religious conflicts, corruption, a lack of food and water security, unemployment, environmental degradation, poverty, malnutrition, and other serious problems confronting societies around the world.

Abhijeet Haldar, Director General of the IBC, said that at present the world is facing major challenges like war, violence, natural calamities, and climate change. Only man can solve these man-made problems.

The purpose of the Global Buddhist Summit is to bring the best Buddhist thinkers from all over the world on a single platform to find the solution to the problems facing humans.

The Summit will release a booklet containing the gist of the discussions for the public.

ALSO READ: Maulana Azad searched rationale in religion and passionately pursued India's pluralism

Interestingly this conference comes after the IBC, the Ministry of Culture, and the Ministry of External Affairs, held a global meeting of experts from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) nations on shared Buddhist heritage to re-establish trans-cultural links, seek out commonalities between Buddhist art of Central Asia, art styles, archaeological sites, and antiquity in various museums' collections of the SCO countries.