Global Buddhist summit in New Delhi next week to discuss ‘solutions’ to world problems

(From left) Deputy Secretary General Shartse Khensur Rinpoche Jangchup Choeden, Secretary General, IBC, Ven. Dr Dhammapiya and Director Academics, IBC, Ravinder Pant | Photo: Suchet Vir Singh

New Delhi: India will host the Global Buddhist Summit in New Delhi from next week as the religion’s worldwide congregation seeks to find solutions to contemporary global problems through a Buddhist lens.

Dr Dhammapiya, secretary general of the International Buddhist Confederation, told ThePrint Thursday: “Buddha Dhamma started from Bodh Gaya. It is in the Bihar state of India. All the important places connected to the life of the Buddha like Rajgir, Nalanda, and of course Bodh Gaya are in India.”

From around the globe, people come to India for pilgrimage to these places. Thus, it is natural for India to host this event. The country has both the privilege and authority to host it, he added.

The International Buddhist Confederation, which is supported by the Ministry of Culture, will organise the GBS.

“The theme of the two-day Global Buddhist Summit is ‘Responses to Contemporary Challenges from Philosophy to Praxis’,” a statement from the IBC said.

It added the focus would be “to find modes of disseminating and internalising universal values and to find ways for the followers of dharma across the philosophical, cultural and national diversities to work together to address the burning challenges both within and globally and offer a sustainable model for a peaceful and harmonious world in future”.

“Eminent scholars, Sangha leaders and Dharma practitioners from all over the world will discuss today’s pressing global issues and look for answers in the Buddha Dhamma (in Pali) or Dharma (in Sanskrit) that is based on universal values,” the statement said.

A Global Buddhist Congregation was held in November 2011 in India and had brought together the entire supreme hierarchy of the Buddhist world and representatives of the Buddhist community. Through this conference, the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) was ideated and formulated.

In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had participated in a programme called Samvad, which was organised by Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), and the IBC.