- Monday, March 03, 2025
By: India Weekly Staff
A two-day international conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on “shared Buddhist heritage” with focus on India’s civilisational connect with the member nations was inaugurated in New Delhi on Tuesday (14).
The session was attended by the country’s culture, tourism and development of north eastern region minister G K Reddy, minister of state for culture and external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi, minister of state for culture and parliamentary affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal, director general of International Buddhist Confederation Abhijit Halder and delegates from China, Pakistan, Russia, Bahrain, Myanmar and the UAE.
Speaking on the occasion, Reddy said the conference will not only celebrate Buddhist common heritage but will also build stronger and deeper bonds among countries.
“Buddhism with its profound vision of eternal harmony in the world has spread far and wide and it touched the lives of inhabitants in all the SCO countries centuries ago. Today, we have all gathered here, at a first of its kind conference, because of this underlying link that binds us. The purpose of this conference is to renew trans cultural links and shared histories between the nations gathered here,” he said.
Addressing the participants, Meghwal said teachings of Buddha about self-realization and self-examination are very relevant for 21st century also. He suggested that the SCO countries should take up programmes and projects on our shared Buddhist heritage which binds us together.
He also said that Buddhist manuscripts in Pali be translated into a common language for SCO countries and make them accessible to all the countries. Lekhi said that heritage and history connect all the SCO countries.
She added that Lord Buddha talked about value based living which is essential for our co-existence.
The event, held under India’s leadership of SCO (for a period of one-year from September 17, 2022, until September 2023) brings together Central Asian, East Asian, South Asian and Arab countries on a common platform to discuss “shared Buddhist heritage”.
The SCO countries comprise member states, observer states and dialogue partners, including China, Russia and Mongolia. Several scholars and delegates from SCO are presenting research papers on the topic including from Dunhuang Research Academy, China; State Museum of the History of Religion, International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University, Myanmar, among others.
The two-day programme is being organised by the ministries of culture and external affairs and the International Buddhist Confederation (a grantee body of the ministry of culture).
A number of Indian scholars of Buddhism are also participating in the event.
The aim of the conference is 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.
(PTI)
