World Buddhist leaders call for promotion of Buddhism

Buddhist leaders attending the World Buddhist Summit in Yangon called on their followers to promote and propagate Buddhism, enhance Buddhist unity and strive for friendship and mutual understanding among them and contribute to the peace and prosperity in the world.

The Buddhist leaders from 16 countries made the call Saturday in a joint statement adopted at the end of the three-day World Buddhist Summit held at the historical Maha Pasana Cave in the capital.

The religious leaders also urged their followers to strive for the protection, preservation and restoration of historic Buddhist monuments, and share the knowledge of Buddhist meditation with the people of the world for the sake of individual as well as for world peace, the statement said.

It added that the leaders stressed the need to promote Buddhist education with modern methods and technology and establish more Buddhist centers around the world to disseminate the original teachings of the Buddha more effectively.

At the closing ceremony Myanmar Prime Minister Soe Win said the gathering of Buddhists from various countries will foster friendship among Buddhists and will promote unity and mutual understanding, which in turn will lead to closer cooperation among the Buddhists in the future.

The ceremony was also attended by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Lu lay Sreng.

The religious summit, hosted by Myanmar for the first time, was participated by over 1,000 monks and nuns, observers and scholars from more than 30 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Britain, Cambodia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.

Participants presented and discussed papers on a number of topics including "Buddhist Education," "Promotion and Propagation of Buddhism," "Buddhism and World Peace," "Buddhism and Its Relevance to the Present World" and "Buddhist Meditation and World Peace."

Source: Xinhua