New Delhi, Nov 5 (UNI) President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday emphasized that India has always been a source of wisdom for humanity, with great sages and spiritual leaders guiding people toward inner peace and outer harmony.
Addressing the first Asian Buddhist Summit in New Delhi, the President said, “India is the blessed land of Dharma. In every age, there have been great masters and mystics, seers and seekers in India who have shown humankind a way to find peace inside and harmony outside.”
“The Buddha holds a unique place among these pathfinders. The enlightenment of Siddhartha Gautama under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya is an event unparalleled in history,” the President highlighted.
“He not only attained incomparably rich insights into the workings of the human mind, but he also chose to share them with all people in the spirit of ‘Bahujana sukhaya bahujana hitaya cha’ – for the welfare of the masses,” she added.
“Over the centuries, it was only natural that different practitioners would find different meanings in the Buddha’s discourses; thus, a variety of sects arose. In broad classification, today we have Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana traditions, with many schools and sects within each of them,” President Murmu said.
“Moreover, such a flowering of the Buddha Dharma proceeded in many directions over different periods of history. This spread of Dhamma over an expanding geographical area created a community, a larger Sangha,” Murmu said.
“India, the land of the Buddha’s enlightenment, is at its center. However, what is said about God is also true of this larger Buddhist Sangha: its center is everywhere, and its circumference is nowhere,” Murmu noted.
“When the world today is facing an existential crisis on many fronts, including strife and the climate crisis, a large Buddhist community has much to offer humanity. The various schools of Buddhism demonstrate how to counter narrow sectarianism. Their central message remains focused on peace and non-violence. If one word can capture the Buddha Dhamma, it has to be ‘karuna’ or compassion, which is what the world needs today,” she said.
“Preservation of the Buddha’s teachings has been a great collective endeavor for all of us,” Murmu further emphasized, noting that the Government has granted the status of ‘classical language’ to Pali and Prakrit, among other languages.
“Pali and Prakrit will now receive financial support, which will contribute significantly to the preservation of their literary treasures and to their revitalization,” she stated.
She further highlighted the need to discuss the role of Buddha Dharma in strengthening Asia to promote peace and prosperity across the region and the world.
“Buddha Dharma can bring peace, real peace, to Asia and the world – a peace free from not only physical violence but also from all forms of greed and hatred – the two mental forces at the root of all our miseries, according to the Buddha,” Murmu said, expressing confidence that the Summit will go a long way in strengthening cooperation based on our shared heritage of the Buddha’s teachings.