News Highlights:
Recently, India hosted a conference on ‘Shared Buddhist Heritage’ under the ambit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which saw the participation of scholars and experts from Russia, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Bahrain, Myanmar, United Arab Emirates and Kazakhstan.
Shared Buddhist Heritage
- About
- The international conference on “Shared Buddhist Heritage” 2023 is first of Its kind event that is being organised under India’s SCO Leadership.
- The conference will bring together Central Asian, East Asian, South Asian and Arab countries on a platform to discuss “Shared Buddhist Heritage”.
- Objective:
- The Conference aims to re-establish trans-cultural links and seek out commonalities between Buddhist art of Central Asia, art styles, archaeological sites and antiquity in various museums’ collections of the SCO countries.
- Organisers:
- The Shared Buddhist Heritage 2023 conference is being organised by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of External Affairs and the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC as a grantee body of the Ministry of Culture).
- Participants:
- The international conference on “Shared Buddhist Heritage” in 2023 saw the participation of all SCO member countries, including Member States, Observer States and Dialogue Partners, including China, Russia and Mongolia. More than 15 scholars – delegates have presented research papers on the topic of Buddhism as a shared heritage.
- Several Indian scholars of Buddhism will also participate in the event.
- Participants at the Conference will also have the opportunity to tour some of the historical sites of Delhi.
- Significance:
- The Conference is a unique meeting of the minds of interested people across the SCO countries.
- SCO Countries are from different geographical regions but are connected with a common thread of a shared civilisation legacy.
- This has been further strengthened by Buddhist missionaries who played a major role in integrating various cultures, communities and regions in the Indian subcontinent and Asia.
- At the conference, participants will discuss various things for two days various themes, chalking out ways to continue the age-old bonds into the future.
Buddhism:
- About:
- Buddhism, also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha.
- It originated in present-day North India as a śramaṇa–movement in the 5th century BCE and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road.
- It is the world’s fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists), who comprise seven per cent of the global population.
- It was founded by the sage Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha l. c. 563 – c. 483 BCE), who had been a Hindu prince.
- SCO and Buddhism
- Several member states of SCO, such as India, China, Central Asian Republics and even Russia, have Buddhist heritage.
- Buddhist heritage can still be found in countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, where ancient ruins, art, and artefacts bear witness to the religion’s former prominence.
Pic Courtesy: Freepik
Content Source: The Hindu