The World Buddhist Peace Conference, January 22nd– 24th, 2016

Reported by Swe Swe Mon

The World Buddhist Peace Conference was opened with the recitation of Namo Tassa three times and the lighting of holy lamps by Sayadaw Ashin Kumarabhivaṁsa, the Chairman of State Sangha Mahānāyaka Committee of Myanmar, Sayadaw Ashin Ñanissara, the Chancellor of the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy (SIBA) and H.E. U Thein Sein the President of the Republic of Union of Myanmar on 22nd January, 2016. After the opening ceremony, all delegates and participants went for sightseeing to famous places around Sagaing Hill and Mandalay.

On the second and third days of the conference, scholars and practitioners from over 30 countries delivered their keynote speeches and paper presentations, Founder of IBC Venerable Wei Wu also delivered his speech. The World Buddhist Peace Conference also attracted enthusiastic participants from over 50 countries. Even though the conference is themed Buddhist Peace Conference, there were also participants from other religious such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Moreover, there was an exhibition of Gandhāra Scriptures which are believed to be written between 7th and 8th Century in the Asian region.

As human are artists, they paint their society with different colours. Likewise, the World Buddhist Peace Conference truly planted the seeds of peace, togetherness and tolerance between religions, people and civilizations with the signing of a memorandum during the closing ceremony. The conference represented a remarkable example of the fact that people from different religions and backgrounds met, discussed, shared their knowledge, experiences and opinions and worked together for the same goal – PEACE.