New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said scholars of the Hinduism and Buddhism have promised to deepen the notion of conflict-avoidance philosophy and environmental consciousness in Asia and beyond.
Mr Modi was addressing delegates of a Hindu-Buddhist conference at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya. “The two-day conference seems to have arrived at a broad consensus on both issues.
On the issue of conflicts — most of which are being driven by religious intolerance — the participants in the conference seem to have agreed that while there is no problem about the freedom to practise one’s religion, it is when the radical elements try to force their own ideologies on others that the potential for conflict arises,” he said.
The Delhi conference, hosted by the Vivekananda International Foundation and Tokyo Foundation with the support of the International Buddhist Confederation, concluded two days ago.
“This is an extraordinary development which coincides with the rise of Asia as an economic and civilisational phenomenon,” he said, referring to the decision to hold similar conferences in other Buddhist nations as well, including the one by the Tokyo Foundation in January next year.
Announcing his government’s decision to develop Bodh Gaya as a spiritual capital, Mr Modi said, “I recognise how Buddhists all over the world revere Bodh Gaya as a place of pilgrimage. We in India would like to develop Bodh Gaya so that it can become the spiritual capital and civilisational bond between India and the Buddhist world.”
