An international conference on “Shared Buddhist Heritage” is held on 14-15 March 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, with a focus on India’s civilizational connection with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) nations.
The event will bring together Central Asian, East Asian, South Asian and Arab countries on a common platform to discuss “Shared Buddhist Heritage”.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries comprise Member States, Observer States and Dialogue Partners, including China, Russia and Mongolia. More than 15 scholars and delegates from China’s Dunhuang Research Academy, Kyrgyzstan’s Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology, Russia’s State Museum of the History of Religion, Tajikistan’s National Museum of Antiquities, Belarusian State University and Myanmar’s International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University, etc will be presenting research papers on the topic “Shared Buddhist Heritage”.
The two-day programme is being organized by the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of External Affairs and the International Buddhist Confederation, as a grantee body of the Ministry of Culture. Indian scholars of Buddhism will also participate in the event. All the Participants will have the opportunity to tour some of the historical sites of Delhi.
The focus of the Conference is to re-establish trans-cultural links and seek commonalities, between Buddhist art of Central Asia, art styles, archaeological sites and antiquity in various museums’ collections of the Shanghai Cooperation Ornanization countries.
One of the natural marvels in this world is the evolution and spread of ideas since ancient times. Crossing formidable mountains, vast oceans and national boundaries; ideas that find a home in distant lands; get enriched with the existing cultures and the uniqueness of Buddha’s beseech.
Its universality connected both time and space. Its humanistic approach spread through art, architecture, sculpture and subtle attributes of human personality; finding expression in compassion, co-existence, sustainable living and personal growth.
This Conference is a unique meeting of the minds from countries coming from different geographical regions but with a common thread connecting them based on a shared civilization legacy, strengthened by Buddhist missionaries who played a significant role in integrating various cultures, communities and regions in the entire Indian subcontinent and Asia. This will be discussed in the conference under two themes, attributed to continue the long-staning bonds into the future.
Source : theprint.in
