THE Second World Buddhist Forum, an international conference of Buddhists was held in Wuxi, an eastern city of Jiangsnu province of China and in
Taipei of Taiwan from March 28 to April 01 this year. With the theme “A Harmonious World, A Synergy of Conditions,” the event was jointly organised by Buddhist Association of China (BAC), Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA), Hong Kong Buddhist Association and China Religious Cultural Communication Association (CRCCA). The main objective of the conference was to set up an open, high-level platform for equality and pluralism, to care for living beings, and to respect and protect Buddhism. Along with the 13-member Bangladesh delegation, including this writer, more than 1700 Buddhists and scholars from about 50 countries and regions put their heads together to discuss how Buddhism could contribute to building a harmonious world. The vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Du Qinglin also spoke, among others, on the occasion. “We anticipate that the Buddhism circle in the world will continue to carry forward the sprit of ‘Harmony and Synergy’ that manifests the feelings of mercy and compassion, reclaim people’s internal sprits, help to resolve the difficulties so as to promote the harmonious co-existence between man and nature, man and society, man and man as well as man’s internal world,” said Du Qinglin, who is also the Head of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. Buddhism was introduced in Wuxi during Chiwu period of the Three Kingdoms in 280 AD. Historically famous Buddhist monasteries, some 1000-year old temples like the Nanchan Monastery, the Chong’ An Monastery, and Hangfu Monastery are located there. During the five-day event the participants exchanged ideas on how to better preserve Buddhist music and the Tripitaka. They have talked about the relationship between Buddhism and science, Buddhism and public welfare, Buddhism and environment protection etc. The Forum was the second historical event in the history of Chinese Buddhism. The First World Buddhist Forum was the first-ever international general assembly of Buddhists held in China (April 13 – 18, 2006) in Hangzhou city and Zhoushan city of Zhejiang province, China.
Throughout the duration of these five days, the delegates participated in eighteen sub-forums, focusing on eighteen respective topics based on the theme “A Harmonious World A Synergy of Conditions”. The Forum finally reached the following conclusions: