3-Day International Buddhist Conference starts in Bihar | The Indian Express

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has called on all religions to realise that truth is the same. “All religious traditions should sit in harmony to know the truth which is always unchanged,’’ he said on the opening day of a three-day international Buddhist conference in Bihar’s Rajgir on Saturday. He added that it will help the country as well as the world in attaining peace through love and compassion that form the core of Buddhism.

“We should not only read about the Buddha and his teachings but we should also experience and experiment it in our lives,’’ said the Dalai Lama, who on Saturday inaugurated Buddhist Science department — the first in Asia — at Nav Nalanda Mahavira deemed university. The spiritual leader said that he was happy that Buddhism was now being studied as a science and compared with it.

He emphasised the need for refinement of emotions while adding that compassion was as much the make of human beings as violence. He reminded the audience of Heart Sutra Lord Buddha had delivered at Rajgir. “One needs to purify mind through vipasana because meditation is only of explanatory kind,’’ said the Dalai Lama.

Over 350 delegates from 35 countries are participating in the conference that included a discussion on women in Buddhism. The speakers discussed female leadership, gender discrimination and same sex marriages in Taiwan. Weiyi Cheng from Taiwan spoke about legal sanction to same sex marriage in Taiwan. “It is a controversial subject to discuss but when we discuss gender equity and discrimination, such things need to be discussed to understand things in perspective,’’ said Weiyi on Saturday.

Ven Karma Tashi Choedron from Malaysia said that though Buddhism did not speak in terms of gender but there has been little literature showing contributions of women. Choedron added that there have been many women luminaries in Buddhism despite constraints.