Seminar on Buddhism & society from Jan 13

TNN Jan 5, 2013

VARANASI, India -- The Central University of Tibetan Studies (CUTS), Sarnath, is going to organise a three-day international conference of Asian Buddhist Forum on 'Buddhism and Society' from January 13 to 15. The event will be inaugurated by Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

Organising committee chairman Pradeep Gokhale said that discussions would be held on the contribution of Buddhism to social life, interaction of Buddhism with different societies and thought and activities of Buddhism.

Buddhism had tried to transform or reconstruct different aspects of social life. Buddha had a scientific approach in the sense that he saw the whole universe to be governed by the law of causal interdependence, which is well-known as the doctrine of Pratitya-samutpada. Some leading scientists, having inspired and supported by the Dalai Lama, are investigating into the possible relationship between Buddhism and science. They find growing evidence for a potential productive influence of Buddhism on modern science.

Buddhism can make a significant contribution to social sciences as well. It has contributed greatly to visual arts like painting, sculpture and architecture. In the field of literature, the vast canonical and non-canonical literature it has produced in all major languages of the world is unparalleled.

Due to interaction with modern Buddhist scholars and thinkers and more particularly due to the influence of the Dalai Lama in the last century, Buddhism aroused interest both at intellectual and practical level in developed societies like those of America and Europe. Interaction of Buddhism with modern societies of Europe and America and also the societies in Asia which were modernized or in the process of modernization, raised issues such as the relation between religion and science, other worldly beliefs in Buddhism and the status of women in Buddhist Sangha.

Dalai Lama will arrive here on January 6. He will deliver a discourse on 'Bodhicharyavatar' from January 7 to 10, address the university staff and students on January 11 and speak to foreign delegates on January 12.

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Seminar on Buddhism & society from Jan 13

TNN Jan 5, 2013