SME Times News Bureau | 17 May, 2019
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has called for
an enlightened global leadership to ensure a conflict free world order based on
peace and sustainable development and asserted that Buddhism promotes such
transformation.
He asserted that adhering to the core principles
of Buddhism can liberate individual minds and provide the much desired positive
leadership that can rescue the troubled humanity besides addressing a just and
responsive world order.
Naidu elaborated on the virtues of Buddhism and
it’s relevance to the present times while delivering the keynote address at the
16th United Nations Day of Vesak, at Tam Chuc Pagoda in Ha Nam
province of Vietnam recently, on the invitation of his Vietnamese counterpart.
He spoke on the theme “Buddhist Approach to Global Leadership and Shared
Responsibilities for Sustainable Societies”.
The Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr. Nguven Xuan
Phuc, the President of National Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and the President of UN
Day of Vesak Celebration 2019, Dr. Thic Thien Nhon and over 1600 leading
Buddhist from several countries were among the participants.
‘Vesak’ marks the birth, enlightenment and the
Parinirvana of Lord Buddha whose teaching have caught the imagination of people
across the world over the last 2,500 years.
Shri Naidu said “Buddhist approach of righteous
behavior, wisdom, compassion and camaraderie and reduction of Trishna (greed)
offers a set of building blocks for the architecture of a new world order where
violence and conflict are minimized and development takes place without
degrading the natural resources.
referred to transformation from Ashoka-the-Fierce
to Ashoka-the-Righteous after the Kalinga War inspired by Buddha’s teachings.
The Vice President stressed that avoiding extreme
positions and adopting a ‘middle path’ as taught by Buddha leads to
realizing the truth which leads to avoiding conflict, reconciliation of
different view points and achieving consensus.
‘’This steers individuals away from bigotry,
dogmatism and fanaticism to a more balanced view of life essential for peaceful
co-existence and Buddhism is an antidote to the contemporary malaise of
radicalization and religious fundamentalism’’ Shri Naidu stressed.
Noting that the genesis of conflict has roots in
the idea of hate violence originating from an individual’s mind-space, Naidu
said that the growing menace of terrorism is a manifestation of this
destructive emotion.
“The proponents of ideologies of hate need to be
constructively engaged to avoid mindless death and destruction and there is no
higher bliss than peace as stated by Buddha’’ Shri Naidu said.
Referring to the contemporary challenges being
faced by the global leadership, Shri Naidu said that peace and sustainable
development are interlinked and they feed on each other. He urged the world
leaders to work together to promote dialogue, harmony and justice based on
compassion and wisdom. Sustainable society is possible only through sustainable
consumption and production given the limited natural resources.