India hosts first international conference on Buddhist Heritage
The first international conference on Shared Buddhist Heritage started today in New Delhi with the aim of connecting Indian civilisation with the nations of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), as reported by Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS.
The two-day meeting aims to re-establish cultural ties and seek common ground between Central Asian Buddhist art, artistic styles, archaeological sites and antiquity in various museum collections of the SCO countries.
The intergovernmental organisation was founded in 2001 by the leaders of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and later joined by India, Pakistan and Iran.
The SCO aims at building an equitable polycentric model of the world order that meets the interests of each and every state on the firm basis of international law and the principles of mutual respect and consideration for each other's interests, mutually beneficial cooperation, non-confrontation and non-conflict, equal and indivisible security. The SCO is an inter-civilization organization that neutralizes the possibility of conflict of civilizations in its area of responsibility.
The meeting, which sits under the temporary Indian leadership of the SCO, will bring together countries from Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia and Arab countries on a common platform to discuss shared Buddhist heritage.
The programme is organised by the ministries of culture and foreign affairs, as well as the International Buddhist Confederation, based in New Delhi.
Several Indian Buddhist scholars will also participate in the event and participants will have the opportunity to visit some of New Delhi's historical sites.
Buddhism, the world's oldest religion, originated in India. The founder of Buddhism is Siddhartha Gautama of the Shakya clan, who belonged to the kshatriya warrior class, was born in northern India, presumably in the middle of the sixth century B.C. After attaining spiritual liberation he became known as the Buddha "the awakened one".
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