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 its 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 today, 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 has caught the imagination of people across the world over the last 2,500 years.
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. He referred to the transformation from Ashoka-the-Fierce to Ashoka-the-Righteous after the Kalinga War inspired by the Buddha’s teachings.
