Global Buddhist Summit: Dalai Lama speaks on compassion, wisdom

Tibetan Spiritual Leader the Dalai Lama attended the Global Buddhist Summit on Friday and addressed a group of monks and other delegates who had assembled here for the two-day event. He lectured for roughly 30 minutes, emphasising Buddhist philosophy and principles.

The inaugural session of the first-of-its-kind summit was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

In his speech, Modi stated that the world is facing challenges such as conflict, economic insecurity, terrorism, religious extremism, and climate change, and that Lord Buddha’s views offer a solution to these issues. The summit is broken into two parts: academic sessions and Sangha sessions.

According to an official source, the press was only permitted to attend the initial session; the remaining sessions were closed to the public. The source did confirm, however, that the Dalai Lama attended the summit on Friday morning and spoke to the assembled monks and other delegates. “The Tibetan spiritual leader spoke of compassion, wisdom, and meditation in his nearly half-hour address.” The three ideals are central to Lord Buddha’s teachings and the ideology he advocated.