President to Inaugurate 4th International Dharma-Dhamma Conference
January 8, 2018
The Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of Nalanda University, Prof. Sunaina Singh held a press conference at Patna on Monday, 8 th January, 2018 to makethe official announcement of the programme related to the 4 th International Dharma-Dhamma Conference to be held at Rajgir, Nalanda between 11 th and 13 th January, 2018. She said that the Hon’ble President of India has consented to inaugurate the Conference at 3 pm on 11 th January in the gracious presence of the Hon’ble Governor of Bihar Shri Satya Pal Malik, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Bihar Shri Nitish Kumar, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Sushil Kumar Modi and Hon’ble Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, Shri Tilak Marapana apart from a galaxy of others.
The Conference is being held in collaboration with the India Foundation, Ministry of External Affairs and the Vietnam Buddhist University. This event is being organized as part of the commemorative events to celebrate the silver jubilee of ASEAN – Indian Dialogue Partnership with the active support of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. His Exellency the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will inaugurate the Conference, H.E. Shri Satya Pal Malik, Governor of Bihar, Shri Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, H.E. Shri Tilak Marapana, Sri Lanka Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Assignments are gracing the occasion.
The overall theme of the Conference is “State and Social Order in Dharma-Dhamma Tradition” which aims to facilitate cross-pollination of ideas and foster harmony at the global level and also seeks to explore the shared values of the dharmic traditions that may provide the guiding light to the world today and a vibrant sense of interconnectedness.
As one of the defining principles of human civilization Dharma-Dhamma provided the structure upon which the broad array of human existence and cosmic life was built across the globe. The notion of Dharma-Dhamma, in its manifold manifestations, including truth and non-violence, peace and harmony, humaneness and spiritual linkages and universal fraternity and peaceful co-existence, served as a moral compass that guided people in the Indian sub-continent through ages and continues to shape and sustain the Indian cultural ethos. The conference aims to focus on the essential identity among diverse dharmic traditions having distinct characteristics and remarkable commonalities.
India’s Act East policy is a reflection of the importance India gives to the strategic partnership with ASEAN and this event is being organized as part of the commemorative events to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of ASEAN-India Dialogue Partnership. With the support of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Nalanda University is fortunate to host the 4 th International Dharma-Dhamma Conference in 2018 which also marks ASEAN-India 25 years of dialogue partnership, 15 years of summit-level interaction and five years of strategic partnership.
With considerable effort Vice Chancellor Prof. Sunaina Singh brings this Conference to Nalanda from it earlier venue at the Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies. It is appropriate that the theme of the conference conforms to the founding vision of Nalanda which stressed upon contributing to the promotion of peace and human values by bringing together the entire region of East Asia and Central Asia on one platform of knowledge.
Nalanda University, initially shaped by the vision of Late President Dr A. P. J. Abdul Kalam and Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, subsequently carefully nurtured by Smt Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs to represent an intellectual facet of India’s Act East Policy. The educational model of ancient Nalanda which held global appeal and attracted students from China, Korea, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Southeast Asia and many other parts of the world, was built on the foundation of Dharma-Dhamma tradition of ancient India. It is appropriate, therefore, for Nalanda University which seeks to carry forward the glorious legacy of its predecessor, to host the Dharma-Dhamma conference of international scale and significance and contribute towards universal peace through underscoring common values of the diverse Dharmic traditions of the world.
The conference will be have a number of plenary sessions and paper presentations and many more academic deliberations on various sub-themes of the conference over the three days. Shri Pema Khandu; Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, Dr. David Frawley; American Institute of Vedic Studies, Thich Nhat Tu; Vietnam Buddhist Studies; State Pariyatti Sasana University, Myanmar are some of the names among the galaxy of plenary speakers. More than 100 scholars from different parts of the world will present papers at the conference.
The Conference is an endeavour of Nalanda University in its pursuit to be a bridge between India and other nations and perform its role as a emerging thought leader in the new world order.