印度佛教遗址发展委员会主席阿文德·阿洛克博士大会发言（图片来源：大菩文化 摄影：妙梵）
大菩文化福建讯 2018年10月28日至30日，第五届世界佛教论坛在福建省莆田市召开。论坛主题为“交流互鉴、中道圆融”，邀请海内外佛教界人士、学者等约800余位代表出席。印度佛教遗址发展委员会主席阿文德·阿洛克出席大会并发言。以下为讲话全文：
Speech of Prof Dr Arvind Alok
Chairman :Buddhist Monuments Development Council, India.
Respected Sangha,Most Venerable Yan Jue,Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China,H. E Mr. Wang Zuoan ,President of the China religious cultural communication Association, Heads of the Buddhist delegations from different countries ,Other distinguished delegates, Brothers and Sisters.
First of all I extend my warm Greetings on behalf of the people of India and on my behalf to all of you on the occasion of this auspicious world Buddhist Forum.
I am sincerely thankful to the Buddhist Association of China for inviting me to this historic Buddhist Forum in this beautiful city of China.
Undoubtedly it is a matter of great pride for me to attend this great Buddhist Conclave for the reasons that I am witnessing this Buddhist Forum with a view to promoting the ancient buddhist relations between the two great civilizations of the world, India and China.
Friends , I feel privileged to let you know that I am from Nalanda ,the ancient seat of Buddhist learning and Nalanda has special connection with China. Our forefathers had the honour to receive scholars, Masters and students from China at Nalanda and I take this opportunity to mention the names of great Chinese buddhist scholars Most Venerable Fa-Hien and later Most Venerable XuangZang who not only studied at Nalanda but also because of his great knowledge of Buddhism he became the Head of Nalanda Mahavihar and Later on translated the Buddhist teachings into Chinese which enriched the Buddhist values to the greatest extent .I deeply feel honored to have this opportunity to cement the ancient buddhist ties between the two great countries India and China.
Most Venerables and Friends I also acknowledge my sincere thanks to the people of the People 's Republic of China for their outstanding support to make this Forum and grand success.
Needless to say the time has come when the relevance of the Buddha and His Teachings are so important for peace and bliss in the world and in my opinion by organising the Buddhist Forum like this will greatly contribute to the promotion of human values in the light of the Teachings of the Buddha. Buddhist teachings are for everyone for practicing peace ,compassion , brotherhood ,nonviolence and togetherness. The teachings of the Buddha are for every section of the human society as they lay emphasis on cultivation of human values which are the basis for a peaceful and blissful world.
The Eight folds path of the Buddha is for the emancipation from all evils and to establish a harmonious human society where all can enjoy peace and prosperity without any discrimination. It is therefore the time has come when the Buddhist leaders and Masters should play a very practical role to guide the people to the path of liberation from all the defilements and thus ensuring a sustainable human order in buddhist perspective .
Today we find unrest and confrontations in many parts of the world as a result, the common men and women are so disturbed and they are unable to live a peaceful and happy life which is not good for a blissful world.
Buddhism focus on the purification of mind, if we purify our mind we will have a positive and powerful mind which will enable us to cultivate wisdom and by cultivation of a compassionate mind we can greatly contribute to brotherhood and thus establish a compassionate society.
Now it is so enthusiastic that around the word, people are following buddhist values and many many counties are encouraging the studies of buddhist philosophy as a major subject at academic institutions. As buddhist education is the Base for spreading buddhist values and buddhist legacy in present environment. Undoubtedly the countries of buddhist background are playing a vital role for the establishment of Buddhist Universities for imparting buddhist education in the world.It is not exaggeration to say if we practice Compassion we can easily with our compassionate mind contribute to the compassionate society. As a follower of the legacy of Buddhism i am of the firm opinion that only through the teachings of the Buddha we can have a peaceful ,prosperous world of coexistence .All the problems that we face today Can be solved through buddhist way of practicing.
I am very happy to share with you that in India most of the universities are imparting buddhist education and buddhist studies is a subject to qualify for
the civil services examination and therefore the young people are studying Buddhism . Thus contributing to the revival of Buddhism in our country. Though the Buddhist population in India not too much but people are coming back again to the Buddhist order and thus now it is a guiding force in the country
As the Chairman of Buddhist Monuments Development Council I call upon all of you to help us in reviving the strong buddhist legacy of India .Specially Chinese Masters and scholars can help a lot in the attainment of this objective.I also invite you all to visit the Buddhist sacred places of India which have the fragrances of the footprints of the Buddha and this way you we will also be able to promote the Buddhist heritage of India to a great extent.
At the same time I wish to say that the Buddhist heritage of china is so well preserved as I have visited some of the important buddhist places and found them so well maintained. If India is the origin of Buddhism, China is the living land of Buddhism and needless to say Chinese people are playing a vital role for the promotion of Buddhist values around the world. I sincerely thank the government of China and the people of china for preserving the rich buddhist legacy and I am sure more and more efforts will be made in this regard.
I am sure with the organisation of this magnitude of world Buddhist Forum, China will continue to play a very important role for the promotion of Buddhist values in the world.
Once again I sincerely thank the Buddhist Association of China for inviting me to this great and auspicious buddhist Forum.
I am sure the presentations and deliberations at the Forum will contribute greatly to the right understanding of Buddhist values .
May you all be blessed.
Bhavatu Sabba Mangalam.
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu.
Prof Dr Arvind Alok
Chairman
Buddhist Monuments Development Council
Mentor
Heritage and tourism
Ministry of Railways
Government of India
New Delhi .India.
