India's Buddhism Diplomacy: MEA organizes 'Engaged Buddhism' for ASEAN countries
Total Views | 108
New Delhi, Feb 26: The ministry of external affairs, in association with the Gautam Buddha University has planned to introduce a short course about Indian Heritage of Buddhism for the ASEAN countries. According to the ministry's release, the course is titled ‘Engaged Buddhism: A joint way forward for India and ASEAN’ and is being conducted for diplomats, civil servants and academics in ASEAN.
The course is the first instance for the Ministry of External Affairs to have conducted any such course in association with a university, that mainly targets the neighboring countries and tries to inform them about the historic cultural ties that the nations share. Several countries have already signed up for the course that is going to extend for a duration of three days starting from Mar 4 and is to end by Mar 6. Considering the prevailing conditions due to the COVID 19 pandemic, the course has been organized organised on a virtually, under the Centre’s Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation programme.
The Gautam Buddha University's Department of Buddhism studies has shouldered the responsibility of the course. The course that is about India’s Buddhist heritage has been planned since presently Buddhist diplomacy and soft power is being deeply studied around the world. The course share special significance in the current context due to the ongoing political events around the world, as the Buddhist faith emphasizes on peaceful coexistence and also has a wide pan-Asian presence and thus, provides significant insights about soft-power diplomacy.
The MEA maintains that around 97 per cent of the world’s Buddhist population lives in the Asian continent, and a number of ASEAN countries conceive of Buddhism as intrinsic to their national values and identity. India has embraced Buddhism as an attribute of its soft power as it appeared that China, which took Buddhism from India, had been trying to corner the market on Buddhism diplomacy.
Besides, the course comes in a continuation of several initiatives that were taken in the past decade to emphasize the role of Buddhism in India's diplomacy. As a part of the initiatives, India has increased tourism for Buddhist pilgrims, creating a Buddhism tourism circuit, in collaboration with Nepal or Sri Lanka. Last week, India opened an international airport in Kushinagar to add to the Buddhist circuit.
Related News
