I am happy to host the
celebration on this great occasion as part of our civilizational
journey for welfare of the universe since time immemorial. It was on
this day, some twenty-five hundred years ago, that the Word of Wisdom was
spoken out for the first time. On attaining enlightenment, the Buddha
spent five weeks in a state beyond description. Then he started sharing with
people the nectar he had discovered. It was in Sarnath in the eastern part
of India, that the Buddha preached his first sermon to his five
original disciples. It was a momentous occasion unparalleled in
the history of humankind. The video message by the Prime Minister of India
seen by all of us just now120 reflects the eternal values and positive
approach of India. I am delighted at the very enriching message from the
President140
of Mongolia read out by the Ambassador. I had the
privilege to host the President of Mongolia as our honoured160 guest during his
State Visit in September last year. It was an occasion for us to deepen our civilizational
friendship and to nourish our age-old Buddhist ties.
I am told that
the International Buddhist Confederation, with its presence in 36 countries, is
holding the celebrations around the world. However, we are in the midst of a
virulent pandemic that has overwhelmed the entire humanity. Perhaps no
part of the world remains untouched by this calamity that adversely
affects every individual. 240 As a precaution, we have to follow
certain discipline and maintain physical distance. The International
Buddhist Confederation is, therefore, holding the events virtually. I believe
that such an effort is praiseworthy, because this makes it possible for
a far280
larger number of people, from all corners of the world, to
participate in them. Ceremonies and prayers are being organized at the sacred
sites in India, Sri Lanka, Mongolia and many other countries where IBC has its
presence.
Let us320
remind ourselves that the Buddha’s first sermon was disarmingly simple.
That sermon has a unique place in the Buddhist canon. Both practitioners and
scholars revere it as the treasure in which the entire teaching
is hidden. For 45 years after he360 attained enlightenment, the
Buddha travelled across the vast regions of the Gangetic plains to
bring the healing message to the masses. Thus he delivered a very large
number of discourses. Ironically, the Buddha’s teaching was
against the current during those times. But the force of his argument was woven
around love, compassion and non-violence. The spread of Buddhism
around420
the world was guided by these eternal values. In his lifetime he always sought
to convince people through his logical and moral arguments. The Buddha always
held that to force oneself to believe and accept a thing without understanding
is political and not spiritual or intellectual. This is the precise reason that
in his first sermon, the Buddha advises the five480 original disciples to
shun the extreme methods and prefer the Middle Path. Then he speaks of the ultimate
reality as given in the four Noble Truths. As summation of the human condition
as well as human potential, these four Noble Truths are unmatched in any
tradition, spiritual or literary, in entire history. After the diagnosis
of our ailment, the Buddha prescribes the medicine, which is the
Eight-Fold Path to Enlightenment. It is a complete and perfect way of life. 560
The eight steps are: right view, right thought, right speech, right action,
right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right
concentration.
Thus the Wheel of
Truth was set in motion. Ever since, it has been the lodestar, helping
spiritual seekers navigate600 through the maze of worldly life
and arrive at the end of suffering – here and now. It is so scientific
that it resembles psycho-therapy more than a traditional, dogmatic religion. It
is this open attitude of inquiry into the640 heart of existence
and the possibility of finding the key to eternal serenity that has attracted
seekers in every age for the last twenty-five hundred years. The Wheel has come
full circle, and the teachings of the Buddha have in the recent decades spread
to distant shores in the West too. India is proud of being the land of origin700
of the Dhamma. It was from India that it began to spread in neighbouring
regions. There, in new fertile soil and720 new climate, it grew organically,
eventually branching off into various offshoots. In India,
we see Buddhism as a fresh expression of the sublime truth. His enlightenment,
and the subsequent preaching by him for over four decades, were in line with
India’s tradition of respect for intellectual liberalism and spiritual
diversity.
In modern times, two exceptionally
great Indians – Mahatma Gandhi and Babasaheb Ambedkar – found
inspiration in the words of the Buddha and went on to shape the destiny of the800
nation. Following in their footsteps, we should strive to hear the
call of the Buddha, to respond to his invitation to walk the Noble Path. The
world seems full of suffering, in short term as well as in long term.
There840
are many stories of kings and affluent people suffering from acute
depression who took refuge in the Buddha to escape cruelties of life. Indeed,
the life of the Buddha challenges earlier convictions as he believed in finding
a deliverance from suffering in the midst of this imperfect
world. Today,
as the pandemic ravages human lives and economies across the globe,
the Buddha’s message serves like a beacon. He advised people to shun greed,
hatred, violence, jealousy and many other vices to find happiness. Contrast
this message with the hankering of an unrepentant mankind
indulging in the same old violence and degradation of nature. We all know
that the moment the virulence of Coronavirus slows down, we have a
far more960
serious challenge of climate change before us.
Mahatma Gandhi, our
Father of the Nation, knew that the Buddha offered a980 way out of our
present predicament. The Buddha taught us what is known as the Right
Path, and to learn the Right Path is not merely to pack our brains with
many things that sound nice, good and sweet, but to do the right things.
The Buddha was so filled with mercy and kindness that it was he who
taught us to love not only the members of the human family but also to love all
life, to love all the animal world. He also taught us the personal purity of
life. In the final phase of his life, the1080 Buddha was acutely
conscious of the fact that egotism driven by envy, hatred, greed and
ambition would undermine compassion and kindness. The Buddha, therefore,
encouraged the culture of dialectic and debate among his followers to
arrive at their own truth. 1120 His cure for human suffering remains
as relevant today as it was over two and half millennia ago. There is
no doubt that the urgency of abiding by the values that the Buddha preached
is eternal. By ignoring the soothing wisdom of every spiritual tradition, we
have arrived at the juncture where we find ourselves today. It is high
time we paid heed. I am grateful to the International Buddhist
Confederation for providing me the opportunity to host this event, 1200
and also to share my thoughts with you. The world has suffered much this year, and
I sincerely wish that this sacred day heralds a new ray of hope and grants
a glimpse of happiness. I also pray that it lights the lamp of wisdom in the
heart of everyone.
Political class is widely known as ‘generalists’
being able1260 to speak on any issue but often without depth and
required perspectives. In this era of rapid quest for development1280 across the increasingly integrating world order,
complex issues are coming to the fore in all domains including science,
technology, trade etc. Discussing such issues with a degree of vagueness
in the times of Artificial Intelligence does not help. You need to
acquire in-depth and analytical understanding of such issues to be an
effective parliamentarian. For this, you need to do adequate homework
by way of extensive reading and preparation. The Parliament Library, the
largest in Delhi and the second largest in the country after the
National Library, has a huge collection of about 14 lakh books on varied
subjects, including hundreds of journals in all languages. I am told
that the footfall of Members in this source of information and1400 knowledge is not very encouraging. I earnestly
encourage all Members of Parliament to make effective use of all the
resources of Parliament Library for making a marked difference to the
debates.
The main challenge before the House and Presiding
Officers1440 is time management. Time is allocated to different
parties based on respective strength and time decided for any debate or
discussion. Accordingly, some parties and members often get three
or four minutes to speak on an issue before the House. But what really
matters is not for how long one speaks in the House but what one speaks.
I often find repetitions in the interventions of members. The best way
is to broadly associate with the core of what the previous speakers spoke and
bring out new information or perspectives that was not revealed by the
preceding speakers. This is an art each one of you should cultivate for doing
justice to the time you get. I found on occasions members speaking for a minute
or two making more effective contributions to the debates than those who
speak much longer. Repetition kills media interest as well and your
interventions get ignored by the media. So, you need to be smart1600 in using the time you get.
