Inaugurating a Conference on Developing the Buddhist Pilgrimage (Circuit) in India, here on Friday, the Indian Minister of Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch said her Ministry was supporting Buddhist educational institutions located at Sarnath, Leh, Nalanda and Bomdila. She reaffirmed the commitment to preserve and protect and promote Lord Buddha’s teachings and values of love, compassion and non-violence.

Katoch said, apart from providing regular funding to various Buddhist Institutions and individuals working to spread the teachings of the Buddha the government was committed to undertake initiatives which would enable people to personally visit the places where the noble Siddhartha was born, got enlightenment and became the Buddha, shared his wisdom with his followers and himself travelled great distances to benefit the needy and liberate them from their sufferings.

She said “Buddha’s social philosophy of inclusiveness is most relevant to today’s world. We all must seek to inculcate true values and practices of altruism, love, compassion and non-violence taught by the Buddha to cope up with worldly pressures.'

Since India is the place of origin of Buddhism, the Minister said “we are deeply conscious of the country’s important position, particularly among the Buddhist countries. A number of important places connected with the Buddha like the place of enlightenment (Bodhgaya), the place of his first sermon (Sarnath) and the place of his Mahaparinirvana (Kushinagar) are all located in India. It was here that Buddhism flourished for centuries and spread in various parts of the World.”

The learned monks and philosophers from famous Buddhist educational institutions such as Nalanda, Takshshila helped in the dissemination of the teachings of the Buddha to various countries and helped the seekers and scholars from outside India who came to these Universities to enrich their knowledge and further strengthen their faith in the Buddha and his teachings. Even now, a large number of devout from all over the world visit every year the holy Buddhist sites in India and pay their respects to the Tathagata.

The Minister said, in order to facilitate spread of the sacred teachings of the Buddha the Government constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri B. Mungekar the then Member, Planning Commission. Developing Buddhist Circuit is one of the recommendations of the Committee.
In this context, Katoch said “ we have to generate attractive but workable alternatives to better connectivity and infrastructural facilities for both pilgrims as well as other tourists. The government is committed to undertake initiatives which will enable people to personally visit the holy places connected with the life of Buddha.”

The Minister said besides the already known important spots connected with the life and teachings of the Buddha, efforts should also be aimed at identifying hitherto unidentified territories of relevance which deserve to be developed and connected. Such and endeavour will help not only in spreading the noble teachings of the Buddha but also give a boost to tourism as well as economy of the so far neglected territories.