On the morning of October 24, 2015, the Fourth World Buddhist Forum co-hosted by the Buddhist Association of China and the China Religious Culture Communication Association opened in grand fashionm at the Lingshan Brahma Palace in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. More than 1,000 Buddhist masters, government officials, experts and scholars from 52 countries and regions participated in the forum. Abbot of Lingyin Temple Venerable Guangquan attended the opening ceremony and presided over the sub-forum on the promotion of Buddhism.
The Fourth World Buddhist Forum, with the theme of “Common Aspiration, Common Action; Embracing Exchanges and Mutual Learning”, is aimed at exploring the essence of Buddhist culture, discussing the impact of Buddhism in modern times and promoting the development of Buddhism. It is hoped that activities at the forum would highlight the contribution of Buddhism in the communication between different civilizations, the long-lasting peace and prosperity of the world.
The eight sub-forums included Buddhist Forum on Peace, Buddhist Forum on Education, Buddhist Forum on Youth, Buddhist Forum on Civilization, Buddhist Forum on Sangha, Buddhist Forum on Buddhism promotion, Buddhist Forum on Charity and Buddhist Forum on Buddhist layman. Venerable Guangquan organized and presided over the sixth sub-forum on the promotion of Buddhism in the theme of “Buddhist principles and Buddhism promotion”. Seventeen papers were received on the topics of the theoretical research, innovative methods and prospects of the promotion of Buddhism as well as practices of the promotion of Buddhism in modern times. Participants in the sub-forum included more than 80 Buddhist masters, experts and scholars from Austria, Chile, Spain, Oman, Paraguay, the United States, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Mainland China. They were actively engaged in the discussions and the forum was established as a dialogue platform for Buddhists to communicate and cooperate on the promotion of Buddhism.
