Your Excellency:

On behalf of The World Fellowship of Buddhists, I wish to express our grateful thank to Your Excellency and most sincerely for having spare your precious time to honor us with your presence on the auspicious occasion of the inauguration of the 27th General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, the 18th General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth and the 9th Meeting of the World Buddhist University Council on 16 October B.E. 2557 (2014) at Famen Temple, Shaanxi Province, the People’s Republic of China.

Also, on behalf of all participants, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Central Government of the People’s Republic of China, State Administration for Religious Affairs of People’s Republic of China, the Government of Shaanxi Province, Baoji Municipal Government, the Buddhist Association of China and the Chinese people for allowing us to hold these conferences.

Both Baoji City and Famen Temple are Buddhist historical sites. Around 2,000 years ago Buddhism in China is originated in Shaanxi before spreading out to other provinces and nearby countries until the religion has become part of the culture and a shining light for Chinese people.

Even though it is the first time for China to host the WFB General Conference, the country is not new to such an international Buddhist event. In the past, China had hosted the World Buddhist Forum at least for three times.

China’s supporting role for Buddhist conferences in many occasions have sent a message to the world that the Buddhist Association of China has been a strong partner with Buddhist all over the world, and that the freedom of belief and religion is always protected in China.

Buddhism, in particular, has been accepted by hundreds of millions of Chinese people, and China is recognized as a country with the largest number of Buddhist followers in the world. This is a proof that the Buddha’s teachings are practical in every society. Those who follow the teachings are not only happy, but also able to solve problems in their daily lives.

The World Fellowship of Buddhists was founded in B.E. 2493 (1950) by the initiative of Dr. Malalasekera and unity of Buddhist leaders from several countries. In this regard I would like to refer to Venerable Fafang, the Chinese monk who had educated and practiced Buddhism in Sri Lanka, because he was also the person who founded the World Fellowship of Buddhists since that time. This was revealed that Chinese is one of primary country who founded the World Fellowship of Buddhists since its inception. Moreover, I would like to convey my highest regard to the late Mr. Zhao Puchu who was tremendously contributed to the World Fellowship of Buddhists and also for his role of co-operation at the international level.

The main purpose of the World Fellowship of Buddhists is to promote unity and solidarity among Buddhists. I am very pleased to report to Your Excellency that since its inception in B.E. 2493, the WFB has steadily and firmly grown into a worldwide scale with 181 Regional Centres in 50 countries and region.

Although the basic nature of our organization is religious, we by no means lose sight of our objectives in the fields of social, educational, cultural, and humanitarian services, including create peace and harmony among human. For this reason, the World Fellowship of Buddhists has associated with UNESCO as Consultative Relation and as member of the United Nations. In our Declarations issued at various General Conference, we repeatedly affirm our determination to work for peace and harmony in concert with world religious and humanist organizations in the belief that religious and humanitarian services cannot but contribute to the betterment of human life.

The theme of this conference is “Buddhism and Public-Benefit Charity” and the aim is to debate on this topic in order to send our message to the world that Buddhism is caring for society at all levels, regardless of religion and race. The teachings about compassion, love, self-sacrifice and peace had been long addressed by Lord Buddha and the Bodhisattvas since their existences in this world, and have been practiced by Buddhist followers from past to present.

Your Excellency, the time being now auspicious, may I humbly request you to please give us the honour of inaugurating the Conferences.

May I conclude my address by invoking the power of the Holy Triple Gem to bless you with strength, health, happiness and longevity so that you all may live and prosper for the noble cause of the Dhamma.

Thank you.