Gandhara symposium paves way for enhanced religious tourism

There isn’t a single Buddhist monk currently residing in Pakistan, despite the traces of a vibrant Gandhara culture and the artefacts that boast of an ancient civilisation where Buddhist traditions predominated.

During his contact with the media before to his departure for Thailand, Most Venerable Anil Sakya, Honorary Rector World Buddhist University Thailand, brought up this alarming truth. Along with other monks, he was in Pakistan for the three-day International Gandhara Symposium (July 11–13, 2023) among monks from Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Malaysia, South Korea, and Vietnam.

MV Anil Sakya expressed hope that things will soon turn around after observing during the three-day symposium an increased awareness among the public and the government of the need to capitalise on the nation’s incredibly rich but mostly untapped potential.

As Buddhist experts from the area, the UK, Vietnam, and other countries gathered under one roof to disseminate Lord Buddha’s teachings of peace, harmony, and meditation, Pakistan did indeed make incredible strides in promoting its soft image.

Students, local religious experts, peace activists, diplomats, and other members of civil society flocked to the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) to hear them out and put what they were saying into practise.

A monk and former vice chancellor of Lumbini Buddhist University (LBU) in Nepal, Prof. Dr. Hridya Ratna, for instance, emphasised that Gautam Buddha was a “teacher and a guide -but not a God.”

Actually, during the Gandhara period, the Buddhists introduced meditation and the Ayurvedic medical method. The crowd as a whole sat in silence with their eyes closed for one minute as the monk even showed a form of meditation.

Later, while addressing a small group at the residence of Nepal’s ambassador, Tapas Adhikari, he reiterated the goal-oriented message of love and peace for which Buddha worked his entire life.

As a result of this event’s success, sources told Pakistan Observer that the Pakistani government is thinking about creating a Gandhara Cultural Authority to get over obstacles and promote the Gandhara civilisation around the world.

Imran Shaukat, Adviser to Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), praised Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Chairman of the PM’s Task Force on Gandhara Tourism (PMTFGT), for completing the task of educating the world about the treasure of Buddhist landmarks in Pakistan in an interview with Pakistan Observer. He added that the Buddhist monks were not making their first trip to Pakistan. Imran Shaukat is one of those who played a key role in the visit of Most Venerable Arayawangso, Chief Monk of Thailand, who spent rain retreat in Taxila (middle of July to middle of October 2023) alongside 150 Thai Buddhist tourists and even in 2019 before COVID-19. The picture was bigger this time, and we had monks from other nations.

For organising such a sizable symposium that is both culturally significant and tourist-friendly, Dr. Ramesh Kumar deserves our congratulations, he remarked.

One of the symposium’s highlights was the media awards. This reporter received an award from Dr. Ramesh Kumar for their outstanding media coverage in their stories or package. Sabahuddin Qazi, the PMTFGT’s director, revealed the names of the winning journalists.

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