MINUTES OF ZOOM MEETING
30 JUNE 2026
A zoom meeting, called by Most Ven. Choijamts, ABCP President, was held on 30 June 2026. Members of the Executive Council from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamshala, India, Japan, Nepal, Russia and Sri Lanka (Rev. Wipulasara and Sumanatissa Chapters), including Most Ven. Kh. Byambajav, Secretary General of ABCP attended the zoom meeting.
The meeting was opened by ABCP President Most Ven. Choijamts who dwelt on the present volatile and dangerous international situation and the tasks, thereof, of the organization, whose basic mission is to make efforts for peace in Asia and the world. (N.B. The English translation of our President’s opening remarks will be shared sometime later)
ABCP Secretary General Most Ven. Kh. Byambajav: Good morning and good afternoon. We are very happy to be meeting with you all again online. Our President has shared with you all his basic thoughts and ideas of the tasks facing the organization today. As indicated in the agenda of the meeting, our President Choijamts has already expressed his views on the first issue and according to the agenda, I would like to go into the next agenda item, that is, the follow-up to the decisions of the recently held Executive Council Meeting in Bodhgaya, India, and we would like to discuss the implementation status of those decisions.
Today, we are living in a world where global peace and security are becoming increasingly tense and exposed to dangers of unprecedented nature. Given such a situation, in this connection, I have a suggestion that we also agree on the theme and topic of our next General Assembly. Also please share your thoughts on the theme and topic of our General Assembly. For instance, “Buddhist Approach to Global Peace” could be one suggestion of the theme of our General Assembly. The nature of today’s wars and conflicts, and unstable situation are changing according to the times. Therefore, we Buddhists, our approach to these matters should also change and concur with the times and accordingly, it is becoming imperative to define out approaches and attitudes as well.
The next issue on the agenda is the question whether we would want to sign a framework of cooperation agreement with the International Buddhist Confederation, based in India. If we decide to have such a framework of cooperation agreement, then soon we shall be making a draft of the Framework of Cooperation Agreement, which we plan to share with the National Centers. The draft shall be sent to the International Buddhist Confederation through Mr. Sonom Wangchuk, if that is possible.
Mr. Mukunda Bista, Secretary of the Nepal National Center had made a suggestion at the Executive Council meeting in Bodhgaya about mapping Buddhist religious and cultural heritages around the world. Is that right Mr. Mukunda Bista?
Mukunda Bista: Yes. This is not only a map but it is a digital map.
ABCP Senior Manager Burenbayar: Mr. Mukunda Bista, if you can, can you please outline your suggestion in a little more detailed manner and I am sure all the National Centers will be more than happy to join in this project. Can you do that, please?
Mukunda Bista: It is not a map but an interactive map, which I had the chance to see at an agricultural meeting.
ABCP Senior Manager: My request is if you know about such an APP, would it be possible to share it with all the National Centers so that we can look at it and try to understand, how it works and looks like, so that we can give you our thoughts and ideas.
Mukunda Bista: It would be an honour to share my thoughts and ideas on this interactive map. At the Bodhgaya meeting I suggested creating an APP of Buddhist cultural heritage sites. Because I saw this APP, and got interested in at a conference in Kathmandu on agriculture, saw the demonstration. It was an APP but not fully completed, it uses digital map and each country has location of agricultural projects, and in our APP we could have all the photos and correct pictures, information and history of Bodhgaya, this is just a suggestion.
ABCP Secretary General: So please kindly share that with all the National Centers and I suggest, we Buddhist countries enrich that APP with our contributions.
Mukunda Bista: Unfortunately, I could not get a copy of the APP. I shared this idea with an IT friend of mine from the Buddhist Sangha, who said it can be developed, I will consult with him and ask him to make a sample of this idea, which I will share later on.
ABCP Secretary General: Thank you. Another issue on the agenda is the question of our magazine. At the HQ we would not like to see the publication of the issues disrupted. What’s missing are stories with photos from the National Centers. We would appreciate if you can share stories with photos for the magazine, as well as articles and writing by Buddhist scholars and researchers.
This matter is important for the two reasons, first, through the magazine we can share concrete actions and work being done by ABCP with the public.
Second, its importance lies in the fact that National Centers can have a channel to inform each other about their activities and to share experiences. And the work you are doing will also become a part of ABCP history.
Although the Vietnam National Centers have not joined the zoom meeting today it would be appreciated if all those who are present here today will share with the HQ thoughts and ideas on how to organize the General Assembly, how to organize the side event – a academic conference of scholars, and what should be the prevailing theme of the General Assembly and the side event.
Today, social platform and AI are developing rapidly and under such circumstances, we would like to suggest that the side event consider the issue of how Buddhism can regulate or impact artificial intelligence. And so, with regard to the theme of our side event during the General Assembly, I believe that our National Centers should discuss with each other on how to go about the planned side event and who, for instance, Buddhist researchers and scholars, can be invited to the academic conference to present papers during the General Assembly side event.
I also said earlier that wars and conflicts around the world today, as compared to the previous period, have changed so drastically towards negativity in as much as we Buddhists also need to change our attitude and approaches to wars and conflicts. In the past ABCP had been responding to these challenges spontaneously by issuing statements, appeals etc. In this respect, we Buddhists need to be sensitive to the times and change our approaches and stance in this regard, and define our approaches, and therefore, I call on you all for important suggestions as to what we can do in this respect.
There is a Mongolian saying – the suggestions of the multitude are like an ocean, and so, please share your thoughts and suggestions as to what we can do, especially during the General Assembly to make it more productive and effective.
If there is anyone to speak, I would ask you to express your ideas and thoughts in three minutes, if possible please.
Sonam Wangchuk – Let me say a few words. Wonderful and happy to see you all, our President Choijamts and Secretary General Byambajav, at the HQ, and also happy to be talking to our NCs, which is a good opportunity. To begin with, we have started our WhatsApp group, which was done yesterday and I am happy that everyone has joined, but somehow, I do not see all of them joining this zoom meeting. So, there must be some reason, we will find out. The idea is to remain in touch with each other through this WhatsApp Group, I request all of you to be active on this group and for any information that we would like to share or just to stay connected with each other.
At the same time, I am very happy to see the representative of the Korean Buddhist Taego Order in our meeting today, welcome to him. It would be nice if you could share your name, position and telephone number so you can be included in the WhatsApp group.
Mr. Hwang Jaehun, Korean Buddhist Taego Order: I will send my personal details but before that I would like to introduce myself briefly. I am Hwang Jaehun, Manager of International Affairs of the Korean Buddhist Taego Order. We would be happy to join this group and we can share information about Korean Buddhism and the Taego order, and also about how we can contribute to the peace movement. Thank you.
Sonam Wangchuk: I have one point, as most Ven. President Choijamts has said “we had a very good opportunity to meet in Bodhgaya” and I would like to thank all the NCs for their participation, and HQ for their cooperation. So, I think that was very important also because we gathered to celebrate the 90th birthday of HH the Dalai Lama. That sent a very good message across the world because it was ABCP 12th GA which had adopted the resolution to commemorate 6 July, the birthday of His Holiness, as the Universal Day of Compassion. Going forward, in another one week, we are going to have the 91st birthday celebration of HHDL and in this regard, I would like to call upon all the NCs to observe this day as Universal Day of Compassion. In India, we are doing it. HH is presently in Ladakh, where the people of Ladakh, the Buddhist Association of Ladakh and all the organisations are going to celebrate this day and HHDL will be himself present on that occasion. So, I urge all NCs to consider this point taking this opportunity when we are meeting today.
The Indian NC is planning to organise an event to celebrate the day in Bodhgaya on 6 July and we will update you on the activity later.
Another very important event in which we took part recently, a few weeks back, was the exposition of the holy relics of Sariputra and Maudgalyayana in Mongolia, which was organised by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Besides many dignitaries that accompanied the holy relics, our President Bakula Rinpoche was also there and the exposition of the holy relics marked a very sacred occasion and I think that the people of Mongolia have been very forthcoming and very enthusiastic about this occasion.
Besides that, ABCP Indian NC is carrying out its normal activities, including the scholarship scheme for the Buddhist monks in the name of the late Bakula Rinpoche and we are in touch with all the students, monks and listening to the problems they are facing, and we are trying to help them in anyway possible.
I have a few more points but I will be very brief. Indian NC has a suggestion to the HQ – we have many activities, other NCs are doing what they can, our suggestion is to celebrate the ABCP Foundation Day, on 13 of June, if that can be organised, in whatever way possible, jointly or individually, it would be nice. Because this provides you an opportunity to recall the past history of ABCP and our future activities, as well as to communicate with all the NCs on various activities they may be carrying out and there can be coordination and helping each other. If this becomes an annual feature people will prepare for it and come forward with new ideas and proposals.
ABCP magazine is of course a very important publication which the HQs has been carrying out for many years. We could have a special edition every year, if not every time, at least on this occasion, the ABCP Foundation Day, that could cover the activities of the whole year and the magazine can be distributed among our NCs and other international Buddhist organisations.
These are some of the ideas I wanted to share. Besides there was one item on the agenda, which we are not discussing the GA to be held in Vietnam because the Vietnamese are not present. But as for the participation of members from each NC I would suggest if it can be four members from every NC and this was the number that we gave last time, when we had the ExCo meeting in Vietnam. Besides other than four, if more people come then the NCs should take care of themselves over what will be done by the Vietnamese National Center, which will be the host NC. To begin with, we should have at least four members from each NC, this is just an idea, if that is agreeable to the host National Center.
Besides that, I think the NCs should organise events connected with the programs of ABCP, so I urge the NCs to come up with at least one event at their NCs related to ABCP work.
I am very happy to see Ven. Wimalasara from Sri Lanka, Shelu Barua from Bangladesh come to the meeting and I will wait for the MOU that you would like us to proceed with IBC, let us know and we will do whatever is required of us. Thank you.
Ven. Maitipe Wimalasara: Greetings from Sri Lanka. Our time is now 11.26 in the morning. Venerable members from our NC are with me and also Dr. Meggdod Abhayatissa is also participating from the Sumanatissa Chapter and as we met at Bodhgaya, this issue has come up, how we are going to cooperate with IBC. On that point, if you remember, I mentioned at the meeting that ABCP is much much older than IBC, and therefore, our ABCP’s rights, privileges are in seniority and is a capable organisation, and these points must be kept in mind when negotiating with IBC. This idea should be kept in mind when having the MOU with them – a reminder of our status.
About the GA meeting in Vietnam, I think at the end of coming December, as Mr. Sonam suggested four members from every NC and any number of delegates could participate, may I suggest that the numbers of observers and other members please be limited, otherwise as I mentioned last time, it could be a huge number and the Vietnamese hosts will have a big problem. It is also important that we have observers but they can come with their own ticket, but a limited number is the best way, that would be less burden on the Vietnamese NC. In other words, how many observers other than participants can participate from each center
Third point. We support the idea to make an APP on Buddhist cultural heritages in the ABCP countries as suggested by Nepal. We support this proposal which could be done but our website is more prominent. We also support the idea of congratulating Honourable Mr. Penpa Tsering who was sworn in as the Sikyong of CTA not long ago, which always had been a part of ABCP and we want to pay our respect, blessings and congratulate him on his appointment, that would help our ABCP activities.
If time allows at the end, I would like to say a few more words.
Gautam Arindam Barua, Bangladesh Center Two: My best regards to honourable President and Secretary General of ABCP, and we are very much happy to see both of you. I also feel happy to see Mr. Sonam ji and Mr. Burenbayar. I am also very happy to see our Korean member and Mr. Bista from Nepal, he is a very effective member of ABCP, always participating in our conversations. And Most Venerable from Sri Lanka, I am especially very grateful to him because he prayed for my ailing daughter during the Executive Council meeting in Hanoi. First of all, I want to express our utmost gratitude and thanks to Sonam ji, Deputy Secretary General of ABCP and Secretary of Indian National Center for organising a very historical meeting in India three months back. This meeting was historical in the sense that Sonam ji gave us opportunity to see all the holy places, including Bodhgaya. Thanks to Sonam ji for raising very important issues, like, in my opinion, we should celebrate the Foundation Day of ABCP. That is important because we are carrying out the activities of ABCP because of its foundation. We also like to recall the activities of the founding President, Secretary General and founding Executive Council Committee members, this is very important because I think we should recall them with proper respect every year. We would also love to celebrate the birth anniversary of our honourable President and Secretary General. This is my proposal so that we can recall them, we can convey our due respect to them on those important birthday dates. In Bangladesh it is a general culture to celebrate birthday of respected persons and seniors. At the end, I would like to raise a last point – during the Executive Council meeting in India, I shared my opinion with Burenbayar about making a peace song about ABCP. At that time, he appreciated my opinion, my feelings and I think music is a very strong means of communication and if you give me opinion, your decision then I can make a theme song, I can write, actually I can take the initiative to write, but you all need to share your opinion on the theme and what should be the song. If we can make a video of that song, we can accommodate all the activities of ABCP, all National Centers, including still shots and videos of different centers. So, I think this may be a very good way to be connected with each other, we can see in the video all the member countries. This will not be a very long song or video, some 5-7 minutes. And the language? The language will obviously be in English and I think Sonam ji can contribute to the song, because he is a song loving man and I think you make a committee and appoint Sonam ji the head of this committee, I think this is very important as it would be a theme song of ABCP and when we have an ExCo meeting or before starting any program in the future, we can start with this song. My all the best to everyone. Thank you.
Sonam Wangchuk: We leave this proposal to the HQ to take a call. I think it can be done.
SG Ven. Byambajav: Mr. Arindam Barua, you start working on it and we would like to say that the HQ supports your idea.
Arindam Barua: If you give me the approval I can start writing the song, because it is a matter of thinking, to accommodate all the countries, the mission of ABCP and the teachings of Buddha and the concept of peace. Actually, this will be our message.
Secretary Department of Culture CTA: Warm greetings to the President and Secretary General and all the Executive Council Members. I am from Dharamshala. My name is Jigme Namgyal, I took over the charge of Department of Culture a week before and today is the second day in this office. The two points that I wanted to add is that while listening to Mr. Mukunda Bista he had suggested an App for Buddhist Heritage. So, if there is any plan to develop that kind of APP, I would like to inform the members that the Department of Religion has an APP on all the Buddhist heritage and the APP is called Neykor (www.neykor.net/en), it’s a Tibetan word for pilgrimage. If anyone wants to download the APP from Google, go to the APP store and anyone can download the APP, this is what I wished to mention here.
ABCP HQ: The President and the Secretary General both know about this APP.
Mr. Jigme Namgyal: The second point that I wish to say is that if you plan to congratulate Sikyong Penpa Tsering, then he was sworn in on 27 May for the 17th Kashag. In the agenda it was mentioned 16th Kashag, this is just a technical issue, it is not a big issue, as Sikyong Penpa Tsering is sworn in as the President of the 17th and not the 16th Kashag.
ABCP HQ Burenbayar: I apologise, that was my oversight. We will send the message from the ABCP HQ.
Who is the next speaker. If there is nobody, the President would like to say a few concluding remarks.
Ven. Maitipe Wimalasara: Can you please give me one minute? Before coming to the concluding part, I would like to say when we have our GA in Vietnam, what should be the theme of the GA, second, the conference about AI and Buddhism for the academic conference?
ABCP HQ Burenbayar: As the President already mentioned in the beginning of our zoom meeting, Vietnam was supposed to join, I am in touch with Ven. Thich Nhat Tu’ss Secretary, today apparently, he has some physical activity, and he did not carry his phone and I could not reach him on his WhatsApp and as the President said, we will get in touch with Most Ven. Thich Nhat Tu and Prof Le Mahn That and get more details about the GA – the number of delegates, the number of observers, the theme of the GA and the academic conference. As our President said, please NCs share your thoughts by mail or WhatsApp, what the theme and subject of our GA would be, since we are a Buddhist peace organisation, and today we are living in a very turbulent where peace is very precarious. I will take the responsibility to get in touch with Most Ven. Thich Nhat Tu and Prof. Le Mahn That and as soon as I get in touch with them, I will try to share all the related information.
President Most Ven. Choijamts: I am happy at today’s zoom meeting. Many interesting proposals and suggestions have been made worthy of consideration. If National centers each one of them make good proposals and suggestions, and carry out their own activities effectively, then I think that can important contrbutions to the further development of ABCP. I also think it important to learn from and emulate good practices and expeirences of other Buddhist and other religious international organisations. We do carry out many interesting work to improve the status of our organisation, strengthening the member-base and projecting ABCP on the international arena. I have served as the President of the World Buddhist Supreme Conference (officially known as the Buddhist Summit) for nine years. Recently I received a letter from them, in which they asked me to leave in their will a message that when I pass away, I will send a portion of the ashes from the cremation to be placed at a Buddhist stupa being built by the Buddhist Summit, alongside the ashes of many noble monks who have been making efforts for global peace. At ABCP we must also write our history recalling the many generations of leaders of our organisation and its members who have been actively contributing to its goals, and I think this will be a good way of promoting our organization. I second the proposal made today by Mr. Sonam. I would also like to express my appreciation to our active members from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh for their many important proposals and suggestions. We have to leave behind our history and basing on this we need to carry out activities that promote the working and objectives of ABCP. Mr Sonam’s proposal to the celebrate annually the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as a Universal Day of Compassion is not related to politics at all. It is important to celebrate the birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is a winner of the Nobeal Peace Prize, and from among the Buddhists around the world, he is showing leadership in spreading Buddha’s teachings of compassion and harmony.
When I was serving as the Khambo lama of Gandan Monastery, the holy relics of the Buddha were brought to Mongolia, which were displayed at the Battsagaan Grand assembly hall which was always packed full by the believers to seek blessings from the holy relics. In this connection, I would also like to express our sincere appreciation to the Ministry of Culture, Government of Mongolia and the Indian National Center for ABCP. I think our National Centers also can do similar activity, which would be an important contribution to promoting the teachings of Buddha and spreading his blessings far and widee, and I wish you all success in this kind of activity. I also think we could also organise Buddhist tourism to imprtant Buddhist religious and cultural sites in our membr countries, for exmaple to Sri Lanka which has the teeth relic of the Buddha. If we can arrange such a tourism to such important Buddhist heritage sites, we will be able to improve our mutual relations as well. Thank you to everyone and I am sure our Secretay General and the HQ will work to relise into concrete actions the proposals and suggestions that were made today.
ENDS/-
