Third ABCP General Conference- Delhi

THIRD ABCP GENERAL CONFERENCE

The Third ABCP General Conference was held in New Delhi, India from 1-3 November 1974. It was attended by over 200 delegates, guests and observers from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Japan, USSR, Malaysia, Mongolian People’s Republic, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, representing over 20 organizations and monasteries as well as League of Korean Buddhists in Japan and the Federation of Overseas Vietnamese Buddhists in Paris.

The Third ABCP General Conference decided to call the organization “Asian Buddhists Conference for Promoting Peace” with its Executive Council and Headquarters in Ulan-Bator (now Ulaanbaatar). It noted that the Asian Buddhists Conference for Promoting Peace is an independent and voluntary movement of Asian Buddhists, symbolizing the innermost aspirations of the disciples of Lord Buddha, to promote peace and justice, and to enhance human dignity and that this movement shall strive for the establishment of peace and justice in Asia and the world through the application of compassion, the fundamental of the sacred teachings of Lord Buddha.

The General report at the Conference was delivered by the Most Ven. Khambo Lama S. Gombojav, President of ABCP on the present tasks facing Asian Buddhists peace movement. The activities carried out since the second conference of the ABCP by the affiliated member organizations were also discussed. H.E. Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, President of the Republic of India, delivered an inaugural address and messages of greetings from Heads of states and political leaders as well as from peace, public and religious international organizations were also read out.

The Third ABCP General Conference concluded with the Adoption of the Delhi Declaration and a “Special Resolution on the current situation in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, reflecting the importance of the struggle for establishing stable peace in South-East Asia as one of the essential tasks of the Asian Buddhists.”

THE NEW DELHI DECLARATION

We, the representatives of progressive Buddhists, delegated by Buddhist organizations, striving for peace and justice in Asia and the world and for enhancing human dignity around the emerging national centers with solid or yet-fluid forms, best-suited to the circumstances prevailing in the respective locality, gathered at the call of Asian Buddhists Committee for Promoting Peace from  1-3 November B.E. 2518, in the 3^rd Conference of the Committee, held at New Delhi, the most beautiful capital of re-born India, yet the most ancient and sacred land where our Great Teacher, Sakyamuni, the Buddha, got enlightened.

The delegates and observers of the following countries took part in this conference: Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, P.R.G. of South Vietnam, and USSR, as well as representatives of Vietnamese Buddhist Association in Paris of the 3rd Component of Vietnam and the Korean Buddhist Federation in Japan. We heard the General Report submitted by the president of ABCP, the Most Ven. Khambo Lama, Samagiin Gombojav, the reports of leaders of all the national centers and messages of distinguished personalities of our faith and went on to deliberate upon the materials placed before us in two specific Commissions. And now, emerging out of thorough going study of our fundamental approach for establishing peace in this part and the whole of the world, with the background of abundant Buddhist concepts of peace in our canonical richest at stores;

• And of the measures, both of long and short terms, how to unite and activate the great bulk of millions of Asian Buddhists to strong formidable peace force;
• Rising above the differences of Creeds;
• And placing ourselves in the prevailing situation;

We came up to declare to the Asian Buddhists, prepared to raise on their feet, that we have succeeded to get set and go forward in an organizational manner to formulate a forum, “ASIAN BUDDHISTS CONFERENCE FOR PROMOTING PEACE”, an independent and genuinely voluntary movement, aspiring for peace and justice. Having tried to act upon to the urges of the last two consecutive conferences of ABCPP, which we had recognized the spring-head of COMPASSION having witnessed the cruelty of wars, in our parts of the world including Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Korean and Indo-China Peninsula and Bangladesh, not to speak of the two World Wars; Having heard the features of off-balanced arms-race at the expense of starving masses, initiated and promoted by the imperialist forces and countered by the peace forces of the world; Having witnessed tremendously reinforced aggressive military alliances, and chain reaction of nuclear and other war-preparedness both in its totality and in operational theatre and sub-theatre’s levels in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean; Taking serious note of the combative measures pregnant with the fascist repressions below 38 Parallel in Korea and serious complaints of poverty, hunger and social segregation, still continuing unabated; And lastly but primarily having witnessed the brutality and persisting agony of war in Indo-China conducted through the neo-colonialist policy; And further having recognized the Asian characters, i.e.:

• Majority of Asians being of our faith;
• So long been victimized under imperialism and colonialism, old and new;
• Economically need to be developed further to eliminate hunger and poverty;
• Divided so sharply by the colonialist policy;
• Thus the paramount need for us today is for unity and solidarity among ourselves;
• Yet majority of our brethren need to be activated from their idle contemplation to enable them to participate more actively and conscientiously in their social affairs.;

We declare that our attitude towards peace in Asia, therefore, primarily has to be one that refuses imperialist aggression and colonial domination, old and new, that combines the peace of mind within and peace without. We will advance our movement firstly and basically to cut all evils at their root, to remove sufferings of all and to strive for the benefit of all; and for towards this end consolidate a united Great Sangha of Asia, an organization around the Tathagata’s Compassion, Karuna and Metta. Our basic approach to peace being such, we declare, we are in concord with every norm of Buddhist concept for peace, starting from the Dialectic Law of Relatively, Four Noble Truths, Patita-Samputpada, Eight-Fold Right Paths or Sapta-Paramita. We declare that only by doing so we can add the treasure store of brilliant cultural heritage of our fore-runners and then leave them for our prosperous followers for generations to come. We confess with regret that we have done only a little. We declare that our confidence in a tremendously large scope of activity and broad perspectives, now opening up before us, towards a future, pregnant with glory and bliss, like a glittering diamond, is unbreakable by any destructive force.

Our organizations shall be called hereinafter as the “ASIAN BUDDHISTS CONFERENCE FOR PROMOTING PEACE” with its Executive Council and Headquarters in Ulan-Bator. The Asian Buddhists Conference for Promoting Peace is an independent and voluntary movement of Asian Buddhists, symbolizing the innermost aspirations of the disciples of Lord Buddha, to promote peace and justice and to enhance human dignity. This movement shall strive for the establishment of peace and justice in Asia and the world through application of Compassion, the fundamental of the sacred teachings of Lord Buddha. The Aims and Objectives of the Asian Buddhist Conference for promoting peace shall be as follows:

1. To disseminate Buddhist concepts of peace and justice among all peoples of Asia;
2. To achieve close cooperation through concerted action among Asian Buddhists for promoting peace and justice in Asia and the world;
3. To unite all Asian Buddhists to oppose imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism and achieve, uphold, and defend national independence;
4. To oppose aggressive military alliances and setting up of foreign military bases on Asian soil in the neighboring seas;
5. To strive for the complete prohibition of nuclear and other mass destructive weapons (their production, testing, stockpiling and use) and work for total disarmament;
6. To eradicate hunger, poverty, ignorance, discrimination, exploitation, economic injustice and religious intolerance and segregation, and to promote social equality, economic progress, religious harmony and universal brotherhood; and,
7. To cooperate and collaborate with other peace and solidarity movements of religious and non-religious nature working for similar objectives.

Our organization shall consist of Buddhist monasteries, temples, organizations, group and individuals sincerely seeking to promote and realize the aims and objectives stipulated in this Declaration. Our organization is committed to unite around the singular national centers in each and every country with a view to further consolidate them. We set forth, thereupon, an immediate task for the following concerted common actions:

1. United action for recognition of PRG of RSV (Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam), GRUNK (Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea or in French Gouvernement Royal d’Union Nationale du Kampuché) and DRV (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) as the sole, legitimate and legal representatives of the people of South Vietnam, Cambodia and for the autonomous, peaceful reunification of Korea.
2. United action for the isolation of Nguyen Van Thieu, Lon Nol and Park Chung Hi and in particular, for the strengthening of the support for the current struggle of South Vietnamese people and the Buddhists to overthrow Thieu.
3. United action for an International agreement to completely prohibit Nuclear Weapons.
4. United action against foreign military bases set up on the soil of Asia and for the abrogation of aggressive military alliances and for a genuine and durable peace and security in Asia.
5. United and concerted action for the implementation of the Aims and Objectives enumerated herein before.

We take refuge in the Triple Gem.