The Buddhist Fraternity Movement held its first national-level symposium on December 17 and 18 at the Spoorthidharma Cultural Centre in Bengaluru. The conference was attended by Bahujans from various states, including Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The conference started on the morning of December 17 where the participants vowed to take refuge in the core values of Buddhism, namely Buddha (enlightenment), Dhamma (the ethical value system) and Sangha (monastic community of monks and nuns). Discussions were also held on how it was important for people of Scheduled Castes (SC) across the country to be united under one cultural umbrella with the help of Buddhism, the need for a national organisation for Navayana Buddhism, the history of Buddhism in India and how it was sidelined from the land of its origin.
The need for a Buddhist revolution was discussed during the conference as well. It was discussed that Buddha’s Dhamma was a response to the Brahaminical Sanatana Dharma, where ethics was defined by per-ordained birth based on social order. Meanwhile, Buddha’s Dhamma called for ethics where every human is seen as equal despite their social circumstances. The conference also discussed the need for reiterating Buddha’s Dhamma while battling the injustices that are being meted out against minorities.
The conference further discussed an action plan for the upcoming year and discussion points that needed further deliberation. Some of the action plans included framing and regulating Viharas as cultural centres for spiritual discourse and community life, getting monks to engage socio-politically and act as peacekeepers in the community, organising mass conversions as a political strategy, establishing a National Bahujan Buddhist Organisation and producing more feminist interpretations of Buddhism and hidden Buddhist values in Tamil culture. Another initiative that was discussed at the conference was to create a Learning Teaching English Movement where English classes for 100 school/college students from Karnataka will be organised through Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Writings and Speeches (BAWS).