DHARAMSHALA: Kalon Pema Chhinjor of the Department of Religion and Culture today inaugurated a day-long conference of Tibetan religious scholars at the Lhakpa Tsering hall. The conference is organised by the Department of Religion and Culture, Central Tibetan Administration.

Speaking at the inaugural, Kalon Pema Chhinjor talked about the rich traditions of Tibetan cultural heritage and wisdom. He stressed on the importance of specialised studies of the five great treatises to understand the deeper underlying meanings of these Tibetan Buddhist concepts and theories.

He lauded the efforts of Tibetan Buddhist scholars and lamas to create more awareness about the issue of Tibet. At the same time, he urged them to continue expanding the horizons of their knowledge and reach out to as many people as possible.

He also said that the department of religion maintain cordial relations with more than 700 Buddhist institutions around the globe. All these  institutions recognise the contribution of Tibetan Buddhism towards the overall Buddhist community, he said.

Ten scholars from the various schools of Tibetan Buddhism including Jonang tradition and Bon Religion are attending the conference. The participants will discuss issues related to specialised studies of the five great treatises of the Tibetan Buddhist canons namely Abhidharma, Prajna Paramita, Madhyamaka, Pramana and Vinaya.

The two primary agendas of this conference are to select several candidates from a pool of applicants who will undergo a specialised course on any one of the five major treatises of the Tibetan canons. The course will be fully-funded by the department of religion. The other agenda of the conference will be to discuss a strategy to make the course program more effective and relevant.

The conference will be moderated by Secretary Ven. Norbu Dhonden from the Department of Religion and Culture.