DHARAMSHALA: His Holiness the Dalai Lama returned to Dharamshala this afternoon after successfully concluding the “Meeting of Diverse Spiritual Traditions in India”, at New Delhi from 20-21 September. The meeting was aimed to celebrate diversity of spiritual and religious traditions that enrich each other through dialogue, while still retaining their own individual characteristics and practices.
The meeting participants adopted a declaration to foster harmony and tolerance in society through inter-religious dialogue.
Below is the gist of the Delhi Declaration Adopted at the Meeting of India’s Diverse Spiritual Traditions – 2014
We, the participants of the meeting of “Diverse Spiritual Traditions in India” held in New Delhi on September 20th& 21st 2014 at the initiative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, recognize India’s ancient civilizational heritage celebrating the diversity of spiritual and religious traditions that enrich each other through dialogue, while still retaining their own individual characteristics and practices;
We also recognize that the values of altruism, self-discipline and compassion are common to all faiths and that they are the bedrock of the shared future of our diverse local communities, our cherished Bharat and an interdependent world;
We acknowledge that our own happiness and progress is dependent on that of others; that we are born and grow up with different mental dispositions because of the diversity of our social and cultural environments, which influence our spiritual and religious journeys that seek to reduce suffering and attain happiness;
We appreciate that religious harmony is imperative for the social and economic development of our diverse peoples and commend the diversity and the shared values that unite us as a constitutionally secular country that is inclusive and enriches us all.
It is against this backdrop that we, together, declare this day that we:
· Recognize and promote the right of each individual to practice his or her own tradition, without intruding on the rights of others
· Expand our shared spaces and the heritage of our traditions while respecting differences
· Foster inter-religious dialogue, starting at the grassroots,with an informed exchange of ideas and interaction across all stakeholders including the Government, civil society groups and the media.
· Strive to ensure that religion is not abused or exploited to create conflict and disharmony, in particular for political or other ulterior motives
· Promote social and economic equity, especially by educating and empowering the poor, the disadvantaged and the disenfranchised, regardless of caste, creed, gender or religion
· Work for the empowerment of women and the cessation of discrimination against them, in particular on religious grounds
· Promote shared ethical and moral values that go beyond any one religion, in particular in our education system, so that we may reach out to positively influence future generations
· Strive to work within our respective communities to reassess our practices and rituals so that they are more responsive and relevant to evolving social realities and individual aspirations – while remaining true to their essence and origins
· Unite with people of all religions, including those who follow none, to work together to address the many issues and challenges that confront humankind and our interdependent futures
· Come together to meet the challenges of natural disasters– from climate change to conservation of our common reserves of water and energy and eradication of diseases
· Agree to strongly disapprove of and oppose violence in any form,especially when it is used in the name of any religion
· Pledge to nurture universal human rights and the protection of personal freedoms; to work together to harmonize our collective wisdom into a unified voice to prevent interfaith conflicts or avert their escalation
· To commit ourselves to a spirit of universal responsibility drawn together by our shared humanity that fosters true sisterhood and brotherhood
