Miscellaneous - This Day That Age

dated June 17, 1959: Teachings of Buddha

The President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, speaking at the International Buddhist Centre in Colombo on June 16, after unveiling the replica of the statue of the Buddha at Sarnath which he presented to the centre, said that mankind with all its achievements in the world of science and technology was in sore need of that spiritual element in its mental and moral equipment which only a message like that of the Buddha could give. The President spoke of “the phenomenal revival of interest in Buddhism in India” and said, “it seems as if centuries of foreign domination had cast a spell and covered from our eyes the serene rays of an invaluable gem, which the touch of freedom served to show up in all its resplendence. Though Buddhism as an organised religion had ceased to function in the land of its birth, its principal tenets which had emanated from Indian thought and make-up had been re-assimilated in Hinduism and Buddha himself had been accepted and worshipped as an avtar of Vishnu.”

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