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WORLD THE WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF BUDDHISTS
BUDDHIST 616 SUKHUMVIT 24, Bangkok 10110
UNIVERSITY THAILAND

Phra Shakyavongsvisuddhi (Anil Sakya)
Rector

Abhinandanasūcaka – Congratulatory Message

The World Fellowship of Buddhists (The WFB), founded in B.E. 2493 (1950), is a unique
religious organisation in the world. It marked the first world Buddhist organisation in history
when Buddhists, both laity and monastics, of nearly all lineages in the world represented and
assembled for the same purpose of ‘One Buddhism’. It was indeed very wise farsighted vision of
The WFB founder members who foresaw a global problem of religious diversities. As a perfect
prevention, The WFB was founded on the basic philosophy of ‘unity in diversity’ among all
Buddhist groups.
Since its inception, The WFB has dedicated its contribution to preserve and promote the
founding spirit of The WFB i.e. keeping all Buddhist lineages under one very roof with harmony
and happiness. The work for ‘One Buddhism’ has so far expanded in various fields worldwide.
Significantly, The WFB expanded its contributions specialising to Buddhist youth under the
sub-organisation of the World Fellowships of Buddhist Youth (WFBY) and specialising on
academic affairs under the sub-organisation of the World Buddhist University (WBU). This
year the Japan Buddhist Federation is compassionately hosting the 29 General Conference
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of The WFB, the 20 General Conference of the WFBY, and the 11 Meeting of the WBU
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Council in Japan. On behalf of the WBU I would like to express my sincere appreciation and
congratulations to the JBF for the noble effort.
One of the Buddha’s first instructions to his first 60 disciples was ‘lokānukampāya’ which
generally translates as ‘out of compassion for the world.’ When Buddha instructed this what
he truly meant was ‘compassion in action,’ the main theme of the conference. Etymologically,
it can also means when a help is delivered [one’s mind should] ‘be trembled by suffering of
others’ or empathy. Accordingly, compassion is not a mere mental virtue but it is something
we all have to act upon in daily basis. Therefore, compassion, in other words, is transforming a
‘self-centred passion’ to a ‘common passion.’
The role of the WBU under The WFB is just exactly to materialise ‘compassion in action’ to
achieve its mother organisation’s goal in every effort.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Japan Buddhist Federation for being an
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excellent host of the 29 WFB General Conference and the 11 Meeting of the WBU Council.
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I wish the conference successful deliberations.

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RECORD OF PROCEEDING | THE 29 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE WFB
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