Time to revive ancient knowledge: Dalai Lama

BENGALURU: Stating that the whole of Buddhism is based on knowledge acquired from ancient Indian civilisation, Tibetan spiritual guru, the Dalai Lama said the time has come to revive ancient Indian knowledge.

Delivering the keynote address at a state-level seminar on ‘Social Justice and Dr B.R. Ambedkar’ organised by the state social welfare department on Tuesday, the Dalai Lama said the problems associated with the caste system would automatically vanish with the spread of knowledge. Birth and death affect all human beings but still a lot of disparities exist. No religion teaches inequality which is the result of feudalism. Only proper education and spread of knowledge will help in the elimination of the feudalistic mindset, he said.

Among the three great civilizations - Egyptian, Chinese and Indus valley, the Indus valley civilization was knowledge based. Though Buddhism originated in the neighbouring country, the entire knowledge was acquired from India. For over a thousand years, Buddhist teachers spent time studying and imparting this knowledge and as a result, Buddhism had spread across Asia, the Dalai Lama said. Buddhism popularised the message of compassion and inner peace, which came from studying Indian knowledge. These two concepts are very much relevant in the present world which faces a lot of troubles. Everybody has the right to be happy and there is a need for a feeling of oneness, the Dalai Lama added.