PREPARATIONS are nearing completion for the fourth World Buddhist Summit to be held in Yangon in December, the deputy director general of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, U Htin Myo, said last week.

It will be the first time that Myanmar has hosted the event, which is held every two years.

U Htin Myo said basic amenities had been prepared at the three venues for the summit: the Maha Parsana Cave and the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University in the Kaba Aye Pagoda compound on Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, and the convocation hall of the National Pariyatti Sasana University on Pan Pin Gyi Road, in Mayangone township.

The three-day summit will begin on December 9.
“The opening ceremony of the summit will be held at the Maha Parsana Cave and will be followed by meetings of delegates at all three venues,” he said.

U Htin Myo said Myanmar planned to invite about 150 delegates from Buddhist organisations in about 30 countries. About 2000 observers were expected to attend the summit, as well as more than 300 Myanmar monks.

“We are still involved in discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies about whom to invite to make sure they travel to Myanmar with no intention other than to attend the summit,” he said.

For the benefit of lay persons who wanted to follow the proceedings of the summit, two pandals equipped with closed-circuit television monitors and capable of seating a total of 1000 people would be erected near the Maha Parsana Cave.

U Htin Myo said the summit will focus on the dissemination of Theravada Buddhism throughout the international community.

Theravada Buddhism is the predominant form of the religion in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Sri Lanka. It is regarded as adhering more closely to the original teachings of the Lord Buddha than Mahayana Buddhism, the other main ‘school’ of the religion.

U Htin Myo said the summit would also help the international community to develop a better understanding of the development of Buddhism in Myanmar.
Members of the Myanmar delegation had finalised papers to be presented at the summit on the propagation and development of The-ravada Buddhism in Myan-mar, he said.

Following the summit, delegates will have the opportunity to join a pilgrimage arranged by the government to such destinations as Bagan and Mandalay from December 12 to 14.

The last World Buddhist Summit was held in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, in 2002. The first summit was held in Japan and the second in Thailand.