In New Delhi: Professor Robert AF Thurman, co-founder and president of the Tibet House in New York, backed India’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. He claimed that while the five permanent members of the UNSC are unable to settle disputes diplomatically and are involved in wars, India has the potential to bring peace to the world.

He declared, “Today in the UN, the five permanent security council members are the five largest arms dealers on the planet, thus they inevitably won’t achieve peace. This needs to change, for instance, India, a sizable nation, should be a permanent member of the Security Council. You know, Brazil, Germany, Japan, and not simply the five individuals who believe they have won the

He said that India has every right to serve as the gathering place for all Buddhists since it has consistently upheld the nonviolent ethic and led the way towards world peace rather than using war, as some nations have done to annex neighbouring nations.

Additionally, he has received India’s Padma Shri Award.

Professor Robert AF Thurman referred to India as the country of Lord Buddha, Lord Mahavira, and Mahatma Gandhi, and claimed that India has been advancing peace through Buddhism.

Well, I see it in terms of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said earlier yesterday when he indicated that India adheres to the principle of non-violence and peace rather than war or as many countries, their major effort or

He continued by saying that while assaulting an adversary abroad to defend your country is legal, invading or occupying a country is “terrible”.

He made the comments while travelling to New Delhi to attend the Global Buddhist Summit. He stated, “They (US) had a right to attack their enemies in Afghanistan who bombed in New York but after that to occupy a country was a terrible mistake as obviously…and now Russia has invaded Ukraine and that is really terrible.”

The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) and the Ministry of Culture are working together to host the two-day summit. The Global Buddhist Summit is centred around the idea of “Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis.”

He claimed that because India is the country where Buddha was born, it has every right to serve as the gathering place for all Buddhists. Speaking to ANI, he added, “India has never invaded anyone—they weren’t faultless, of course, but they had to defend themselves on the other side, and so India has a right to declare nonviolence is the country’s guiding philosophy because of Gandhi, Buddha, Mahavira, and Jains. That makes sense. Although the modern nation of India, of course, did not exist at that time, there were many other minor countries, it also happens to be the location on the subcontinent where Buddha was born. They therefore have every right to serve as the location where all Buddhists congregate.

He said, “His Holiness,” in reference to the Dalai Lama’s speech at the Global Buddhist Summit. The Dalai Lama, who came today and greatly blessed this conference. Since the world wars signalled the end of colonialism globally, he consistently asserts—and has been doing so for 30 years—that the twenty-first century must be a century of peace. Unfortunately, there have been horrific conflicts throughout the first 23 years of this century, and my country (the US) is somewhat to blame for the unwarranted wars.

Every citizen in the world, he claimed, needs freedom, and he referred to India as a free nation. Freedom is a necessity that individuals have, he claimed, therefore

In response to a query about China’s expansionist policies, he described dictatorships as dangerous since they had to repress their own populations while Chinese people value freedom.

“Well, you know, the risk of a dictatorship is that the ruler must repress their own people since it is untrue that Chinese people aren’t the same as other humans who dislike freedom because they are. According to some ideas, Chinese people don’t want democracy and instead pretend to be Westerners, or something equally absurd. In reality, Chinese people are just people, and everyone wants to be free, including those who live in a family, he told ANI.

They don’t want to be entirely controlled by one person, and they won’t be creative if they aren’t free to express their talent.I consider dictatorships as dangerous because their own people dislike being dictated to by the ruler, so to speak. Therefore, the dictator must convince the populace that there is an enemy, try to divert their hatred towards them or a foreigner, and incite a conflict. This is a time-tested principle that everyone can see in history. Therefore, we don’t need local government because individuals can express their opinions freely and if they disagree, there may be quarrels and battles locally because

“Buddhism can achieve that; the Dalai Lama’s phrase, “World peace through inner peace,” meaning that if individuals learn to maintain self-control and be amiable, kind, and peaceful towards one another. They won’t experience conflict or violence then. The world would get along and have fewer conflicts if individuals saw one another as members of a family, according to Professor Robert AF Thurman.