On March 22, 2014, the Institute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP) hosted the 29th Annual Conference at Soka University in Tokyo, Japan. Dr. F. Gombrich, Founder-President, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies (OCBS) delivered a keynote lecture titled, “The Possibility of Buddhism for the Future of Humankind.” In his lecture he claimed, “What is needed is not that people should learn to love their enemies, only that they should stop hating them. Buddhism does have potential for helping mankind to survive if it can persuade people to abandon their obsession with righting past wrongs, and instead for each one to concentrate on purifying their own mind and conduct.”

Following the keynote lecture, Dr. Suren Rāghavan, Senior Fellow in Political Science at OCBS delivered his lecture titled, “(De)ethnicizing Buddhism for a Globalized World Order.” He stressed that the urgent need of contemporary Buddhism is to be able to live above its immediate ethnonational identities and engage with issues concerning the whole of humanity.