Workshops on Religion, Dialog, and Commitment - Bangalore, July 2006

Several workshops were organised at Fireflies (Bangalore, India) on the theme Inter-religious dialogue and conflict resolution and Socially Engaged Hinduism, end July 2006. The Charter was disseminated to all the participants of the workshop.

There were more than 40 participants including scholars, religious leaders and activists from all over India, Sri Lanka, USA and other countries. At this workshop we enthusiastically discussed the responsibility of religious and secular persons in bringing peace and harmony between different religious communities in South Asia. Prof. Ramachandra Gandhi , a philosopher, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, emphasised the notion of responsibility, which was very dear to Mahatma Gandhi and whose actions were based on his deep faith in Responsible action and reciprocity.

Maybe for the first time ever in India there was a dialogue among Hindu scholars and Hindu religious leaders to discuss on Compassionate Hinduism and their responsibility for a peaceful coexistence.

A well known Buddhist scholar from Sri Lanka, Prof. Nalin Swaris , also participated in the workshops. He is highly appreciative of the Charter. In fact, he has changed the title of his book for 2nd edition from Buddhism, Human Rights and Social Renewal (1st edition) to Buddha Dhamma, Human Rights and Responsibilities and Social Renewal. He has acknowledged The Charter in his foreword.

Here is an extract of from his Foreword:

Rights and Responsibilities
During a recent visit to the socially engaged Fireflies Ashram in Bangalore, India, I had a very fruitful discussion about the forgotten aspect of human responsibility. This has been embodied in the Charter of Human Responsibilities proposed by the Lille Assembly of World Citizens in 2002. This discussion further sharpened my insight into the social dimension of the Buddha’s Teaching – an intrinsic aspect of which is respect and responsibility for all life forms and the living environment. This goes further than the demands of a rights regimen.
The Buddha insisted that moral regeneration is the indispensable precondition for social renewal. He saw humane social relationships as a system of balanced reciprocities or mutual responsibilities. This is evident in his teachings on politics and on the righteous regulation of economic relations (Chapters 7 to 9). I therefore felt it is important to complement the discourse on Human Rights with emphasis on Human Responsibilities as well. Today’s globalized market forces, because devoid of moral considerations, are based on negative reciprocity or unequal relations of exchange, where what is taken is more than what it is given. Market forces are also utterly irresponsible with regard to the resources of the living environment which are plundered and exploited at will and without restraint.
My aim in this study is not to provide a comparative study of the Buddha’s Teaching and formally codified laws, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. My approach was philosophical rather than juridical - to conduct an investigation into the philosophical assumptions which underlie Western discourse on human rights. What is the genealogy of the Western discourse on rights? On what basis are some rights regarded as ‘fundamental’? What is the assumed and implied foundation of rights regarded as ‘universal’? After clarification of the premises underpinning Western Philosophy of Right, I proceeded to compare these with the basic principles of the Buddha’s Teaching. Since the current human rights discourse originated in the West, I considered it necessary to first clarify to non Western, non Christian readers, the historical moorings or the genealogy of ‘secular’ Western discourse in Greek philosophy and Christian theology…

Regional networking and dissemination of the Charter in Sri Lanka
Another way forward is that the Charter has reached Sri Lanka through Prof. Nalin Swaris. After participating in the workshops in South India, he has shared several copies of the Charter both in English and Tamil language among his friends who are in Human Rights, development issues and also to Sarvodaya, a well known NGO in Sri Lanka. They have all shown keen interest in the Charter as they expressed it was right time to discuss about the responsibilities in the Sri Lankan situation.
We have encouraged him to get the Charter document translated.