The three-day World Buddhist summit in Rangoon continued Friday under a mantle of tight security. A resident in downtown Rangoon said in a telephone conversation that the government appeared to be worried about the prospect of protests on the edge of the controversial gathering.

More than 1,000 Buddhist monks from around the world are attending the summit. A number of government leaders from neighboring countries were at Thursday’s opening.

Monks at the opening of a world Buddhist summit in Burma amid pomp and ceremony.

For the junta, the summit’s religious nature appears to outweigh any political significance, and junta leaders at the meeting have made little mention of Burma’s deepening political and social crisis.

In an address to the opening session, for instance, Sr-Gen Than Shwe kept to religious themes, saying “the timeless teaching of Lord Buddha is very relevant and essential to save humanity (from) craving, desire and suffering.”

In today’s times, he said, “the world is witnessing numerous conflicts and crimes. All those evils result from greed (lobha), anger (dosa) and delusion (moha). We should rid the world of the roots of all evils and sow the seeds of goodwill, tolerance, kindness and altruism for the sake of peace and prosperity.”

Than Shwe recommended the Lord Buddha’s fourfold message of  loving kindness (metta), compassion (karuna), joy and equanimity (upekkha). They were the best path for humanity to “peace and harmony.”

In contrast, Than Shwe told visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday that his government is not ready to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Thaksin said the junta chairman had told him in private talks that Suu Kyi could not be released because on three previous occasions when she had been freed from detention “difficulties” had arisen.

Prime Minister Soe Win also prompted controversy in his own speech to the meeting, by saying: “Myanmar is a country, which received the teachings of the Buddha in his lifetime. According to religious chronicles, the Buddha visited Myanmar three times.”

Some Burmese Buddhist scholars reacted to this quickly. Khin Maung Soe, a Burmese writer who studied Buddhism told The Irrawaddy that during the time of Buddha there was no Burma or Myanmar nation. According to history, Buddha travelled only within India. “There was no historical record that he had been to a land now known as Burma,” the writer said.

Human rights groups and opposition organizations in exile slammed the summit and called for a boycott of the meeting because of the military government’s poor human right record. 

The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) said international delegates should stay away from the summit because about 300 monks were in Burmese jails.

Before the summit, the Burmese government announced that delegates from 37 nations had been invited. 

The Japanese Nenbutsushu sect decided not to attend the meeting following the government shake up in October in which Prime Minister and spy chief Gen Khin Nyunt was sacked.

According to official figures, there are nearly 400,000 monks in Burma. More than 80 percent of Burma’s 50 million people are Theravada Buddhist.

The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that the summit would issue a declaration when it finishes on Saturday.

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The objectives of the World Buddhist Summit being organized by the Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Union of Myanmar are: 

• to promote friendship, mutual understanding and cooperation among the Buddhist countries
• to maintain Buddha’s teachings and practice among the Buddhist countries
• to promote Buddhistic education based on the studies of Buddhist scriptures in nations of the world
• to create the peaceful world by the Buddhists for all humanbeing
• to propagate the original teaching of the Buddha in the world.