When His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet endorsed a powerful appeal for peace by the Holy Father, Pope Leo, during Palm Sunday Mass on 31 March 2026, he drew global attention to the great spiritual traditions of all religions. “The Holy Father’s call for laying down of arms and renunciation of violence resonated profoundly with me, as it speaks to the very essence of what all major religions teach. Indeed, whether we look to Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism the message is fundamentally the same: love, compassion, tolerance, and self-discipline.

Violence finds no true home in any of these teachings. History has shown us time and again that violence only begets more violence and is never a lasting foundation for peace,” he said. To commemorate Vesākha or Buddha Purnima on 1 May 2026, teachings of compassion, love and peace of Buddha become more significant when brutalities of war, genocide are unleashing untold sufferings on millions of people. Global citizens invariably question: Why was Buddha ~ also referred to as Śakyamuni Buddha and Siddhārtha Gautama ~ so concerned about peace and harmony?

The Dalai Lama explained, “We all want happiness and do not want suffering. Even people who have no religious belief can benefit if they incorporate these human values of compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline into their lives.” Human values are universal and eternal as is clearly evidenced in the Grand International Exposition “The Light and the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One”, inaugurated in New Delhi on 3 January 2026. The Awakened One refers to Buddha who spread the message of peace and kindness 2600 years ago from the heartland of the Indian sub-continent.

Drawn by the resilience of these human values, Heads of State, leaders of India and overseas, thousands of Buddhists and lay people are thronging the Exposition to experience, and be blessed by, the teachings of Śakyamuni Buddha in our age of violence. “Hatred does not cease by hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through non-hatred. This is an eternal law,” it is stated in Dhammapada (Yamaka Vagga, Verse 5) and finds a prominent place in the Exposition catalogue. Such verses are integral to the core doctrine of Buddha’s teachings ~ the Four Noble Truths. “This the Noble Truth of Suffering.

This the Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering. This the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering. This is the Noble Truth of the Path Leading towards the Cessation of Suffering,” explained Buddha when he delivered his first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sūtra, at ��ipattana near Varanasi. For the next forty-five years he taught the Dharma, demonstrating to lay people the pathways to achieve the end of suffering by following the Eight-fold Path: with the Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration ~ often called the Middle Path for it is neither highly indulgent, esoteric nor is it strictly ascetic.

Dukkha or suffering is central to the doctrine of Buddha and he provided reasons for the suffering which was afflicting individuals, families and communities. The reasons are purely and solely human ~ they are desire, attachment, greed, pride, aversion, and ignorance. Among these reasons, it is desire which is the cause of suffering, and it is through the cessation or removal of desire that suffering can cease. This universal equation, simply stated by Buddha, continues to shape our lives and destinies when nations are at war and community-members are at each other’s throats.

How then are conflicts to be resolved? How then can bombings, bullets and bloodshed cease? Modern Buddhist scholars point out the Buddha put conflict in the context of the first noble truth and traced the root cause of every conflict to some unwholesome state of the human mind. “Thus, in order to permanently solve conflicts, Buddhism would suggest that these unwholesome states be uprooted through mindfulness of our habitual behavioural patterns. According to recent literature, this would be the contribution of the Buddha’s teaching to the problem of conflict resolution: inner peace must be achieved first if we want outer peace,” commented the Japanese scholar Juichiro Tanabe in ‘Exploring a Buddhist Peace Theory’.

Does this mean that the Buddha overlooked the external dimensions of peace? Buddhist scholars see a priority of the mind over social and institutional structures and would agree that conditions of the outer world are dependent on internal conditions of human beings both individually and collectively. At ‘The Light and the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One’, visitors come face to face with the inner and outer life of Buddha, his disciples and the worlds they inhabited. Through a selection of rare artefacts ~ stone coffers, inscriptions, sculptures, manuscripts, metal objects and paintings, Buddha’s life and spirituality come alive.

From Indian Museum, Kolkata, is the stone sculpture ‘Seated Buddha in bodhyanga mudrā’, dated to C. 2nd Century CE of the Kushana period and is an exquisite example of the Gandhara school of art, from the north-western part of undivided India. “We see the seated Buddha in meditation in the serene padmāsana (lotus pose), embodying spiritual concentration. The heavy folds of the robe (Sa�ghā�ī) that fall across the body and its realistic treatment is a hallmark of Gandhāran art, influenced by Greco-Roman sculpture.

The robe covering only one shoulder is an influence of Mathura School of Art on Gandhāran art which flourished simultaneously,” explained the curator Dr Savita Kumari, who is Associate Professor and HeadDepartment of History of Art, Indian Institute of Heritage, New Delhi. “The hands are placed in the dharmacakra mudrā (the gesture of Turning the Wheel of Dharma), directly referencing the moment of the Buddha’s first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sūtra,” said Dr Savita, pointing out that this seminal text lays out the foundational teaching of the Middle Way and the Four Noble Truths, which the Buddha proclaimed to the group of five ascetics at ��ipattana.

With its downcast, contemplative eyes, joined eyebrows, urna mark (dot in the middle of the forehead), wavy hair tied in distinct u��ī�a (topknot), and plain circular halo, the sculpture captures enlightened tranquillity and divine majesty associated with central tenets of Buddhist philosophy. ‘Buddha in Meditation’, a modern 20th century oil painting of Upendra Maharathi from the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi collection, captures Buddha in the earth-touching gesture symbolising his Enlightenment. Said Dr Abira Bhattacharya, the Exposition curator and catalogue-editor with Dr Savita Kumari, “The Buddha, seated in padmāsana upon a lotus throne, is framed by a subtle aureole that emanates luminosity, suggesting enlightenment as an inner light rather than an external spectacle.

Through refined synthesis of form, colour, and symbolism, Upendra Maharathi’s painting embodies a meditative stillness that reflects both the artist’s deep spiritual engagement and his grounding in traditional Indian aesthetics.” The painting reinforces Buddhist ideals of unity and detachment, with delicate floral motifs adding to the quiet radiance of Buddha. “This work exemplifies Maharathi’s mastery in integrating Ajanta-inspired form, Pāla iconography, and modernist sensitivity.

Through harmony, simplicity, and spiritual depth, he transforms traditional devotional imagery into a contemplative experience – one that invites the viewer to partake in the stillness and compassionate insight embodied by the Enlightened One,” the Exposition catalogue explains. The Śakyamuni Buddha’s life is the message which needs to be told and retold over these thousands of years. In the painstakingly researched catalogue, the facts are narrated for new audiences: “The Buddha is believed to have lived for 80 years between 567 and 483 BCE. Some Buddhist texts that give accounts of the Buddha’s life include the Nidānakathā, Mahāvastu, Lalitavistara, and Divyāvadāna; the foundational Pāli Canon of Theravāda Buddhism ~ originally preserved orally and written down around the 1st century BCE – contains significant biographical fragments.

Within the Sūtra Pi�aka, texts such as the Mahāparinirvā�a Sūtra provide detailed accounts of the Buddha’s final days, while the Ariyapariyesanā Sūtra recounts his departure from home.” According to these Buddhist texts, Siddhārtha Gautama was born in Lumbinī during the full moon of Vesākha. Soon after his birth, his mother, Queen Māyā, passed away, and he was raised by her sister, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī. An aged ascetic named Asita visited the palace and prophesied the child would become a Buddha. At sixteen, he married Yasodharā. Despite worldly comforts, he remained reflective and sensitive to suffering.

Buddhist texts describe how he encountered four sights ~ an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and an ascetic ~ which awakened him to the realities of life. Moved by compassion for all beings, he resolved to seek liberation. At 29, he left the palace at night with his charioteer Ca��aka, crossed the Anomā River, cut off his hair, exchanged his ornaments for simple robes, and set out in search of truth. As the ascetic Gautama, he travelled through Magadha and chose the grove of Uruvelā for his spiritual quest.

Five companions joined him. For six years, he practised extreme austerities. At Bodhgayā he sat beneath a Peepal tree, and resolved not to rise until he attained awakening. Entering deep meditation, he gained insight into past lives, karma, and the end of suffering. He became the Buddha, the

‘Awakened One’ to whom the globalized world continues to worship, honour, respect and pay homage. Photo-credit: Ministry of Culture, Government of India

(The writer is a researcher-writer on history and heritage issues, and a former deputy curator of Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya)

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