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REPORTS ON THE GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING
Bangkok, Thailand, 4 November 2509/1966 and

THE EIGHTH GENERAL CONFERENCE
Chiengmai, Thailand, 6—11 November 2509/1966 of

THE WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF BUDDHISTS

FOREWORD

The Eighth General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists at Chiengmai is one of the unforgettable events for Buddhists. Words fail me when I attempt to express my gratitude to all those who through their generosity and selflessness have made it a happy memory for all concerned.

My humble thanks are due to His Majesty the King, His Holiness the Patriarch and His Excellency the Prime Minister, who graciously honoured the Conference with their messages and presence. Also entitled to my thankfulness are various government government officials too numerous to be mentioned individually. The people of Chiengmai organisations. both Sangha and laymen, however, had played their part in a way never to be forgotten and unsurpassed in their history.

Just as a building owes its existence to various types of skilled people such as the carpenters, the bricklayers, the masons and various other mechanics, so the completion of this report is the outcome of the generosity and sacrifice of various people, each shouldering his or her own responsibility but all working together towards the same end.         A contribution of one person or group may seem relatively small or less significant when set against another, but each is an indispensable brick of the whole structure and thus goes equally to make possible the completion of the whole edifice. In this respect I have to say that although my expression of thanks may fail to include some individuals or groups, yet my impression of them never exclude any. It is here that 1 beg to be forgiven in case of an involuntary omission. But whatever success has been achieved and whatever merit has been acquired are sure to accrue to all of US without fail.

And this undoubtedly results from the spirit of Unity, which has spurred US all to be of one mind, to speak with one voice and work with one aim: the development of Buddhism.

SUKHÃ SANGHASSA SÃMAGGĨ

Happiness is the outcome OỈ the Unity OỈ the group

Princess Poon Pismai Diskul

President

World Fellowship of Buddhists

THE WORLD FELLOWSHIP OF BUDDHISTS
AIMS AND OBJECTS

The Aims and Objects of the World Fellowship of Buddhists shall be

• To promote among the members strict observance and practice of the teachings of the Buddha;
• To Secure unity, solidarity and brotherhood among Buddhists;
• To propagate the sublime doctrine of the Buddha;
• To organise and carry on activities in the field of social, educational cultural and humanitarian services;
• To work for securing peace and harmony among men and happiness for all beings and to collaborate with other organisations working for the same ends.

(Article 3 of the W.F.B. Constitution)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Foreword

Aims and Objects of the W.F.B

Report on the General Council Meeting

The General Conference:

Programme of the Inauguration Ceremony and First Plenary Session

Order of the Day

Inauguration Ceremony

Reading of the Royal Message by H.E. the Prime Minister of Thailand

Address by His Holiness the Sangharaja of Thailand

Welcome Address by H.S.H. Princess Poon Pismai Diskul............................ 15

Inaugural Address by H.E. the Prime Minister .............................................. 15

Vote of Thanks by Dr. G.P. Malalasekera...................................................... 17

Plenary Session 1

Presidential Address by H.S.H. Princess Poon Pismai Diskul....................... 20

Reading of Messages from :

The President of the Republic of China ......................................................... 24

The president of India ................................................................................... 24

The President of the Republic of Korea......................................................... 25

The Chogyal of Sikkim ................................................................................. 26

The President of the United States of America .............................................. 27

His Holiness the Dalai Lama.......................................................................... 28

The Prime Minister of Ceylon ....................................................................... 29

The Prime Minister of India .......................................................................... 30

The Prime Minister of Japan ......................................................................... 30

The Prime Minister of Malaysia .................................................................... 30

The minister for Culture and Social Affairs, Singapore ................................ 31

Reading of Messages from Regional Centres................................................. 31

Plenary Session II

Report on General Council Meeting, Resolution on revised Constitution....... 34

Reading of reports from Regional Centres..................................................... 36

Plenary Session III

Reading of reports from Regional Centres (continued).................................. 40

Plenary Session IV Reports by Committees:

Steering Committee ...................................................................................... . 49

Finance Committee ....................................................................................... 49

Publications, Publicity, Education, Culture and Arts Committee .................. 50

Dhammaduta Activities Committee ............................................................... 51

Humanitarian Services Committee ................................................................ 51

Unity and Solidarity Committee..................................................................... 51

Youth Committee .......................................................................................... 51

Raising of funds for the WFB Foundation..................................................... 51

Plenary Session V

Addresses of thanks....................................................................................... 52

Presentation of gifts and charters to Regional Ceutres and of gifts by them .. 52

Closing Address by WFB President .............................................................. 53

Annexes to the General Council Meeting

1. List of Representatives ............................................................................... 56
2. Statement of Income, Expenditures and Retained Contributions .............. 60
3. Income and Expenditure Budget............................................................ 61
4. Report of the Secretariat on the Administration of Affairs ....................... 62
5. List of Members of Standing and other Committees ................................. 60
6. Revised Procedural Rules at General Conferences .................................... 71

Appendices to the General Conference Report

1. Report of the Steering Committee ....................................................... 73

Finance Committee .............................................................................. 75

Publication, Publicity, Education, Culture and Arts Committee .......... 76

Dhammaduta Activities Committee

Humanitarian Services Committee

Unity and Solidarity Committee

Committee on Youth

2. List of Office Bearers
3. List of Donations and Pledges to the WFB Foundation
4. List of Participants
5. Board of Organisers and various Committees
6. List of Presents received by WFB .
7. Letters of Appreciation received by WFB

REPORT ON THE GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING

Held at the Department of Religious Affairs.

Ministry of Education. Bangkok, Thailand, on 4 November 1966

The meeting of the WFB General Council was attended by representa­tives from twenty-five Regional Centres (Annex 1). It was opened at 9,25 A.M. by the WFB President, H.S.H, Princess Poon Pismai Diskul, after a speech of welcome by the Director General of the Department of Religious affairs, Ministry of Education, Government of Thailand. The meeting was presided by the WFB President who requested Mrs. Miyabara and Miss Pitt Chin Hui, both WFB Vice-Presidents, to preside in her place in case of her temporary absence. The Council approved the arrangement. It also endorsed the suggestion that, in future, documents relating to the meeting of the General Council be circulated to members of the Council at least twenty-four hours in advance. The following are the pro­ceedings of the meeting.

1. Consideration of the statement of accounts and budget for the ensuing years and appointment of an auditor (Constitution Articles 8(1); 14(2) ii, iii and v)

Mr. Aiera Sangkhavasi, the Hon. General Secretary of WFB, submitted the accounts of the organisation as of 31 October 1966. They comprised the in­come and expenditure account and balance sheet (Annex 2).   They had all been audited by Mr. Prapan Sirirat. B.S., B. Com., M.B.A. The Hon. General Secretary also submitted a budget of estimated income and expenditure for the next two years with an explanatory note (Annex 2). The statement of accounts and the budget were unanimously adopted by the Council. The Hon. General Secretary proposed that Mr. Prapan Sirirat be elected as an auditor for the ensuing years. Mr. Sirirat was so elected by the Council.

2. Report of the Secretariat on the administration of the affairs of WFB (Constitution Article 8 (2))

The Hon. General Secretary introduced the report on the above subject {Annex 4). After full discussion, the report was unanimously adopted by the Council which expressed its deep appreciation of the unprecedented amount and high quality of work accomplished by the Secretariat. It took note of a suggestion that, in future, the report should contain also an account of the activities of Re­gional Centres concerning implementation of past WFB resolutions and that there should be frequent exchanges of reports between the Secretariat and Regional Centres.

3. Election of members of the Standing and other Committees (Constitution Article 11)

The Council appointed members of the five Standing Committees and constituted the Committee on Youth, the Steering Committee and the Credential Committee {Annex .5).

4. Consideration of the report of the Special Committee on Revision of the WFB Constitution

The General Council passed a unanimous vote of thanks to the Special Committee on Revision of the WFB Constitution for its highly commendable work. It endorsed the proposed amendments submitted by the Special Committee, with the following changes I

1. Sub-article 12 (1) should be deleted. Thus, the numbering of Sub-articles 2, 3 and 4 of Article 12 became 1, 2 and 3, respectively.
2. ii) Article 4 (a) should read as follows : “Establish Regional Centres in countries, territories or areas, where there are appreciable numbers of Buddhists whose belief in and practice of Buddhism are free and unrestricted, or give re­cognition to any existing organisations as Regional Centres.

• A verbal improvement should he made in the wording of the second paragraph of Article 15 (1), by deleting “Provided that”.

5. Recognition of existing organisations as WFB Regional Centres (Constitution Article 12(3))

Before considering applications for WFB membership, the General Council discussed the criteria established for this purpose under Article 12 of the proposed version of the WFB Constitution and adopted them as its guide line. It then considered each application carefully. The Council decided to give recogni­tion to the Council of Religious affairs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Dharam- sala Cantt., District Kangra, Punjab. India) and the Young Buddhists Association of Thailand under Royal Patronage (Bangkok, Thailand). As the application of the Buddhist Union (Singapore) was withdrawn, the Council decided to give re­cognition to the Singapore Buddhist Sangha Organisation (Singapore). After full discussion, the Council decided to defer recognition of the Buddhist Culture and Art Association (Kowloon—Hong Kong) and of the National Council of Young Bud­dhists Associations (Thailand).

6. Consideration of the revised procedural rules to be followed at WFB General Conference? (Constitution Article 25 (2) i)

The Council unanimously adopted the revised procedural rules to be followed at WFB General Conferences, as suggested by the Special Committee on Revision of the WFB Constitution {Annex 6).

The meeting of the Council adjourned for lunch at 12.05 P.M. and resumed at 1.15 P.M. when Mr. S. Miyabara took the chair at the request of H.S.H. Princess Poon Pismai Diskul.

7. Consideration of a draft resolution of the Australian Regional Centre establishing permanent WFB Headquarters

The representative of the Australian Regional Centre moved that perma­nent headquarters of WFB be established for the more efficient working of the World Fellowship of Buddhists and the greater control and safety of its assets and records. After full discussion, the Council adopted the resolution. The Council further agreed that the location of the permanent headquarters be decided at the Eighth General Conference.

8. Election of four additional members of the Executive Council

Subject to the adoption of the proposed amendments to the WFB Con­stitution concerning the Executive Council, the General Council unanimously’ agreed that the following four Regional Centres’ representatives be elected as add­itional members of the Executive Council: representatives of the Regional Centres of Japan; Hawaii, Ceylon and Penang. In reaching the above decision, the Council took into account the willingness and ability of each representative to travel at his own expense to attend the semi-annual meetings of the Executive Council.

9. Other matters
10. Chow Hsuen-teh, representative of the Canadian Regional Centre (by proxy), announced an offer of land in Campden, Ontario, Canada, by Mr. L.W. Chan of 34 Rednor Road. Toronto, Canada, to the World Fellowship of Buddhists for the purpose of building a World Buddhist Study Centre in North America. The General Council, after expressing its deep appreciation of the offer, decided that the matter be examined in detail by a committee at the Eighth General Conference.
11. The representative of the Regional Centre of China (Taiwan), refer­ring to relevant resolutions passed at the Seventh General Conference, proposed that the General Council send a cable to the United Nations to protest against the testing of nuclear arms and religious persecution by a certain country. After some -discussions, the Council decided that, due to the limited powers of the General Council, the proposal which called for further action beyond the resolutions of the previous General Conference be deferred to the Eighth General Conference.
12. An appeal was made to the Regional Centres which had not fulfilled their pledges of monetary contributions to the WFB Foundation to do so at an early •date. In this connexion, the Council was gratified to hear the announcement of the representative of the Young Buddhists Association of Thailand under Royal Patronage, a newly recognized WFB Regional Centre, that his Association intended to donate Baht 2,500 to the Foundation.
13. The General Council passed a unanimous vote of thanks to the Govern­ment of Thailand for its generous support to the WFB.

REPORT OF THE EIGHTH GENERAL CONFERENCE
CHIENGMAI, NORTH THAILAND
6 - 11 November 1966

Theme of the Conference: BUDDHISM PROMOTES PEACE AND HARMONY AMONG MEN

PROGRAMME OF THE FIRST PLENARY SESSION AND INAUGURATION CEREMONY

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