Two years ago, religious and spiritual leaders of the world took a historic step towards working together for world peace when they convened in the Millennium World Peace Summit at the United Nations in New York City. The success of the Summit raised high expectations among religious communities. It demonstrated that religious leaders want to play a significant role in promoting world peace. Above all, it showed that religious leaders can work together in spite of their differences. The Millennium World Peace Summit was a concrete demonstration of unity in diversity. In order to maintain unity, we needed a common platform where religious leaders could meet and work together. The steering committee therefore decided to create the World Council of Religious Leaders as a direct outcome of the Millennium World Peace Summit. The World Council of Religious Leaders, I am happy to report was launched at a second religious summit meeting in Bangkok last June.

          Today's conference in Geneva is the initial meeting of the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual leaders, another direct outcome of the Millennium World Peace Summit. There are, then, two offspring of the Millennium World Peace Summit. One is the World Council of Religious Leaders and the other is the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual leaders. I expect that there will be other direct outcomes, other offspring, of the World Peace Summit.

          The problem is, how can the offspring work together? We must not go our separate ways: to work effectively for peace demands unity. Without unity we risk becoming weaker and weaker, and finally succumbing to our opponent's divide and rule tactics. It is necessary for the Global Peace Initiative and the World Council to work together. We must design a strategy for creating a close connection between them. This will be possible only on a basis of mutual respect and trust. Men and women religious leaders must have respect for the uniqueness of each and each must trust in the sincerity of the other.

          Because of mutual respect and trust, the religious leaders who met in Bangkok were able to sign a charter creating the World Council of Religious Leaders as the international body through which the leaders of all religions can work together and assist the United Nations in peace building.

          At the meeting in Bangkok we made it clear that the World Council of Religious Leaders will maintain religious diversity. It will respect the independence of member religions. The World Council of Religious Leaders will never become a super-religion. It will not interfere with theological interpretation of any religion and each religion will maintain its own separate identity. This is unity in diversity, and this policy is the foundation for our mutual respect.

          We built trust among religious leaders by assuring them that the World Council of Religious Leaders will never adopt conversion as its policy. It will not promote the affairs of one religion at the expense of another. The common good is our goal. That goal is nothing but world peace.

          To bring about peace in the world, the World Council has to work closely with the United Nations and it has pledged to support the United Nations in maintaining world peace. Now it is up to the United Nations to recognize the significance of the World Council of Religious Leaders. Similarly, it is up to the United Nations and the World Council of Religious Leaders to recognize the role of women in peace building.

          There are three stages in the process of peace building. Before a conflict arises, we try to prevent it; when conflicts arise, we try to resolve it; after a conflict is over, we need healing and reconciliation.

          To prevent conflicts, religious leaders must eradicate religious prejudices among our followers. We must teach them to develop respect and trust for the followers of other religions, and to spread their love to all beings. Buddhists, for example, practice loving-kindness meditation, reciting the following statements in the Pali language.

          Sabbe sattaิ averaิ hontu--May all beings be free from hatred.
          Sabbe sattaิ abbhayaิpajjaิ hontu--May all beings be free from conflict.
          Sabbe sattaิ aniิghaิ hontu--May all beings be free from suffering.
          Sukhiิ attanamํ pariharantu--May all beings live happily.

          The practice of loving-kindness meditation is a part of peace education in Buddhism.

          To prevent religious conflicts, the World Council of Religious Leaders rejects religious wars: No more wars in the name of religion. For this purpose, the World Council of Religious Leaders will set up commissions to monitor sensitive areas and limit the scope of religious disputes before they escalate into warfare.

          During times of religious conflict, religious leaders can intervene by bringing the conflicting parties to the negotiating table for dialogue, assisting the United Nations in this process. Religious leaders can be better mediators than politicians, because religious leaders command the respect of those of their followers who are in conflict.

          After a conflict is over, religious leaders must help those who continue to suffer from the conflict by healing them both physically and mentally. We help in physical healing through charity and social services. We can facilitate mental healing through prayer, meditation, and through teaching forgiveness.

          Women religious leaders have important roles to play in the three stages of peace building. The World Council of Religious Leaders recognizes the significance of women and will include women religious leaders at leadership levels. The World Council will definitely create a women's commission for this purpose.

          Obviously, we have a lot of work to do together. No more competition. As long as we religious leaders, both men and women, continue competing among ourselves, we are like chickens in the same coop, fighting for leadership right up to the day they are slaughtered for dinner. Indeed, the real competitors of any one religion are not other religions, but are secularism, materialism and consumerism. These _isms_ are leading people out of the domain of religion.

          According to the Buddhist concept of Paticcasamuppaิda or Dependent Origination, everything is interdependent. Nothing in this world can exist by itself alone. Just as the components of an atom, electrons, neutrons and protons are dependently originated, men and women are interdependent. They are two complementary parts of a complete whole. To develop just only one part at the expense of the other is to fall into an extreme view. The Buddha teaches us to follow the Middle Path (Majjhimaิ Patipadaิ), which aims at a whole which includes every part.

          Therefore, religious leaders, men and women, must walk together on the Middle Path to the same goal, the peace of the whole world. We have a long way to go together. As a co-chair of the Steering Committee of the World Council of Religious Leaders, I pledge my support and cooperation to the Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders, and wish you every success.