Speaker: Santosh Raut, Postdoctoral Fellow for Buddhist Ministry, Harvard University

Buddhism returned to India dramatically in October 1956 with the great mass conversion of Bhimrao Ambedkar and 500,000 followers, mostly from the so-called Untouchable communities. Despite having suffered from extreme structural violence, Ambedkar was never attracted to the path of violence but to the peaceful transformation of society. He concluded this was only possible through following the teaching of the Buddha-Dhamma. Now there are an estimated 50-plus million Buddhists in India, the great majority inspired by Dr. Ambedkar. The new conversion movement has changed the religious and social landscape of India more than anything else since the Buddha and Ashoka, and it is going to continue doing so. It is a peaceful, egalitarian and grass roots movement, which is already having a considerable influence on Indian society and politics. His vision for the future of the downtrodden and the people of India combines the possibilities of democracy with the promises of egalitarian Buddhist Philosophy. The Buddha’s vision of transforming self and society is the core of Ambedkar's thought. There is a lot of emphasis given to his political, economic, social, and educational vision of Dr Ambedkar but less attention has been given to Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision of transforming self and the world. This talk will explore how he writes about and expounds his vision of the Buddha-Dhamma as an instrument to reconstruct society and the transformation of an individual.

This talk is open to the public. A light reception will begin at 3 PM and the talk will start at 3:30 PM.

Sponsored by: UT Student Coalition for Caste Abolition, South Asia Institute (UT-Austin), Department of Communication Studies (UT-Austin)