The Sixth World Youth Buddhist Symposium was held at Chiang Mai for the second time. Around 900 attended the grand symposium and among them are scholars, university teachers, and students from 26 countries across five continents. Speeches are given in languages such as English, Tai, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Swedish and Chichewa etc, which is just the hallmark of a symposium growing more and more globalized.

Interfaith Dialogue was one important part of the symposium as it invited not only eminent monks and great masters from Theravada Buddhism, Han Buddhism, and Tibetan Buddhism, but religious figures of other mainstream religions such as Christianity, Islam and Hinduism. Conversations were held and ideas from different Buddhist schools and religions were shared over the topic of peace, such as the reasons of a not peaceful world and its key solutions. Keynote speeches were given by 7 scholars and great masters from Thailand, Korea, Australia, America and China. “Meeting with Wisdom” is a classic session of the symposium. Through one-on-one discussions between the renowned scientist and the Tibetan Buddhism master, and through interactions with the audience, the audience had a deeper understanding that advanced scientific theory and profound Buddhist wisdom are highly related even though being two different fields, and generated greater faith in science and Buddhism. During the section of WeSpeak, contestants from different countries such as Japan, the UK, America, Indonesia, Malawi, Canada, Australia, Germany, and China talked freely around their theme, exhibiting their talents and sharing wisdom.

Another highlight of the Symposium was the guided meditation sections given by both of Theravada-Buddhist and Tibetan-Buddhist masters in the beautiful Royal Park Rajapruek on Day 3, during which the attendees had the chance to practice meditation and experience fully the joy of it. In that evening, led by great masters, all participants made a lamp offering and prayed for world peace. As the lights twinkling in the night, hundreds of seeds for a peaceful world were planted and hundreds of wishes for a better world were made.

Simultaneous interpreting were offered for all the sections. The interpreters were volunteers from universities such as Colorado School of Mines, Aberystwyth University, Macquarie University, and Tilburg University, Tsinghua University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong and so on.

The following awards were given out on the symposium: Award of Best Essay on Way of Peace, WeSpeak Award, Award of Best Essays on the Ideal Earth, Excellent Volunteer Award for Ren-Culture Society, and Award of Outstanding Contribution to the Symposium.