The 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions Comes to a Close

Upon the closing ceremony of the 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions, Tzu Chi USA Chief Executive Officer Debra Boudreaux was relieved:

“It’s been a long five days—but five in Chinese means ‘good karma.’”

Of the main takeaways from the five-day event, which included more than 7,000 attendees from around the world, she said, “no matter Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, everyone has a common message: be the change.”

At the Plenary, too, Nitin Ajmera, the Chair of the PoWR, sent a resounding call to those in the audience: “we need to tell to our communities what we achieved in the last five days.”

Finally, guests at the closing ceremony were able to watch a video message from Dharma Master Cheng Yen, the founder of Tzu Chi, which urged members of all faith traditions to unite for climate action and ensure a positive future for all sentient beings.

Watch the video* and catch up on everything from this year’s PoWR at tzuchi.us/parliament-world-religions.

*Also featuring Tzu Chi Midwest volunteers (including Dennis Lee) and Tzu Chi University Students; Beth Blissman (Loretto Community), Kehkashan Basu (Green Hope Foundation), Saphira Rameshefar (Bahai International Community), Yuru Chou (Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation), Mahrukh Motafram & Sahar Alsahlani (PoWR Board of Trustees); and Ven. Dharma Master Shih De Yuan.