Buddha and the Modern World

　　Translator’s Note: This is a Chinese version of the keynote speech delivered in Singapore on February 18, 2009 by Prof. Amartya Sen, Nobel laureate for economics in 1998, to the international conference on “Buddhism across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange”. The conference had been the largest one on Buddhism in Singapore in recent years. Buddhism has exerted significant influence upon Asia and promoted cultural interactions among various nations in the continent, and it is still of very great interest to us in the contemporary world. The original text was in English and the translation was done at the request of Prof. Tansen Sen, director of the Centre for Buddhism Studies in Singapore, and also the organizer of the conference.