Venerable Dr Anissara, Chancellor with Sitagu International Buddhist Academy of Myanmar, said genuine peace and happiness amongst mankind could be established through a sincere religious awaking and harmony in this morally bankrupt world.

"So we must carefully set up a pure and useful life of love, reason and justice based on the noble principles of respective teachers and leaders," the revered monk said.

His comments came at a grand-scale world Buddhist summit held in Rangoon (Yangon), which gathered hundreds of Buddhism leaders and scholars from over the globe.

"Human lives are in danger and people are frightened by the arms race between countries," he pointed out, adding that most modern people's mentalities are lacking loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy equilibrium and the thought of selflessness.

He also said the character of the young generation was bankrupt as well.

"In the world today, technology has amazingly advanced while mankind's morality has alarmingly downgraded," the monk said in an interview.

"In order to alleviate mental poverty, all religious leaders and spiritual scholars should revamp educational infrastructures for the balance of the education in both modernity and morality," Dr anissara encouraged all the participants and nations' leaders.

Worldly progress was good enough while the progress of the spiritual life was at a minimum degree in the material world, he said.

"Making genuine peace demands establishing the age of spiritual renaissance, which can be developed by teaching and learning education in such aspects as morality, culture, religion and elevated spirits of mankind, accordingly," the monk elaborated.

Thus, all the spiritual and religious leaders especially Buddhist leaders needed to meet on a common platform, tying to form one organisation such as the "United Buddhists or United Religions", just like the UN, he said.

Regarding differences of the world nations, Dr anissara clarified, citing the development of Rivers in each nation and each region in the world as an example.

Myanmar (Burma) has the Irrawaddy river with Mekong River in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, Ganger River in India, Rhine River in Europe, the Mississippi River in the USA and so on. They have different names and are in different places, developing different ways. However, they become the same in colour and in taste when reaching their final destination, which is Ocean.

"Similarly, we are going to the same destination, Nibbana, that is the bliss of liberalisation with Purification through a common platform of loving-kindness (Metta), great tolerance (Khanti), compassion (Kauna), appreciative joy (Mudita) and wisdom (Panna)," the monk said.

"However unpractical it may seem, surely it can be easier and less risky than engaging in brutal fighting and nuclear weapon producing.

The mind and mental concomitant were only the origin of human beings' problems but also the solutions to the problems had to be found in them, he said, adding that that was called Dhamma.

He also quoted the Buddha as preaching "Easy to do things that are bad and not beneficial to self. But very, very hard to do indeed is that which is beneficial and good."

"If Dhamma is to be practiced by every individual, peace will be achieved individually, which is the start to move forward to world peace," said Dr anissara.

Therefore, the people of the world must be helped to establish their equipoise, when facing the pleasurable situation, not to attach, and when in the miserable situation, not to prevent the aversion, he said.

"This is equilibrium of the mind, a venue which originates good or bad things," the monk said.