Khenpo Sodargye, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, attends the Sixth World Youth Buddhist Symposium in Chiang Mai, Thailand. [Photo provided to China Daily]

At a meeting with the venerable Buddhist monk Jingkong, Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad once asked him if there would be peace in the world.

The monk replied that peace could be achieved if all countries, parties, ethnicities and religions were treated equally.

Jingkong called it an "extremely tough" job and said that it would be much easier to begin the process by spreading equality among all religions, because many people in the world have faith.

The anecdote was recounted by Shi Wu-shin, a Buddhist monk from Taiwan, at the Sixth World Youth Buddhist Symposium, held in Thailand's Chiang Mai city in mid-July.

Themed the "way of peace," this year's conference was a major platform that drew prominent practitioners of almost all major religions from different parts of the world.

It also attracted nearly 900 attendees, mostly young believers in Buddhism from 24 countries, including scholars and students of leading universities such as Oxford.

Gathering in this scenic city in the country's north, the participants had one major purpose: to explore, from a religious perspective, how peace can be found in the face of extremism and other issues.