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esponsibilities to society; they go to the army or serve as coolies. Any man who chooses examination tries his best to pass an examination so his family and village become famous. All family affairs, however, depend on wives. There are Vietnamese proverbs such as: “Children would enjoy good time at home, the olds would enjoy good time at Buddhist temples”; “Men take pleasure in the party in the communal house. Women take pleasure in reading Buddhist books of praying in Buddhist temples”. Under the Trần dynasty, the theology of equality of women and men was showed clearly in Khóa Hư Lục written by Trần Thái Tông (1225- 1258): “Regardless monks or nuns who are at home or at Buddhist temple, the importance is their heart. It is not important if a person is male or female. Thus lagna laksana (form) is not of 61 concern” . The equality between men and women is also showed in various activities of the whole systme of Vietnamese Buddhism. Vietnamese Buddhism early had its own system of Bhiksu and Bhiksuni. This seems to be different to peoples from Tibet or Mongolia who follow Mahayana or from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma who follow Theravada. In there, there are 62 not women who leave their home to become nuns . If a woman wants to become a Bhiksuni, she has to join Buddhism in other countries. When comes back, she is not allowed to carry out any 63 religious rituals . 2. Famous nuns in history of Vietnamese Buddhism The first recorded Vietnamese woman who became a nun was Diệu Nhân (1041- 1113). She was the eldest daughter of King Phụng Càn. She followed Vinitaruci (a Zen sect in Vietnam). She was also th the first poetess in Vietnamese literature. In the middle of 14 century, nun Tuệ Thông was recorded. She observed commandments diligently and her face looked like a Arahan. In Long Thành district (Đồng Nai province), nun Lượng built Vân Tĩnh small pagoda for leading a religious life. But this pagoda is 64 now in ruin . Monk Congregation has 2.954 nuns and monks. Among them there are some ten thousands Bhiksunis. Many young nuns attend graduate and post-graduate courses in institutes at home and abroad. Many young nuns achieve high degrees. They have been serving actively for the Buddhist Management Boards in cities and local regions. They take part in many activities as information, communication, propagation of Buddhist faith, education, rituals and charity works. Conclusion Vietnamese women from regions to cities have significant contributions to Buddhist activities. They not only play important roles in building Buddhist facilities but also enrich all kinds of Buddhist religious and social activities. The worship of Mother Goddesses has remarkable traces in Vietnamese Buddhism. In Vietnamese Buddhist temples, there are statues of Goddesses as Avalokitesvara holding her baby and Avalokitesvara of the South sea, four Dharma Goddesses of Cloud, of Rain, of Thunder and Lightning. Interestingly, the worship of Mother Goddesses is observable developing in Buddhist temples at present. The equality between men and women appeared early in the ideology and in the organizational system of Vietnamese Buddhism. Since the establishment of Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha (1981) Vietnamese nuns have been present in the communities of Sangha. However, they have not yet showed clearly a dynamic role within st the Sangha. On January 1 2009 the Department of Nuns' work was established. This important event will surely enable Vietnamese nuns to actively and further contribute to the continual development of the Sangha. Consequently, Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha will develop in the spirit of truly equality and progressiveness. Under Nguyễn regime (1558- 1802) there were many princesses and imperial concubines who were pious Buddhist adherents. They made significant contributions to the expansion of Buddhism in the country. Distinguish princesses were Ngoc Tu and Ngoc Huyen. th th In the late 19 century and early 20 century, the Northern school of Buddhist nuns began to develop. There appeared high nuns of virtue such as Diên Trường, Diệu Tịnh, Diệu Không and Như Thanh. The Mendicant Monk Congregation had famous nuns as Huỳnh Liên, Bạch Liên, Tạng Liên. They established the Mendicant Nun Congregation for propagation of Saddharma (the truly Buddhist doctrine) and for saving of all sentiment beings. Now the Mendicant Nun Congregation has some ten thousand 65 nuns . During the modern resistant wars, there had been nuns who stood up and fought for the national liberation. Famous and influential nuns were Huỳnh Liên and Diệu Quang in the South, Đàm Tiến, Đàm Đang, Đàm Nghi, Đàm Luận, Đàm Đạt and Đàm Vân in the North. At present, in Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha, the number of nuns is almost equal to the number of monks. There are total 44.498 monks and nuns. Northern school attracts 32.25 monks and nuns; the Southern school has 8.919 monks and nuns; The Mendicant 61 See Buddhism in our time. Religion Publishing House, 2005 p. 13 62 See Buddhism in our time. Religion Publishing House, 2005 p. 10-15 63 Kristana Raksachom” The origin of Bhiksunis in Thailand”. The speech in the Conference of World Buddhist women 64 See Nguyễn Hiền Đức The Buddhist history in the South 65 The speech in the first Conference of World Nuns 69
THE SYSTEM IN BUDDHISM Ashin Pannasihalankara hope to find any lasting happiness by means of something that is changing, suffering results. This means that nothing in the realm of ordinary human experience can provide lasting happiness, and trying to force things to stand still and make us happy is itself the main source of misery. In Buddhism, three concepts are said to characterize all things: · Anicca - Nothing is permanent. Everything changes. Dr. Ashin Pannasihalankara (Myanmar) Dr. Ashin Pannasihalankara is a Pro-rector at the Sitagu International Buddhist Missionary Centre, Yangon, giving lecture on Buddhism (vinaya, suttanta and abhidhamma) as well as English language to the students. He also provides to the students on-line education. At the age of 15 years, with kind favour of Ven. Sucitta as his preceptor, he joined the Buddhist Order Asanovice at Maharthidaryon Monastery in Mandalay. At the age of 20, he was ordained as a monk. He studied monastic education and received certificates of Preliminary Level (88), Primary Level (89), Secondary Level (92), Higher Level (93), Sasanadhaja-Dhammacariya(98), Vinaya-vidu(93), Anguttaranikaya¬vidu(95), and Dighanikaya-vidu (98). He did his B.A. in Buddhism from Sitagu International Buddhist Academy(SIBA),Sagaing Hills, Sagaing and did M.A. in Philosophy from University of Hyderabad. He did his Ph.D from University of Pune on the thesis entitled “TheControlling System in Buddhism (Sikkha) based on Cannon Pali Literatures”. During his Ph.D, he also visited U.S.A. Nashville, Tennessee, for teaching of medication and meditation. The Buddha described his message in simple terms that life is suffering, suffering is caused by attachment, freedom from attachment is the cure for suffering, and the way out of suffering is through eight pursuits; namely, right understanding, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration. To live is to suffer. Life is accompanied by inevitable pains, sickness, disappointment, disillusion, decay and death. This world we live in is characterized by inevitable and unavoidable dissatisfaction, disappointment, rejection, failure, pain, yearning, decrepitude, and loss. "Suffering" in Buddhism refers not only to physical pain, aging, sickness, and death, but to emotional pain like fear, loss, jealousy, disappointment, and unrequited love, but also to the existential sense that, somehow, deep down, life is permanently out of joint. Everything is touched by the shadow of dissatisfaction, imperfection, disappointment. Suffering, in the Buddhist sense, is a pervasive condition. No one escapes it. Even enlightened teachers grow old, suffer the pains of decay, and die. Suffering arises because everything changes, everything is impermanent. Everything is in process, all the time. Whenever we · Dukkha - To cling to anything or anyone, expecting it to be enduring, whole, and a self, is to create and amplify suffering. · Anatta (in Sanskrit anatman) - There is no separate self. What appears separate or enduring turns out to be changeable and composite. What we experience as identity turns out to be a changing constellation of varying influences. Naturally, these concepts have been interpreted in many ways by many thoughtful people that the ordinary self is a non-self, but we can awake. The most pervasive form of self-centered suffering takes place as we project upon everyday experience a huge burden of extraneous interpretations, associations, fantasies, emotions, painful memories, and diversions. We act then with the big three problems: greed, aversion, and delusion. Greed sucks things in to our purposes, violating their natures as necessary. Aversion shoves or pushes roughly things away, denies, distorts, destroys them, again violating their natures. In the state of delusion, we float, confused, not seeing, not knowing, and insulated from the pain and salvation of deep experience. Instead of seeing each moment as it is, we react to each moment from our past pain and frustration; then we react to the pain and frustration; then we react to that reaction; and so on and on. In this way a special form of mental torment is created that consists of seemingly endless layers of pain, negative emotion, self-doubt and self-justification. If we could be released from attachment, we would be released from suffering. And our primary attachment is to the concept of a separate, isolated self from which we derive all other attachments and experience all other sufferings. When we fully face, accept, and lighten the self-amplified sufferings of our lives; when we begin to experience life beyond our delusions and confusions, beyond self, beyond culture, beyond knowledge - what we find is not a meaningless universe of alien forces, but the truth of nibbana (total release of self-sustained suffering). When people begin to feel released from their self-sustained sufferings, they experience life more fully; they become more cheerful and compassionate. Enlightened people do not cease to experience the pain of existence. They only stop creating illusions that amplify that pain and cause new suffering. The rest of people 70
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IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ORGANIZED BY Th
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Message by His Excellency the Presi
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Message from His Excellency the Pri
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CONTENTS 01 02 07 09 11 14 16 20 27
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International Buddhist Conference O
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Remarks by the High Commissioner of
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Remarks by Shri Suresh K. Goel, Dir
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Remarks by Prof G.L.Peiris, Hon’b
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placed the highest priority on that
Page 25 and 26:
Contemporary Indian Interpretations
Page 27 and 28: comparison as an indication of the
Page 29 and 30: Buddha’s Dhamma as the Foundation
Page 31 and 32: why it recommends deconstruction of
Page 33 and 34: The Buddhist ultimate goal is to do
Page 35 and 36: programme by ethically transforming
Page 37 and 38: national symbol became the lion. Th
Page 39 and 40: “Watha deranatha nohera dakva aka
Page 41 and 42: of China political influence. Most
Page 44 and 45: Influence of Buddhism on Sri Lankan
Page 46 and 47: Indo-Sri Lankan Literary Ties Mahes
Page 48 and 49: Indian Influence on Sinhalese Langu
Page 50 and 51: Bibliography Deokar, Mahesh. (2011)
Page 52 and 53: Some time before and after the comp
Page 54 and 55: NAGARJUNAKONDA: THE SITE OF INTERFA
Page 56 and 57: Buddhist Architecture of Nagarjunak
Page 58 and 59: Unit with both, chetiyaghara with s
Page 60 and 61: Dham….vihāre sela-ma[m]davo [a s
Page 62 and 63: the stupa inside, which is afterwar
Page 64 and 65: Buddhist Philosophy Ven. Sok Buntho
Page 66 and 67: The cultural heritages are the tang
Page 68 and 69: conditionality of all physical and
Page 70 and 71: from lying or evil speech) and(5) S
Page 72 and 73: Buddha's teachings were recorded in
Page 74 and 75: schools of alien and Indigenous tra
Page 76 and 77: ̣ It was regulated by Vajrayanic t
Page 80 and 81: might try to stop making things wor
Page 82 and 83: start this analysis with an introdu
Page 84 and 85: subcontinental developments, in the
Page 86 and 87: 136 by the Vedic Aryans in India ca
Page 88 and 89: 170 presents his material as a well
Page 90 and 91: the Christian era up to the end of
Page 92 and 93: Bodhi tree because there is no othe
Page 94 and 95: that every year the Dhammadhatu be
Page 96 and 97: 292 cast themselves in the role of
Page 98 and 99: Role of Sanskrit in the Cultural in
Page 100 and 101: Pali poetic compositions of Srilank
Page 102 and 103: The Buddhist historiography of Sri
Page 104 and 105: of a system of dynamic mutual relat
Page 106 and 107: commentaries. On finding a text for
Page 108 and 109: misconduct' and 'achievement as the
Page 110 and 111: eing of the society. It is the dham
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