Mettavalokanaya_Buddhist_Magazine_December_2018.

www.mettavalokanaya.com l 2018 l December l Mettavalokanaya l 1

“Mettavalokanaya” 

to Taiwan…. 

Most Popular & leading 

Buddhist Magazine in Sri Lanka, 

“Mettavalokanaya” Monthly Buddhist 

Magazine was recently presented to 

the High Buddhist Masters & Bhiksunies 

in Taiwan by the Founder, President 

& Chief Editor of Mettavalokanaya, 

Mr. Buddhika Sanjeewa, at Taipei & 

Kaohsiung, Taiwan. This is the first time 

that a Sri Lankan Buddhist Magazine was 

presented to the High Buddhist Masters 

& Bhiksunies in Taiwan. 

The photographs shows, 

“Mettavalokanaya” presented to 

Most Venerable Master Shih Guoqing, 

Sangha Nayaka & the Chief Master of 

Chengchueh Monastery, Taiwan, Most 

Venerable Master Shih Ching Yao, 

President of The China International 

Offering Ceremony to All Buddha’s and 

Sangha’s Association (CIBSA), Chief 

Master, Abbot & President of the CI- 

FA Buddhist Temple in Taiwan, Most 

Venerable Master Hai Tao, President of 

Life TV, Abbot of Hong Fa Zen and other 

Monasteries in Taiwan, Most Venerable 

Master Shih Ming Kuang (Chen Chih 

Ming), Ta Hsiuang Monastery Chief 

Master, Vice President Buddhist 

Association of Republic of China, Most 

Venerable Bhikkhuni Shih Jian Yin, The 

Secretary General of Taiwan Buddhist 

Association, Secretary General of the 

World Buddhism Bhikkhuni Association 

& the Chinese Buddhism Bhikkhuni 

Association, Abbess of Miau Kuang 

Chan Monastery, Wan Fa Monastery, Zhi 

Cheng Monastery, Tai Ming Monastery 

& Zheng Jue Chan Monastery and Most 

Venerable Master Benwu, Directing 

Sangha Master of Taichung Sanbao 

Huchi Association, The Triple-Gems- 

Supporting Association, Taichung and 

Chengchueh Monastery, Taiwan. 

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Most Vene. Master Shih Ching Yao 

Founder - International Buddha’s 

Day Festival, President - Buddhist 

Association of New Taipei City, 

President - China International 

Offering Ceremony to All Buddha’s 

and Sangha’s Association (CIBSA), 

Chief Master, Abbot & President of 

the CI-FA Buddhist Temple in Taiwan 

More than 2,500 years ago, Prince 

Siddhārtha was born on earth and 

became fully enlightened as a Buddha. 

With the intent to let more people 

come to know Buddha and acquainted 

themselves up with Buddha's teachings, 

New Taipei City Buddhist Association 

has managed to incorporate temples 

and organizations from all parts of 

Taiwan to organize a grand series of 

celebrations of the Buddha Day. The First 

International Buddha Day Forum is part 

of this series of celebrations. This forum 

has invited many distinguished elder 

masters, Buddhist monks and nuns, 

laymen and laywomen from Taiwan and 

all around the world to come together 

to witness and remember the kindness 

of the Buddha and the immense 

kindness of our parents. Through the 

discussions at this forum we hope to 

explore ways to unite Buddhists and 

Buddhist organizations from all parts of 

the world. Together we can propagate 

Buddha's teaching to the whole world 

and to foster world peace. 

Buddha's birthday, also known as 

the bathing Buddha festival, is organized 

every year to commemorate the 

birthday of Buddha. The true purpose of 

bathing the Buddha is to purify our own 

body, speech and mind by removing 

greed, hatred and illusion from our 

minds. When we wholeheartedly bath 

the statue of Prince Siddhārtha with 

clean water, we remind ourselves to do 

three good things: do good deeds, speak 

good words and think good thoughts. By 

Buddha in The Human World…. 

doing so we keep our body, speech and 

mind purified with the wish to guide 

people towards the good, appreciate 

and cherish our blessings and to benefit 

ourselves and others. Therefore, when 

we bath the Buddha we should do it 

with faith, honesty and rightfulness, 

truly believe that our merits will be 

shared with all beings, promote world 

peace, and cultivate peace in our minds. 

Only then the purpose of celebrating 

Buddha's birthday is served. 

In the competitive society today, 

everybody is keen on participating in 

all kinds of training courses. However, 

we often forget about self-cultivation. 

Buddha's teaching is our best friend 

and best medicine. Buddha was born in 

our world to inspire us to cultivate our 

compassion and wisdom that we already 

possess, so that we can understand the 

ultimate truth and advance toward the 

grand path of liberation. 

The first Buddha Day Cultural 

Festival was initiated by Honor president 

of CYBA. President of New Taipei City 

Buddhist Association, Ven. Ching Yao 

and co-sponsored by New Taipei City 

Gorvenment, directed by Taiwan's 

Buddhist Association of the Republic 

of China (BAROC), New Taipei City 

Buddhist Association, Chinese Young 

Buddhist Association (CYBA), the China 

Buddhist Music Popularize Association, 

Jing Hua Society Cultural Foundation, 

Phu-Sien Dharma Guardian Association 

and Ci Fa Chan Temple etc. Ven. Ching 

Yao mentioned that we upscale the 

celebration of Buddha's birthday 

this year with the wish to convey the 

meaning and spread the merits of the 

festival for the peace and harmony of 

Taiwanese people. We also wish to let 

more people come to know Buddha's 

teaching, Buddhist culture and to take 

part in this celebration to commemorate 

Buddha's kindness. 

To address the increase of global 

catastrophes and the human mind, lost 

in direction the first Buddha's Birthday 

Cultural Festival has three themes: 

Blessing, Thanksgiving and Purifying. 

Through the event we pray for the 

whole world and we wish to foster 

our own wisdom and loving-kindness, 

propagate the Dhamma, and cohere 

the community to give thanks to the 

blessings of the Buddha, our parents, 

our country and all people. Let all 

people appreciate the wholesomeness 

and beauty of Buddhism and its culture. 

Globalization of the Buddha Day 

Celebration can be made possible 

through the implementation of unity 

and expansion. In another words, we 

have to forge great unity in Buddhism, 

channeling younger generation and 

non-Buddhists into knowing Buddha 

Day thus making people from whole 

country and around the globe celebrate 

Buddha Day. In doing so we hope more 

people will come to know teachings of 

Buddha and Buddhist culture as well as 

participate in Buddhist events. 

The introduction of modern art 

and culture into Buddha Day celebration 

will assist globalization of Buddha Day 

Celebration. I wish it can continue 

the spirit of Buddha's concern for the 

living beings, spread the ideas of selfawakening 

and awakening others, 

further and widely spread the teachings 

of Buddha, purify the minds of people 

and awaken the people's conscience and 

uncover concealed virtuous capabilities 

In 1982, I left home to become 

a Buddhist monk. In accordance of 

Buddha's spirit and has been caring 

this society and further taking the 

responsibility to establish many social 

welfare organizations as the followings. 

Since 1986, I kept making efforts to 

moralize and educate prisoners without 

cease. In 1989, he established CYBA 

(Chinese Young Buddhist Association), 

leading teenagers to appreciate and 

learn Buddhism; in the meantime, I also 

built Pu-Xian Chinese Medicine Clinic, 

giving free medical treatment for those 

low-income residents and Buddhist 

monks and nuns. 

In 1990, I established Jing- 

Hua Society Cultural Foundation, 

undertaking the mission of anti-drug 

education, supporting disadvantaged 

families, caring back-home prisoners, 

and etc.. Besides, this foundation also 

built Pu-Xian Ci-Hai Juvenile House for 

back home from prison young people, 

especially to help and to take care 

of those male teenagers from 

malfunctioned families (highrisk 

families), who has finished 

their reformatory/prison 

term, confronting with 

unexpected accidents in 

families, losing parental 

dependence, being 

mentally or physically 

abuse, and who with 

behavior deviation. This 

foundation provides 

those teenagers a safe 

and stable environment, 

and then assists them 

back to school or offers 

them vocational education 

to get employed, and helps 

them to return their original 

home. 

In 1990, I founded 

Samantabhadar Buddhist 

Association, counseling 

in the prison / teenagers 

reformatory, and helping 

the prisoner's families. In 

1992, Ifounded Taipei Kuan- 

Yin Counselling Hot Line 

Association, providing 

mentally re-building 

“Gratitude 

and Peace”…. 

service. In 1995, I built up Buddhist Lotus 

Hospice Care Foundation for serving 

dying people. In 1996, I established 

International Young Buddhist 

Association, taking care of those overseas 

Chinese teenagers; furthermore, I also 

founded ROC Single-Parental families 

Mutual Aid Association, ROC Buddhist 

Music Spreading Association, Ta Tung 

Community University, and other 

organizations to broadcast Buddhists' 

philanthropy spirit. 

I have been nominated as the 

representative of Presidential Council 

on Human Rights in President Office 

for many years. Since 1997, I have 

received many awards, including Award 

of Effectively Spreading Law Education, 

Personal Awards of Effective Education, 

Medal Prize of Cultural Education, 

National Representative of Good Deeds, 

first National Civic Service Award, Youth 

Service Award for the sake of Peace, 

Effective Education Award, Personal 

Award of Effective Anti-drug Education, 

Ambassador for Peace, Award of Social 

Education and Welfare Pursuit, and other 

National prizes. Besides, the president 

of Sri Lanka also named Venerable 

Master Jing-Yao in 2008 to receive 

the diploma of PhD. Buddhism 

from the biggest Buddhism 

University in Sri Lanka, the 

University of Kelaniya. I 

am the Abbot of CHE-FA 

Monastery in TU-CHENG, 

President of CHING-HUA 

Society Improvement 

Foundation, Honor 

President of Chinese 

Youth Buddhist 

Association, President 

of the New North City 

Buddhist Association, 

Lecturer of National Anti- 

Drug Education Media 

Campaigns of Ministry 

of Education. I wish to all 

blessings of Amitabha..!! 

“Global 

Catastrophes 

and the 

human 

Mind”…. 


Animal Liberation with 

Buddhism…. 

Most Venerable Master Hai Tao 

The President of Life TV, Abbot of 

Hong Fa Zen and other Monasteries 

in Taiwan 

Doing in this world up to now, 

liberating many millions of animals, are 

really incomparable holy deeds. There’s 

no one else in this world who could do 

this. Incomparable holy deeds are of 

incredible benefit to the most precious, 

kind sentient beings, the animals. 

Liberating animals is one of the best 

means to bring peace in this world, not 

only peace to the animals but also peace 

to the human beings, with thousands 

of human beings engaging every time 

in this incredible, virtuous activity of 

saving the lives of others, of those who 

are suffering. 

In Singapore, the students of 

Amitabha Buddhist Centre have been 

liberating animals for the last quite a 

number of years. Up to now, they have 

liberated more than 60 or 70 million 

animals, [it is now well over 100 million] 

I think. People who have cancer or some 

other sickness, even those who are far 

away in the West, send their names 

and a donation to Amitabha Buddhist 

Centre. In the West there is not much 

opportunity to do this practice; it’s not 

commonly done. There have been quite 

a number of people who recovered from 

cancer by participating in liberating 

animals. When you create good karma 

by helping others to have long life, the 

natural karmic result is that it causes 

you to have a long life. There’s no doubt 

about this. Even people with cancer 

and other life-threatening cancers have 

recovered in this way. 

This practice creates incredible 

merit, or good karma. It’s one of the 

sources of good luck. It says in Sutra 

Requested by [Lodro] Gyatso, “Even 

if they explained for eons, all the 

numberless past, present and future 

buddhas could never finish explaining 

the benefits of generating bodhicitta and 

compassion for others, saving the lives 

of others and practicing Dharma.” Saving 

the lives of others is one way to practice 

compassion for others. So, has been 

unbelievably kind in giving all of you this 

opportunity and we are unbelievably 

fortunate to have been able to engage 

in generating compassion for others and 

saving their lives, especially together as 

a group, which has more power. 

Lama Atisha was the great pandit, 

the great holy being, who brought 

Buddhadharma to Tibet and made the 

Buddhism in Tibet pure. The Buddha 

taught 84,000 teachings, remedies 

for the 84,000 delusions. At one time 

in Tibet, there was a problem with 

misunderstanding of Buddhism, with 

people who were practicing tantra 

thinking that they couldn’t practice 

sutra and those who were practicing 

sutra thinking that they couldn’t practice 

tantra. People saw tantra and sutra as 

separate, like hot and cold. They didn’t 

think that one person could practice the 

entire teaching of Buddha. 

So, the Dharma King of Tibet, Lha 

Lama Yeshe sent many offerings of gold 

and invited Lama Atisha from India to 

Tibet to give teachings and eliminate 

the misunderstandings. At that time 

Lama Atisha didn’t come. Lha Lama 

Yeshe then again went to look for gold 

to make offering to Lama Atisha and 

invite him to Tibet. The irreligious king 

of one area put the Dharma King, Lha 

Lama Yeshe, in prison. Lha Lama Yeshe 

nephew, Jangchub then went to see 

the irreligious king and offered him all 

the gold the Dharma king had found. 

When the gold was piled up, it reached 

the level of the king’s neck, but the 

irreligious king then said, “Still I need 

gold the size of the king’s head.” 

When his nephew went to the 

prison and told the king this, the king 

said, “Don’t give him even one handful 

of gold. You must send all this gold to 

India. Offer it to Lama Atisha and invite 

Lama Atisha to spread Dharma in Tibet 

and make the teaching pure.” Ngatso 

Lotsawa, a translator, wants to India, to 

Nalanda, with all the gold offerings to 

invite Lama Atisha to Tibet. At that time 

there were no roads, nothing. For many 

months they had to go by foot through 

the forests and over the mountains. 

It took a long time. The Dharma King, 

Lha Lama Yeshe, sent a message to his 

nephew, saying, “I will give up my life to 

spread Dharma to the sentient beings in 

Tibet. Pass this message to Lama Atisha, 

‘May I be able to meet you in my future 

lives.’” The king then passed away in 

prison. 

The translator Ngatso Lotsawa 

finally reached Nalanda, the great 

monastic university in India, where 

there were many hundreds of great 

pandit scholars, highly attained beings. 

Chandrakirti, Shantideva and many 

other great scholars and highly attained 

beings had studied at Nalanda. 

The translator finally met Lama 

Atisha and explained all the difficulties 

the king had experienced in going to 

look for gold to make offering to Lama 

Atisha and how the king had passed 

away in prison. He also explained the 

misunderstanding about the teachings 

in Tibet, how people thought that if one 

practiced sutra one couldn’t practice 

tantra and that if one practiced tantra 

one couldn’t practice sutra. Lama 

Atisha listened to everything and said 

that he understood the situation. He 

then checked with Tara (who is like 

this Kuan Yin), the embodiment of all 

the buddhas’ holy actions. Lama Atisha 

always checked with Tara before he 

made any important decision. He asked 

Tara, “If I go to Tibet, will it be beneficial 

or not?” 

Tara said, “You will be highly 

beneficial in Tibet, but your life will be 

seven years shorter.” Lama Atisha then 

said, “I don’t care about that. Even if my 

life becomes shorter, if it’s beneficial, I 

will go to Tibet.” Lama Atisha was very 

much needed by Nalanda University and 

generally by the people in India. He was 

like the crown jewel of the great scholars 

of Nalanda. If the abbot of Nalanda 

had known what was happening, he 

wouldn’t have let Lama Atisha go. Lama 

Atisha was very skillful. He showed the 

aspect of going on pilgrimage in Nepal, 

and then went through Nepal into Tibet. 

When Lama Atisha reached 

Tibet, the nephew of the king came to 

receive him and requested him, “Since 

we Tibetans are very ignorant, please 

give us the teachings on refuge and the 

karma.” He didn’t ask for high teachings 

Thousands of 

human beings 

engaging 

every time…. 

such as tantric teachings or teachings on 

emptiness or for initiations. His asking 

for the fundamental teachings on karma 

and refuge made Lama Atisha very happy. 

Because of all the misunderstandings, 

Lama Atisha then wrote Lamp of the Path 

to Enlightenment. The 84,000 teachings 

of Dharma taught by Buddha include the 

Lesser Vehicle, or Hinayana, teachings, 

the path to achieve liberation for the 

self; the Paramitayana, or Mahayana 

sutra, teachings; and the Mahayana 

tantric teachings. Lama Atisha integrated 

all these teachings into this lam-rim, the 

stages of the path to enlightenment. 

In a few pages and making it simple, 

Lama Atisha arranged all the teachings 

as one person’s graduated practice to 

achieve enlightenment. Among all the 

different teachings that Buddha taught, 

nothing was contradictory to one 

person’s graduated practice to achieve 

enlightenment. 

The term lam-rim, or stages of the 

path to enlightenment, happened after 

Lama Atisha wrote Lamp of the Path to 

Enlightenment. The lam-rim, which is 

a very condensed teaching, is like the 

Bible. After Lama Atisha wrote this text, 

all the doubts and misunderstandings 

were completely eliminated, and the 

teaching in Tibet was made very pure. 

In Tibet and in other countries, so many 

beings then learned and practiced it 

and actualized the path. By actualizing 

bodhicitta, so many beings became 

bodhisattvas, and so many beings 

became enlightened, up to now. This 

text made it so easy to know how to go 

about enlightenment. By learning Lamp 

of the Path to Enlightenment, you learn 

the heart of the entire Buddhadharma. 

Lama Atisha had 157 gurus, but 

his root guru was Lama Serlingpa. The 

Kadampa tradition started from Lama 

Atisha; his followers are called Kadampa 

geshes. There are three groups of 

Kadampa geshes: the Lamrimpa, the 

Man-ngag-pa and the Zhung-pa-wa. The 

Lamrimpa are the Kadampa geshes who 

achieved enlightenment by studying 

the essential teachings of Buddha, the 

steps of the path to enlightenment. 

The Kadampa geshes who achieved 

enlightenment by studying and putting 

into practice the teachings orally 

taught by their masters are called the 

Man-ngag-pa. The group of Kadampa 

geshes who achieved enlightenment 

by studying the extensive scriptures is 

called the Zhung-pa-wa. 

So, the Kadampa geshes, the 

followers of Lama Atisha, say in the 

teachings that there’s a difference 

between praying alone in your room 

and praying with a group of people. 

Doing prayers together with a group 

has so much more power. Whether 

it’s with 100 or 1,000 people, praying 

with a group has so much power. Here 

today and at all the other times, since 

many people come together to save the 

lives of others, your good karma is so 

much more powerful. It’s unbelievably 

powerful. So, it is also by the kindness 

that so many sentient beings, including 

us, have the incredible opportunity 

to engage in this inconceivable good 

karma. 


Most Venerable Master Shih Ming 

Kuang (Chen Chih Ming) 

The Ta Hsiuang Monastery Chief 

Master, Vice President Buddhist 

Association of Republic of China 

Let us talk about the human life 

view of Buddhism. According to the 

above mentioned life view of Buddhism 

all things have life, living beings are 

sentient beings and living beings have 

Buddha nature. Therefore, the human 

life view of Buddhism has following 

characteristics, 01 - All are equal, not 

different. Not only animals, plants and 

minerals but also all things are treated 

equally. Therefore, Buddhism proposes 

that all living beings are equal. We 

Buddhists believe that we should make 

company with all things, make friend 

with all things and even respect all things 

as our teachers. We should always learn 

with the nature. 

02 - It is altruistic and 

compassionate not selfish and 

selfish benefiting. How great it is to 

have the great loving kindness and 

great compassion the so called “un 

conditioned great loving kindness and 

one entity compassion” 03 - It is of 

service and sacrifice, forsaking oneself 

others, not self-benefiting at the cost 

of others. In Buddhist six perfections, 

perfection of giving includes the giving 

of not only property, Buddha, Dharma 

and fearlessness but also physical 

organs and even life. 

In the history of Buddhism, we can 

see the example. Today some countries 

like Sri Lanka and Costa Rica always 

donate cornea to the patients of other 

countries. This is the quite admirable. 

04 - It is peace not war. In history, 

there is various kind of war. Some wars 

The Human Life view of 

Buddhism…. 

are caused by religion. But, in human 

history, until today there is no single war 

in the name of Buddhism. This fact can 

fully prove that the human life view of 

Buddhism is peaceful and anti-war. 

The above is aspect of positive 

goodness in the human life view of 

Buddhism. As to its aspect of negative 

badness in the human life view, 

Buddhism also has a rather through 

view. Buddhism considers that the five 

poisons of craving, hatred, ignorance, 

arrogance and doubt are the evils of 

human beings. 

It is already quite serious if one 

is infected with any one poison. Take 

craving as an example, all the wars and 

invasions today are caused by craving. 

How can we eradicate the above 

mentioned evils? Buddhism highly 

believes that practice can work. What 

is practice? Speaking simply, we have 

to practice diligently the five precepts, 

the ten virtues, the six perfections and 

eightfold noble path. All these are the 

basic practices to overcome the five 

poisons and other evils. Only by this 

way, we can as human beings achieve 

the aim of establishing ourselves and 

saving others. It is also by this way, we 

“human beings” can play an important 

role to improve the world in this saha 

world. 

The world view of Buddhism…. 

Lastly, I will ask about the world 

view of Buddhism. We all know that 

the world view of Buddhism classifies 

the world into three realms; realm 

of desire, realm of form and realm 

of formlessness. The realm of desire 

includes six layers of heaven, the realm 

of form consists of 18 layers of heaven 

and realm of formlessness is composed 

of 04 layers of heaven totaling 28 layers 

of heaven. 

Human beings are born and grow 

up on earth which is located in the 

southern Jambudvip of the realm of 

desire. As to the various states of each 

layers of heaven, I must beg your pardon 

due to the limitation of time. What is 

the Buddhist view about the present 

real world? Buddhism considers that 

this saha world is full of natural and 

man-made disasters and defects. If we 

look at the natural world of the earth, 

it is exactly like “the natural selection 

and the jungle principle” said by Charles 

Robert Darwin. 

Let us look again at the human 

society. The international situation 

today is quite worrisome. The cold war 

and hot war happen one by one. The 

damage caused by the natural disaster, 

earthquake and typhoon in present saha 

world is not light, yet limited. But the 

man-made disaster is the most serious. 

Let us talk about “world war” 

first quite deplorable are a serious of 

misfortune cases such as the conflict 

between Israel and Palestine and 

Arabian countries, the war between Iran 

and Iraq, the unstable situation in central 

America. the arms limitation negotiation 

and other cold wars between the USA 

and the USSR, even the shooting down 

of your country’s civil airplane, the bomb 

explosion in Rangoon and bombing on 

the peace army of the United States and 

France in Beirut which happened not so 

long ago. 

There are all obvious and easily 

to be seen man-made disasters. In 

addition, pollution (such as air pollution, 

ocean pollution, river pollution, natural 

resources destruction, etc) is another 

great, global and inclusively influential 

disaster which has become more and 

more serious. All kinds of pollution are 

produced under the beautiful name of 

industrialization. Very obviously, the 

biological balance has been destroyed 

and our only beautiful home on which 

we rely to exist, the earth, has been 

greatly damaged. 

The continuously pollution and 

damage has destructed our earth 

completely. We human beings, the 

spirituality of all things are not only 

mercilessly down treading our own 

life and our own circumstance. This is 

the greatest danger of today’s world 

shouldn’t we walk up?.... From now 

on, how to construct this defected 

saha world into the earthly pure land 

like the Western Blissful World or the 

Avatamsaka World is not only the most 

fundamental and urgent mission of the 

worldwide Buddhists but also the most 

pressing issue which we the whole 

humankind should work together to 

examine and to solve. 

Our eyes can see its light. Our 

hands can feel its heat. When the wood 

is being drilled to produce fire, when 

the cells of plants are being destructed, 

can you say that the cells or plants have 

no feeling?.... When stones are being 

rubbed against each other to produce 

fire, the sparks are the reaction of 

the electrons in the stone atom after 

being stimulated. Can you say that it 

completely has no feeling?.... Although 

its reaction is close to Zero because 

it has no sensation cells and nervous 

system like animal and plant, it is not 

equal to Zero. 

Here, we will no more consider 

the story of Monk Dao Sheng expounds 

Buddha Dharma and the stubborn 

stones nod their heads in the Chinese 

Chan School, and the illustration of Sun 

Wukong as “metamorphosis birth out 

of the immortal fetus of stone egg” are 

actually nothing but the supernatural 

induction. Therefore, Buddhism 

considers animal and plant as having 

birth and fate, but not minerals as 

having birth but no fate. Consequently, 

Buddhism further confirms that all 

“Buddhism 

further 

confirms that 

all beings”…. 

beings (literally those who have birth, 

in Sanskrit satva or in Pali satta) are 

sentient and thus have Buddha Nature. 

In summarizing the above 

descriptions, the life view of Buddhism 

has following characteristics; 01 - It is 

very broad and profound. It suggests 

that not only animals and plants have 

life, even minerals have life. 02 - It is 

both real and abstract. For example, it 

recognizes the existence of soul, deities, 

immortals, ghosts etc. In other words, 

the visible lives exist while the lives also 

exist. According to the view point of 

neo-realism of modern philosophy, the 

abstract things also exist. 

This is identical to that of our 

Buddhism. 03 - It is the continuous and 

stretching not nihilistic birth and death. 

New life will be born according to the 

previous lives karma and other condition 

continuously and uninterruptedly. 04 

- It is everlasting without extinction. 

(The soul or consciousness has birth 

and death but the true self is beyond 

birth and death). 05 - It is changeable 

and pluralistic; Buddhism accepts 

the categorizing of human beings as 

animal in modern science. This is totally 

different from the view of other religions 

in considering human being as superior 

than other lives. 

For an example, the rebirth in the 

six realms of existence exactly shows the 

changeability and pluralism of life. In the 

meantime, it is also within our grasp to 

attain liberation from the rebirth in the 

six realms of existence and entre nirvana 

state of no birth, no death, permanence, 

bliss, self and purity. 

In other words if one can practice 

down to earthly the five precepts, the 

ten virtues, the eightfold noble paths, 

the six perfections etc (the so called dual 

practice of merit and wisdom), one will 

be realize the fruition of Buddhahood 

and thus have the capacity to save living 

beings. The transcending of ordinary 

state and the attaining of sainthood 

relies on one’s own power not on 

others. Therefore, Buddhism proposes 

not only not fatalism but also the selfdetermination 

of one’s own fate. 

Now, let us discuss the Buddhism 

view towards the origin and evolution 

of life. Buddhism has not only a definite 

view regarding the origin of life but 

also a definite and unified view about 

everything in the cosmos from the 

spatial planets to the mountains, rivers, 

grass, tree, and even human beings. 


Most Venerable Master Sheng Yen 

The Founder - Dharma Drum 

Mountain Temple, Taiwan, The 

mainstream teachers of Chan 

Buddhism & Chan Master (M.A., 

PhD) 

Many people ask me, "What is 

the intrinsic quality of life? What is the 

meaning of life? Where is the value in 

life? What is the purpose of life?" The 

meaning of life is to fulfill one's duties 

and be responsible. In the journey of 

life - from birth, to old age, to death - 

every person plays different roles. For 

example, children grow up to be parents 

and students become teachers. You may 

be a supervisor, an employee as well as 

a friend. All of these are duties - ethical 

relationships shared between people. 

When duties are not fulfilled, it is 

said that the roles are "neither fish nor 

fowl". This is a term used to describe 

strange phenomena. When looking at 

ourselves from an ethical perspective, 

we often discover that we are "neither 

fish nor fowl". 

The value of life is to offer and to 

contribute…. 

What is the value of life? Many 

believe that fame, status, power and 

wealth make a person highly valuable. 

However, are any of these real indications 

of value? Yes and no. The answer 

depends on how much the person has 

contributed to society. Where there is 

no contribution, a person with status, 

wealth and fame is of limited value. 

Offering and contributing also begin by 

fulfilling one's duties in different roles, 

taking on responsibility and putting 

forward contributions. In this world 

there are not many people that are 

directly related to us. If you were to 

write out the names of all those who 

The Meaning of Life is to 

Fulfill…. 

have a direct relationship with you from 

the first moment you can remember, 

how many would you have? Probably 

not many. Very few people will be able 

to write out one thousand names of 

those who are directly related to them. 

There are only a handful of friends and 

relatives that one can think of. When 

it comes to people who are indirectly 

related to oneself, then the figure will 

increase enormously. 

When we talk about 

responsibilities, it is usually about being 

responsible for certain matters to a small 

number or specific group of people. 

Contribution, on the other hand, is 

completely different. Whether or not 

an active role is required, whatever the 

situation, whoever it is, there is always 

a chance to contribute in relationships 

both direct and indirect. For instance, if 

you are walking on the street and you 

see a child wanting to cross the road, 

you are under no obligation to help him 

cross safely, but this is an opportunity 

for you to make a contribution. In many 

cases people will think, "That child will 

have no problem crossing the road 

alone. Besides, I'm in a hurry and have 

no time." But if a car suddenly hit that 

child, would you not regret it considering 

that you had the opportunity to save 

that child's life? 

Bearing the task of contribution…. 

Thus, contributing is not 

necessarily restricted to that of our 

direct relationships, but rather its scope 

can be large or small; its effects near 

or far. The scope may be as vast as the 

entire world extending to all sentient 

beings. We should shoulder and bear 

this task of offering and contributing. 

The meaning of life is to fulfill one's 

duties and responsibilities, and so long 

as one completes their own tasks, that 

is sufficient. But it is more than that: 

Performing one's basic duties cannot be 

considered a great contribution. When 

I was studying in Japan, my late master, 

Venerable Master Tung Chu, came upon 

several Taipei Temples in the midst of 

disputes over land rights and power. 

He wrote me a letter saying, "Buddhism 

is currently in a pitiful state. Nobody is 

undertaking the task of spreading the 

Dharma but fighting over the property 

rights of monasteries." The dispute 

also involved government claims that 

since the monasteries were built by the 

Japanese during their occupation, they 

were assets of the enemy and should 

have been returned to the government. 

Despite this my master encouraged me 

by saying, "While everyone is fighting 

over the monasteries, no one is thinking 

about saving Buddhism by using the 

Buddha Dharma to save the minds of 

the people. It is our responsibility to 

save the future of Buddhism." 

The effort made by Buddhist 

circles to save monasteries was of little 

value. Rather, the fundamental solution 

is to nurture professional Dharma 

teachers who can make more effective 

contributions to society. Buddhism 

has made remarkable contributions 

to contemporary Taiwan and it is the 

existence of Buddhism itself, not just 

its monasteries, that is of real value. 

Recently, Nung Chan Monastery fell 

victim to the Typhoon Herbo disaster. 

The monastery suffered enormous 

losses over the two days when it was 

flooded in one meter deep water. 

Despite this, I said to all the disciples of 

Dharma Drum Mountain, "Although we 

are flooded, there is still a need to rally 

our followers island-wide to respond to 

the calls for the disaster relief of others." 

As a result, a fund amounting to three 

million Taiwanese dollars was collected. 

This is but one example of how Dharma 

Drum Mountain may be of positive value 

to society as a Buddhist organization. 

Similarly, over the past few years 

Dharma Drum Mountain Nung Chan 

Monastery has facilitated a number 

of activity camps for students at 

primary, secondary and tertiary levels. 

Also, we have organized a number of 

meditation retreats of various levels 

- such as "Chan Meditation Retreat 

for Teachers" and "Chan Meditation 

Retreat for Professionals" - aimed at 

high school teachers, management 

personnel of tertiary institutions as 

well as professionals in industry. At the 

"Chan Meditation Retreat for Tertiary 

Institution Management Personnel", 

participants included tertiary institution 

principals, heads of departments and 

faculties, chancellors and deans. We 

have never expected anything in return 

for our contributions. But at the end of 

an activity a participant asked me, "How 

do we repay Dharma Drum Mountain?" 

I replied, "I hope that after this 

meditation retreat you may go back to 

your home and school, and share with 

those who are receptive what you have 

heard, learned and believe to be useful 

“Save the 

Minds of the 

People”…. 

regarding the concepts and methods 

of harmonizing the mind and body. 

By doing so, you are repaying Dharma 

Drum Mountain." 

Among them a puzzled lecturer 

asked, "If this is the case, won't Dharma 

Drum Mountain go broke in the long 

run? Will Dharma Drum Mountain have 

finance for construction?" I said, "The 

more we are willing to contribute, the 

more people will come forth and support 

us." I told them, "All of you coming to 

Dharma Drum Mountain to participate 

in meditation retreats are like retailers 

going to the factory warehouse to 

replenish stock. You become our agents 

upon returning. All your contributions to 

society become our contributions too. 

And you repay Dharma Drum Mountain 

by representing the value of Dharma 

Drum Mountain in Taiwan's society 

today. 

Accepting retribution, fulfilling 

wishes and making vows…. 

The aim of coming into human 

existence is to accept retribution, fulfill 

wishes and make vows. We must accept 

retribution for what we did in the past, 

regardless of whether it was from this 

life, our previous life or the innumerable 

lives before. We must accept karmic 

effects when causes and conditions 

ripen in this life. Wholesome actions 

bring positive results. Unwholesome 

actions bring negative results. We must 

continue to accept karmic results until 

Buddhahood is attained, whereby aeons 

of sentient relationships entangled in 

attachment are transcended. 

However, when people experience 

positive karmic effects they take them 

for granted. And when they experience 

negative karmic effects they feel upset. 

Thinking that they have done nothing 

wrong in this life, they should not 

deserve bad karmic effects. During one 

of the completion assemblies at the 

end of the "Chan Meditation Retreat 

for Management Personnel of Tertiary 

Institutions", current parliamentarian, 

Mr. Ding Shou Zhong, who initiated the 

retreats, shared one of his experiences: 

"On one occasion my son was 

playing at a swimming pool. While 

water was being drained out of the 

pool, he saw one of his school mates 

being sucked into one of the pipes 

and experiencing excruciating pain. He 

jumped into the water trying to save his 

friend but ended up with one of his legs 

being sucked in and sustained a serious 

injury almost requiring amputation. 

"When I heard about the incident, my 

first thought was, 'How strange! My 

entire life has been devoted to social 

work. I am a kind hearted person. So 

why has this happened to my son?' At 

the time I found this very unfair. But 

after a while, the feeling of injustice 

died down and I started thinking, 

'Perhaps this is the law of cause and 

effect! Maybe I have committed some 

unwholesome deeds in my previous life 

and caused my son misfortune.' And 

then I immediately thought, 'Maybe this 

child was predestined to meet with this 

accident and to survive this misfortune 

will mean that good fortune will follow.' 

Thinking in this way I no longer feel 

upset." 

In this frame of mind, Mr. Ding 

Shou Zhong's emotions were calmed. 

The concept of "accepting retribution" 

gave him the strength to face calamity 

peacefully. Another purpose of coming 

into human existence is to fulfill wishes. 

It is impossible to know how many 

wishes we have made in the past. You 

all would have made many wishes when 

you were young. When I grow up I will 

do this. When I graduate I will do that. 

When I become a mother I must... when 

I become a teacher I will... We all wish to 

achieve many things in a lifetime. 


The Bhikkhunis…. 

“Nowadays 

Bhikkhunis 

are very 

powerful in 

the World”…. 

Most Venerable Bhikkhuni 

Shih Jian Yin 

The Secretary General of Taiwan 

Buddhist Association, Secretary 

General of the World Buddhism 

Bhikkhuni Association & the Chinese 

Buddhism Bhikkhuni Association, 

Abbess of Miau Kuang Chan 

Monastery, Wan Fa Monastery, 

Zhi Cheng Monastery, Tai Ming 

Monastery & Zheng Jue Chan 

Monastery 

The tradition of the ordained 

monastic community began with the 

Buddha, who established an order of 

Bhikkhus. According to the scriptures, 

later, after an initial reluctance, he also 

established an order of Bhikkhunis. 

However, according to the scriptural 

account, not only did the Buddha 

lay down more rules of discipline for 

the Bhikkhunis he also made it more 

difficult for them to be ordained, and 

made them subordinate to monks. The 

Bhikkhuni order was established five 

years after the Bhikkhu order of monks 

at the request of a group of women 

whose spokesperson was Mahapajapati 

Gotami, the aunt who raised Gautama 

Buddha after his mother died. The 

historicity of this account has been 

questioned, sometimes to the extent 

of regarding nuns as a later invention. 

The stories, sayings and deeds of a 

substantial number of the preeminent 

Bhikkhuni disciples of the Buddha as well 

as numerous distinguished Bhikkhunis 

of early Buddhism are recorded in 

many places in the Pali Canon, most 

notably in the Therigatha and Theri 

Apadana as well as the Anguttara Nikaya 

and Bhikkhuni Samyutta. Additionally 

the ancient Bhikkhunis feature in the 

Sanskrit Avadana texts and the first Sri 

Lankan Buddhist historical chronicle, 

the Dipavamsa, itself speculated to be 

authored by the Sri Lankan Bhikkhuni 

Sangha. 

According to Peter Harvey, "The 

Buddha's apparent hesitation on this 

matter is reminiscent of his hesitation on 

whether to teach at all", something he 

only does after persuasion from various 

devas. Since the special rules for female 

monastics were given by the founder 

of Buddhism they have been upheld to 

this day. Buddhists nowadays are still 

concerned with that fact, as shows at 

an International Congress on Buddhist 

Women's Role. In Buddhism, women 

can openly aspire to and practice for 

the highest level of spiritual attainment. 

Buddhism is unique among Indian 

religions in that the Buddha as founder 

of a spiritual tradition explicitly states in 

canonical literature that a woman is as 

capable of nirvana as men and can fully 

attain all four stages of enlightenment. 

There is no equivalent in other traditions 

to the accounts found in the Therigatha 

or the Apadanas that speak of high 

levels of spiritual attainment by women. 

In a similar vein, major 

canonical Mahayana sutras such as 

the Lotus Sutra, chapter 12, records 

6000 Bhikkhuni Arhantis receiving 

predictions of Bodhisattvahood and 

future Buddhahood by Gautama 

Buddha. The tradition flourished for 

centuries throughout South and East 

Asia, but appears to have lapsed in the 

Theravada tradition of Sri Lanka in the 

11th century C.E. It survived in Burma 

to about the 13th century, but died 

out there too. Although it is commonly 

said to have never been introduced 

to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia or Tibet, 

there is substantial historical evidence 

to the contrary, especially in Thailand. 

However, the Mahayana tradition in 

China, Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong 

Kong has retained the practice, where 

female monastics are full Bhiksunies. 

In 13th century Japan, Mugai Nyodai 

was ordained the first female abbess 

and thus the first female Zen master. 

Prajñātārā is the twenty-seventh Indian 

Patriarch of Zen and is believed to have 

been a woman. 

The Chinese Buddhist Bhikkhuni 

Association, established already 20 

years ago, has not only garnered 

success in Taiwan, but has also 

received the highest affirmations from 

both governments and the Buddhist 

community and is broadly known in the 

religious world across greater China. 

On this basis, the Chinese Buddhist 

Bhikkhuni Association declared 2016 the 

year of internationalization, recognizing 

Bhikkhunis around the world that have 

quietly made important contributions to 

the Buddhist community, spreading the 

Dharma across the world with humility 

and gratitude. So it was decided to 

bestow the Global Bhikkhuni Award 

every three years to Bhikkhuni who 

made outstanding contributions to 

Buddhism. 

The recipients of the first Global 

Bhikkhuni Award are: Master Bhikkhuni 

Pu Hui Abbess of Taiwan’s Shen Zhai 

Tang, Master Cheng Yen of Taiwan’s Jing 

Si Abbess, Bhikkhuni Ming Zong Abbess 

of Taiwan’s Lingyin Temple, Bhikkhuni Da 

Ying Abbess of Taiwan’s Cishan Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Hong An Abbess of Taiwan’s 

Miao-Chiung Temple, Bhikkhuni Xiao 

Jing Chair of Korea’s Eleventh Qing Lin 

Council, Bhikkhuni Siou Neng Abbess of 

Taiwan’s Ling Shan Temple, Bhikkhuni 

Thubten Chodron Abbess of Sravasti 

Abbey in the US, Bhikkhuni He Jing 

Abbess of Korea’s Mingfa Temple and 

Bhikkhuni Xiu Xun Abbess of Taiwan’s 

Jinshan Temple. Bhikkhuni Shao Hong 

Abbess of Taiwan's Haishan Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Sudarshana of Sri Lanka 

Abbess of Samadhi Buddhist Meditation 

Center in the USA, Bhikkhuni Guang 

Zong Abbess of Taiwan's Gushan Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Liu Wen Abbess of Korea’s 

Baekheung-am Hermitage of Eunhaesa 

Temple, Bhikkhuni Wu Yin Dean of 

Taiwan’s Luminary Buddhist Institute, 

Bhikkhuni Jue Hua Chairperson of the 

Tainan Buddhist Association, Bhikkhuni 

Ru Yi Dean of China's Sichuan Bhikkhuni 

Buddhist Institute, Bhikkhuni Zhen Yu 

Abbess of Taiwan's Taichung Buddhist 

Assembly Hall, Bhikkhuni Rattanavali 

Chairperson of Thailand's International 

Women’s Meditation Centre and 

Bhikkhuni Hui Zhuang Admiistrator of 

Taiwan's Mingshan Temple.Bhikkhuni 

Dr. Zhiru Professor of Religious Studies at 

California's Pomona College, Bhikkhuni 

Jing Ding Abbess of Taiwan's Yuanzhao 

Temple, Bhikkhuni Dr.Kuang Seng Head 

of Thailand's Kuan - In Bodhisattava’s 

Hall, Bhikkhuni Dr. Pannavati Abbess 

of Embracing Simplicity Hermitage in 

the US, Bhikkhuni Xiu Zhang Abbess of 

Taiwan's Xinglong Temple, Bhikkhuni 

Xing Yi Abbess of South Korea's 

Shinheungsa Temple, Bhikkhuni Xiu Jing 

Abbess of Taiwan's Lingshan Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Dun Yan Supervisor of China's 

Taishan Temple and Bhikkhuni Zhi Shan 

Abbess of Taiwan's Ciyin Abode. 

Bhikkhuni Kammatthana Abbess 

of Cambodia's Maha Panna Vihara, 

Bhikkhuni Shang Ding Abbess of 

Taiwan's Miao Jue Temple, Bhikkhuni 

Pema Chodron Abbess of Gampo 

Abbey in the US, Bhikkhuni Ru Dao 

Chairwoman of Hai Ming Temple in the 

US, Bhikkhuni Ru Jun Abbess of Taiwan's 

Fuzhi Temple, Anandabodhi Bhikkhuni 

Abbess of Aloka Vihara in the US, 

Bhikkhuni Che Zong Abbess of Taiwan's 

Xinche Chan Temple, Bhikkhuni Sing Kan 

Abbess of Malaysia's Sam Poh Thong 

Buddhist Temple, Bhikkhuni Chang 

Deng Abbess of Taiwan's Zhengzing 

Chan Temple, Bhikkhuni Zi De Abbess 

of Taiwan's Bao Shan Chan Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Ji Zun Abbess of Malaysia's 

Hui Lin Yuan, Bhikkhuni Jing Zhi Abbess 

of Taiwan's Ciyuan Chan Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Santacitta Abbess of Aloka 

Vihara in the US, Bhikkhuni Fa Zhao 

Abbess of Taiwan's Xiangyun Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Chang Lu Abbess of Taiwan's 

Tzu-Lung Temple, Bhikkhuni Hong Yuan 

Abbess of China's Guanyin Chan Temple, 

Bhikkhuni Wu Ren Director of Taiwan's 

Ching Jou Orphanage, Bhikkhuni Xian 

Du President of Taiwan's Huayen Lotus 

Association, Bhikkhuni Xiu Yi Abbess 

of Taiwan's Miao Quan Temple and 

Bhikkhuni Ming Yu Abbess of Taiwan's 

Fuen Lotus Association. 

With the trend toward 

globalization, Buddhism must diversify in 

the future to remain connected with the 

world and attract people from different 

walks of life to accept Buddhism and 

to progress from their initial faith to 

gradually becoming devoted followers 

of Buddhism. For this reason the 

Association decided to confer this award 

to recognize Bhikkhunis who have made 

outstanding contributions in the areas 

of education, academics, arts, charity, 

medicine, etc. Regardless of nationality 

or denomination, let the quiet and hardworking 

receive recognition for their 

work so their courage may continue to 

soar without bounds, drawing others to 

practice the Buddha dharma. This is the 

goal of awarding this honor. The World 

Buddhist Bhikkhuni Association was 

established on November 22, 2016 by 

first forming an organization in Taiwan. 

With nearly 100 Bhikkhunis from around 

the world signing a memorandum 

of understanding regarding the 

association’s establishment, this 

undertaking was not only a major 

event in the Buddhist world; it was an 

unprecedented event in the Bhikkhuni 

community. 

During the meeting, Bhikkhuni 

Ru Yi, Dean of the Sichuan Bhikkhuni 

Buddhist Institute in China, nominated 

the highly respected Venerable Pu Hui, 

Chairwoman of the Chinese Buddhist 

Bhikkhuni Association, to be the 

first president of the World Buddhist 

Bhikkhuni Association, which was 

unanimously endorsed by masters from 

many countries and passed with the 

applause of all the masters in attendance, 

a moment that could be described as 

the light of Taiwan. Venerable Pu Hui 

stated that because of the fateful event 

of the 1st Global Bhikkhuni Awards of 

outstanding Ceremony organized by the 

Chinese Buddhist Bhikkuni Association, 

Bhikkhunis from twelve countries 

around the world had experienced the 

rare opportunity of gathering together in 

one place. Each of the award recipients, 

Dharma masters distinguished as valuing 

both doctrine and application and as 

great Bhikkhunis for their sacrifices and 

contributions to Dharma work, formed a 

global organization to unite Bhikkhunis 

from around the world into a collective 

force. It was an important cause for 

cooperation that required no hesitation. 

Hence, the main work of the 

World Buddhist Bhikkhuni Association in 

the future is to take active measures to 

invite Bhikkhuni groups or monasteries 

like WBBA or that have plans with 

similar missions as the WBBA from every 

country around the world to join us in 

perpetuating the wisdom of the Buddha 

and spreading the Dharma to all parts 

of the world. The future purpose of the 

World Buddhist Bhikkhuni Association 

is to unite global Buddhist Bhikkhunis, 

promote the Dharma, protect the Triple 

Gem, purify people's minds through the 

Dharma, carry out charitable works, 

Buddhist culture and educational 

activities to benefit the whole world. 

The headquarters and the main office 

will be located in Taiwan. 


The Values of Dhamma 

Teachings…. 

Most Venerable Bhiksuni 

Dr. Hsiu-tzu 

The Director of Lotus Buddhist 

Ashram, Taipei, Taiwan 

Master Xiaoyun, the founder of Ci 

Lianyuan, is a versatile practitioner of 

Buddhism, art, literature and education. 

In his early years, he showed a strong 

interest and talent for Zen, classical 

literature and painting. He graduated 

from the Hongjing Lijing Academy of 

Fine Arts and the South China Academy 

of Fine Arts, and was the master of the 

Gaonan Father of the Lingnan painting 

ancestor. He once founded the "Wenfeng 

Yunyuan". During the Sino-Japanese 

War, he joined the post-cultural work 

and traveled to the University of Tagore 

in India after the war to study painting 

and teach Chinese painting. 

Returning to Hong Kong, I founded 

the Yunmen Academy and published 

the original spring magazine. I vowed to 

be dedicated to the education of cattle, 

and Huanyu Zhou traveled more than 30 

countries to inspect the world-famous 

educational and cultural institutions; 

wherever he went, he held art 

exhibitions to promote Chinese culture 

and art. In the forty-seventh year of the 

Republic of China, the master of the 

forty-fourth generation of the Tiantai 

Emperor, the master of the martial arts, 

became a monk. Since then, he has 

studied and studied the Tiantai teaching 

and observation. 

In the fifty-sixth year of the 

Republic of China, he was invited to 

Taiwan to lecture at the Chinese Cultural 

Institute (now the Cultural University). 

He also served as the director of the 

Institute of Buddhist Culture of the 

Chinese Academy of Sciences, and 

spared no effort in promoting Taiwan's 

Buddhist studies and cultural and 

artistic activities. He has successively 

founded the Lianhua School of Buddhist 

and Buddhist Studies, and cultivated 

Buddhist and young scholars, and 

held international Buddhist education 

seminars and Tiantai Academies to 

promote Buddhist academic research. 

He holds a "cool art exhibition" every 

year, with Buddhist art. The creation of 

calligraphy and painting, the enthusiasm 

of the world, and the enthusiasm for the 

people are cool, and they have been to 

Germany, Belgium, the United States, 

Star Horse, Kuching and mainland China. 

The Master himself has participated 

in international academic conferences 

for eight times, and published papers 

covering Buddhist education, art, 

and Prajna and Tiantai, etc., showing 

the depth and broadness of Master's 

education. 

In the Republic of China, the 

founding of the Vatican College of 

Technology (now Huafan University) 

was the first social university founded 

in the history of Chinese Buddhism. The 

purpose of the school is "Educational 

Education", which can be cultivated 

with Buddhist compassion and wisdom. 

The quality of learning and excellence 

of young people, the benefits for 

the benefit of the community. The 

mage is famous for his literary 

accomplishments, and he is diligent in 

writing books, especially in Buddhist 

studies, all of which are written by 

personal experience. He has published 

more than 80 books, including Prajna, 

Chinese and Indian art, and Buddhist 

art. Buddhist education, literature, and 

party notes. At the end of the Republic 

of China at the end of 1986, it was 

awarded the National Culture Award 

by the Executive Yuan for the highest 

honor of our citizens, highlighting the 

best example of its personal merits. 

“Buddhist 

teachings are 

very valuable 

for our life”…. 

The following is a brief introduction 

to the Master's "Study of Life", "Three 

Mountains", "I wish to achieve", "Men's 

artistic conception", "educational ideas 

and career" and "bibliography". Seventy 

years of academic strength, effort, and 

endless compassion. 

I sincerely liked listening to the law 

and I hope that in the future I will be 

bodhicitta and promote the Fa Lisheng. 

In the 51st year of the Republic of China, 

at the Lingshan Temple in Taichung, he 

was asked to go to the top of the house. 

In February of the 52nd, he was given 

a ring at the Tanji Temple in Yuanshan. 

Fifty-five years to Wanshoushan 

Buddhist College to study, in the 57th 

year, Xiaoyun instructor came to visit 

Wanshoushan Buddhist College, and 

was invited by the dean to show with 

his classmates. At that time, he was 

deeply impressed by Xiaoyun’s mentor. 

The bhikshuni, then raised up to rely on 

him as a pro teacher, looking forward to 

graduating, can follow him, assist him, 

and promote the Dharma. 

After graduating from the Buddhist 

College in February of the Republic 

of China in 1985, he returned to his 

permanent residence and asked the 

teacher to go to the north to follow the 

Xiaoyun tutor to continue his studies. In 

the autumn of the fifty-nine years, he 

begged Xiaoyun to set up a lotus garden 

for learning lotus. He graduated from 

Lianhua School of Buddhist Studies in 62 

years and continued his studies. He also 

served as a tutoring and Buddhist course. 

In the same year, he was responsible for 

the general affairs of the Institute of 

Buddhist Culture at the Huagang Cultural 

College. In the 66th year of the Republic 

of China, he served as a director of the 

Huihai Buddhist Cultural Foundation. In 

the 69th year, he served as the director 

of the Lotus Garden School of Lianhua, 

and also studied at the Hua Fan Institute 

of Buddhism. In the past 70 years, he 

served as a director of the Hua Fan 

Institute of Buddhist Studies. He was the 

wish of the successful completion of the 

University of Xiaoyun, and he went to 

the famous mountains in the northern 

regions for the purpose of finding a 

large school. 

In the autumn of the 74th year, 

I bought the school. In the autumn of 

the same year, I followed the mentor 

to Kuching, Sabah, Malaysia, and 

raised funds for the school. In 1976, 

the Ministry of Education approved 

the establishment of a university. Since 

then, a long-term fundraising work has 

been launched, in which the Dafa will 

be the most effective, but the betting 

power is also the most. In the autumn 

of the seventy-seventh year, he worked 

as a newspaper teacher and helped 

the Taishan Lingshan Buddhist College 

to teach and teach related Buddhist 

courses. In the seventy-eight years, he 

served as a director of Huafan University. 

In the autumn of the 81st, the Qingshan 

Art Exhibition was held at the Shushan 

Temple in Hunan Province, and the 

achievements of the tutor in Buddhist 

art were spread to the other side of 

the strait. Graduated from the Hua Fan 

Institute of Buddhist Studies in the 85th 

year. In 1987, he served as a director 

of the Huafan Culture and Education 

Foundation. Thanks to the hard work 

of Xiaoyun Tutor over the years, I have 

been able to contribute to the power of 

Buddhism. 


Most Venerable Master Jing Yin 

The Abbot - Po Lin Monastery, Ngong 

Ping, Lantau Island, Hong Kong 

Ethical and Moral Carrier…. 

establish virtuous connections 

and happy to be virtuous by 

enjoying being generous” will 

direct people towards virtue and 

morally progress upward to uplift 

the spiritual levels of humanity. 

These are the important forces 

for the establishment of a 

harmonious society. At the same 

time these agglomerate the 

strong life-forces and vitalities of 

a nation. 

Besides being the carrier 

of ethical and moral, Buddha’s 

Day also shoulders the burden 

of spiritual awakening and 

purification. More than two 

thousand and five hundred years 

ago, Buddha has clearly illustrated 

that all the sufferings in life can be 

traced to the misunderstanding 

“The best 

Carrier of 

Ethical and 

moral”…. 

the bathing Buddha ceremony 

to remind us to utilize Buddha’s 

wisdom to cleanse our mind 

of unhealthy thinking, such as 

greed, hatred and ignorance, 

through the purification of 

our mind. And developing our 

inherent potentials, our life 

becomes healthier, more fulfilled 

and has more freedom. People 

used to say that “Confucianism 

is good for governing our world, 

Taoism is good for governing our 

bodies, and Buddhism is good for 

The celebration of 

Buddha’s Day is a festival that 

has withstood the tests of time 

and space and has experienced 

many adversities, and yet still 

prevalent. This resilience is 

greatly attributed to the content 

of Buddha’s Day. First of all, 

Buddha’s Day is the best carrier 

of ethical and moral. The most 

important content of Buddha’s 

Day is through the practice of 

bathing Buddha, people are 

encouraged to practice ethics and 

doing virtuous deeds. The best 

example is Venerable Fa Xian from 

Jin Dynasty who traveled to India 

and observed how the Indians 

celebrated Buddha’s Day: “Kings 

and elders have free clinics built 

with the intent to accumulate 

virtuous qualities and merits. The 

poor and sick flocked to these 

places for free treatments.” 

The Records of the Three 

Kingdoms kept records the 

celebrations of Buddha’s Day in 

that era. “Every Bathing Buddha 

ceremony was comprised of 

many tables of free drinks and 

meals that spread for several 

ten of miles. People came to 

observe the celebrations and 

thousands enjoyed the feast, 

costing the organizers millions.” 

These practices convey the 

message that generosity creates 

virtuous connection is a virtue 

and good ethics. Since the Ming 

and Qing Dynasties, eating 

virtuous connection beans has 

become the main way people 

celebrate Buddha’s Day, and it 

conveys the message that it is 

important to be virtuous toward 

others and widely create virtuous 

connections. The important 

content of Qing Dynasty 

Buddha’s Day was the gatherings 

of virtue. These gatherings were 

to encourage people to enjoy 

doing virtuous deeds and to be 

generous. At these gatherings, 

there were displays of paintings 

that spread the message of 

planting the seeds of virtue, one 

will get the virtuous fruits. The 

most attractive decorations of Sri 

Lanka Buddha’s Day were the big 

towering painting of stories from 

Buddhist texts, flower decorated 

vehicles and colorful lanterns. 

All these decorations are tools 

to teach people the principles of 

cause and effects. 

By the rapid technological 

advancements and great 

accumulation of modern 

societies, people should be living 

according to Guan Zi “when safes 

and storages are filled, people 

should be well mannered, when 

clothing and food are satisfactory, 

people should know honor and 

shame.”But in reality, people are 

not living that way. The happiness 

of humanity has not progressed 

in sync with the advancements 

of technologies, nor increased 

with the development of the 

economy. People are buried in 

the mountain of works, busying 

to earn more money. 

Our material wealth may 

have increased but we are bit 

by bit losing the close intimacy 

of family and friendship. People 

are cold hearted and the ethics 

and morals lines are getting 

blurred. These social problems 

cannot be solved by economical 

means. Buddha’s Day conveys 

the messages of “Understood the 

working of causes and effects, one 

practices virtue to accumulate 

virtuous qualities, widely 

of I. Mistakenly think that I is 

truly existed, and also wrongly 

recognize matters outside one’s 

body are indisputably real. Thus, 

all of our thinking are centralized 

on I, will be accompanied by 

the raising of greed, hatred, 

ignorance, pride and doubt, 

thus, sufferings become the 

unescapable consequence. How 

to remove unhealthy thinking, 

such as greed, hatred, ignorance, 

from our minds? 

Just like bathing cleanses the 

dust from one’s body, cleaning 

clear the rubbish from one’s 

room, washing clear the dirt 

from one’s clothing….. Likewise, 

during the Celebration of 

Buddha’s Day, we skillfully utilize 

governing our hearts and minds”. 

Buddha’s Day has symbolically 

illustrated the unique social 

functions of “purify one’s mind” 

and skillfully governs the hearts 

and minds of people. 

In conclusion, Buddha’s 

Day not only has the functions 

of a traditional Chinese festival, 

it is the carrier of ethical and 

moral. Furthermore, it is the 

carrier of spiritual awakening 

and purification. Benefiting the 

health of our bodies and minds 

is the carrier of Buddha’s spirit. 

Buddha’s Day should be promoted 

as the holiday for every people 

living in this globe as everyone 

needs spiritual awakening and 

purification. 


“Green & Healthy Festival 

in Singapore…. 

Nowadays most of the 

people are in the world turn over 

to the vegetarian foods. It is the 

one part of global culture and 

people are thinking it is time to 

promote nutritious and healthy 

vegetarian food with the help of 

their mental power. The Kampung 

Senang Charity & Education 

Foundation (Kampung Senang) 

and some organizations in 

Singapore were organized under 

the theme of “Green & Healthy 

Festival - 2018” a meaningful one 

day seminar at Singapore EXCO 

premises on June 17, 2018. The 

festival opened by Dr Lam Pin 

Min, Honorable Senior Minister of 

State for Health and Transport & 

Dr. George Jacobs, the President 

of Vegetarian Society (Singapore). 

Madam Joyce Lye, the President 

& Founder of Kampung Senang 

Charity & Education Foundation 

(Kampung Senang) and Most 

Venerable Bhiksuni Yang Ding, 

The Founder of Auspicious World 

in Taipei, Taiwan and promoting 

the physical and mental health 

education also joint as the special 

guests of the event. 

Buddhika Sanjeewa 

After the visit to Singapore 


Most Venerable Aggamaha Pandita 

Dr. Walpola Piyananda Thero 

Chief Sangha Nayake Thero of 

America and President of USA & 

Canada Sanga Council, Chief Abbot & 

President of Dharma Vijaya Buddhist 

Vihara, Los Angeles, California, USA. 

The Buddha made it very 

clear that his appearance in the 

world was “for the benefit of the 

many, out of compassion for the 

world, for the good, benefit, and 

happiness of gods and men.” His 

Sangha members, both monks 

and nuns went forth to share his 

Dhamma with mankind. Without 

Sangha members to amplify the 

Buddha’s voice to the masses, the 

Dhamma could have disappeared. 

Thanks to Dhammaduta work 

over the centuries, it has not only 

survived, but has spread to all 

corners of the world. 

Along with the spread of 

the Dhamma, a byproduct of 

Dhammaduta has been to provide 

countless services for society 

wherever Sangha members 

have gone. The alleviation of 

stress and suffering has always 

been the motive, but activities 

geared toward this goal have 

come in many forms. In addition 

to teaching the Dhamma, I have 

always believed that using it as 

my foundation for guiding and 

mentoring people who need 

help is a big part of my job as a 

Sangha member. Over the years 

For The Benefit of The Many…. 

I have advised hundreds, if not 

thousands, of individuals from 

all walks of life who came to me 

seeking answers to their confusion 

and suffering. I have been happy 

to help whenever I could, and I 

consider the opportunity to do 

so one of the great blessings of 

my life. These opportunities have 

come to me in the context of 

my own temple, and also in the 

context of participating in various 

organizations and events. 

One of my favorite memories 

is serving as a Buddhist chaplain 

for the 1984 Summer Olympic 

Games held in Los Angeles. 

Volunteering as a chaplain is one of 

the most wonderful and fulfilling 

things that a Sangha member 

can do. I advise all of my fellow 

Sangha members to consider this 

role in their own communities. 

By the time 1984 rolled around 

I had already been a volunteer 

chaplain at both UCLA and USC 

(the first Buddhist chaplain), and 

through these relationships I was 

asked to be one of the chaplains 

for the Olympics. My job was to 

provide guidance and words of 

encouragement for the athletes 

with Buddhist backgrounds who 

came to the U.S. to compete. As 

everyone can imagine, competing 

against other world-class athletes 

for the “glory of the homeland” 

can be very stressful, and takes 

a toll both emotionally and 

mentally. They appreciated what 

I did, which was to listen, smile, 

occasionally offer a chant, and 

share the Buddha Dhamma. 

During the Olympics I worked 

in concert with a handful of other 

Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and 

Muslim chaplains and we were 

rewarded by being invited to 

attend both the opening and 

closing ceremonies. We were 

also given a “gold medal” to 

commemorate our service. Tom 

Bradley was mayor at the time 

and I made his acquaintance 

during the Olympics. I invited 

him to the temple; he accepted 

and visited not long after the 

Olympics ended. When I no longer 

had time to serve as chaplain for 

USC and UCLA, my successor was 

appointed from the members of 

the Sangha Council of Southern 

California. I am happy to say 

that there still are chaplains 

representing Buddhism at these 

two universities. It is interesting 

to note that on the applications 

for student admissions at 

UCLA there is a box to check 

for “religious preference.” The 

majority of applicants left this 

box empty, but of those that did 

check the box, a majority declare 

themselves Buddhists these days. 

Since 1984, Buddhist 

chaplains have appeared at most 

large colleges and universities in 

the United States and Canada. 

The rise in the population of 

foreign students from Asian 

countries has contributed to this 

growth, as has the interest in 

Buddhism in young Westerners, 

leading to the formation of 

student Buddhist associations on 

campus. I have found over the 

years that college-age students all 

face similar challenges that cause 

mental and emotional turmoil, 

including separation issues with 

their parents, financial problems, 

romantic relationship crises, and 

other stressors. If these problems 

are not faced and openly 

discussed, many of these young 

people run the risk of depression 

or even suicide. 

Many institutions of higher 

learning now have degree 

programs for Buddhist Studies, 

and several have programs 

for Chaplaincy preparation. 

The University of the West 

in Rosemead is one of these 

universities, and several of my 

affiliated Sangha members have 

taken this course of study there. 

Along with chaplaincy courses 

the students in these programs 

are required to take courses in 

psychology, a discipline that goes 

hand in hand with counseling. 

The Buddha was the master of 

understanding the mind and all 

its permutations, and his practical 

advice for today’s counselors and 

psychologists is still relevant. 

The chaplaincy career path 

is not only recommended for 

ordained Sangha members, 

but for Bodhicaris as well. As 

you know, these are ordained 

Buddhist lay ministers that 

have completed our three-level 

system. I’m sure that many 

of these fine men and women 

might wish to pursue a path of 

Dhammaduta work right here in 

North America, and university 

chaplaincy programs are a sound 

vehicle for being qualified for a 

paid position. Universities are not 

the only places where chaplains 

are needed. For many years I was 

a volunteer chaplain at Cedars- 

Sinai Medical Center in West 

Hollywood. At that time, in return 

for my service, they provided me 

with health care. I was called in 

to provide religious services for 

Buddhist patients who truly loved 

to see monks in their saffron 

robes enter their rooms. To this 

day Cedars-Sinai still calls our 

temple and makes requests for 

monks to come when there is a 

need, as do many other hospitals 

where we have connections in 

Southern California. I have taken 

other monks with me hundreds 

of times to chant pirith for those 

at the end of their lives, and I am 

grateful for the opportunity to 

comfort them and their families 

at this important time. 

Another place where 

Buddhist chaplains are needed is 

in the prison system. In the early 

years I was a volunteer at the Los 

Angeles County jail, and also at 

the prison out in Lancaster, which 

is about an hour north of LA. 

They both still call me when there 

is an emergency of some kind, 

and when they feel that Sangha 

members can provide relief. 

These days we receive letters 

from inmates requesting books 

on Buddhism. They also express 

the desire to have a Buddhist 

chaplain to visit, conduct services 

and to teach meditation. The 

U.S. armed forces also offer 

the opportunity to serve as a 

chaplain, a position that offers a 

salary. This is a perfect place for 

a lay minister to do Dhammaduta 

work. I encourage all lay ministers 

to consider these options for a 

life full of service and compassion 

for others. 

I have also always 

encouraged the monks in my 

temple to engage in social service 

projects and activities. Monks 

are now taking prominent roles in 

social activism. A good example is 

our friend, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi. 

He founded an organization 

called “Buddhist Global Relief,” 

which has as its goal ending 

hunger on the planet. I have often 

participated in his periodic walks 

in Los Angeles to draw the media 

spotlight to this serious issue, one 

we face in all of our communities 

today. I also admire one of our 

temple members, Oliver Namal 

Gamage, for the organization he 

established to feed the homeless 

in the Los Angeles area. “The 

Compassion Project” provides 

lunches for the homeless once 

or twice each month, and the 

volunteers gather at various 

Buddhist temples in the area to 

assemble these lunches early in 

the morning. The meditation hall 

at Dharma Vijaya has been the 

scene of making thousands of 

bagged lunches for distribution 

later in Downtown LA’s skid 

row. I commend Oliver for his 

dedication, and for spending his 

own hard-earned money for this 

Compassion Project. His work is 

truly inspirational. 

Since its founding, Dharma 

Vijaya has done its best to come 

to the aid of those who have 

suffered because of natural 

disasters. Traditionally, we 

have heeded the call for help 

immediately. 


Venerable Master Hai Tao, Most 

Venerable Master Shih Ching 

Yao, Most Venerable Master Shih 

Ming Kuang & Most Venerable 

Bhiksuni Shih Jian Yin, The Pure 

Land Temple Chief Master, Most 

Venerable Master Shih Tsu Cheng 

with high Buddhist Masters in 

Taiwan. The President of Chung 

Hwa International Merits Society 

of Buddha Puja and Sangha 

Dana, Mr. Chen Chia Uny was 

coordinated this mass merit 

event. 


After the visit to 

Linkou, Taiwan 

“2018 International Conference for the 

Buddha’s Ritz-Carlton” & Maha Sanghadana in 

Linkou, Taiwan…. 

The "2018 International 

Conference for the Buddha's Ritz- 

Carlton" and Maha Sanghadana 

was held at the National Sports 

University Gymnasium in 

Linkou, Taiwan on September 

02, 2018 hosted by Chung Hwa 

International Merits Society of 

Buddha Puja and Sangha Dana 

& China International for the 

Buddha's Worship Club in China & 

Taiwan. More than 7000 Buddhist 

Monks and Nuns from all districts 

in Taiwan and overseas with 

more than 10,000 devotees 

participated this grand occasion. 

The Sanghadana held under the 

blessings & leading by the Most 

Venerable Master Guoqing, Most 

Venerable Master Benwu, Most 


Vegan Foods 

with 

Buddhism…. 

“Be 

Vegetarian”…. 

Vegetarian food is about 

lifestyle; an attitude towards our 

environment and our health. 

Regal Lotus Restaurant is a multinational 

buffet offering over 200 

various gourmet dishes including 

Italian, Japanese style, fresh 

salad bar, excellent cream of 

mushroom soup, special hot pot, 

medicinal dishes, Hong King style 

dimsum, deserts, chilled dripped 

coffee, and Hargen Daz Icecream. 

Regal Lotus Restaurant 

play big role in the vegetarian 

food promote worldwide and 

now days very famous in Taiwan 

located NanJin E. Road, No. 188, 

B1, Taipei, Taiwan. 

Anthony Lau 

Founder & President of Regal 

Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant 

Taiwan 


Taichung Sanbao Huchi 

Association Sanghadana in 

Central Taiwan…. 

Master, Most Venerable Master 

Shih Tsu Cheng supported by 

Taichung City Government, 

Chinese Buddhist Association, 

Taiwan Buddhist Association, 

Taichung Buddhist Association, 

Taichung Buddhist Union, 

Changhua Buddhist Association, 

Taiwan To-Go & Nantou Buddhist 

Association in Taiwan. More than 

10,000 Buddhist Monks were 

participated the event & attended 

the Alms Offering Rituals. 


After the visit to 

Taichung, Taiwan 

The Taiwan Taichung Sanbao 

Huchi Association (The Triple- 

Gems-Supporting Association, 

Taichung, Taiwan) annually 

arrange special Sanghadana in 

Taiwan as their great event. On 

this time they held their 31st 

Great Sanghadana on July 07, 

2018 at International Exhibition 

Center premises, Taichung City 

in Taiwan. The Sanghadana held 

under the blessings & leading 

by the Most Venerable Master 

Guoqing, Most Venerable 

Master Benwu & Most Venerable 

Master Pindola-Bharadvaja & 

The Pure Land Temple Chief 


Most Venerable Master 

Chi Sung Hung 

The World Famous Buddha 

Painting Master, Earth Zen Person, 

International Meditation Teacher, 

Founder of Enlightening Earth 

Association, Buddha Cultural & 

Bodhisattva Association in Taiwan 

Concentrate… With the 

happiest heart, Let us pay our 

deepest reverence. To the fully 

enlightened one of the universe, 

To the complete brightness of 

the ultimate truth, And to the 

saints marching on the road 

to realization. Pray for the 

auspicious, pleasing, and blissful 

light of mindfulness. To shine 

on our Mother Earth and all 

beings. Let all the pains recede. 

Let Mother Earth be happy and 

healthy forever. Let it advance 

into a sustainable Pureland. And 

continue to nurture all humans 

and beings, Generating a bright 

golden century. Ah ... Let the 

awakening light Ignite each heart 

of ours. Illuminating one after 

another into endless lamps— 

Like tens of billions of suns 

shining on each other. Let all 

manmade and natural disasters 

of earth, water, fire and wind 

disappear forever... Let happiness 

and enlightenment become 

the reality of our lives. So when 

we settle down in the joy of 

complete felicity. And become 

the role model of brilliant great 

love, We cherish ourselves 

Earth Peace Meditation…. 

more and cherish all life and all 

things. We cast off our greed, 

anger, ignorance, arrogance, and 

suspicion. Let bliss become our 

only true heart. 

Relax Completely. Exhale 

all the unpleasant energy in the 

body. With the most comfortable 

mind, Sit quietly and relax. Let the 

pleasure of breathing run through 

our bodies without a tiny trace of 

pressure in our minds. Inhale the 

rainbow-like air of the universe. 

Bliss arises naturally inside our 

clear and pure spirit. Self, others, 

earth, and everything in the 

universe are all in harmony. The 

light of joy emits from our hearts 

and bodies. 

Concentrate…. envision the 

person we care for the most 

appearing in front of us and 

sharing mutual happiness with us 

such that the joy resonates and 

multiplies without boundaries. 

Envision our loved ones being 

so happy that our happiness 

also grows without limit. The 

more people we think of the 

more powerful our joy will grow, 

stronger and stronger like the 

whirlpool of the sea. 

Concentrate.… Envision 

complete strangers being very 

happy. Envision all beings sharing 

the same joy with us. Envision 

everything in the world sharing 

the same joy with us. Let go of 

all troubles and hatred. Let go of 

all pains. Ah ... All are completely 

reconciled. Let the power of our 

happiness grow. Envision the 

people we do not like at the place 

of happiness and perfection. 

The profound reconciliation 

is the source of all joy. Let’s 

visualize the happiness of all 

beings. Envision our families 

and friends being completely 

happy. Envision all people in 

our community, our city, and 

our country being very happy. 

Envision all people and even all 

the creatures in the world being 

very happy. Envision that the 

whole solar system and even 

the whole universe is filled with 

happiness. 

The happiness of being 

present leads us to a state of 

worry-free and complete bliss. 

Let us observe our past mental 

state. And adjust our past bodies 

and minds to a perfect condition. 

Let our current bodies and minds 

be healthier and happier and, in 

turn, lead us to a brighter and 

happier future. 

The moment when the 

boundless joy arises, all the fear 

and resentment disappear. Every 

thought is the endless bliss of 

equality. Om… This is a poem of the 

universe, The most harmonious 

rhyme in the universe. When the 

self disappears, no enemy can be 

found. That becomes the most 

truthful folk song of the universe, 

Which is sung from one edge of 

the universe to another 

Blending into the most 

consummate harmony. It is 

understanding of having no 

enemies. That utters the deepest 

melodious sound from one’s 

heart to the universe. It is an 

ensemble with our hearts. It is 

an ensemble with our breaths. It 

is an ensemble with our veins. It 

is an ensemble with our bodies. 

Om ... Om ... Such a beautiful 

chorus sung to everyone’s heart, 

To every inch of mountains and 

rivers. It is the ensemble of the 

earth, water, fire, air, and the 

heart of the universe. This is the 

voice of eternal reconciliation. It 

is the infinite euphonious mind. 

It is the no-self chorus. It is the 

tranquility of happiness played by 

the symphony of light. 

Concentrate... with the 

awakening heart of happiness. 

“Purify our hearts”…. 

Let us pray for peace and joy. 

Let us attain the highest positive 

power to create happiness for 

the world. Let Taiwan, Asia, 

Europe, America, Africa and all 

the countries and continents on 

Earth. Be filled with sustainable 

peace and happiness. Let us 

navigate Spaceship Mother Earth 

heading for the new space era. 

Let consciousness become the 

core culture of the Earth. Let 

compassion and wisdom become 

the eyes of Mother Earth. Looking 

after all beings. 

Purify our hearts… Let us 

recite with the most profound 

sensation of the soul. Forever 

walking on the road to happiness 

and enlightenment without 

obstacles. Forever achieving the 

ultimate enlightened life with 

prosperity. Wonderful! Perfect! 

Everything is complete and 

auspicious. 


Taiwan Chung Hwa International 

Sangha Dana in India…. 

Dana Society in Taiwan, Most 

Venerable Bhiksuni Dr. Ming Yu, 

the Former President of Chinese 

Young Buddhist Association in 

Taiwan (CYBA), Most Venerable 

Bhikkhu Sanghasena, the Founder 

& President of Mahabodhi 

International Meditation 

Centre, Leh, Ladakh, India, Most 

Venerable Palawadhammo 

(Dr. Pornchai Pinyapong), the 

President of The World Alliance 

of Buddhists (WAB), and special 

Taiwanese Buddhist delegation 

also participated as the guests of 

this historic and auspicious event. 


After visit to Leh, 

Ladakh, India 

Official Photographs by 

Pensiri Mahasutthikul 

Chung Hwa International 

Merits Society of Buddha Puja 

and Sangha Dana Society in 

Taiwan held special Maha Sangha 

Dana at Mahabodhi International 

Meditation Centre premises, Leh, 

Ladakh, India on September 17, 

2018. That was the International 

Maha Sangha Dana represented 

by more than 2000 Buddhist 

Monks and Bhikkunies with 

Rinpoches from different 

countries including India. Madam 

Wang Shue Yu, the CEO and 

General Secretary of Chung Hwa 

International Merits Society 

of Buddha Puja and Sangha 


Most Venerable Aggamaha 

Pandita Kotugoeda Dhammavasa 

Uttareethara Maha Nayaka Thero 

Supreme Patriarch of the Sri 

Lanka Amarapura Mahanikaye, 

Saddharmakirti Sri Tripitaka 

Visharada, Pravacana Kirti Sri 

Sāsana Shobhana, Sri Sumangala 

Vidyavatansaka 

The world is diverse and 

most often, it is vicious, in all 

outward appearance. Also the 

people hold different views and 

perceptions which sometimes 

turn wild to give rise to negative 

outcomes. There is also a 

variance in climatic conditions 

from the geological viewpoint. 

So is the vast difference seen 

in terms of cultural and social 

backgrounds? In the like manner, 

people are also different in terms 

of good or bad actions, behaviors 

and conduct. In a world like this 

different leaders are born and 

being elected by the people 

by choice of theirs. But, unless 

this reality of diversity among 

mankind is well acknowledged 

by the leaders, our cherished 

dream to create a peaceful world 

would become a mere futile 

attempt. Therefore, creating 

a morally disciplined society 

should be the first move on our 

path to the world peace. To meet 

this end every nation, countries, 

communities should play a lead 

role prudently in inculcating good 

virtues and discipline in every 

minds of the younger generation 

Message of the Buddhism for 

World Leaders.... 

across the globe, regardless of 

racial, cultural, geographical or 

demographical limitations. 

It is worthy of mentioning 

that since long period of time, 

our parents and adults have 

brought up their children on a 

ground of good association under 

learned and disciplined elders 

and teachers to enable them 

to cultivate themselves in good 

moral conduct, both in verbal, 

physical and also in spiritual 

development. Even in our country, 

Sri Lanka many books, chronicles 

and ancient literature such 

as Amawathura, Guththilaya, 

Budugunalankaraya, Pansiya 

Panas Jataka and Pujawaliya, in 

its textual essence of life stories, 

presented the Buddhist viewpoint 

on matters relating to discipline 

and good morals and urged 

elders to instil feelings of lovingkindness, 

mercy, righteousness, 

charity and so on, so as to help 

them cultivate good habits as a 

disciplined person in the society. 

This is to create a society where 

there is no conflict or tension 

among individuals or groups 

and the disciplined people are 

empowered themselves naturally 

to face any challenge that will 

arise. Accordingly, a disciplined 

person help create conducive 

environment to make others 

disciplined and so do the entire 

society revolutionize on the 

virtuous grounds in the spirit of 

morality and uprightness. 

Secondly, the real peace 

dawns when we behave 

ourselves for the good of others 

without casting aspersions, 

harsh words or hatred on others 

as these behaviors most often 

give rise to conflicts of various 

forms, which, once launched, 

is enormously difficult to 

unravel. Therefore, the first aid 

to treat this malicious behavior 

is no other thing than being 

disciplined. This, in no uncertain 

terms, lays the groundwork for 

peaceful coexistence and unity, 

without discriminating others in 

terms of religious, racial, ethnic 

or linguistic grounds given the 

fact that it makes everything 

simple. In line of this thinking, 

the Lord Buddha as well as the 

great leaders of other religions 

has precisely advocated how the 

leaders of any nation in the world 

should act in promoting moral 

values and discipline of the people 

of particular nation. This clearly 

shows that we should behave 

and adapt ourselves upholding 

moral and disciplinary values to 

the highest level possible at all 

times according to the teachings 

of our noble religions when we 

interact with other people. 

This makes the ideal platform 

for peace and again peace gains 

prosperity for all. Neither does 

the disciplined society engage 

in any activity inimical to others 

nor do they resort to fuel others 

to get same things done under 

any circumstances. When 

there is no fear about the loss 

of their property, loved ones, 

or feeling of being robbed of 

their valuables, then it creates 

conducive environment to 

look after their means of living 

consciously as there is no such 

problems coming out of the 

fear to live. In modern world, 

massive expenditure is incurred 

by state and private organizations 

to protect their property and 

other valuables from various 

fraudulent acts, both by human 

and other means of internet 

crimes. Therefore the ultimate 

purpose of moral discipline is 

not to avoid vicious actions and 

their negative consequences 

but to help us to eliminate the 

anger, grasping attachment and 

ignorance that prevent us from 

being Buddhists. To the extent 

that moral discipline helps you 

overcome your negative patterns 

of acting and thinking, troubling 

and agitating thoughts will 

disappear and no longer disturb 

you in either your daily life or 

interacting with others. When you 

are always able to block acting on 

non-virtuous desires, effectively 

gather virtuous dhammas and 

extensively benefit others, you 

will have mastered the perfection 

“Spiritual 

development 

for brighter 

future”…. 

of moral discipline and made 

significant progress on the path 

to real peace. 

This guarantees the security 

of every human being and as a 

result, it eventually brings about 

real prosperity in a country. 

Therefore if any nation aspires to 

be self-sufficient and prosperity, 

it is important to guide their 

people on the path of good moral 

values and discipline. Historical 

evidence confirmed that rulers 

in the ancient times have 

acknowledged the above fact 

well and steered the countries to 

the climax of prosperity. 

However, in later period 

divisions among the communities 

locally and internationally have 

grown to a large extent in the 

ever increasing political, religious 

and social landscapes. One such 

type arises from the conflict of 

ideologies, political or religious, 

when people fight each other 

for petty ends, losing sight of 

the basic humanity that binds us 

all together as a single human 

family. We must remember that 

the different religions, ideologies, 

and political systems of the world 

are meant for human beings to 

achieve happiness. All this calls 

for a new approach to global 

problems by all leaders of the 

nations in pursuit of genuine 

thinking prudently by promoting 

the moral values and discipline 

at all times according to Buddhist 

purview. 

Dhammapada, the 

ancient Buddhist scripture, 

says “Nahivėrėna vēranī 

sammanthīdha kudhachanam” 

which means “hatred cannot 

be ceased by hatred, but by 

compassion (Karuna). “A sense of 

preference and superiority of one 

race and religion over another 

goes against the fundamental 

tenets of Buddhism and brings 

hatred, discrimination and 

violence. We reject the misuse 

of religions to divide our people. 

In our shared commitment to 

peace and development with 

dignity for all communities and 

their people, let us together face 

the challenges and move forward 

on our journey together to build 

peace in our respective nations, 

within the region, and across the 

world. 

The Lord Buddha, the 

Blessed One, advised the first 

team of His missioners to 

propagate the sublime Dhamma 

in the following words, “Go forth, 

O Bhikkhus, for the good of the 

many, for the happiness of the 

many, out of compassion for the 

world, for the good, benefit, and 

happiness of gods and men…Let 

not two go by one way. Preach, O 

Bhikkhus, the Dhamma, excellent 

in the beginning, excellent in 

the middle, excellent in the end, 

both in the spirit and in the letter. 

Proclaim the holy life, altogether 

perfect and pure”. Going by this 

Buddha’s timeless words to be 

perfect, the monks all over the 

world have relentlessly pursued 

this difficult task very successfully 

at the risk of their lives. This 

caused for the sublime doctrine 

of the Lord Buddha to be in the 

pristine condition continuously in 

the world even to-date. 


Most Venerable Bhiksuni 

Dr. Ming Yu 

The Former President of Chinese 

Young Buddhist Association in 

Taiwan (CYBA) & the Honorary Vice 

President of the World Alliance 

of Buddhists (WAB) and Former 

President of the Outstanding 

Women in Buddhism Awards 

The Buddha concluded ''the 

meditation on breathing" with 

its culmination. According to the 

statement, this meditation is 

believed to lead to the progressive 

vipassana insight step by step 

until magga-phala enlightenment 

- 01 - In this way,, he dwells (or 

spends his time) contemplating 

the body in the body internally; 

he dwells contemplating the 

body externally; or he dwells 

contemplating the body both 

Internally and externally. - 02 - He 

dwells contemplating the among 

nature of the body, or he dwells 

contemplating the disappearing 

nature of the body, or he dwells 

contemplating both the arising 

and disappearing nature of the 

body. - 03 - Mindfulness that 

'there is a body" Is established in 

him to the extent necessary for 

bare knowledge and steadfast 

mindfulness. - 04 - And he dwells 

Independent, not clinging to 

anything In the world. That is 

how he dwells contemplating the 

body In the body. 

Actually, each and every 

meditation exercise mentioned 

in this discourse is concluded 

Culmination of Mindfulness 

Practice…. 

with the similar statement. This 

obviously means they all lead to 

the magga-phala enlightenment. 

During the Buddha's time, there 

were many different religious 

sects and denominations. 

Their followers practiced many 

different exercises with different 

purposes. For example, there 

were ascetics who lived a naked 

life and practiced exercises like 

sitting among the fire spots in 

the hot summer or submerged In 

the Icy cold water In the winter. 

Their purpose was to torture the 

body so that It could no longer 

arouse mental Impurities, or 

to pay off their unwholesome 

kammic debt. There were people 

who prayed to several kinds of 

gods and sacrificed animals or 

even fellow human beings. Their 

purposes for these rituals were 

to be protected and blessed by 

the gods and goddesses or to 

let their Individual souls join 

with the Great Universal Soul 

{paramaatta) or to be reborn in 

heaven. Some of these exercises 

can still be seen even in modern 

India today. 

Unlike such vain practices 

of unconvincing purposes, the 

Buddha explicitly assures us that 

the practice of mindfulness leads 

to the four stages of culmination as 

follows: 01 - Discerning the body 

(physical phenomena) internally, 

externally or both 02 - Seeing the 

arising and disappearing nature 

of the body0. 03 - Establishing the 

mindfulness for bare knowledge 

and steadfast mindfulness. 04 

- Dwelling Independent, not 

clinging to anything in the world 

The First Stage: 

"Contemplating the body 

internally; externality; both 

intern" In harmony with the 

commentary, the phrase 

"contemplating the body 

internally" means to be 

mindful of our own body, 

while contemplating the body 

externally refers to someone 

else's. Actually, it is Impossible to 

be mindful directly of someone 

else's body. But we can discern 

it by Inference based on the 

awareness of our own. According 

to some Pali discourses we 

can develop awareness of 

someone's feeling and mental 

states by carefully observing their 

outer manifestations like facial 

expression, physical gesture and 

tone of voice. 

Such awareness is often just 

a matter of common sense. In the 

context of mindfulness practice, 

awareness of another's body goes 

much deeper than such common 

sense, because It Is totally based 

on the empirical experience of our 

own body (breath). In this regard 

described two kinds of vipassana 

Insights based on Pali texts 

and commentaries: empirical 

Insight paccakkha-vipassana and 

Inferential Insight anumanavipassana. 

To experience the taste 

of the ocean water, for example, 

we just need to drink a glass of it. 

It is unnecessary or impossible to 

drink the whole ocean. Indeed. 

In the same way, being aware 

of our own phenomena we can 

understand those of others in 

the world, because we are all 

constituted of the same kinds of 

phenomena. So, awareness of 

our own phenomena is empirical 

insight and that of others' is 

inferential. The two insights lead 

to the complete understanding of 

everything in the world, whether 

internal or external. 

So, in the Anattalakkhana 

Sutta, the Buddha said thus: 

"5(9, monks, you should discern 

that all the bodies (physical 

phenomena) are neither me nor 

mine whether they are Internal or 

external, gross or subtle, superior 

or inferior, far or near, present, 

past or future. Moreover, the 

phrase "contemplating the body 

both internally and externally" 

is explained in Abhidhamma in a 

very convincing way. According 

to it, this phrase refers to the 

moment when we become 

aware of the body as it is without 

discriminating between our own 

and another's. In other words, 

the moment we experience 

phenomena as they really are, 

we will become independent 

of whether they occur in 

ourselves or in others. Such 

awareness will leave no room 

for illusory sense of 'T" and its 

subsequent attachment. To see 

the body without discrimination 

between our own and others, 

therefore, means to be aware 

of the body both internally and 

externally at the same time. 

Thus, contemplating the body 

internally, externally or both, we 

develop two kinds of insights, 

empirical and inferential, which 

together culminate in the 

complete discernment of the 

body. This is the first stage of 

culmination. 

The Second Stage: 

"Contemplating the arisng 

nature (the disappearing 

nature) and both the arising and 

disappearing nature of the body'' 

Here, the Paji words samudaya 

and vaya are defined respectively 

as arising and disappearing, 

and dhamma as nature. So, the 

phrases samudayadhamma and 

vaya-dhamma are translated 

as the arising nature and the 

disappearing nature. In the 

commentary, however, the 

two are defined respectively 

as conditions for arising and 

conditions for disappearing. 

In this sense, the commentary 

describes the conditions for the 

breath that include physical body, 

the nasal aperture and the mind. 

Their presence and coordination 

are conditions for the arising of 

breaths, while their absence is 

conditions for the disappearing 

of breaths. In harmony with 

this commentarial explanation, 

therefore, Sayadaw U STIananda 

translated this passage thus: 

"He dwells contemplating the 

origination factors of the breath 

body, or he dwells contemplating 

the dissolution factors of the 

breath body..." 

In the context of mindfulness 

practice, however, we are 

not encouraged to analyze or 

contemplate deliberately such 

conditions as physical body, nasal 

aperture, etc. That is why Mahasi 

Sayadaw said that the phrase 

"the origination (dissolution) 

factors of the breath body" 

just means the appearance 

and disappearance of the body 

(physical phenomena that are 

related to the breaths). When 

we become clearly aware of 

breaths, we will discern physical 

phenomena related to the 

breaths and their condltlonallty, 

appearance and disappearance 

without deliberate analysis of the 

conditions for breaths, like nasal 

aperture, etc. 

As mentioned before. If 

we observe the lightning while 

It Is present in the sky, then we 

can discern what the lightening 

really is; we can see it arising and 

passing away, too. in the same 

way. If we can be aware of in 

breath while we are breathing in, 

and out-breath while breathing 

out, we will become aware 

of the air element In terms of 

pressure or motion, or cool touch 

concurrently with In-breathes 

and warm touch with outbreaths. 

Cool and warm are 

temperatures (fire element) in 

different degree. Thus, when we 

discern such present phenomena 

as pressure, motion, warmth, 

coolness, etc., we will see their 

condltlonallty and changes; 

we will see them arising and 

disappearing every moment. This 

is the second stage in which the 

mindfulness of the body (breath) 

culminates. In this case, the 

scope of mindfulness seems to 

be limited to such a small amount 

of phenomena as air element 

and fire element related to the 

breaths. Like a glass of ocean 

water, however. It can surely 

help us realize the whole mighty 

ocean of all mental and physical 

phenomena. 


Dr. Rey Sheng Her 

The Director of Religion, Humanity 

and Volunteer Development, 

Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi 

Foundation, Taiwan 

The environmental recycling 

mission performed by Tzu Chi 

volunteers confirms the teaching 

of Buddha, which indicates that 

the physical world, the human 

body, and the psychological 

nature of mankind suggest the 

cycle of creation. In this cycle, 

creation passes through stages 

of sustaining and decaying and 

eventually reaches a state of 

emptiness. 

Tzu Chi volunteers have 

become aware of the four states 

of change through the recycling 

mission and, thus, learn to 

cherish the life of all beings. 

This experience also brings 

volunteers to adopt a simple 

and frugal lifestyle. The recycling 

station provides a setting 

where volunteers improve their 

health through diverse physical 

exercises. If obsolete plastic 

bottles still possess merit, so do 

their bodies. Volunteers who 

are old or handicapped or who 

suffer from some sort of illness 

reacquire their physical energy 

and redefine their value through 

recycling activities: this indicates 

that a definite connection exists 

Healing the Earth, the Body, and 

The Spirit of Man…. 

between recycling and human 

psychology. Meanwhile, the 

recycling station provides a 

home-like loving atmosphere 

and comforts people who live in 

solitude and sorrow. 

The participants receive the 

love of a big communal family, 

and this love generates positive 

dynamics to all of the participants 

at the recycling stations. Finally, 

the extraordinary character and 

philosophy of Dharma Master 

Cheng Yen has a profound 

influence on volunteers. She 

instructs everybody to “breathe 

and live in harmony with the 

earth” and to “fear to harm 

the land where I walk.” Her 

instructions and these words 

have provided the ultimate 

meaning of life to environmental 

recycling volunteers. This ultimate 

meaning of life suggests that all 

beings are deeply interconnected 

and unified. Therefore, we should 

love and embrace everybody 

without discrimination. 

In 1966, Dharma Master 

Cheng Yen established the Tzu 

Chi Foundation in Hualien, on the 

east coast of Taiwan. With the 

spirit of self-discipline, diligence, 

frugality, and perseverance, Tzu 

Chi set out to help the poor and 

relieve suffering. Over time, the 

foundation’s mission started 

with Charity and extended 

into Medicine, Education, and 

Humanistic Culture. Tzu Chi 

originated in the remote Hualien 

area and expanded to all five 

major continents of the world 

with chapters and offices in 47 

countries. Tzu Chi provides aid 

to over 69 nations. Its volunteers 

selflessly contribute through a 

mindset of gratitude, expressing 

their sincerest care and support 

to each and every individual in 

need. 

The shared goal of Tzu 

Chi volunteers is to cultivate 

sincerity, integrity, faith, and 

honesty within while exercising 

kindness, compassion, joy, and 

selflessness to humanity through 

concrete actions. Transcending 

the bounds of race, nationality, 

language, and religion, they 

serve the world under the notion 

that “when others are hurting, 

we feel their pain; when others 

suffer, we feel their sorrow”. Not 

only do the volunteers endeavor 

to promote the universal value 

of “Great Love,” they also 

fully employ the humanitarian 

spirit of Chinese culture to its 

utmost. Tzu Chi Foundation’s 

“Four Major Missions” consist 

of Charity, Medicine, Education, 

and Humanity. Furthermore, 

considering ongoing efforts 

in Bone Marrow Donation, 

Environmental Protection, 

Community Volunteerism, 

and International Relief, these 

eight concurrent campaigns are 

collectively known as “Tzu Chi’s 

Eight footprints” 

Truth and Majority…. 

Hannah Arendt stated in her 

book "The Promises of Politics" 

that "Once you introduce the 

eternal truth to the public, 

it becomes one of the many 

opinions and thus the eternal 

truth turns into temporary." From 

the perspective of Hannah Arendt, 

the truth does not derive from the 

decision of majority, the opinion 

does. But opinion is temporary, 

uncertain and varies from time 

and place; the truth is eternal, 

although it has been very often 

eliminated or distorted by public 

opinion. Socrates was one of the 

greatest Greek sages and was 

the most influential philosopher 

of his age and in the times of 

Renaissance. We can name him 

as one of the wisest people in 

the history of mankind. Most of 

Socrates' works were edited by 

his pupil, Plato, and presented 

in the form of a dialogue. In the 

time of ancient Greece, there 

were many sophists; it was the 

most democratic age in antiquity. 

However, ironically, it was the 

democracy of Athens which killed 

Socrates. 

The eloquence of Socrates 

and his cutting-edge analysis were 

perceived by Athenians as those 

of contaminated young men. His 

persuasive statement of truth 

was deemed to offend Apollo, the 

God of ancient Greece. Athenians 

used a very democratic method 

to choose 501 jurors out of its 

more than 20,000 citizens and 

organized a trial for Socrates. 

281 out of the 501 reached the 

verdict that sentenced Socrates 

to death. His friends and pupils 

had arranged his escape but he 

declined, saying: "I would rather 

die innocent and not escape 

like a criminal." He followed the 

trial's request to drink a poison 

and died. Eloquence like that 

of Socrates can elucidate the 

truth through dialectic dialogue; 

many intellectuals perceive this 

as the best way to seek truth. 

But the truth was defeated by 

"Democracy". The collective 

intelligence of the public was far 

behind the wisdom of Socrates 

and, sadly, they collectively killed 

the wisest man of their time. 

The example of Athens 

provides a clear example of 

how eternal truth cannot 

be determined by votes of a 

majority. The death of Socrates 

shows us that the genuine truth 

shall be reached through debate. 

Dialectic dialogue will not 

diminish differences but deepen 

them. To express the true ideas 

cannot reconcile the divergences 

between beliefs and ideologies. 

Socrates aimed to seek scientific 

truth and its objectivity; this was 

understood to be the denial of 

God. Although he won almost 

every debate, his explanation 

of truth became the crime of 

which he was charged. Hannah 

Arendt concluded from the fate 

of Socrates that public opinion 

cannot replace truth. Truth only 

belongs to a few wise prophets. 

Therefore, she believed that the 

dialectic discourse is the only and 

best way to expound the truth; 

we should not depend upon the 

majority's opinion to construct 

truth. Nonetheless, if truth 

cannot be understood by the 

public, how can one inspire the 

public to know the truth? How 

will a prophet eliminate the bias 

and wrong perceptions of the 

public and eventually guide them 

to enlightenment? 

Truth and Dialogue…. 

We shall limit the issue to the 

ways to diminish divergences and 

bias and to elaborate methods 

to reach mutual understanding 

among different ideologies and 

beliefs? Moreover, will there be 

any common truth that can be 

accepted by different religions 

and belief groups? If this will 

neither come out through 

dialectic discourse nor by the 

vote of the majority, how will it 

appear? Hannah Arendt believed 

that Socrates was the founder of 

dialectic discourse to find truth 

and that his dialectic discourse 

was based on the principle of 

friendship. Socrates expected to 

build friendships with the citizens 

of Greece and not to compete 

with them. From his viewpoint, 

dialogue was the way to construct 

friendship; but Athens was a 

competitive and saturated city. 

Its citizens were eager to prove 

that they were best and on the 

right side in public life. It is very 

similar to our modern world 

in which we all live in a very 

competitive and saturated city 

and every one of us tries to gain 

advantages and promote beliefs 

through the public discourse of 

the democratic system. The Greek 

prophets, including Socrates, 

Plato and Aristotle, believed that 

to construct a community had to 

be based on friendship instead of 

justice. The definitions of justice 

vary from people to people; it is 

only through friendship that we 

can build a shared community. 


Dr. See Yew Ong 

President & Founder of Udumbara 

Mission, President of Melaka 

Buddhist Lodge, Malaysia, Secretary 

General of Malaysian Buddhist 

Kulapati Association, Advisor of the 

World Alliance of Buddhists (WAB) 

Malaysia is a multi- racial, 

multi-cultural, multi-lingual and 

multi-religious country. Currently 

out of its national population 

30 million, 23.7 % are Chinese. 

20% of the national population 

is Buddhists and 90% of these 

Buddhists are from the Chinese 

descendants. Buddhism in 

Malaysia is presented in a diverse 

expression as it has the traits of 

having three main Buddhism 

Traditions thriving together in a 

society with various Buddhists 

ethnic communities, and using 

both Chinese and English as the 

lingual for Dharma promulgation 

and interaction. 

Chinese Mahayana 

Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism 

and Tibetan Buddhism are 

spreading in Malaysia. Chinese 

Mahayana Buddhism is the 

most influential one, as it came 

with the Chinese immigrants in 

the 17th Century and most of 

Chinese Mahayana Buddhists are 

Chinese descendants. Theravada 

Buddhism are originated from Sri 

Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar, 

therefore are mainly practiced 

by South Asia descendants and 

Multi-Origin Buddhism in a 

Pluralistic Society…. 

Southeast Asia descendants. 

Tibetan Buddhism came to 

Malaysia in the second half of 

the 20th Century, recent years 

its number of followers and 

organizations has ballooned up 

rapidly. Malaysia Buddhists are 

mainly formed by the Chinese 

descents, Sinhalese descents, 

Thai descents and Burmese 

descents; each ethnic group has 

infused each unique tradition 

and culture into Buddhism, thus 

making the Malaysia Buddhism 

a distinct trait of diversity. 

The language demographics 

of Malaysia are formed by 

coexistence of languages from 

different ethnic groups, having 

the Malay language (Bahasa 

Melayu) as the official language 

and English as the common 

language owing to the legacy of 

the British colonialism. On top 

of that the Chinese descents 

are strongly adhered to our 

Mandarin Chinese and Dialect 

Chinese, thus Chinese and English 

are used as the main lingual for 

Dharma promulgation. These 

diverse language demographics 

have consequently created the 

Malaysian Buddhists advantages: 

majority of us are familiar with 

many languages and are openminded 

to Buddhism from 

different origins/ traditions. 

Since 

Malaysia 

independence, Buddhist temples 

and organizations have been 

inwardly strengthening our 

cohesion, outwardly defending 

the rights and interests of 

Buddhism, as well as modernizing 

our organization structural to cope 

with the interactions with other 

organizations. Currently the main 

national Buddhist organizations in 

Malaysia are: Malaysian Buddhist 

Association, Malaysian Buddhist 

Sangha Association, Malaysian 

Buddhist Kulapati Association, 

Young Buddhist Association of 

Malaysia, Theravada Buddhist 

Council of Malaysia, Vajrayana 

Buddhist Council of Malaysia, 

Fo Guang Shan Malaysia, 

Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana 

Society, Buddhist Missionary 

Society Malaysia, and Malaysian 

Buddhist Consultative Council-a 

network formed by several 

prominent national Buddhist 

organizations. Besides these 

national organizations, across 

the nation there are thousands of 

temples that are led by Buddhist 

monks/nuns and Buddhist 

associations/ Buddhist lodges 

that are led by Buddhist laities, 

thus making Malaysia Buddhism 

not a monastic/temple centric, 

instead it has configured into a 

community centric Buddhism 

whereby there are lively 

interactions of Buddhist monastic 

and laities. This is another distinct 

trait of Malaysia Buddhism. 

Buddhism has been 

promulgated in Malaysia 

since antiquity. Contemporary 

Malaysian Buddhism has 

gone through many phases of 

development: initial phase, the 

phase of influx of immigrants, 

phase of localization and phase 

of globalization. Different era 

brought different challenges. 

These challenges were resolved 

through the endeavors of past 

masters and distinguished laities, 

thus sharpened Malaysian 

Buddhism into its current form. 

The development and trends 

of contemporary Malaysian 

Buddhism can be consolidated 

into the following transitions: 

01 - From folklore into Right 

Faith 02 - From individual into 

institutionalized organizations 03 

- From multi-origins/ traditions 

into diversity 04 - From religious 

into cultural and educational 

05 - From elderly into youthful 

06 - From localization into 

internationalization. 

Through the long process 

of development, contemporary 

Malaysian Buddhism has 

gradually developed its unique 

traits: diversity, the process of 

integration of modernity has 

generated many unique local 

features: Buddhists stated 

with institutionalizing religious 

groups. Then we utilizing these 

institutionalized religious groups 

as platforms to proactively 

“Folklore 

into Right 

Faith”…. 

organize cultural, educational 

and welfare activities in 

the participation of social 

construction and interaction with 

organizations from other faiths, 

consequentially created many 

distinctly Malaysian Buddhism 

features. Through mutual 

respect, understanding and 

integration we have interacted 

with various communities, in the 

due course we have acquired 

the mastery of multi-lingual 

thus transformed Malaysian 

Buddhism into the framework 

for embracing diversity and 

harmonious internationalized 

Buddhism. Malaysian Buddhism 

has thrived in a society made 

up of diverse ethnic groups, 

cultures and religions. We hope 

that Malaysian Buddhism model 

of embracing diversity and 

harmonious can be the important 

example / reference for the 

development of contemporary 

and future Buddhism in other 

places. 

Filial Piety is said to be one 

of the important ideas in the 

Buddhism. The idea has been 

recorded in several Buddhist 

Scriptures, which advise people 

to be filial to the elders. For 

example, it was recorded in 

Samyuktagama-sutra, scroll 

88, where: There was a young 

Brahmin went to see the Buddha. 

Upon arrival, the Brahmin asked 

the Buddha, "I have been going 

around begging for food for my 

parents, dear Buddha, have I 

been doing enough of what I 

should be doing?" The Buddha 

replied that "Yes, you have done 

what you have to do. Anyone 

who has been taking care of their 

parents will be reincarnated in 

the Heaven upon their deaths." 

The Brahmin was happy to hear 

that and left. The Buddha tried to 

deliver the idea of the filial piety 

through praising the Brahmin, 

acknowledged and recognized his 

act of taking care of the parents, 

and mentioned that this act 

will not only be admired by the 

people, and the Brahmin will also 

be reincarnated in the Heaven. 

Similarly, filial piety is the 

core-values of Confucianism 

which forms the foundation of 

Chinese culture. According to one 

of the scripture in Confucianism, 

"filial piety is also the foundation 

of all virtues ". Filial piety thus 

does not limits to family, but 

should also be extended to 

promote harmonization and 

peace in the society and nation. 

This article first describes the 

differences between the filial 

piety ideology as rooted in both 

Buddhism and the Confucianism, 

and how they were harmonized 

and integrate into each other. 

Next, we describe the key 

characteristics of Buddhist filial 

piety, from both conceptual 

and practical perspectives. The 

article then concludes with the 

significance of such Buddhist filial 

piety values in contemporary 

society. 


Sugath Rajapakse 

Formerly Senior Commercial 

Manager at Sri Lankan Airlines and 

presently Consultant to Air India GSA 

in Sri Lanka. 

These days with many TV 

Channels and FM Radio channels 

one has the opportunity of 

listening to many a Dhamma 

discourses in a single day. Yet, 

in the early days our people had 

only an opportunity to listen to 

Dhamma discourses on Radio 

twice a week, on Wednesday 

at 8.00 PM and on Sundays at 

8.00 AM through Radio Ceylon. 

Despite having the opportunity 

to listen to Dhamma 24 hours a 

day or to watch discourses being 

relayed in TV frequently on a daily 

basis, the habits of our citizens in 

relation to the for Brahma Vihar 

of Loving-Kindness, Compassion, 

Equanimity and Altruistic joy is 

fast fading away into oblivion. In 

our childhood days, if a student 

was unable to attend school for 

a day or even longer, on his/her 

return to school almost all the 

students will offer their note 

books (we did not have Lap Tops 

or IPads in those days) to the 

student to note down the subject 

matters he/she missed out. 

If there is a Pooja in a city 

such as Anuradhapura where 

thousands of Eight Parishkar are 

The Gift of Dhamma Excels 

All Gifts…. 

offered or millions of flowers and 

oil lamps are offered, one finds 

busloads of devotees making the 

trip from far way places and often 

staying overnight as well. Also 

with TV and Radio channels the 

Dhamma discourses are booked 

well in advance by lay people and 

at times 5 to 6 months ahead. 

Alms giving take place all the time 

in homes, temples and various 

other places. Thus given these 

virtuous actions, one must expect 

a nation of calm and peace and 

tranquility. Yet only the opposite 

is happening on a daily basis. 

Killing of humans and animals are 

taking place all the time as well 

as thefts not just from homes but 

even banks and other institutions, 

bribery and corruption in high 

places and well as in other places 

and sheer absence of equanimity 

be at family level, local level or at 

national level. 

To dwell deeper into this 

matter we need to analyze the 

process of sponsored Dhamma 

discourses in TV or Radio. 

Here the one who sponsors 

the discourse must make the 

necessary payment to the 

channel and reserve the date and 

time available. On the actual day 

of the discourse the devotees 

would attend the Dhamma 

discourse in the recording room 

and there the announcer will 

make announcement of the 

names of those sponsoring the 

discourse. The Bhikku giving 

the discourse often will quote 

from the stanza, “Sabba Danan 

Dhamma Danan Jinathi” meaning 

the gift of Dhamma excels all gifts 

(Dhammapada – 24. 354). Thus 

it is obvious to us that the gift 

of Dhamma excels all other gifts 

such as robes, food, dwellings 

or any other thing even if such 

things are valued in Millions of 

Dollars. 

In the old day’s despite not 

having the facilities to travel 

to any place in the country in 

a jiffy to attend a Pooja or give 

alms to Bhikkus, or to listen to 

Dhamma discourses, yet the 

people were far more peaceful 

and kind than today. Then where 

has it gone wrong today? During 

the days when the Enlightened 

One was dwelling in Pavarika 

Mango grove in Nalanda, in 

response to a request from a 

householder named Kewadda 

that a Bhikku who can perform 

miracles be appointed to his 

area, Buddha refused to do 

so and told him that there are 

three miracles, two of which he 

abhorred. The only miracle that 

he said should be done is the 

Miracle of Dhamma discourse 

or Anusasana Prathihar. Just as 

the first two miracles of walking 

over water, flying through air or 

diving into earth and the ability 

to read other minds even this 

miracle of Dhamma can only be 

done by self and not by another. 

Therefore, when a venerable 

Bhikku expounds Dhamma be it 

in a Temple, in a Radio Channel or 

on Television it is that Bhikku who 

having comprehended the inner 

meaning of Dhamma taught by 

the Enlightened One who would 

perform the miracle and not 

those who have sponsored the 

Dhamma discourse. Of course 

the people who sponsor such 

discourses for self and others 

to hear do gain merits but are 

not performing the Anusasana 

Prathihar. But the lay people too 

can perform the expounding of 

Dhamma miracle, how? 

There are six aspects in 

the Dhamma Miracle, 01 - Evan 

vitakketa ma evan vitakkaita – 

Think of these and do not think 

of these. 02 - Evan manasikarotha 

ma evan manasakaththa- 

Contemplate these and do not 

contemplate these. 03 - Idan 

pajahatha idan upasampajja 

viharatha – Jettison these and 

develop and live as per these. 

In the first two aspects, 

the thoughts primarily can be 

categorized under thoughts of 

renunciation, free from malice 

and free of thoughts of hurting 

others physically or mentally. 

Thus the Yogi will jettison any 

thought of craving, aversion and 

cruelty. In the second case, one 

“Dhamma 

expounded 

by the 

Enlightened 

One”…. 

does not contemplate on the 

negative actions such as hatred, 

craving, greed, enmity, conceit, 

ingratitude etc. and instead 

would contemplate on those 

that would enable self as well 

as others to walk on the path to 

purification. In the last one you 

will jettison all things that are 

not good for self, others and for 

both but develop those that are 

beneficial for self, other and for 

both not from a lowly mundane 

perspective but from a superior 

perspective which will ultimately 

enable the one performing the 

Anusasana Prathihar (miracle of 

Dhamma expounding) to achieve 

at least the first level of the four 

super-mundane levels of Stream- 

Entry (Sothapaththi) 

So we the lay people must 

listen to the Dhamma attentively 

and grasp the inner meaning of 

the Dhamma expounded by the 

Enlightened One. Then such a 

person, even if he/she knows only 

a few aspects of the Dhamma can 

give that knowledge to others 

as well. Thus to a person who 

is going to gift the Dhamma to 

others, then that person must at 

least understand the very basics 

and which can be taught to others 

because there are hundreds of 

millions of people in this world 

who have no understanding of 

the truth of Dhamma. 

However, there is a 

disturbing trend in our country 

with regard to sponsoring of 

Dhamma discourses on TV. While 

the venerable Bhikku is giving 

the discourse, crawlers can be 

seen at the bottom of the screen 

giving the names of the devotees 

who are sponsoring same. Often 

in these crawlers there are such 

things as son living in an overseas 

country or daughter living in an 

overseas country. Then there 

are other occasions where the 

people sponsoring the discourse 

would be with their job titles. Of 

course there are others who only 

give the name of the deceased 

person and say the discourse is 

sponsored by children & relatives 

or the widowed husband or 

wife with no names. When one 

insists on having the titles or 

the foreign countries where 

children or siblings are residing 

it can only lead to promoting the 

first of the ten fetters, Sakkaya 

Ditti or Personality view full of 

conceit. Such things are not 

conducive for the walking on the 

path to purification as without 

eliminating Personality View no 

one can become a stream enterer. 

During the days of the 

Enlightened One while dwelling 

in Rajgir, a beggar named 

Suppabuddhakutti observing the 

stream of people going though; 

well they must be going to a 

place giving alms and went along 

with them. Arriving at the place 

he realized that Enlightened One 

was giving discourse in Dhamma. 

Forgetting about the food he too 

sat down away from the crowd 

as he was shabbily dress and had 

eczema. While the Enlightened 

One was delivering the Dhamma 

discourse he attained the first 

stage of stream entry. His skin 

was dirty and so were his cloths 

but not the mind. So merely 

getting dressed in white cloths is 

not a prerequisite to walk on the 

sublime path, but only a beautiful 

mind. He belonged to the Chavi 

papaka chiththa bhaddaka, dirty 

skin but a beautiful mind. 


“HDDES” Alms 

offering to 

500 monks in 

Myanmar.… 

Sri Lankan one of leading 

Group of Companies named 

HDDES Extracts (Pvt) Ltd. of 

HDDES Group held special 

Alms offering to 500 Buddhist 

monks in main Buddhist Temple 

in South Dagon Nikal Ngar Yat 

Tipitaka (Myin Chan) Monastery, 

in Myanmar as a big event at 

the Temple premises. This is the 

concept of Mr. H. Dharmasiri De 

Silva, the Chairman of HDDES 

Group of companies and also 

participated Mr. Gehan De Silva, 

the Group Director of HDDES 

Extracts (Pvt) Ltd. of HDDES 

Group & Mr. Mevan De Silva, 

the Director of Finance HDDES 

Extracts (Pvt) Ltd. of HDDES Group 

who also manufactures and 

distributes the leading "AURA" 

brand Incense sticks under 

the subsidiary company D'las 

International (Pvt) Ltd. The Chief 

Abbot of main Buddhist Temple 

in South Dagon Nikal Ngar Yat 

Tipitaka (Myin Chan) Monastery, 

Myanmar was so happy with this 

ideal programme. Mr. Gehan 

De Silva & Mr. Mevan De Silva 

also donated the contribution 

as a financial support to the 

development of this Temple. 


“Amritha” 

Daham 

Suwanda 

Seriya - 2018 

Dhambadiwa tour organized by 

Amritha - Darley Butler & Co.Ltd 


Values of Excellent 

Sangha Dana…. 

Most Venerable Master Benwu 

Directing Sangha Master of Taichung 

Sanbao Huchi Association, The 

Triple-Gems-Supporting Association, 

Taichung and Chengchueh 

Monastery, Taiwan 

The Way of Filial Piety has 

always been widely known 

throughout Chinese civilization, 

which encompasses more than 

five thousand years of history. 

After Buddhism entered China, 

the traditional Chinese veneration 

of ancestors also developed by 

incorporating the Buddhist spirit 

of Compassion and Filial Piety. 

Every year on the seventh lunar 

month people celebrate the 

Ghost Mass Feeding Festival, 

which also becomes the Month 

of Filial Piety. The Great Dharma 

Assembly Sanghadana is often 

held before or after this period. In 

the twenty-first century, in which 

many cultural traditions are 

fading out with each passing day, 

this kind of historical continuity, 

and the appearance of this kind 

of culture and belief, whose 

meaning is profound, is even 

more worth cherishing. 

On the 30th of July, 2017, 

the Sanbao Huchi Association 

of Taichung City hosted the 

30th National Sanghadana 

in Taichung’s International 

Exhibition Center. On the day 

of this event, which occurred 

between two typhoons, Taichung 

was miraculously without rain or 

wind. On this beautiful day, the 

number of monastics arriving 

from the ten directions to join 

the distinguished meeting broke 

records from years before: in 

all 6,309 monastics arrived to 

receive offerings. 

Together with the 

volunteers, food preparers, staff 

members and congregation, the 

event reached a scale of over 

twenty thousand people. This 

esteemed meeting, a grassroots 

Dharma Banquet, allowed people 

to really see the power of beauty 

and goodness that maintain the 

stability and forward progress of 

this society, and to experience the 

bright prospects and hope found 

on this small island. If you place 

yourself in the midst of this great 

Dharma Gathering, a moving 

and jolting effect constantly 

accumulates from so many small 

details. You can truly experience 

a side of Taiwan that we are not 

used to seeing through ordinary 

media outlets: instead of the 

hubbub, or the superficiality, this 

Dharma Gathering was anxiety- 

free, paired down, and simply 

involved silent offerings made in 

pious devotion. This is the most 

beautiful side of Taiwan. 

The traditional origin of 

the Sanghadana is quite old. 

Beginning at the time of the 

Buddha, the tradition of Rains 

Retreat (Vassa) for the Sangha 

was already established: Every 

year, from the sixteenth day of 

the fourth lunar month to the 

fifteenth day of the seventh lunar 

month the Sangha remains in 

retreat, energetically cultivating 

the Way. On the fifteenth of 

the seventh month this period 

ends, and it is called “the day the 

Buddhas rejoice in,” or “the day 

upon which the Sangha purifies” 

(Pavarana). 

“Buddhism 

refers to 

the Buddha, 

Dharma, and 

Sangha”…. 

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Restraint of Mind…. 

Most Venerable Dr Kotawila Sri 

Pemaloka Thero 

Founder and Chief Abbot of Aaloka 

Buddhist Centre in Singapore 

Sense Restraint - The Buddha 

did not asked the followers to 

close their eyes, ears, noses 

and mouths, but whatever you 

do, do with reflection. With 

the conscious mind, to have 

knowledge of the objects but not 

to go further from the point of 

knowledge. 

It is the nature of our mind 

that it has no satisfaction but to 

go further, further and further 

to ego - namely the nation of ”I”. 

Sanjanati lead you to go ahead. 

The Arahantas who had destroyed 

defilements also will have the 

knowledge on the object that is 

not Sanjanati but Abhijanati then 

it is not going further and further. 

Do defects if we only have 

knowledge of the environment. 

It becomes a defect when one 

thinks further and further on 

the same object, then you would 

produce papanca many kinds of 

knowledge Sanjanati, Vijateti and 

Pahati. The highest is “yata bhuta 

nama dassana” - being able to 

see and know things as they are. 

Without restraint of the 

senses your practice for liberation 

cannot progress further in 

the ways that the Buddha had 

recommended. Here sense 

restraint refers to mind process. 

In the Digha Nikaya you find the 

importance of the sense restraint. 

The restraint of these senses very 

crucial state for the path leading 

to cessation of suffering. In this 

sutta, after discussing the section 

of sila. The Buddha came to the 

point of restraint of senses, “Yata 

bhuta nana dassana”. 

According to this Sutta, 

without restraint of the senses 

you cannot have concentration 

and from this point you could turn 

to another way. Papanca patha 

is the way we combine with the 

world. Even at the beginnings Sila 

is the directed to some purposes 

cessation of suffering. 

According to the Buddha, the 

characteristic of Brahmacariya 

is the excellent in the beginning 

excellent in the middle, excellent 

at the end. Adikalyane, Majjhe 

Kalyane, Pariyosana Kalyane = 

Pure continually throughout till 

the end. The conduct of Sila is 

a gradual way of development. 

Following ways of development 

could be achieved; 

01 - Ariyena Silakkhandena - 

by noble way of Sila 02 - Ariyena 

Indriya Samvarena - by noble way 

of control of senses. 03 - Ariyena 

Sammasatisanjeti - by the noble 

tranquility of mind 04 - Ariyena 

Sammadhikkhandena - by the 

noble final stage of experience 05 

- Ariyena Pancakkhandena - by 

the noble way of controlling the 

body. 

In the noble restraint you can 

find the ingredients not only of 

the sense restraints but also how 

you protect the precepts with 

the reflections and mindfulness. 

You must have all the parts of the 

Noble Eight Fold Path from the 

very beginning. 

The noble way is not only 

the theoretical but practical and 

conductive for all of us to arrange 

our own way to be conscious 

about our mind origination 

creation. Day by day you are 

bewildered, “Live in the world 

but not to be affected”. The 

Buddha said to Kalamas, “You 

must not accept my word merely 

out of respect for me”. The 

Buddha concluded the advice 

with explanation of Nibbana. 


Buddhism and Education…. 

Most Venerable Dr. Pategama 

Gnanarama Thero 

The Principal of Buddhist and Pali 

College of Singapore and Chief Abbot 

of Ti-Sarana Buddhist Association in 

Singapore 

The Buddha is the Teacher 

of Gods and men. As we see 

from his life and deeds of forty 

five years of his earthly career, 

he was an untiring teacher who 

served humanity unreservedly. 

He stated explicitly that he had 

no teachers first with regard 

to his teaching and that he has 

thought what he realized without 

any reservation whatsoever. 

Before his final passing away, the 

Buddha addressing the monks, 

asked them to get their doubts 

cleared, if any; 

“If you have any doubt as to 

the Buddha or the Dhamma or 

the path or the Method, feel free 

to inquire. Do not be depressed 

afterwards thinking that when 

our teacher was with us, we could 

not inquire directly from him” 

When nobody came 

forward, the Buddha requested 

the monks the second and third 

time. But, there was no response 

from the audience. Then for the 

fourth time, the Buddha asked 

them whether they did not 

come forward out of reverence 

for the teacher. If it was so, he 

requested them to communicate 

their questions to their friends 

so that they could ask on their 

behalf. This extraordinary event 

shows the Buddha dedication to 

enlighten others even at the last 

moment of his mortal existence. 

Different ways of delivering 

discourses 

A good teacher knows 

the abilities and weakness of 

his students. When personal 

coaching is needed, he is always 

there to help them. The Buddha, 

with a keen sense of awareness 

of the mental capacity and 

temperament of individuals 

who sought his instructions, 

employed different techniques to 

derive maximum benefit from his 

teaching career. The Sanyutta and 

Anguttara commentaries have 

broadly analyzed the methods 

followed by the Buddha; the 

methods adopted are classified 

into four and called four ways of 

delivering discourses. 

01 - On the own accord. 02 - 

By knowing the others intention 

03 - By way of an explanation to a 

question asked 04 - According to 

the circumstance 

“Glimpses 

of Buddhist 

Wisdom”…. 

Classification of Students 

according to their attention, 

capacity of understanding and 

response.... 

In his preaching tours, the 

Buddha addressed to different 

kinds of people. The audience was 

always different. Their attention 

capacity of understanding and 

response often differ from one 

another. Since their attention 

varied as a compassionate 

teacher, therefore he had to 

analyze their different characters 

traits for better treatment. As 

outlined in Anguttaranikaya with 

regard to attention. 


52 l Mettavalokanaya l October l 2018 l www.mettavalokanaya.com 

Buddhika Sanjeewa, as the Founder, President & Chief Editor of Mettavalokana Buddhist Publications Centre, I printed and published this “Mettavalokanaya” Buddhist Magazine as 

a publication of Mettavalokana Buddhist Publications Centre on December 10, 2018 at M. D. Gunasena & Co (Pvt) Ltd, No.20, San Sebastian Hill, Colombo 12, Sri Lanka. 

Registered at Department of Post in Sri Lanka - QD/193/News/2018

Mettavalokanaya_Buddhist_Magazine_December_2018.

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