Jogye Order Buddhist School of International Studies holds first graduation ceremony

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Seoul, South Korea -- After 2 years since the opening, The Jogye Order Buddhist School of International Studies held it’s first graduation ceremony with 9 monastic graduates at Hwaunsa temple in Gyeonggi province on February 22nd, 2013.

These 9 monastics enrolled 2 years ago in aims of further propagating Korean Buddhism to the rest of the World. Ven. Hyun ung, the head of the Jogye Order education institute was the keynote speaker at the graduation ceremony. During his speech, he stated, “... these nine graduates will be an important resource for the promotion of Korean Buddhism in the World.”
The principal venerable, Ven. Beob in, handed out the diploma to each of the nine graduates and congratulated on them on their accomplishments.

It was noted in the keynote speech that there had been no drop outs and all nine monastics had completed the course from the beginning.

Ven. Cheong ha and Ven. Jeong Hyo will go back to the United States to continue their work on Korean Buddhist propagation, and other monastics will continue to propel the advancements for International affairs, Temple stay programs, to further propagate Korean Buddhism to the rest of the world.

Native English teachers and the 16 students who entered the school last year and this year congratulated the graduates for their accomplishments. The Jogye Order Buddhist School of International Studies will continue to develop monastics with bilingual skills to further propagate Korean traditional Buddhism to the rest of the World to liberate people across the globe from suffering.

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Tibetan Buddhist monks organize prayers for victims, families of Sandy Hook school

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Mysore, India -- Tibetan monks are praying in Mysore, India, for the victims and families of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, as well as the Newtown community. The school was the site of a horrific tragedy where a lone gunman killed 20 kindergartners and six adults last month, on Dec. 14.

<< Students and teachers at Sera Mey Monastery in India offer their prayers for the victims and families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings and the community of Newtown. Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche, spiritual director of Do Ngak Kunphen Ling, Tibetan Buddhist Center for Universal Peace (DNKL), in Redding, and Geshe Dhargye, right, in the back row, resident teacher and scholar, organized the prayers. They are currently visiting and teaching at Sera Mey Monastery.

“We are all one. Even on the other side of the world people are praying for you. We send prayers of compassion from Sera Mey Monastery in India,” said Geshe Lobsang Dhargye of Do Ngak Kunphen Ling, Tibetan Buddhist Center for Universal Peace (DNKL), in Redding.

Currently, Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche, spiritual director of DNKL, and Geshe Dhargye, resident teacher and scholar, are visiting and teaching at Sera Mey Monastery in India. As neighbors in Redding to the Newtown community, they share the sorrow and suffering brought forth by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Rinpoche and Geshe organized weekly prayer services for the victims, families and community.

Gyumed Khensur Rinpoche is also head of Thewo Khangsten in Sera Mey Monastery in India. As a senior scholar of the Gelugpa Tibetan Buddhist lineage, Rinpoche and Geshe offer traditional and authentic teachings in Redding and at the monastery in India.

Sera Mey Monastery history links directly to Buddha Shakyamuni. Sera Monastery is one of the “great three” Gelugpa university monasteries of Tibet. During the 1959 revolt in Lhasa, Sera monastery suffered severe damage. After the Dalai Lama took asylum in India, many of the monks of the Sera Monastery who survived moved to Bylakuppe in Mysore, India. They established a parallel Sera Monastery with Sera Mey and Sera Jey colleges and a Great Assembly Hall, similar to the original monastery.

There are now more than 3,000 monks living in Sera. This community has spread its teaching activities to several countries by establishing Tibetan Buddhist Dharma centers which share the knowledge of Buddhism, such as the DNKL Tibetan Buddhist Center in Redding (dnkl.org and facebook.com/DNKL.Buddhist.Center).

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Thai School Embodies Sustainable Buddhist Philosophies

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Chiang Mai, Thailand -- In Buddhist teachings, all living things are considered to be part of one interconnected web of life, and nature is merely the order of the world that has not been warped by human desires. It is only fitting, then, that a school that teaches children the way of the Buddha would be built from natural materials and would tread lightly upon the local environment.

<< Panyaden School

The embodiment of this philosophy can be found at the Panyaden School, a sustainable Buddhist institution located near the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. The cluster of buildings at the nearly 54,000-square-foot primary education institution, designed by the Dutch firm 24H Architecture, are made almost entirely of natural or recycled materials and built to resemble the lush, mountainous landscape of the region.

Completed in 2011, the Panyaden School plan is inspired by the branching leaves of the tropical antler horn fern, according to the 24H blog. The main teaching areas are divided into separate sections of three classrooms each, made of compressed-earth walls and covered by large thatched-roof canopies. In between each classroom, a series of pathways lead to open-air pavilions where students can meet for instruction in an even more natural setting.

The chief structural material is fast-growing bamboo, which grows in abundant quantities around the school. Large bamboo rods are used as beams to support the woven-bamboo roofs, which include wide overhangs to provide ample shade from the tropical sun. In some of the open pavilions, supporting bamboo rods branch out from natural stone pilings, providing the illusion that children are meeting in a sheltered forest clearing.

One of several open-air pavilions where children can gather for outdoor assemblies. Image via Panyaden School >>

Hardly any right angles can be found in the architecture of the Panyaden School. Most earthen walls are gently curved, and the rooflines and eaves of the rounded structures roll and swoop, sometimes nearly reaching the ground, echoing the rolling hills found in the area.

In the main classroom, most of the manmade finished elements come from recycled materials, such as reclaimed hardwood for the door and window frames. The classroom walls are also pockmarked with embedded glass bottles and recovered washing-machine windows to draw in natural light. The doors and glass windows are built on a central pivot system to allow for ventilation in the warm climate.

Surrounding the school are rice paddies and gardens, where school staff grow their own organic vegetables and rice, irrigated with the school’s harvested rainwater. To further reduce the facility’s carbon footprint, a food waste recycling program also creates natural fertilizer for the soil and collects biogas for use in cooking meals for the students.

For these environmental features, according to the Designboom site, the Panyaden School won a Grand Award for overall design and a Gold Award for sustainability at the 2012 Design For Asia Awards.

Read more: http://earthtechling.com/2013/01/thai-school-embodies-sustainable-buddhist-philosophies/

On the web: http://www.panyaden.ac.th/

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Brainwashed into quitting medical school

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PETALING JAYA, Malaysia -- A group of Universiti Sains Malaysia medical students has allegedly been brainwashed into leaving their studies by a Buddhist monk.

Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia lay adviser Chong Hung Wang said the student Buddhist association from the campus in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, had voiced its concern that around 30 medical students had shown behavioural changes and disinterest in their studies after returning from a trip to Thailand with the monk in August.

"These students were led to believe that patients should not receive medical treatment for their condition as sickness is the result of their karma.

"They are convinced that they should not become doctors as the act of treating patients will interfere with karma," said Chong.

It is believed that the monk had approached the students in March this year and had gained a following through religious activities conducted off-campus.

The monk also allegedly claimed that he had supernatural power and was able to tell the past and predict the future of the students.

"Compassion is central to Buddhist beliefs. What the monk had propagated about leaving patients to their sickness is wrong.

"We hope to curb the spread of misleading religious beliefs among students by creating better awareness on the true teachings of Buddhism," said Chong.

The students are said to want to leave the medical school and transfer to other programmes such as nutrition and sports science.

They are also having strained relationships with their family members following their decision to quit medical studies.

It was understood that some of the students were in their third and fourth year of studies.

A university official confirmed that three students had applied to transfer to other courses.

Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Datuk Omar Osman said none of the students had received approval to switch courses and the university viewed the matter of students being influenced by misleading religious teachings seriously.

"We do not want the students to simply switch courses because they are very good students and had worked very hard to gain a place to study medicine," said Prof Omar.

He added that the university was reaching out to the students through counselling.

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