A Charity Aims to Bring Buddhist Studies Into the Modern World

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HONG KONG, China -- Robert Y.C. Ho, a scion of a historic Hong Kong family, is the chairman of the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation, which supports study in the fields of Buddhism, Chinese art and culture. The charity is named after Mr. Ho’s father, who founded it in 2005.

It has given endowments for Buddhist programs at Harvard University, Stanford University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. In May, it gave a $1.9 million grant to the American Council of Learned Societies for the research and teaching of Buddhist studies.

Why did your father decide to focus on Buddhism?

Buddhism was easier because his grandmother, Lady Clara, set up a temple in Hong Kong, Tung Lin Kok Yuen, in 1935 — it later grew to two charity organizations, in Hong Kong and Canada — and there’s a school associated with it. So Buddhism has been part of the family.

We also support Chinese art and culture because my father, who grew up in Hong Kong, appreciates Chinese arts — classical, traditional and contemporary.

Buddhist studies are usually associated with history. How do you make them relevant to today?

Generally speaking, Buddhist studies in higher institutions have been archaic and old-fashioned, in the sense that it’s mostly text-based, where we have scholars who are experts in Pali, Sanskrit, classical Chinese, Japanese, old languages. They read these texts and they talk about them. A lot of time, it’s not really related to what happens in the real world.

But a lot of younger scholars are pushing into new areas, like studying about Buddhism and politics, Buddhism and the environment, conflict resolution, Buddhism and psychology, things like that, and how they manifest in the world. Most of our grants are geared toward the area, which is Buddhism in the contemporary world. This is the area we want to push, to advance the field, to make it relevant to the contemporary audiences.

Why do you work largely with universities and institutions in the West, as opposed to in China or other parts of Asia?

We’re looking for the right partner, the right institution. The standard of scholarship is traditionally, at least in the modern and contemporary era, much higher in North America and the West, so there’s a practical consideration.

We’re looking into working in China, but they’re all state-funded institutions. That makes it tricky to find a partner.

Southeast Asia is another story. For example, in Thailand and Sri Lanka, they have a category of institutions called Buddhist universities, and they study Buddhism in a traditional way. They take their model back from India in the Middle Ages: They have a big monastery and next to the monastery, they would have a university where they’d teach Buddhist scholarship from a traditional point of view. That’s not what we’re looking for.

Through Tung Ling Kok Yuen in Hong Kong, we helped set up the Buddhist Studies Center at Hong Kong University — it was before we started the family foundation. After we’ve started the foundation, most of our grants for Buddhist-related areas are mostly through the foundation.

In Hong Kong, where the foundation is based, you seem to focus on arts and culture education. Why is that?

With Hong Kong being mostly Chinese, we see the program as under the umbrella of Chinese art and culture. It’s a basic belief that arts and creativity are part of a human being and the human psyche — that is important to make a person well-rounded, and to have some exposure to that is very important. It’s important not only to individuals but also to a healthy society.

The government has some initiatives to try to make Hong Kong a culture or art hub.

They are putting a lot of effort in the hardware. That’s good, that’s an important part of it, but you also need the audience.

The software is the education program, so that people who go to art events can appreciate, talk about and criticize them. You need that aspect. What we are trying to do is a small bit, but we believe if Hong Kong wants to be a world city, it needs this component.

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New university at Kapilvastu to be centre for Buddhist studies

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Lucknow, India -- Uttar Pradesh will get another university at Kapilvastu in Siddharthnagar district. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is likely to lay the foundation stone of the university on September 10.

At present, UP has 13 state universities, including UP Rajshri Tandon Open University, Allahabad.

In the annual budget of 2013-14, the government had proposed setting up two new universities, one at Allahabad as the existing Allahabad University has been given the status of a central university, and another at Sidharthnagar, which is the home district of Assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey.

The proposed university will come up at Kapilvastu, a Buddhist religious place situated on the Nepal border, which is 14 km from Naugarh, the headquarters of Siddharthnagar district.

The Higher Education Department has approached the Tourism Department for handing over its 50 acres of land at Kapilvastu for setting up the new university.

"As many as six sites were inspected at Siddharthnagar district for the university. The Tourism Department has 90 acres in Kapilvastu. We have requested for transferring 50 acres from it for setting up the new university," said Anita Mishra, Special Secretary of Higher Education.

The Tourism department is likely to hand over the land to the Higher Education Department for setting up the university.

The proposed site has been inspected by Speaker Pandey, who has also been named Lok Sabha candidate by the Samajwadi Party from Domariyaganj parliamentary seat. Presently, the seat is represented by Jagdambika Pal of the Congress.

SP leaders from Sidharthnagar said the university would be developed as a centre for Buddhist studies.

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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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Former Abbot of Zen Studies Society sues for "breach of contract"

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New York, USA -- Disgraced former Abbot of Zen Studies Society (ZSS), Eido Shimano and his wife Aiho Shimano, are currently suing ZSS for damages in excess of US$ 2 million. The suit was filed in a New York court. The couple allege that ZSS breached their contract with them and claim that they have not received any retirement payments since August of 2012.

<< Eido Shimano, former Abbot of Zen Studies Society

Among other matters mentioned in the suit is that the ZSS had withheld a significant collection of spiritual and artistic items which were used to decorate the New York Zendo and DBZ properties and were used in various services at ZSS New York and DBZ Zendos. Shimano claims that these items were purchased using their own funds and sometimes by gift.

Mr. Shimano had been the abbot of the Zen Studies Society (http://www.daibosatsu.org/) since 1965. He resigned in December of 2010 amid a backdrop of allegations about the married abbot’s sexual liaisons with his students and with other women.

The rumors began to unravel when, in 2008, the University of Hawaii at Manoa unsealed some papers donated by Roshi Robert Aitken (1917-2010), a leading American Buddhist and founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (http://www.bpf.org/). A large portion of these allegations which have been documented over at the Shimano Archive. Myoshin-ji in Japan also recently announced “no connection” to Shimano or his lineage in December.

As of press time, the ZSS has made no court-legal response. The following is an open letter to the public explaining their position on the matter (issued via via zenstudies.ccsend.com, Jan 31, 2013).

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Dear Sangha and Dharma Friends,

The Zen Studies Society Board of Directors would like to provide you with an update on several significant issues and challenges currently facing the Zen Studies Society.

As most of you are aware, we asked Eido Shimano Roshi, the Founding Abbot of the Zen Studies Society, to resign from the Board in July of 2010 after a student revealed an affair with him. He acknowledged that breach of our ethical guidelines, and the Board duly reported the sexual misconduct incident to our insurance company. We also asked Eido Roshi to retire as Abbot of the Zen Studies Society; he did so in December 2010, and Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat Roshi was appointed Abbot on January 1, 2011.

While we fully acknowledge and are deeply saddened by this incident and allegations of other ethical breaches on Eido Roshi’s part, we do remain grateful for his visionary work in founding New York Zendo and Dai Bosatsu Zendo and for his five decades of inspiring teaching. We wanted to provide appropriate care for our teacher and his wife, Aiho Yasuko Shimano, after their retirement, and we trusted that we could come to a harmonious and reasonable agreement with them on a retirement pension. We have since tried in good faith to negotiate a retirement settlement with a succession of five different attorneys representing the Shimanos. Progress has been quite slow, and we have been required to keep these discussions confidential.

Then on January 3 of this year, through their newest attorney, the Shimanos filed a multi-million-dollar public lawsuit against the ZSS. We are profoundly disappointed in the court suit, but will continue to seek a settlement that supports our non-profit financial responsibilities appropriately. Litigation is a very expensive process; we intend to finance a defense that protects the mission and well-being of the ZSS in a manner guided by Board Best Practices and non-profit standards.

As a result of this filing of a public lawsuit, confidentiality has been lost. We are now able to share more information on how we have moved to address Eido Roshi’s ethical misconduct and negotiate our financial responsibilities to him. The details about the lawsuit and the history of our financial negotiations with the Shimanos are as follows:

The lawsuit filed by the Shimanos in January of this year charges ZSS with discontinuing to pay them according to a Deferred Compensation Agreement (DCA), which Eido Roshi presented to the Board in December 2010, when he was about to retire. Although the DCA had been written in 1995, it wasn’t signed until the year 2000 (by then-Vice Abbot and Board President Jiro Fernando Afable). No financial planning to support the agreement was done, and no funds were ever put aside for it by former Boards that were led by Eido Roshi. The DCA called for a pension of 70 percent of Eido Roshi’s and Aiho-san’s final year of salary, plus ongoing housing costs, life insurance, housing insurance, health insurance, phone, and utilities. The DCA mandated a four percent annual salary increase, and we anticipated that the annual costs other than salary would increase proportionately, if not at a higher rate. One of our projections showed DCA expenses would exceed $1.8 million dollars over the first fifteen years (starting in 2011). The DCA is for life, though, so the duration and total payments could not be known with any degree of certainty. The Board made monthly payments to the Shimanos during 2011 and most of 2012, while attempting to restructure the unfunded DCA into something more manageable. In 2011, direct payments to the Shimanos and other costs associated with support of the DCA totaled $98,534.57. Note: Sangha donations were not used for those payments; they have been used only for operating costs at our two facilities. During this period, we communicated to Eido Roshi on numerous occasions our concern regarding the lack of funding for the DCA.
In addition, there are serious issues concerning both the validity of the DCA and whether it is appropriate to make payments under the DCA when Eido Roshi may be liable to the Society for actions he has taken that have harmed the Society. In August 2012, we were advised to discontinue pension payments to the Shimanos until a settlement could be reached through legal negotiations. We are continuing to pay their health insurance premiums. In December of 2012, the ZSS Board advanced a proposal for binding arbitration to decide a fair settlement. On January 3, 2013, the Shimanos rejected arbitration, and brought a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the Zen Studies Society that includes a demand to pay the DCA in full as well as actual and punitive damages regarding their claim of ownership of buddhas, gongs, scrolls, and other items required for daily practice at the ZSS’s centers.

We wish to share additional information about how the ZSS Board has addressed Eido Roshi’s ethical misconduct:

In September 2010, the ZSS Board turned to the Faith/Trust Institute (FTI) for professional guidance in responding to Eido Roshi’s sexual misconduct. In early September of that year, FTI led a meeting with Eido Roshi and the Board, as well as with the Sangha and the Board, at New York Zendo Shobo-ji. Their recommendations were: 1) that Eido Roshi end his tenure as Abbot; 2) that any students who wished to study with him could do so, but not under ZSS auspices; 3) that he make a public apology acknowledging his misconduct and his regret for harm done to ZSS; 4) that a formal financial audit for ZSS be undertaken; 5) that new ZSS leadership consult with Zen colleagues who had gone through similar restructuring to address misconduct issues; and 6) that the Board read Marilyn R. Peterson’s At Personal Risk: Boundary Violations in Professional-Client Relationships. All of these recommendations were followed (see below for a progress report on the audit process). Regarding Point 3, Eido Roshi did send an open letter of apology to the Sangha following the FTI meetings in September. However, many members had left after the 2010 announcement of the teacher-student affair, never to return. ZSS fundraising and sesshin attendance were badly affected by the negative publicity involving that most recent incident and the accompanying renewed attention to past allegations of sexual misconduct. In December 2010, Eido Roshi wrote a letter to The New York Times that accused Mark Oppenheimer, the journalist who wrote an article about the teacher-student affair that Eido Roshi himself had previously openly acknowledged, of “obtaining his information from second and third-hand sources.” In this letter, Eido Roshi stated, “the opinions expressed therein are neither factual nor backed up by proof,” adding, “I have not resigned because of these false accusations.” His letter to the Times, while not published there, found its way to the Internet, resulting in a further deterioration of the ZSS’s reputation in the Buddhist community at large and in a huge wave of letters to the ZSS Board (many in the form of open letters published on the Internet) calling for Eido Roshi’s immediate removal. As a result of these developments, Eido Roshi was asked not to participate in sesshins at DBZ or Shobo-ji, and the Board established a restricted access policy for him: visits were to be made only when necessary, and required a formal request and approval as well as supervision by a Board member or designated person. We did not wish to put any student at risk, and furthermore we had been advised that his unsupervised presence would be an insurance liability for the Society. In May 2011, Board members held a meeting with Eido Roshi mediated by the founder of An Olive Branch to discuss allegations of sexual misconduct and a way forward. The Board wished to acknowledge problems and address them. Eido Roshi refused to work further with the Board on this topic. At the end of August 2011, Shinge Roshi hosted an Open Sangha meeting, facilitated by An Olive Branch, at Dai Bosatsu Zendo. The goal was to address openly all concerns and issues, acknowledge past failures, and to seek Sangha feedback on how best to move forward. A historical timeline of ZSS events was presented, developed, and discussed. Attendees had the opportunity to bring up any and all issues of ethical misconduct. During his meeting many instances of affairs between Eido Roshi and his students over the years were referenced. In October 2011, Shinge Roshi wrote an open letter of apology, saying, “In the weeks since our Sangha Weekend facilitated by An Olive Branch, I know we have been feeling deeply saddened by what we heard. I want to express my sorrow for those harmed by affairs with their teacher, for the many who have suffered feelings of betrayal and disillusionment, and for the ensuing bitterness and divisiveness that have occurred”. In January 2012, new members with professional non-profit experience joined the ZSS Board. Three facilitators from An Olive Branch led the Board in a Non-Profit Best Practices weekend retreat at Dai Bosatsu Zendo in August 2012, and in an all-day Mission, Vision, Values retreat at New York Zendo in October 2012.

In addition, regarding current ZSS finances, ZSS board representatives met with Citrin Cooperman, an audit firm, in October 2012 to review ZSS financial procedures for 2011 to ensure that ZSS employs Best Practices in its accounting processes. We have retained Citrin Cooperman to conduct an audit of the 2012 books. We are also working closely with Veris Consulting, a specialist in non-profit accounting, on improving our system and procedures. Additionally, during the past two years the Board has engaged Goetz Fitzpatrick, LLC and the Law Offices of Eric Grannis to ensure that the Board maintains the highest fiduciary standards.

The events of these past few years have caused serious blows to our ability to raise the funds necessary for the continued operation of our temples. As a result, even discounting the financial liability of having to defend the Society from the Shimanos’ litigation, we are now considering whether the sale of assets may be necessary. Please be assured, however, that we are doing everything possible to insure that our centers will weather these challenges and go on to a bright and vibrant future.

Despite our present difficulties, there is great enthusiasm for the practice at both New York Zendo Shobo-ji and Dai Bosatsu Zendo Kongo-ji. We just finished a dynamic and restorative Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Sesshin at Shobo-ji, with 30 participants. Many of the 33 students who participated in December’s Rohatsu Sesshin at DBZ said it was one of the best they had ever attended. We had an excellent group of fifteen residents during our last training period at DBZ, with three ordinations; nine students will be receiving the Precepts on the last day of Holy Days Sesshin this April.

We humbly request the continuing support and counsel of the Sangha. We will keep you updated as we continue to do our best to uphold our ethical, administrative, and fiduciary responsibilities to the Zen Studies Society.We wish you good health and happiness in the New Year. May 2013 bring a peaceful resolution and ever-deepening practice.

Let True Dharma Continue!

Gassho,

The Zen Studies Society Board of Directors:
Shinge Roko Sherry Chayat, Abbot

Soun Joe Dowling, President

Shoteki Chris Phelan, Vice President

Shinkon Peter Glynn, Treasurer

Jikyo Bonnie Shoultz, Secretary

Hokuto Dan Diffin

Tamon Jeff Hovden

Genno Linda King

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Odisha to open advanced centre for Buddhist studies at Langudi

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Bhubaneswar, India -- Odisha government has decided to open an advanced centre for Buddhist Studies scheduled from January 1 next year to attract students from India and other parts of Asia.

"An advanced centre for Buddhist studies will be opened at Langudi in Jajpur District," Tourism and Culture Minister Maheswar Mohanty said today.

Certificate courses, diploma courses, post-graduate and research courses will be available in phases, which would be self-financing at the initial stage, he said.

"The objective of opening such a centre is to attract students from inside and outside the country," Tourism and Culture Secretary A K Tripathy said.
The minister also said a three-day 'International Symposium of Buddhist heritage of Odisha: situating Odisha in global prospective' will be organised at Udaygiri from February 1 to 3.

Many foreign and Indian scholars were expected to participate in the symposium.

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Gift to Courtauld will make London a world centre of Buddhist art studies

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Philanthropist Robert YC Ho's gift will fund the launch of an MA for research into Buddhist culture, as the British capital prepares to host a Buddhist art forum and film festival

London, UK -- London is set to seal its status as one of the leading western centres for the study and conservation of Buddhist art, following a remarkable private donation of more than £2.5m to the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

<< Detail of a 17th-century wall painting in the Lama Lhakang, Trongsa Dzong, Bhutan. Photograph: Courtauld Institute and Bhutan department of culture

The gift comes from a devout Buddhist, Robert YC Ho, a Hong Kong benefactor who is continuing a family tradition of philanthropy that dates back to the 19th century.

The donation will allow the Courtauld to establish an endowment for a postgraduate degree devoted to Buddhist art, examining it from the points of view of religion, history and conservation.

The course will examine the vast heritage of Buddhist art, from painted cave temples along the Silk Road that linked Europe to the far east, to colossal sculptures, delicate porcelain artefacts and illuminated manuscripts.

Ho is also covering the cost of a major Buddhist art forum being staged by the Courtauld this week, which will bring together speakers from India, South Korea, China and Bhutan. Academics from around the world will be joined at the event by Matthieu Ricard, a Frenchman who is one of the world's best-known Buddhist monks.

A greater focus on non-western art has become a firm part of the Courtauld's long-term strategy. The institute's director, Professor Deborah Swallow, who is a former keeper of the V&A's Asian department and has a particular interest in Buddhist art, said the donation would allow the Courtauld to return to its pre-second world war roots.

During its first decade – the 1930s – the Courtauld included programmes in Chinese, Japanese and Indian art and archaeology. However its postwar director, Anthony Blunt, ceded responsibility for the "non-western" world to the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas), leaving the Courtauld devoted to the western tradition.

Swallow said British universities were generally also restricting art history to western traditions. "We have felt the need to redress this imbalance… to embrace the arts of the world," she said.

The Ho donations have been made through the Robert HN Ho Family Foundation, a philanthropic organisation founded in 2005 by Ho's father, to promote Chinese culture and an understanding of Buddhism. It also supports Buddhist studies at other universities.

"Until now, Buddhism and Buddhist art and its conservation have been studied separately," said Ho. "We are delighted to support the integration of these fields in a new programme that will impact not only on academia, but on the preservation of irreplaceable treasures around the world."

There was a worldwide outcry in 2001 when the gigantic sixth-century Buddhas of the Bamyan valley in Afghanistan were dynamited by the Taliban. Other treasures have suffered decay as a result of indifference or neglect.

"For the first time," said Ho, "the conservation of Buddhist art will be the focus of academic and practical study rather than being a sideline or ignored completely." Among other themes, postgraduates will explore how far western conservation methods are appropriate to Buddhist art – for instance, some believe monastery wall paintings are too sacred to be touched by anyone but monks.

The Ho family fortune is derived from the shipping and property empire of Sir Robert Ho Tung (1862-1955), a philanthropist who gave much of his fortune to educational, cultural and medical causes. His wife, Clara Cheung, supported orphanages and homes for the blind. Their son, Ho Shai-lai, and grandson Robert HN Ho inherited the philanthropic gene and the great-grandson, Robert YC Ho, has devoted himself to cultural and medical research.

The Courtauld donation comes four years after the foundation funded its first significant museum project in the UK – a ground-breaking gallery for Buddhist sculpture, which houses an important collection in London's Victoria & Albert museum. The objects on view range from monumental Chinese temple sculptures to tiny portable gilded Buddhas.

London also boasts important Buddhist collections in the British Museum and the British Library, as well as, at Soas, the highest concentration of students of Buddhist studies at any university outside Asia. The Courtauld will collaborate with Soas on its new degree.

The Courtauld's conservation of wall painting department has recently focused research and conservation increasingly on Asia and the new programme will build on its work in China, India and Bhutan.

As the Observer reported last year, Courtauld experts have had unique access to Bhutan's hidden heritage, where many temples and objects are so remote that few westerners have ever seen them. They were astonished by the exquisite quality and technical sophistication of paintings that were largely unknown in the west.

The Courtauld experts are also working in China, teaching at Dunhuang – site of the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas – and will be taking their conservation expertise to the Indian Himalayas.

Many of these historic sites are also opening up to the west. Professor David Park of the Courtauld institute, who has been instrumental in setting up the new MA course, said: "Quite a few monasteries are building their own museums. They like tourists coming."

Bhutan, once very insular, is now opening up to outsiders.

The endowment coincides with the International Buddhist Film Festival in London this week – with films and documentaries, including one on the life of Buddha narrated by Richard Gere – and a visit to London by the Dalai Lama, who will receive the £1.1m Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion at a presentation on 14 May in a different place of worship – St Paul's Cathedral.

EASTERN JEWELS

Mogao Grottoes, above, Dunhuang, China

World Heritage Site. The world's largest complex of Buddhist wall paintings (over 45,000 sq metres) in 500 cave temples from the 4th to 14th centuries.

Borobudur, Indonesia

World Heritage Site. Vast sculptural 9th century decoration, including more than 3,000 high-quality sculptures.

Ajanta, India

World Heritage Site. Begun in the 2nd century BC, the wall paintings of the Ajanta caves were hugely influential.

The Diamond Sutra, British Library

Dated 868, this Chinese copy of the Diamond Sutra is the world's earliest surviving dated printed book.

Ancient Nara, Japan

World Heritage Site. Capital of Japan in 8th century, the temples and shrines include the Great Buddha Hall of the Todai-ji, largest wooden building in the world with the largest bronze Buddha.

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India to set up chair for Buddhist studies in Cambodia

New Delhi, July 4 (IANS) India will set up a chair of Buddhist and Sanskrit Studies at Cambodia's Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University for four years from 2011 to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries, it was officially announced here.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in Phnom Penh between visiting Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) president Karan Singh and Cambodian Religion Minister Min Khin on behalf of the ICCR and the university Monday, an ICCR statement said.

Karan Singh, who arrived in the Cambodian capital July 2, also met former king Norodom Sihanouk and his consort Monineath Sihanouk at the royal palace Monday.

During the meeting, Sihanouk, who had abdicated in favour of his son, and Karan Singh traced historical and civilizational roots between India and Cambodia.

The former king and the queen remembered their visits to India and their association with Jawaharlal Nehru. Karan Singh acknowledged the significant role played by Norodom Sihanouk as a great stabilising force in Cambodia.

The ICCR president was conferred an honorary D.Litt by Preah Sihanouk Raja Buddhist University in recognition of his contribution to the India-Cambodia friendship and intellectual achievements.

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