The 2012 Buddhist Education Foundation for Canada Essay Prize

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Toronto, Canada -- The Buddhist Education Foundation for Canada (BEFC) announces a student essay competition demonstrating the association between Buddhism/Buddhist psychology and western psychology, science or society.

Submissions should focus on the specific and creative ways that the western academic and clinical disciplines, (e.g. psychology, sociology, religious studies, philosophy, medicine, psychotherapy, cognitive sciences) have encountered Buddhism and Buddhist psychology. Innovative explorations of this interaction, focusing on synthesis and integration, are especially encouraged.

Undergraduate Students attending any university are eligible to apply. Deadline for submission is July 31, 2012

Three cash prizes of $1,000, $400 and $200. Winning essays will also be published in the third issue of Upaya, the undergraduate journal of the Buddhism and Psychology Student Union (BPSU) at the University of Toronto.

Submission Guidelines

The maximum length of the essay should be 3000 words (excluding references), double-spaced and using font 12 Times New Roman. Please submit essays by email to Ms. Christine Ng at BuddhistEduFoundation@rogers.com with “2012 Buddhist Education Foundation for Canada Essay Prize” in the subject line. Your submission should be accompanied by: a brief abstract (which should not exceed 100 words) and contact information on the cover page.

Winners will be contacted by email by September 15, 2012 and invited to attend an event of the BEFC in the fall of 2012 to accept their prizes.

Essays will be blind-reviewed by the following members of the Selection Committee:

Ana Bodnar, PhD (Lecturer, University of Toronto; psychologist in private practice), Frances Garrett, PhD. (Associate Professor, Department for the Study of Religion, University of Toronto)Henry Shiu, PhD. (Lecturer, University of Toronto)Tony Toneatto, PhD. (Director, Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health Minor Program, University of Toronto)John Vervaeke, PhD. (Lecturer, University of Toronto Representative of BEFC, President of BPSU)

Evaluation Criteria: The following criteria will be used to assess the submissions: originality of the thesis, clarity of expression, soundness of the argument, grammar and writing style.

Further Information: Please contact Tony Toneatto, at tony.toneatto@utoronto.ca if you have any questions or require additional information.

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Buddhist temple in Bedford embraces its Thai traditions

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Except for the statues of Buddha at the entrance, the Boston Buddha Vararam Wat in Bedford looks more like a New England home than a religious temple with its roots in Thailand.

Medford, MA (USA) -- The three arches in front are due for some adornment, said Rojana Laplume, a temple member; that is on the “to-do’’ list, along with finishing work on the monks’ living quarters upstairs.

<< Community aims for wider reach with fund-raiser
The Boston Buddha Vararam Wat in Bedford. The Boston Buddha Vararam Wat in Bedford. (Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff)

To help with such work, as well as upkeep costs, the small community of Buddhists, predominantly from Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, is reaching out to a wider audience, with its first fund-raising dinner and concert set for 6 to 10:30 p.m. April 8 at Springstep in Medford.

Even with some decorative detail, the exterior, with its clapboard siding and white trim, will still undoubtedly blend into the suburban residential landscape on North Road in Bedford. But stepping inside transports visitors to another land. A large golden Buddha is surrounded by flowers and smaller statues; announcements in curly Thai script are posted around the entrance; and the abbot, or head monk, wearing a simple saffron robe, receives visitors warmly and offers blessings.

“I’ve been here a long time, I guess, but I always come here to say my prayers,’’ said Laplume, who commutes from New Hampshire.

She came to this country from Thailand in 1971, and later married a Canadian, but likes to keep the connection to her homeland.

“It’s your roots,’’ she said. “You don’t forget where you actually came from.’’

The temple relocated to Bedford from Malden in 1998, and took up residence in a house that was torn down in 2008 to make room for the new temple, which opened in 2009.

The community is fairly small. Between 30 and 50 people visit the temple on Sundays; holidays draw 200 to 300 people, Laplume said. People come from all over New England and even New York to celebrate, pray, receive blessings, and make offerings.

Money is tight in part because, unlike some temples, the Boston Buddha Vararam Temple does not charge a joining fee, said Laplume. So, donations have to cover about $14,000 a month in expenses.

The community includes those who do not identify as Buddhist. The temple offers meditation classes, lessons in traditional Thai music and dance, and a Thai language school, which has about 50 students, both adults and children.

Buddhism in Greater Boston has grown over the last two or three decades, according to Diana Eck, a professor of comparative religion at Harvard. The growth has come not only from immigration but also from Euro-Americans and African-Americans who have embraced Buddhism, she said, often through an interest in meditation.

“Many of them do think of themselves as Buddhist, and many go on thinking of themselves as Jewish and Buddhist, or Episcopal and Buddhist,’’ said Eck. “It would be interesting to see what they put down on a religious preference form.’’

It’s not unusual for temples to struggle with funding, said Eck. In the Thai tradition, the temple members support the monks, who do no work for money. Still, temples in Greater Boston that she has followed have become more established over the last couple of decades.

“All of them have done pretty well when you consider the fact that they are all basically from the ground up,’’ said Eck.

There are several distinct Buddhist communities in Boston, generally based on the country of origin, which have some differences in the way they practice, said Eck. But unlike some other metropolitan areas, Boston doesn’t have a unified Buddhist community, where Buddhists from other temples would necessarily support the Bedford temple.

“There isn’t really that kind of pan-Buddhist identification,’’ she said.

Temple members hope the fund-raiser will change that a bit, increasing membership but also expanding outreach to the wider public, who may be interested in learning about Thai culture or Buddhist meditation.

“This will be the start event, and we will try to gather more people to be long-term donors for our temple,’’ said Duangpon Pongphasuk, a classically trained singer who studied at the New England Conservatory and is performing at the fund-raiser.

She said the temple is important for people from Thailand to hold onto their culture here, but she also hopes people with no ties to Thailand or Buddhism will attend the fund-raiser to learn about another culture.

“It’s not only for Thai people,’’ she said of the event. “And meditation is not only for Buddhists. It’s for everyone who wants to . . . relax and to learn,’’ she said. “We fight a lot in this world. We need peace.’’

Tickets to the April 8 fund-raiser are $100. For more information, go to www.siamsmileevent.weebly.com.

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Monks guide temple toward a new image

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Beijing, China -- As the old saying goes, "Change comes from within."

It is a message that is being embraced at the Shaolin Temple, where resident monks are striving to improve the holy site's image after a storm of criticism last year.

Since February, at least 20 monks at China's most famous Buddhist monastery have been working as free guides for tourists.

Among them are graduates from Buddhist colleges, and each one has received two weeks of training, said Zheng Shumin, the temple's publicity director.

"It's an honor to introduce the temple's glorious history to visitors," Yan Xin, a monk in his 20s, said on March 17.

He had already led two groups that afternoon, during which he interpreted ancient poems engraved in stone tablets, and told stories about the many calligraphy and painting works.

"I practice martial arts every day and keep in good physical shape, so I don't feel tired," he said.

The free tour guide service was set up after a public relations crisis in December, when the temple was criticized by the National Tourism Association for its poor conditions and services.

The association said its inspectors had found disorderly parking facilities, an abundance of over-bearing souvenir sellers, as well as many people dressed like monks offering fortune-telling services or products.

After the criticism, People's Daily reported that police in Dengfeng had detained more than 63 people for violating tourism regulations, while four employees of the Shaolin Temple were dismissed. Ten tourist guides were also suspended.

However, Zheng said that the new guide service simply extended the temple's practice of asking monks to lead groups when important figures visited or during major Buddhism events.

Yang Chaofei, a college student who was led by Yan, said his guide had made his trip unforgettable.

"The monks are very patient, and their introductions always enlighten me because I believe in the Buddhist religion," he said. "It was a totally different feeling compared with the guides used by most commercial tourism companies."

Yang said the service had improved his impression of the Shaolin Temple, adding that he believes it will "shorten the distance between the monks and the public".

Despite praise from visitors, some remained skeptical that the guide service was really free, largely due to the fact that in the past they had encountered people dressed like monks who were trying to charge fees.

"The monks say the service is free, but I'm afraid they will charge us at the end of the tour, or try to get us to buy souvenirs," said Ren Juan, 43, who was visiting with her friends.

"We don't want to ruin the experience by having conflicts with monks."

A public bus driver who did not want to be identified said the number of complaints from tourists and city residents about the Shaolin Temple have greatly reduced since the warning from the tourism authorities.

"Compared with the past, the Shaolin Temple appears to have developed a completely different image in recent months," he said. "The city government has kept a close watch for any illegal or disorderly activity."

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Georgia State University students joints the temple stay program at Un Mun Sa temple.

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Cheongdo, South Korea -- On March 13th, a group of students from Georgia State University joined the Un Mun Sa temple Temple Stay program for 2 nights and 3 days.

<< Un Mun Sa, located in Cheongdo

Together, they practiced eating out of the bowl (balwoo kongyang), making lotus lanterns, and practiced various Buddhist rituals such as the morning and evening chantings and the 108 prostrations.

These students experienced Korean Buddhism through various activities that they would have never experienced else where.

Their day begins at 3am with their morning chanting session.

Georgia State University and Un Mun Sa temple have been accepting students every 2 years from 2003 as a Korean culture experience program.

These students also receive “hwa-du” (meditation keyword) from their masters during their stay to reflect upon.

The Temple Stay program provided a unique opportunity for the students to experience traditional culture and the lifestyle of Buddhist monks in this ancient temples that have carried on the heritage of Korean Buddhism for the last seventeen hundred years.

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‘Ashoka was no Shah Rukh Khan!’

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New Delhi, India -- Emperor Ashoka was a stubby man, who as a prince, visited a site in Odisha with his girlfriend. Writer Charles Allen discusses little-known nuggets about the king who made Buddhism world-famous, with Anuradha Varma.

<< Hindi film superstar Shah Rukh Khan played the emperor in the 2001 film, Asoka

Most reviewers of Charles Allen's book Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor, which hit stores last month, agree that the Indophile author humanises the second century BC emperor in a way that history books have tried and failed. For the UK-based historian however, this was only part of the agenda. The 71-year-old, who first heard about Ashoka in the '60s and later travelled across Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, following in the emperor's footsteps, discovered the mundane (Ashoka had bad skin), the shocking (Ashoka burnt his concubines, who didn't like to caress his rough skin), and the sublime (Ashoka never referred to himself as a Buddhist, since his dharma was intended for all subjects irrespective of their faith).

Excerpts from the interview with the author:

What piqued your interest in Ashoka?

When I went to Kathmandu in 1966 as an English teacher, I was taken to the city of Patan and shown some stupas that were said to have been built by an Indian emperor named Ashoka, who had introduced Buddhism to Nepal. I had no idea who he was. Later, while travelling in Sri Lanka in 2004, I discovered that they too, regarded Ashoka as the man who brought Buddhism to their island. In India, however, while the Ashoka chakra adorns the national flag, and the lion capital is the national symbol, there's little understanding of Ashoka. My studies sought to resolve this paradox.

Why call him 'India's lost emperor'?

In The Buddha and the Sahibs (2002), I wrote about the process by which Buddhism, which flourished in India for centuries, and its Sanskrit-based culture was recovered, initially, due to the efforts of Orientalists like Sir William Jones and James Prinsep. I wanted to examine why Ashoka was written out of Indian history. In moving from a genuinely all-Indian non-specific dharma, as promoted in all his edicts, to embracing Buddhism so blatantly with a stupa and vihara-building programme, Ashoka set himself (and Buddhism) on a fatal collision course with Indian religious orthodoxy. Jawaharlal Nehru knew what he was doing when he selected two Ashoka symbols for independent India that was to be free of caste and tolerant of all religions. These are lessons that some Indians do not want to learn.

Where did your research take you?

I visited the betterknown sights associated with Ashoka, travelling through India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. I also journeyed into previously unknown corners of Odisha. The most moving site I visited was one of his Minor Rock Edict sites, situated on a ridge overlooking the Narmada river west of Hoshangabad. There, Ashoka had a second, more personal, inscription that stated that he first went there when he was a prince with his girlfriend! When I read that I saw the emperor as a man of flesh and blood.

Your book says that Ashoka was a short man with rough skin, susceptible to fainting spells, who would have his concubines burnt if they didn't like his rough skin. How did you discover these facts?

Lost sources. In the Ashokavardana, his bad skin is ascribed to his meeting the Buddha in a previous existence and making him an offering of earth. At the South Gateway in Sanchi, he is de-Ashoka is known primarily from his edicts, but we also have three important literary sources: the Mahavamsa from Sri Lanka written in Pali, the Ashokavardana from China, originally written in Sanskrit, and the accounts of the Chinese travellers Faxian and Xuanzang that draw on other picted as a short, fat man with a bloated face - not at all like Shah Rukh Khan!

What was Ashoka's contribution to Buddhism?

There is evidence that he was a nominal convert even before the battle of Kalinga, but the suffering he caused at that battle shocked him deeply. My interpretation of Ashoka's life is that after spreading his message of dharma, which was reli giously inclusive, he made the fatal mistake of publicly espousing Buddhism and then set about transforming the religious landscape of India with his stupas and viharas. There is no doubt that in throwing his weight behind Buddhism, Ashoka transformed what was until then a relatively minor cult into a state religion, and that in subsequently undertaking a missionary programme, he transformed Buddhism into a world religion. However, he exhausted the state treasury in the process, which led to opposition from the Brahmins, who had traditionally conducted all religious duties. When Ashoka grew old, there appears to have been a revolution that sought to overthrow him. Certainly, after his death, his empire broke up.

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Khmer Krom: Vietnam’s Record On Religious Freedom Denounced

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Washington D.C., USA -- The US Commission on International Religious Freedom published a report on the situation of religious rights in Vietnam and slammed the State for its countless instances of violations.

<< Khmer-krom Buddhist monks in street demonstration (Civic Center, San Francisco)

Below is an article published by IBIB:

In its Annual Report for 2012 unveiled in Washington D.C. this week, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has named Vietnam as one of the world’s worst religious freedom violators along with Burma, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan,Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and recommended that these countries be designated as “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the US administration for “systematic, ongoing and egregious violations” of religious freedom.

The USCIRF, a federal government commission that monitors global religious freedom, was created under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act to provide independent policy recommendations to the US President, Secretary of State, and Congress. Each year since 2001, the USCIRF has urged the US to place Vietnam on the CPC list. Vietnam was designated CPC by the State Department in 2004 and 2005, but removed in 2006 prior to the visit of President Bush to Vietnam for the APEC summit conference. Under the 1998 Act, the U.S. may impose a series of measures, including economic sanctions, on countries blacklisted as CPCs.

In its 21-page chapter on Vietnam, the USCIRF reported that “the government of Vietnam continues to control all religious communities, restrict and penalize independent religious practice severely, and repress individuals and groups viewed as challenging its authority”. It noted “marked increases in arrests, detentions, and harassment of groups and individuals viewed as hostile to the Communist Party” over the past four years, and an overall climate of religious repression in which “individuals continue to be imprisoned or detained for reasons related to their religious activity or religious freedom advocacy; independent religious activity remains illegal; legal protections for government-approved religious organizations are both vague and subject to arbitrary or discriminatory interpretations based on political factors.”

The USCIRF also observed that “the U.S.-Vietnamese relationship has grown quickly in recent years, but it has not led to needed improvements in religious freedom and related human rights in Vietnam.” The report urged the US government to use the CPC designation to press for “measurable improvements”, and adopt programmes to “protect and support those in Vietnam peacefully seeking greater freedom and the rule of law”.

The report detailed widespread abuses against the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), “Vietnam‘s largest religious organization with a history of peaceful social activism and moral reform”, noting that the UBCV had “faced decades of harassment and repression for seeking independent status and for appealing to the government to respect religious freedom and related human rights”. It deplored the detention of UBCV Patriarch Thich Quang Do and other senior monks, restrictions on humanitarian activities of UBCV Provincial Committees and the UBCV Buddhist Youth Movement, and harassment of UBCV followers.

Mr. Vo Van Ai, Director of the International Buddhist Information Bureauand international spokesman of the Unified Buddhist Church in Vietnam(UBCV) welcomed the USCIRF’s report, commenting that it reflected the reality endured by UBCV followers and members of all other religious confessions in Vietnam. “Having failed to eradicate religion by force, Vietnam is increasing controls on religious activities and reducing religion to the practice of quasi-superstitious rites”, he said. “The recent nomination of Major-general Pham Dung, a high-ranking Public Security official as the Head of the Government Religious Board shows how Hanoi intends to pursue its religious policies in Vietnam”.

Mr. Ai stressed that UBCV members all over the country routinely suffer harassments and abuses in all aspects of their lives. Earlier this month, UBCV monk Thich Thien Phuc was intercepted by Police and subjected to interrogations and harassments as he attempted to visit Venerable Thich Thanh Quang at the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang. The Giac Minh Pagoda, which is also the headquarters of the UBCV’s Buddhist Youth Movement and the UBCV Provincial Committee for Quang Nam-Danang, has been the target of systematic Police surveillance in recent years. Police prohibit the celebration of Buddhist festivals such as Vesak and Vu Lan at the Pagoda, and intercept all Buddhists who try to attend.

In Dong Nai province, UBCV monk Thich Vien Duc, Superior monk at the Buu Duc Meditation Centre has been repeatedly interrogated and harassed. In Quang Tri, UBCV monk Thich Tu Giao has been intercepted and threatened by Police, who broke into his Pagoda during the monks’ summer retreat and assaulted several Buddhists. In Hue, senior UBCV official Thich Thien Hanh reports routine Police harassments and intimidation at many UBCV Pagodas, including the Kim Quang Pagoda of which he is Superior monk, and at the Mai Vinh Buddhist Centre, which has been confiscated by the authorities.

Mr. Ai noted that religious freedom violations, notably against the UBCV, are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Instead of imprisoning UBCV leaders or staging well-publicized public crackdowns, the government’s policy is to quietly isolate UBCV leaders by maintaining them under de facto house arrest, threaten and intimidate Buddhist followers to prevent them attending UBCV Pagodas, and prevent UBCV Pagodas celebrating major Buddhist festivals, thus cutting off all contacts between the UBCV leadership and their followers.

This is exactly the strategy devised by the Communist Party in 1981 when it set up the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church (VBC) to supplant the UBCV. The architect of this policy, former high-ranking religious cadre Do Trung Hieu, described this policy in “Buddhist Unification”, a document circulated underground in 1994, which led to his arrest and subsequent imprisonment.

According to Do Trung Hieu, the Communist Party’s aim was to “transform Vietnamese Buddhism into a people’s association. Its structure should be inferior to that of an ordinary association, restricted exclusively to monks and nuns without any participation of lay-followers - a top-level structure without any popular structural base”.

The activities of the State-sponsored VBC, he said “should be confined exclusively to the celebration of religious ceremonies and worship in Pagodas. It must on no account be allowed any activities related to society or to the people... Thus, the mass following of Buddhist laity will never be allowed to structure its forces into organic units of the Church.”

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Acclaimed Chef Thomas Keller visits CheongAm Sa temple

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Kimchon, South Korea -- Acclaimed chef Thomas Keller, his team of 14 chefs and dining room personnel flew to Korea to present Keller’s brand of French cuisine. On March 19th, 2012, Thomas Keller, owner-chef of The French Laundry, visited CheongAm Sa temple in Kimchon, Korea.

Keller says that he has been inspired greatly through traditional Korean temple food. In his own words, Keller’s creations depend upon ingredients of the highest quality.

However, Keller states that he has been fascinated by the beauty and simplicity of Korean temple food, and that the simplicity of it all is what mesmerizes him most about this traditional style.

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