WACANA 2009 Live webcast
Brothers and sisters,
Live webcast of WACANA 2009 is available on Justin.tv from 9am to 5pm (GMT+8:00), 13 December 2009. Please click on the link above to watch the Conference live from your desk now. You may also speak to our moderator and post questions online. Happy webcasting!
3 comments:
Dear Wacana Committee,
Humbly,like to take this opportunity to express gratitude & many thanks to Nalanda for airing this Wacana online for viewing by the people at home.
With kind permission, wish to gently comment after having heard some of the views voiced here, in particular the predicament faced by the local monks/nuns raised by one local Chinese Bhante in addition to the proposal raised by one of the Sri Lanka Bhante.
My heart goes to the Chinese Bhante when he mentioned that the local monks were not sought after by the local lay devotees but went to much extent to seek Bhante speakers from overseas. Am glad that the Chinese Bhante brought this up courageously as i have been also asking myself this after much long observation.
Some centres spent tens of thousands to fly overseas monk speaker to fill in the events organized by some centres, when we just need to provide transport and lodging for local monks to grace those events or give dhamma talks (they may not be up to the international level but we must encourage them and give much confidence for them to progress further), after all, nowadays with the internet and you tube we could access dhamma talks internationally by international monks.
The Sri Lanka Bhante encouraged us to have local monks in their buddhist centres or monasteries (like in sri lanks)in order for the Dhamma to propagate & Sangha to exist for a long time in our country.Thus, allow me to comment.
To encourage the birth of monks in our country, we have firstly to support our local monks (although may not be so fluent or popular than some overseas monks/nuns)to pave the way for them to speak and deliver their knowledge in the Dhamma or meditation and improve themselves and build up their confidence.Presently we have a few local theravada monks but they were overshadowed by those international monks/nuns brought in by the various societies. It is sad as they felt like unwanted and this definitely would not encourage any improvement or any new born monks in future. There are so many unknown local monks staying solitute in the forest who are, i believe as good if not better than some overseas monks (due to no demand here (if i am not wrong), some of the local monks had to go overseas to reside).Wacana should make a survey on the list of our local monks and nuns and they should be the first Sangha that we must look after and sought for and getting them involved in our growing number of Buddhist societies, monasteries and centres here.Most of the centres are run by lay people and have no local resident monks, and only invite them occassionally for talks and it is a shame that we do not even know who are our local monks.
Humbly,would like to suggest that Wacana could locate all the local monks/nuns and perhaps assemble them in the next Wacana so that we are aware of their needs,plights & potentials. The trouble with our devotees is we only look for popular monks and monks that are good in entertaining and crack jokes (if this goes on, very soon the original dhamma will diminished)Buddhism should not be turned into a theatrical dhamma, although most of us are more inclined to entertainment than listening to the hard dhamma.
Lastly, much hope that the local monks/nuns are given the opportunity to be involved in our buddhist activities so that the local Sangha comprising of local people would grow.
Seeking forgiveness for any wrong speech in writing. Sadhyu.
Dear Wacana
Much appreciated for making it possible for viewing online. Sadhu,sadhu,sadhu!
It was highlighted by one of the audience on "reinventing" Buddhism in Malaysia.
With due respect,humbly give opinions with anonymity (no personal intention to harm anyone).
Observation is made that most of Malaysian theravada Buddhists are Chinese. The other half of the Buddhist Chinese belong to Mahayana.Mahayana have no problem getting local chinese Sangha, however most theravada Buddhists seem to have problem getting local chinese Sangha, therefore having to invite foreign Sangha.
Of late, many centres with magnificent buildings have sprouted from the theravada tradition.To support the maintenance and survival of these newly sprouted buildings or centres, much work had to be put in to draw more Buddhists to these centres.Many events now being held have not enough devotees in some centres because of decentralization of centres. These centres would face with problem if there were not enough new Buddhists to support. To achieve this, we need to engage more local Sangha to propagate the Dhamma.
It is also noticed that the Chinese culture & tradition is also slowly diminishing in the theravada tradition in this country. The younger generation would perceive Buddhism as a Sri Lankan or Thai (origin of theravada tradition)culture, so local Chinese Buddhists would find it hard to adopt the culture & tradition and may turn away from Buddhism under the theravada tradition.
We do have many local chinese Sangha but they are under utilised or unknown to the locals (many of them are low profile but are very good in dhamma & meditation and very dedicated & devoted & truthful). We need to engage them more as they are homgrown to propagate the Dhamma according to our own culture and tradition that are prevalent and conducive to our local Chinese Buddhists. Most of our Chinese Buddhists came from Sri Lanka theravada tradition temples here and have inevitably been influenced with the Sri Lanka culture and tradition (no objection to it).
To attract more local Chinese Buddhists, we need to inculcate the local Chinese culture and traditions and unite and engage our local Chinese Sangha. Sorry, not against the Sri Lanka or Thai culture, but with the intention to lure more Chinese Buddhists under the theravada tradition in our country, as most Chinese would go to Mahayana tradition in future (not against Mahayana, it is a personal preference)as it is more Chinese- cultured.
It is important as the next generation would comprised mostly Mandarin speaking Buddhists.This is for the sake of prolonging the theravada tradition in our country.
With due respect, nothing personal or against any tradition or country but for the purpose of preserving & propagating Dhamma amongst the Chinese community.
May we have unity and harmony in Buddhism regardless of tradition.
Dear Carole and Bodhisuaha,
Thank you for your on-line participation in WACANA 2009. We hope that you have benefited through the live web-cast.
We will also forward your comments and suggestions to the organising committee.
Thank you once again for your interest in the Buddhist Conference.
Regards,
Sis. Santi
Secretariat
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