Vesak Friendship Dinner 2017

The Most Venerables, Venerables, Professors, Researchers, Monks, Nuns, Lay Buddhists, and every bodies are present today. I would like to introduce cultural life, living spirituality of ASEAN countries and discussing the role of religion in this area.

For me, the Japanese language is the third foreign language I have learnt. In 1972, when I first arrived in Japan, I did not know any Japanese words. In 1971, after graduating from high school as an ordained monk, I was interested in going to college in Japan. I went to the Embassy of Japan in Southern Vietnam to inform myself and applied for a study trip. The result was that I arrived in Japan on 22 February 1972. First, I had to find a language school to learn Japanese. The Japanese language school Yottsuya accepted my application and I have learned Japanese for 9 months. Next, I passed the entrance test to enter the Teikyo University in Hachioji. I majored in Education at the Department of Literature.

Unlike most other NESB or CALD communities, the Vietnamese came to Australia in large numbers within a rather short period of time when the host multicultural society was still in its infancy. Their presence as an Asian visible minority was really a test to the strength of Australia’s political leadership and tolerance of the population at large. Initially without any intra structure of support, Vietnamese Australians learned to adapt themselves to the new social and cultural environment to become a vibrant community with tangible and intangible contributions to Australia. In future growth however, Vietnamese Australians appear to face a challenge as today’s new settlers from Vietnam bear little commonality in life experience and outlook with the essentially Vietnamese refugee community of the past few decades.

The Seeker's Glossary of Buddhism By Sutra Translation Committee of USA/Canada This is a revised and expanded edition of The Seeker's Glossary of Buddhism. The text is a compendium of excerpts and quotations from some 350 works by monks, nuns, professors, scholars and other laypersons from nine different countries, in their own words or in translation. The editors have merely organized the material, adding a few connecting thoughts of their own for ease in reading.

In India in the 6th century BC, Sakyamuni, "a wise man of the Sakya tribe", had been meditating under a tree when, suddenly, he was struck with the comprehension of all things. He became Buddha, meaning the « Illuminated ». His message, based on a pragmatic philosophy, taught how to free oneself from all needs in order to achieve illumination. After the death of the Enlightened One, his disciples – a few monks – began to spread his teachings all over India, from Ceylon to the Himalayan. Fearing man’s penc

Born out of a tragedy in Vietnam, the Vietnamese Australians’ presence appears to be different from others within the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities of Australia, in that, through government refugee intake, their community multiplied by 16 times over its first five years of resettlement since 1975, and 62 times during its first two decades. As more than 50% of the Vietnamese community are Buddhists, this rapid growth posed a great challenge to a handful of Vietnamese Buddhist monks and nuns who pioneered their Dharma journey in the early 1980’s by building temples and providing religious teaching and service for believers around Australia. They had to overcome secular obstacles as well as organisational and demographic changes. In the process, they have made notable contributions to Australia’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage.

Almost five years ago on June 1st 2010, I arrived with my two dogs in Tasmania to start a Ph D in Buddhist philosophy at the University of Tasmania and to continue my training in Clinical Pastoral Education, a form of professional preparation for chaplains and Pastoral/Contemplative Care Workers. On our way south to Hobart my attention was drawn to my right, looking towards the north west of this island state. I felt that I had an appointment with somewhere in that direction and that it would be important for my life.

Vesak festival at Melbourne city, 23-4-2015