Now he is complainting and commenting or look at Buddhist teaching like his enemy, may be he go to Christian also like that, have very few human is comderm of Buddha Teachings and may be this Mr Wee is hero because he not afraid of Karma or may be Mr Wee think, he is father of God

Juses Christ also not against of Buddha teaching, everyone in this world needed to learning of Buddha teaching, Buddha is origin from King family and he went to practised outside palace until attained highest Enlightenment

But Mr Wee, he is where from? May be Singapore made by him, why he don’t like Buddhist, may be he interested of Christian lady to married, may be Buddhist lady don’t like him.

This led me to think about how at times we believe that we are a charitable bunch just because we dialed in during televised charity shows and ‘did our part’ to help others who are worse off than us (I’m definitely not suggesting that we don’t support such charitable causes). However, in our daily dealings with fellow human beings, we remain stoic (especially on public transport – MRT anyone?), with a frown rather than a smile on our faces. Charity can come in all forms, whether in terms of monetary assistance, or selfless volunteerism, or just hanging a smile on your face and sharing it with others. If we can understand the ‘essence’ of charity from its manifestations, than we’ll not confuse ‘form’ for ’substance’.

Happy days everyone! ; )

That was the question Victoria University graduate Hugh Kemp sought to answer via research that focused on how and why New Zealanders convert to Buddhism.

“Buddhism is gaining traction in New Zealand, so my interest was in what makes a New Zealander become a Buddhist and the variety of pathways they take as they journey towards, and embrace, Buddhism,” says Mr Kemp.

As part of his PhD research, he also focused on the identity that convert Buddhists construct for themselves as New Zealanders.

Mr Kemp interviewed around 70 new Buddhists from all over New Zealand and attended 27 Buddhist events and gatherings. His interviews explored four factors of inter-relationships: practice and ritual, selfhood, belief and involvement.

“It was essentially a qualitative sociology project that tracked why New Zealanders take up the practice of Buddhism and how they continue to find meaning, chiefly in regular practice, ritual and involvement.”

Although Mr Kemp says he was surprised that numbers of New Zealand converts hadn’t increased as much as he’d expected, or as much as overseas trends indicated, Buddhism remained a popular religion here.

“It’s down to a number of factors – the increasing profile of the Dalai Lama, New Zealand’s closer ties with Asia and the fact that we’re quite open to new religions and have a history in New Zealand of people experimenting with new religions.”

Mr Kemp, who also has a Masters of Theology degree, says interviewees’ stories were placed in a social-historical narrative of Arcadia.

“If New Zealand is Arcadia – clean, green, 100% pure and the ideal place to live – then it can be conceived of as a Buddhist Pure Land. Arcadia and the Pure Land come together in notions of ‘home’, offering a new imaginative order for Buddhist practitioners.” Overall, he says his research indicates that new converts overwhelmingly believe New Zealand is a good place to practice Buddhism.

“Buddhists in New Zealand say they will continue to create their own identity and find a turangawaewae or place of identity in which to stand.”

One of Mr Kemp’s supervisors Professor Paul Morris says, “Dr Kemp’s pioneering work, which is the first systematic study of New Zealanders who become Buddhist, tells us both about religion and spirituality in our country and the specific manifestations of Buddhism here.” Mr Kemp graduates with a PhD in Religious Studies and is hoping to teach Religious or Asian Studies. His supervisors were Dr Rick Weiss and Professor Paul Morris.

[@peter: Thanks for your posts. Please wait for your posts to be approved. Double post on other threads are deleted. ]

This is a brilliant presentation of the planes of existence at a glance. but is the part on the Buddhas, Pacceka-buddhas, arahants and bodhisattvas meant to be a venn diagram? If yes, can you explain a little what this means? If no, can we download it for use in Dhamma classes?

Respects
Bodhi

Thank you for the timely reminder of the Buddha’s teachings in how to manage misinterpretation of the Buddha-Dhamma and/or Buddhism.

Many conspiracy theories are offered wrt Pastor Rony’s ’show’, and it goes to show the fault-lines of distrust of Christians on the part of the Buddhists. While I understand where these come from, I also feel a little tired and upset that with every theory, our work of maintaining stability and harmony in Singapore will become that much harder. with every bit of distrust, our message of understanding and forbearance will be that much harder to go down well among Buddhists. Your scriptural quotation of the Buddha’s words will be my source of faith and basis to push on, for the peace, tranquility and calm for Buddhists and for our society. Sadhu sadhu sadhu.

Chanting is not real of Buddhist teaching, chanting is from Hindu but that Ex-monk said, Buddhist is chanting sutras only that mainly. When I told my friend about Ex-monk, my friend is very angry about Ex-monk.

I want know, why he want to become monk? please answer in any comment message, Ex-monk destroy Buddha teaching and tell lied.

Peter cheng

Will knowing your religion as the ONE make you a humble person who won’t go around criticizing others without getting the facts right? Will it make you honest and not go through deceitful ways to cheat others by using false actors claiming to be persons they are not? Will it make you wiser so you’ll not use a layperson to claim expertise on a subject? Will it make you more respectful of others regardless of religion? Will it make you a better person? Looking at Rony, the answer is sadly no.