Racial and Religion Harmony Politic

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Buddhist Council

Religions had unable to control their follows and develop a healthy society. It is a time bomb to our society when it developed to a political extremist. In Singapore, it is very safe to have MUIS Council to manage our Muslim affairs. We shall have other major religions council too. The major religions council is Buddhist, Christian, Taoism, Hindu and Sikh.

I would like to propose a Buddhist Council to manage Buddhist Layman Community Development, Mahayana Sangha Authority, Vajrayana Sangha Authority and Theravada Sangha Authority.

The Sangha of Monk and Nun Authority had to manage the monk and nun discipline and fake practices. We shall not welcome fake Sangha and fake Dharma in Singapore.

The Buddhist Layman Community Development shall have many strategic units like Buddhist Temples and Homes (Shelter, Nursing and Welfare; hospital, food and clinic), Social Development, Youth Development, Children Development, Capacity Building, Buddhist Development, Asset Management, Policy Development, Community Engagement, Corporate Development and Corporate Services.

 

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Sangha is for blessing, funeral, temple and religion leader

Dharma is a guideline for layman and religion leader

Politic is to manage the country

Layman spritual need can found in Buddhist Temple, Sangha and Dharma


SINGAPORE: The sixth day of the trial against former Ren Ci CEO, Shi Ming Yi, threw light on the way staff loans were granted, even though the hospital did not have a formal policy on them in place.

The court on Thursday heard that Ming Yi had approved several loans to various staff.

Among them was Dr Ong Seh Hong who is currently the community hospital's chief operating officer and clinical director of Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre. Dr Ong is also a Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC.

When contacted by Channel NewsAsia, the MP said in a letter dated Friday: "I was an employee of GIC in 1999. I was offered by Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre to be Director, Medical & Paramedical Services in January 2000.

"However to leave GIC, I had to pay S$560,000 to settle my outstanding staff housing loan. I agreed to join Ren Ci on condition that I received a loan of S$60,000, to pay off in part the amount of S$560,000 and I paid the remaining S$500,000 from bank loan.

“When I borrowed the sum of S$60,000 from Ren Ci, I was not an MP. It was lent to me as staff, and was part of the terms on which I agreed to join Ren Ci. I have since repaid the sum fully."

The court also learnt that Ming Yi's former aide, Raymond Yeung, was offered an employment contract in 2001, despite his unsuccessful application for an employment pass.

Ming Yi subsequently granted Yeung a S$50,000 loan, even though the latter remained without an employment pass until 2004. This was recorded on Ren Ci's books as a loan made to Mandala Buddhist Cultural Centre.

At issue now is whether Yeung, who is an Australian citizen and only became a Singapore Permanent Resident in 2006, had received the loan as a legitimate Ren Ci employee.

The trial continues.

 

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Theravada and Vajrayana had proper system to manage their Layman, Monk and Nun. But Chinese Mahayana still not proper had done.

Layman had their own temple to manage and import monk for festival ceremony, bless and funeral service.

Monk and Nun also had their own temple to manage. Some will call themselves Modern Sang-ha of Nun and Monk and their need to take care themselves first.

Mahayana Chinese Buddhist had their; Monk Community, Nun Community, Bodhisattva Vegetarian Layman Community, Buddhist Layman Community (take percept or take refuge) and Normal Buddhist Followers.

Mahayana Chinese Buddhist duties are not just sit in their temple for chanting and meditation only.

When time to rest and peace mind, they will meditate. (Meditation is a mental discipline by which one attempts to get beyond the reflexive, "thinking" mind into a deeper state of relaxation or awareness. Meditation often involves turning attention to a single point of reference).

When time for chanting and blessing, they will chant. (Chant is the speaking or singing of sutra scripture.)

When time for Dharma talk, they will discuss about sutra. (Mahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures of which the Mahayana Buddhist tradition claim that they are original teachings of the Buddha.)

List of some Mahayana Sutras
•
o Innumerable Meanings Sutra
o Lalitavistara Sutra
o Lankavatara Sutra
o Lotus Sutra
o Perfection of Wisdom sutras
 Pañcavim Satisāhasrikā Prajñā Pāramitā sutra
 Diamond Sutra
 Heart Sutra
o Ten Stages Sutra
o Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra
o Perfect Enlightenment Sutra
o Platform Sutra
o Amitabha Sutra
o Avatamsaka Sutra
o Contemplation Sutra
o Infinite Life Sutra
o Kandaraka Sutra
o Mahaparinirvana Sutra
o Sanghata Sutra
o Shurangama Sutra
o Sutra of Forty-Two Sections
o Sutra of Golden Light
o Sutra of The Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva
o Ullambana Sutra
o The Healing Buddha Sutra
o The Dharani Sutra of Hundred Thousand Seals
o The Dharani Sutra of Peaceful Home

Time for help needy, they will help by talking about Buddha Teaching or help to comforting distress person or give a shelter home in temple or giving them foods.

Many famous Monk, Nun and Bodhisattva Vegetarian Layman give their helping hand to the needy and teaching the Buddhist followers to the right paths. Our nursing home, shelter home, free hospital and free clinic are run by them.

In 1920, Venerable Zhuan Dao realised that the time was right to build a place of practice to propagate the Dharma and to provide lodging for monks, as there were many monks who came to Singapore without lodging. In 1921, the building of Phor Kark See Monastery started as the first traditional Chinese forest monastery in Singapore.

Since Phor Kark See Monastery is situated at Kong Meng San ("Bright Hill", formerly "Hai Nan Mountain"), it came to be known as Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery. The Monastery grew steadily and Dharma propagation began in Singapore. In 1943, Venerable Zhuan Dao passed away at Putuo Monastery at the age of 72.

In 1947, Venerable Hong Choon became the monastery's abbot. With great perseverance, he progressively developed and expanded the monastery with his followers into the largest and most majestic place of practice in Singapore. Venerable Hong Choon also initiated the monthly Great Compassion Prayer and taught the Dharma to benefit many.

Phor Kark See developed from a remote temple into a monastery well known to all. For the past 20 years, more than 6000 people from all walks of life, from Malaysia and Singapore, had taken refuge in the Triple Gem here. It is also an ideal place of practice for thousands of Buddhists. It's good name was soon spreaded overseas by the Sangha who visited the place, and was well respected to both Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike.

In 1980, the temple began to build Evergreen Bright Hill Home with the donation of 5.3 million from Venerable Hong Choon's followers, He Hui Zhong's family company. In the year 1994,The then President of Singapore, Mr. Ong Teng Chong visit the home and praised its cleanliness, good service and well-equipped facilities.

On 25th December 1990, Venerable Hong Choon passed away, and Singapore lost one of the most highly accomplished monks of our time. Venerable Hong Choon had over 280,000 disciples worldwide. Some of the more famous ones were Lin Shao Liang and He Hui Zhong, who were touched and transformed by his teachings.

 

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Theravada (Pāli: थेरवाद theravāda (cf Sanskrit: स्थविरवाद sthaviravāda); literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India. It is relatively conservative, and generally closest to early Buddhism,[1] and for many centuries has been the predominant religion of Sri Lanka (about 70% of the population[2]) and most of continental Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand).

It is believed that in order to be free from suffering and stress these defilements need to be permanently uprooted. Initially the defilements are restrained through mindfulness to prevent them from taking over the mind and bodily action. They are then uprooted through internal investigation, analyzing, experiencing and understanding the true nature of those defilements by using jhana. This process needs to be repeated for each and every defilement. The practice will then lead the meditator to realize the Four Noble Truths, Enlightenment and Nibbana. Nibbana (the Pali form of the Sanskrit Nirvana) is the ultimate goal of Theravadins. Nibbana is said to be the perfect bliss and the person is liberated from the repeated cycle of birth, illness, aging and death.

Traditionally, Theravada Buddhism has observed a distinction between the practices suitable for a lay person and the practices undertaken by ordained monks (and, in ancient times, nuns). While the possibility of significant attainment by laymen is not entirely disregarded by the Theravada, it occupies a position of significantly less prominence than in the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions.[citation needed] This distinction - as well as the distinction between those practices advocated by the Pali Canon, and the folk religious elements embraced by many monks - have motivated some scholars to consider Theravada Buddhism to be composed of multiple separate traditions, overlapping though still distinct. Most prominently, the anthropologist Melford Spiro in his work Buddhism and Society separated Burmese Theravada into three groups: Apotropaic Buddhism (concerned with providing protection from evil spirits), Kammatic Buddhism (concerned with making merit for a future birth), and Nibbanic Buddhism (concerned with attaining the liberation of nibbana, as described in the Tipitaka). He stresses that all three are firmly rooted in the Pali Canon. These categories are not accepted by all scholars, and are usually considered non-exclusive by those who employ them.

The role of lay people has traditionally been primarily occupied with activities that are commonly termed 'merit making' (falling under Spiro's category of kammatic Buddhism). Merit making activities include offering food and other basic necessities to monks, making donations to temples and monasteries, burning incense or lighting candles before images of the Buddha, and chanting protective or merit-making verses from the Pali Canon. Some lay practitioners have always chosen to take a more active role in religious affairs, while still maintaining their lay status. Dedicated lay men and women sometimes act as trustees or custodians for their temples, taking part in the financial planning and management of the temple. Others may volunteer significant time in tending to the mundane needs of local monks (by cooking, cleaning, maintaining temple facilities, etc.). Lay activities have traditionally not extended to study of the Pali scriptures, nor the practice of meditation, though in the 20th Century these areas have become more accessible to the lay community, especially in Thailand.