Hội Nghị Phật Giáo Thế Giới 2010 Sẽ Được Tổ Chức Tại Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Hội Nghị Phật Giáo Thế Giới (World Buddhist Conference) được ba tổ chức Phật giáo tại Mã Lai Buddhist Gem Fellowship, Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia và Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia đứng ra tổ chức với sự tán trợ của 8 tổ chức Phật Giáo khác. Hội nghị sẽ được diễn ra tại khách sạn Istana, Jalan Raja Chulan, Kuala Lumpur trong 2 ngày 25-ngày 26 Tháng Chín, 2010. Chủ đề của hội nghị là "Sống Hài Hòa Khi Mọi Thứ Sụp Đổ” nhằm vào thành phần Phật tử bình thường - những người muốn tìm kiếm lời khuyên thiết thực về những gì họ cần làm để có cuộc sống hòa hợp và yên bình.

Diễn giả chính là Hòa Thượng Thiền sư Thích Nhất Hạnh sẽ nói chuyện với đề tài như chủ đề của hội nghị: "Sống Hài Hòa Khi Mọi Thứ Sụp Đổ”. (Living in Harmony: When Things Fall Apart). Các diễn giả khác gồm có Hòa Thượng Wei Wu, chùa Than Hsiang ở Penang, người sáng lập trường đại học quốc tế Phật giáo đầu tiên tại Mã Lai “International Buddhist College” và thực hiện nhiều công trình dân sinh xã hội tại quốc gia này. Ngòai ra còn có Hòa thượng Tenzin Zopa từ Nepal, giáo thọ sư thường trú tại Trung tâm Losang Dragpa, Petaling Jaya. Thêm vào đó là một số diễn giả phương Tây như Tiến sĩ Joan Halifaz, Hòa thượng Tejadhamma, Dr. David Loy, Học gỉa Phật giáo từ Hoa Kỳ, Hòa thượng Thubten Chodron từ Washington, Bác sĩ Tan Eng Kong và Anchalee Kurutach, chuyên gia chăm sóc đồng bào tị nạn tại Thái Lan và Hoa Kỳ.

Các quan sát viên nhận thấy không có một diễn giả nào từ Việt Nam.

Dưới đây là bản tóm lược về các diễn giả tại hội nghị:

VENERABLE THICH NHAT HANH

One of the best known and most respected Zen masters in the world today, poet, and peace and human rights activist, Thich Nhat Hanh (called Thây by his students) has led an extraordinary life. Born in central Vietnam in 1926 he joined the monkshood at the age of sixteen. The Vietnam War confronted the monasteries with the question of whether to adhere to the contemplative life and remain meditating in the monasteries, or to help the villagers suff ering under bombings and other devastation of the war. Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both, helping to found the “engaged Buddhism” movement. 

His life has since been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefi t of individuals and society. In Saigon in the early 60s, Thich Nhat Hanh founded the School of Youth Social Service (SYSS), a grass-roots relief organization that rebuilt bombed villages, set up schools and medical centers, resettled homeless families, and organized agricultural cooperatives. Rallying some 10,000 student volunteers, the SYSS based its work on the Buddhist principles of non-violence and compassionate action. Despite government denunciation of his activity, Nhat Hanh also founded a Buddhist University, a publishing house, and an infl uential peace activist magazine in Vietnam.

After visiting the U.S. and Europe in 1966 on a peace mission, he was banned from returning to Vietnam in 1966. On subsequent travels to the U.S., he made the case for peace to federal and Pentagon officials including Robert McNamara. He may have changed the course of U.S. history when he persuaded Martin Luther King, Jr. to oppose the Vietnam War publicly, and so helped to galvanize the peace movement. The following year, King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Subsequently, Nhat Hanh led the Buddhist delegation to the Paris Peace Talks.

In 1982 he founded Plum Village, a Buddhist community in exile in France, where he continues his work to alleviate suff ering of refugees, boat people, political prisoners, and hungry families in Vietnam and throughout the Third World. He has also received recognition for his work with Vietnam veterans, meditation retreats, and his prolifi c writings on meditation, mindfulness, and peace. He has published some 85 titles of accessible poems, prose, and prayers, with more than 40 in English, including the best selling Call Me by My True Names, Peace Is Every Step, Being Peace, Touching Peace, Living Buddha Living Christ, Teachings on Love, The Path of Emancipation, and Anger. In September 2001, just a few days after the suicide terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he addressed the issues of non-violence and forgiveness in a memorable speech at Riverside Church in New York City. In September of 2003 he addressed members of the US Congress, leading them through a two-day retreat.

He will make his fi rst visit to Malaysia when he delivers his Keynote Address on “Living in Harmony: When Things Fall Apart” during the World Buddhist Conference on Sept 25-26, 2010 in Kuala Lumpur.

Thich Nhat Hanh continues to live in Plum Village in the meditation community he founded, where he teaches, writes, and gardens; and he leads retreats worldwide on “the art of mindful living.” Thich Nhat Hanh’s key teaching is that, through mindfulness, we can learn to live in the present moment instead of in the past and in the future. Dwelling in the present moment is, according to Nhat Hanh, the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world.

VEN WEI WU

Venerable Wei Wu was born in Penang and had his studies at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree in 1973. He worked with Hewlett Packard in Malaysia as a Quality Manager before starting his own consultancy company in 1987 to serve many multi-national companies including Procter and Gamble, Philips, Fiat, and Astec in Asia, Europe and the United States of America. Venerable Wei Wu was ordained as a Buddhist monk in the Mahayana tradition in 1992 and established the Than Hsiang Foundation in Malaysia and Thailand and the International Buddhist College (IBC) in Hatyai, Thailand. 

He is currently the President of the Than Hsiang Foundation and the Council Chairman of the IBC with its main campus in Southern Thailand, and a new branch campus in Korat, Thailand. He is also Abbot of Tham Wah Wan Temple in Kuala Lumpur where many IBC courses are being conducted for participants in the central region of the country. Venerable Wei Wu is also very active in social welfare projects, having established homes for the poor, as well as kindergartens throughout Malaysia.

DR ROSHI JOAN HALIFAX

Dr Joan Halifax Roshi, an anthropologist by training, is the Founder, Abbot, and Head Teacher of Upaya Zen Center, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has worked in the area of death and dying for over thirty years and is Director of the Project on Being with Dying. For the past twenty-five years, she has been active in environmental work. She is also Founder and Director of the Upaya Prison Project that develops programs on meditation for prisoners. She was appointed Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University, and has taught in many universities, monasteries, and medical centers around the world. Recently, was appointed a distinguished invited scholar to the Library of Congress and the only woman and Buddhist to be on the Advisory Council for the Tony Blair Foundation.

Her teachers included Zen master Seung Sahn, and she was also teacher in the Kwan Um Zen School. She received the Lamp Transmission from Thich Nhat Hanh, and was given Inka by Roshi Bernie Glassman. A Founding Teacher of the Zen Peacemaker Order, her work and practice for more than three decades has focused on engaged Buddhism. 

VEN TEJADHAMMO BHIKKHU

Venerable Tejadhammo Bhikku was ordained by Venerable Tanchaokhun Phra Visalsalmanagun in Phuket, Thailand. Bhante has a background in Western Philosophy and Theology, and has studied and taught at Silpakorn University, Thailand. Although ordained in the Theravada tradition, he has also studied with Tibetan and Mahayana teachers and has a commitment to the Dharma that he believes encompasses all traditional expressions of it.

Bhante is the Spiritual Director of the Association of Engaged Buddhists founded in 1993, and senior resident monk at Sangha Lodge, Sydney. The Association aims to foster a more active engagement of all Buddhists within the local community. Apart from teachings and retreat activities, Bhante works with those seriously ill in hospitals, hospices and their homes in Sydney. Bhante is also a founding member of the Australian Monastic Encounter which seeks to promote inter-religious and inter monastic dialogue. 

Bhante does a great deal of teaching for other Buddhist groups as well as Adult Education groups in Sydney and throughout Australia. Healing Meditation practices are also taught by Bhante to groups and more particularly to individuals needing special assistance.

VEN THUBTEN CHODRON

Venerable Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron graduated with a B.A. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles, and did post-graduate work in Education while working as a teacher in the Los Angeles City School System. In 1975, she met the Dharma and ordained in 1977. In 1986, she received bhikshuni (full) ordination in Taiwan. She has studied under H.H. The Dalai Lama, Tsenzhap Serkong Rinpoche, Zopa Rinpoche, and other Tibetan masters. She directed the spiritual program at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Italy for two years, was the spiritual program coordinator and later the director of Dorje Pamo Monastery in France, and was resident teacher at Amitabha Buddhist Center in Singapore.

For ten years she was resident teacher and spiritual advisor at Dharma Friendship Foundation in Seattle, USA. Active in interfaith dialogue, she also works with prison inmates and is the author of several Dharma books, including Buddhism for Beginners, Working with Anger, and Open Heart, Clear Mind. Seeing the importance and necessity of a monastery for Westerners training in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, she founded and is the abbess of Sravasti Abbey in Eastern Washington State, USA.

VEN GESHE TENZIN ZOPA

Geshe Tenzin Zopa was born in 1975 in Tsum at the Himalayan foothill. In 1984, he was ordained at Kopan Monastery. He studied at Sera Je University, India, in 1990 and lived there until 2006. In between studies, Geshe-la attended to the late Geshe Lama Konchog and traveled with him to Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Europe, India and various Himalayan regions to spread Buddhism. He completed his studies and graduated as “Geshe”, which is equivalent to a Doctor of Divinity, on March 21, 2007. 

Currently Geshe la is the project director of a number of monasteries and nunneries in the Tsum Valley. He is now undertaking the important responsibility of overseeing the physical, mental, and spiritual development of Tulku Tenzin Phuntsok Rinpoche, the reincarnation of the late Geshe Lama Konchog. The documentary, Unmistaken Child (2009), was produced based on Geshe Zopa’s narration of his beloved master Lama Konchog who died in 2001. 

In February 2007, Geshe-la was appointed the Resident Teacher of Losang Dragpa Center in Petaling Jaya by Venerable Zopa Rinpoche. Geshe-la speaks fluent English, Tibetan, Nepali, Hindi and a little Mandarin. 

DR DAVID ROBERT LOY

Dr David Loy has held the Besl Family Chair of Ethics/Religion & Society at Xavier University in Ohio, USA, since 2006. He has taught as professor at Bunkyo University, Japan, and at National University of Singapore. David received his B.A. from Carlton College, Minnesota, M.A. in Asian philosophy at the University of Hawaii, and Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Singapore. His main research is in comparative (East-West) philosophy, especially bringing Buddhist perspectives to bear on contemporary social issues such as terrorism and violence, restorative justice, economics and globalization, biotechnology, environmental crises, and “the clash of civilizations.” 

David authored several books on philosophy including “Nonduality: A Study in Comparative Philosophy, Yale University Press, 1988”, “Lack and Transcendence: The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism, and Buddhism, Humanities Press, 1996,”, “A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack, SUNY Press, 2002”, “The Great Awakening”, Wisdom, 2003)”, The Dharma of Dragons and Daemons”, Wisdom, 2004)”, and “Money, Sex, War, Karma, Wisdom, 2008.”
David is an authorized teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan lineage of Zen where he completed formal koan training under Yamada Koun Roshi.

DR TAN ENG KONG

Dr Tan Eng Kong, MBBS, MPM, FRANZCP, was born in Malaysia and graduated as a Medical Doctor from University of Malaya in 1971. He is the Founder and Chairman of Metta Clinic, a group practice consisting of psychiatrists and psychologists in Sydney. He is a Fellow and former Councilor of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. He has served as a Clinical Supervisor at the Australian Society of Hypnosis, and on the Training Faculties of the New South Wales Institute of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (NSWIPP) and the Australian and NZ Association of Psychotherapists (ANZAP). Eng-Kong has taught psychological medicine at the University of Malaya, and analytic psychotherapy at the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales. 

He is the Founder President of the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM) and a Trustee of the University Buddhist Education Foundation Fund of Australia. He is also the Founder President of the Australian Association of Buddhist Counselors and Psychotherapists (AABCAP). In 2008 he assisted in establishing the Malaysian Buddhist Mental Health Association for Buddhist doctors, counselors, psychologists and health care professionals. 

MS ANCHALEE KURUTACH

Anchalee Kurutach has been involved with refugee and immigrant work for over twenty years. She taught and supervised teachers in a refugee camp in Thailand in the mid 1980s. In the United States, she was a director of a childcare training and job placement program, a domestic violence education outreach project, and a refugee resettlement and information and referral program. 

She also coordinated outreach education and support services for survivors of torture. Over the past few years, Anchalee has worked as a multi-language advocate for survivors of domestic violence at a battered women’s shelter in San Francisco, California. Anchalee’s expertise is in designing and implementing cultural and linguistically sensitive services to low-income, limited-English speaking refugees and immigrants.

Currently, Anchalee serves on the board of directors of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (BPF), a socially engaged Buddhist organization based in the United States of America. She also serves on the executive committee of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB), a grassroots international network that holds a conference every other year – with the latest one being held in Thailand, her native country, in November of 2009.

Theo http://www.wbc.my/speakers.php