Page 169 - YBAM 50th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine
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it provide opportunities like never before   networking sites are popular because they   his teachings on audiofile. Therefore, for   promote  their research  works.  These
 for us to understand, practice, and realise   are interactive and allow users to share   us to propagate Buddhism effectively, we   platforms give them diverse  audiences
 the Dharma? I believe this is an era where   ideas and exchange information quickly,   need to access these media regularly and   from within  and outside  the academy.

 we have ample opportunities to tap into   and are also enjoyable and entertaining.   make them available to the community.  For Buddhist academics,  it allows  them
 the vastness of  the Buddha’s  teachings   Thus, if a monk or lay speaker were to give   Thus, can Buddhism survive in the digital   to share their research on Buddhism with
 for our benefit and the benefit of the world   a talk on Buddhism, they are expected to   age today, in what is called  the Fourth   interested fellow Buddhists  as  well as
 through the use of modern technology.     use audio or visual aids to make their talks   Industrial Revolution? Indeed, Buddhism   non-Buddhists.  An additional impact is

 Therefore, for Buddhism to remain   more interesting. Merely reading from   is resilient and can adapt and survive any   the broadening of access to high-quality
 relevant  in the 21st century, the way it   a  text  would not  capture the  audience’s   changes as it has done for the past 2,600   scholarly resources beyond the academic
 has been traditionally communicated has   attention as effectively.  The audience,   years. Buddhist leaders can utilise modern   community to the monastic and lay
 to change and adapted to present-day   especially newer Buddhists, would expect   technology to  propagate the  Teachings   Buddhist communities. Buddhist leaders

 norms. We have to reflect and determine   the speaker to give the Dharma talk using   to  the people.  For  instance,  technology   in Malaysia should tap into such immense
 whether teaching  the Dharma  through   visual aids such as short video clips or at   today can support large scale translation   resources for the benefit of the community
 lectures by monks and lay speakers   least power point slides where they can   of the Buddhist scriptures from Pāli and   in the country.
 sitting cross legged  in front of an   pick up the key essence of the talk quickly   Sanskrit into contemporary languages

 audience  or by distributing  free Dharma   and easily while leaving the speaker to   that people can understand more easily.   Technology plays a big role in globalising
 books the only or most effective way to   explain  the details.  And with Podcasts,   There are also attempts to translate not   Buddhism.  Buddhist  teachings  are
 propagate Buddhism. An ever-increasing   many people have been  able  to listen   just  the  canons of  the  various Buddhist   transmitted through digital media and
 percentage of  people today receive   to the Dharma by their favorite teachers   traditions but also the collected works of   the Internet. Many Buddhist TV channels

 their information in digital form, through   while they are jogging in the park, driving   great masters who have passed away   run by various Buddhist organisations
 the Internet. Likewise,  anyone  seeking   to work, or even when they are cooking or   such as Ledi Sayadaw, Mahasi Sayadaw,   are running 24 hours programmes which
 knowledge on Buddhism, can either turn   washing dishes. So they need not go to   Ajahn Chan, Venerable Master Hsing Yun,   are directed towards disseminating  the
 to computers or, increasingly, their smart   Dharmasala to be in front of His Holiness   Master Sheng  Yan and Master Hsuan   Buddha’s teaching in Taiwan (BLIA TV, Da

 phones or tablets.   the Dalai Lama to listen to him expound on   Hua into English which is fast becoming   Ai TV), Nepal (Bodhi TV), Sri Lanka (The
 emptiness or the Madyamaka philosophy   the  lingua franca  of  the  modern world.   Buddhist TV),  and Thailand  (DMC TV).
 The media have also changed   - they can easily get them from Youtube.  The importance of AI or neural machine   In South Korea, Buddhist organisations
 spectacularly. Traditionally, communication   com or podcasts. And more recently, the   translation  (NMT) by google  brain  in   have  responded  to  the  onslaught  of

 media such as newspapers, magazines   Tibetan Buddhist groups in Malaysia have   translating Buddhist sutras from Chinese   Christian evangelical attacks by launching
 and books have slowly been replaced   managed  to do  video  conference  calls   into English is a good example.   two  media  networks:  the  Buddhist
 by social media. If  two decades ago,   with His Holiness the Dalai Lama since it   Broadcasting System  (BBS),  which was
 people  started to access the websites   is difficult to invite him to be in Malaysia.   More recently, Buddhist academics have   founded in 1990 and the Buddhist Cable

 (such as www.accesstoinsight.org, www.  Likewise,  many people  have learnt the   started sharing their publications  and   TV Network, founded  in  1995.  Buddhist
 buddhanet.net or www.buddhistchannel.  Pāli  suttas  from  Bhikkhu  Bodhi  not  by   books at an open platform such as www.  leaders in Malaysia should explore some
 tv) for information about Buddhism, today   listening to  him in person  but  from  his   academia.edu  and www.researchgate.  form of collaboration  with these media,
 more people have turned to social media   downloaded  teachings  on  Youtube.com.   net.  Such platforms  are a  good source   either in English or Mandarin, which will

 networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and   And if they are tired of reading books by   for scholars to find academic papers and   also benefit the Buddhists in this country.
 Whatsapp for such information. Social   Ajahn Chah, they now have access to all   resources for their studies as well as to   Another  effective way of dissemination
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                     50 YEARS OF DHARMA PRO PA GATION     CO NTINUING THE MIS SION IN THE 5G ER A
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