Page 77 - YBAM 50th Anniversary Souvenir Magazine

International Buddhist Forum in 2004, enlightenment and personal cultivation and allow more Buddhists to understand In conclusion, I hope that YBAM will
YBAM abandoned the name of the forum, towards the attainment of Samadhi while how Buddhists view the emerging continue to organise such Buddhist
but adopted the main theme of the forum the Mahayana Buddhism stresses on the issues. This has no doubt help to portray forum, it can be small scale, the number
as the name of new forum. The forum was welfare of the community, which relatively a positive image of Buddhism in the of participants and speakers can be
organised yearly or biennially since 2005, draw concern to contemporary issues in society, where Buddhism not only has reduced, the theme can be more focused
with the recent forum themed ‘Sustainable the society. the wisdom that lasts for more than 2,500 and it will be ideal if it can combine both
Development in Buddhism’ in 2018. years, but also has the modern view the teachings of the Buddha and the
It is observed that those who did not towards the development of the current contemporary issues. A lot of resources
Looking through the records of English normally participate in the Buddhist society. Buddhism is not only focus on the are needed to organise similar forums,
and Chinese forums, it is observed that activities participated in these series of personal cultivation, but also the impact but with the positive impact on society, it
English forum stressed on how to use Buddhist forums, especially the earlier of science and technology in our daily is definitely worth the investment.
Buddhism to solve problem faced in life. forums, with members of Parliament lives. This will attract more young people
The themes of the forum were mainly participated voluntarily. Even in the to start understanding Buddhism and
focused on the development or managing personal social media era today, then start learning Buddhism. This is a
the mind and emotion. However, there intellectuals are still more influential than good development that will provide more
were also few exclusions, for instance, the normal people in the factual discussions. bargaining power to Buddhism to fight for
topic for 2002 conference was ‘Science Hence with more intellectuals participated the Dharma propagation resources in the
and Modern Consciousness’. in the propagation of the Dharma, society.
mainly the indirect propagation, it has
Comparatively, Chinese forums covered provided a big contribution to the Dharma However, it is undeniable that the number
a more general theme, ranging from the propagation. The indirect propagation of participations of these Buddhist forums
theories and teachings in Buddhism (e.g. here refers to the use of non-traditional has decreased gradually, and the forums
Venerable Yin Shun – The Concept and Buddhist platform to present their views are not able to replicate the participation
Practice of Humanistic Buddhism; The towards the Buddhism, especially in records made in the English and Chinese
Wisdom of Death), the relationships the academic conference or academic Buddhist Forums in 2002 and 2004,
between the life and Buddhism (e.g. research publication. In addition, if we respectively. Despite the decrease in
Zen and Modern Life), the challenges can have more members of parliament or the number, the forums were still able to
of Buddhism to address contemporary politicians who understand Buddhism, this attract the attendance of more than 300
issues (e.g. Variation in Buddhism; will definitely provide a positive impact to people and address the contemporary
Sustainable Development In Buddhism), the development of Malaysian Buddhism. issues at the same depth and breadth
to the relationship between Buddhism as earlier forums. Such decrement in
and different social issues (e.g. Guided On the other hand, due to the large scale the participation may be due to the lack
by Mission, Growing with Time; The True of such forums, they are more likely to of interest in the participation of large-
Nature of Buddhism), and the breath attract media and public attention, and scale forum and the change in the
of the topics were well demonstrated in hence the themes of the forums will learning approach is also another factor
the forums. Such difference is perhaps also be discussed in public. As such, contributing to such decrement. In the
related to the reason that most of the more people will be able to understand past 10 years, it seems that the local
English-spoken Buddhists are from the how Buddhists address contemporary Buddhists are shifting focus to the zen
Theravada Buddhist school while most issues. At the same time, they can meditation, but I do believe that there is 麻坡佛教正信会
of the Chinese-spoken Buddhists are create awareness of contemporary no correlation between the zen meditation
from the Mahayana Buddhist school. The issues among Buddhists, allow more and the Buddhist forums. They in fact
074 Theravada Buddhism stresses on the people to participate in the discussion, complement each other. 075

50 YEARS OF DHARMA PRO PA GATION CO NTINUING THE MIS SION IN THE 5G ER A