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standing.’ He further illustrated this by giving varsities. When I deliveredlectures at universities,
an example: the Malaysian Buddhist Institute is those were just the activity of Buddhist Societies
accredited by the Ministry of Education as a formal without the academic impact. I am more familiar
‘Educational Institution’ (Institusi Pendidikan). with Venerable Sheng Yen as well as Dharma Drum
‘We must be prepared if the government starts to Institute, therefore it is easier for the Dharma Drum
benchmark lecturers' academic qualifications in Institute to see, accept, and recognise my academic
the future. Therefore, the Dean of MBA Venerable contribution.
Ji Zun always encourage lecturers to pursue master
and doctoral studies. At present, some in-service
lecturers have already pursued master and doctorate Virtue is superior
degrees in local universities.’
Although it is wonderful to be awarded for academic
When asked whether the external parties would contributions, Venerable Chi Chern believes that the
judge religious masters by academic credentials, virtue of monastic members should be emphasized.
Venerable Chi Chern said that there were certainly
some members from the academic and religious ‘Venerable Hong Yi once said: If your own virtue is
circles who would be concern on academic recognized and you are famous for it, this is superior.
qualifications, but in some of the places he went, no On the contrary, if you are famed for some of your
one came to judge him with his degree, yet many academic or artistic achievements, which has
who attended his lecture were PhD holders. He relatively nothing to do with your personal virtues,
recalled that one of the first batch of students in Venerable Hong Yi opined that this is inferior.’
United States was a group of PhD students in Physics
who approached him after the lecture and talked to The Venerable further illustrated by citing a few
him. They all were convinced of what they discussed more examples. He said that Master Hsing Yun’s
at the end of conversation. "What they pay attention contribution is immeasurable. Whenever he picked
to is what your inner cultivation can give them." up his brush and wrote calligraphy, everyone would
be delighted to obtain his artwork; Venerable Sheng
‘In the United States, there are several Buddhist Yen wrote a lot of calligraphy in his later years for
groups whose members are academic elites. fundraising. In fact, it has nothing to do with the
They will invite lecturers including monks and lay quality of his calligraphy, the devotees were simply
Buddhists. If they feel that there’s not much input delighted to get them by making offerings; The
after listening to the lecture, they will not invite you calligraphy of Venerable Yin Shun is popular too.
again. They won't reject you bluntly, just that they Devotees are glad to acquire them through offerings.
won't invite you again, or they simply won't show They do so not because of the Venerables’ academic
up in your lecture anymore. As for my case, they will or artistic achievements, but out of respect and
always invite me to give lectures.’ admiration towards their virtue and morality.

Would the honorary doctorate be helpful to the Finally, Venerable Chi Chern encouraged those
future of Dharma propagation? Venerable Chi Chern who are genuinely interested in in Buddhist studies
admitted that he had not given a thought about this pursue master and doctoral degrees. In fact, as early
question. He said that the impact of the degree in as since the 1980s, the Buddhist community has
the future will depend on whether the Malaysian been enthusiastic about this matter, but Buddhist
Buddhist community instils great importance on it. studies in Malaysia are still relatively scarce.
‘MBA thinks it is very good for me to be awarded Although some master and doctoral students have
this honorary doctorate. Although it is not a formal conducted Buddhist studies in recent years, there
doctorate, it has something to do with academic is still a lot of space for development in Malaysian
work. In other words, it is a recognition of my Buddhist scholarship, such as Buddhist history or
contribution towards education and academics.’ Buddhist scholarship. Venerable Chi Chern has
also begun to organize his academic chronology to
“In Malaysia, I can’t contribute much to the contribute to future research in Buddhism.

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