Page 5 - Creativity in Buddhist Movement: A case example of Yayasan Belia Buddhist Malaysia 佛教运动的创新——以马来西亚佛教发展基金会为例

There were many young monks and nuns like her, who
eventually realised their aspiration through the Malaysian
Sangha Fund.

Set up in 1991, the Malaysian Sangha Fund has thus far helped

more than 473 monks and nuns (till 31/7/2019) to further their
studies.

The Malaysian Sangha Fund was a creative idea of the Yayasan
Belia Buddhist Malaysia. It was, and still is, a completely new

idea in the Buddhist movement, not only in Malaysia but
worldwide.

Conventionally, Buddhist organisations would organise dana to
monks, and the monetary contribution from devotees would be

handed to the monks and nuns present, leaving no balance to
take care of the educational and medical needs of the monks and
nuns. The Yayasan Belia Buddhist Malaysia devised an

ingenious way, by urging devotees to pass over the monetary
contribution to a fund, called the Malaysian Sangha Fund, and

the money in the fund would then be used to fund the
educational and medical fees of deserving monks and nuns (of
course a portion of the fund would be used to fund the dana of

the day).

With this creative approach, the Yayasan Belia Buddhist
Malaysia had, till 2019, disbursed RM1,768,580.29 to cater to
the educational and medical needs of monks and nuns, providing

requisites to monks living in remote areas, contributing to the
International Buddhist College and others.

5