Page 170 - Applied Buddhism

and oppressed, and to ensure the availability of human resources Conclusion
in all critical areas, eg. in the area of care for the terminally ill.
(This is where unscrupulous Christians target the terminally ill for The legitimacy of lay Buddhism is beyond doubt. Its importance
conversion). and relevance to contemporary society is more prominent than ever
before. Modern society has brought about severe challenges to
vi. Use of science and technology Buddhism, but at the same time provided many opportunities for
breakthrough. Lay Buddhists must be ready to make good use of the
The challenges in modern time are severe. Looking at the opportunities to overcome the challenges. They must be prepared
mega trends, Buddhism is obviously at a disadvantage. However, to shoulder responsibilities and play an active role in the overall
when viewed in the light of the law of impermanence, the rich and development of Buddhism.
powerful cannot remain so forever, and the poor and weak may
become strong one day. The Dharma would one day be well spread
through out the world if Buddhists are prepared to work towards it.
For the weak and disadvantageous party to make a breakthrough, (Paper presented at the World Forum on Lay Buddhism, Kuching, Malaysia,
it must seek a fault line and ply through it. Such a fault line lies 18-19 Dec 2004)
in the communication and information technology (CIT) of the
information era.

For instance, when the Malaysian Buddhist Association set
up a Chinese web page, 60 % of those who viewed it are from
the USA and Canada, followed by China, and lastly Malaysia. The
Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia has an English web page,
and the majority of those who viewed the page are also from USA
and Canada. Similar trends is recorded in BNN (now Buddhist
Channel). Likewise, Buddhanet of Australia attracts millions of hits
per day. The USA is the biggest exporter of information, but it is
also the biggest importer of information. 63% of the net users are
from USA.

There are many experts and professionals within the lay
Buddhist community. They should make full use of the internet
technologies to spread the Dharma to the West.

158 Applied Buddhism Applied Buddhism 159