Page 186 - Applied Buddhism

established in all major towns in Malaya. Christian churches and
Christian evangelists were actively converting the Chinese to their
faith. In nearly all colleges, Catholic and Christian Societies were set
up. Many English-speaking Chinese students at tertiary institutions,
who refused to be proselytised, began forming Buddhist Societies,
so that they would know something about their mother-religion.
It is interesting to note that Buddhist societies in tertiary
institutions were formed, not so much because some students
were inspired by the Dharma but more because they felt a sense of
crisis posed by Christian evangelisation. They felt that to counter
Christian evangelisation, they needed to learn about their mother-
religion; thus, they formed Buddhist societies and then started
inviting monks to teach them Buddhism. From the 1960s to 1980s,
Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda was about the only monk they could
invite to give talks on Buddhism in English.
In some of the pamphlets written by Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda,
especially those written in the last century, one can come across
passages of how he countered the Christian evangelists. For
example, when Christian evangelists condemn Buddhists as idol-
worshippers, Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda responded by writing
an article titled Are Buddhist Idol Worshippers? To counter their
argument. Likewise, when the evangelists resorted to unethical
death bed conversions, Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda responded with
his article on Changing One’s Religion before Death.
Popularisation of Education
Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda’s missionary works were very much
facilitated by the increasing level of education in society. Before
independence, the majority of the Chinese Malaysians were not
174 Applied Buddhism
well educated. Buddhist missionary monks from China had found
it difficult to preach the Dhamma to them (apart from the problem
of dialect barrier). Hence most of their activities were ritualistic in
nature, which the less educated people appreciated very much. Ven.
K. Sri Dhammananda too faced the same problem. He admitted
that when he was invited to the New Villages during the Emergency
to preach Buddhism, he found most of the villagers disinterested in
his talks (which had to be translated in the first place), so he had to
resort to chanting and blessing service instead.
In other words, when the audience were not so well educated,
even the most skilful and knowledgeable teachers, such as Ven.
Chuk Mor, Ven. Paik Wan and Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda found
difficulty in preaching the profound Dharma.
However, after Malaysia’s independence in 1957, great
emphasis was placed on education. More people were able to
receive higher education. Those who were well-educated and
knowledgeable found it easier to understand the profound Dharma.
They were also less attracted to ritualistic practices but more keen
on understanding the doctrines of the religion. This increasing
group of well-educated people became ready audience for Ven.
K. Sri Dhammananda’s teachings. As Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda
always presented the Dharma in a very rational and verifiable
manner, devoid of superstitious ideas, he was very well appreciated
by this group of educated people. When more students enrolled into
tertiary institutions, Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda became one of the
most popular speakers they would invite to their campuses for talks.
A similar trend is observed among the Chinese-speaking
Buddhists. With higher education, students were more inclined to
listen to the Dharma or practice meditation rather than engage in
Applied Buddhism 175