Dear members of BUBS, friends. 

Happy New Year! To start the year, we have very good news for you.  As members are aware, the Bandar Utama Buddhist Society was formed for a noble purpose - the propagation of the Buddha Sasana, the Buddha's Dispensation that guides all beings towards the destruction of their suffering in all its forms and to achieve Enlightenment.  In pursuit of this objective, the Society organises a host of activities that focuses on providing facilities and opportunities for members to understand, practise and realise the Dhamma.  

There is much of which we as members can be pleased and proud.  We have collectively built a vibrant centre of the Dhamma, a place of clarity in a sea of confusion, where the Teachings of the Buddha, can be accessed and practised by hundreds of people.  Although housed in a link house, it has achieved much in its short history.  

 

This new year brings us excellent news and another step closer towards one of our principal objectives, i.e. to construct a place of worship in Bandar Utama.  Our application of land has been approved with a grant of a 20,000 sq ft parcel of land in Bandar Utama!.  We are most grateful for the aspirations and invocations that the members made towards this cause without which, we believe we would not have has this success.   We thank you, our members, for the collective kamma.  Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

 

At this critical point in the history of your Society, there is a greater need for the assistance and cooperation of our members.   A team of building consultants comprising our members has been formed to manage the construction of the center and ideas of fund raising are being formulated and developed.   We trust that our members will stand ready to take our Society to greater heights so that the light of the Dhamma can reach further and deeper into the hearts of the people.  .....And please remember the Society in your daily prayers and meditations.  Do continue to make your aspirations for the benefit and progress of your Society.

 

Thank you. 

 

1. Society Matters

1.1 Humanitarian Fund
As an act of compassion, the Society, on behalf of its members, extends its assistance to assist those in need. In the last six months a total of RM8,070 was donated towards the worthy needs of two recipients.   These include :

An amount of RM4,643  donated to the family of Leong Chin Yeow, a 28 year old man suffering from leukemia.  He was not employed and his family had found it very difficult to meet his medical expenses.  However, since his treatment, he has recovered from leukemia and low blood platelet count condition and has returned to work with his former employer.

An amount of RM3,427 donated to Chang Ah Huat of Penang.  Mr Chang is a devout Buddhist and supporter of the Sangha.  He is 54 years old and has seven children.  After falling from a fruit tree while working in his orchard, he is now a quadriplegic.  Before the unfortunate accident, he was very active in the support and care of monks in Balik Pulau, Penang.

Please share in our compassion in these acts of charity.

2. Regular Activities update
Attendance at our regular activities such as the Sunday Puja, and the meditation sessions on Thursday and Friday nights are seen to have developed a core following with additional numbers dropping in on an irregular basis.  We had several interesting speakers at these events. 

2.1 Dhamma School
The Dhamma school on Sundays continues to be very popular with members and children.  Apart from the regular schedule, we also held a story-telling competition at the end of the year.

The school is also is very much in need of more volunteer teachers.  If you can offer us your time, please consider helping out as a teacher or assistant teacher at the school.  This meritorious deed will be greatly appreciated.  You may contact Kim See or Chew Chin.

2.2 Offering of Dana to monks
We had the good opportunity to invite several monks to the Centre for Dana.  They include Ven K Sri Dhammananda, Ven Saranankara, Ven Sujata of Australia, Ven Nandasiddhi and other Burmese monks travelling from Kota Tinggi and Ven Nyanaramsi a Malaysian monk who recently returned from Myanmar.

3. Special Events & News

3.1 Foreign Monastic Visitors
 During the period, the society was blessed with the visit and instruction of several monks.

• On 8 August, Ven Dr Yifa a Chinese Mahayana nun of the Fo Kuang Shan organisation gave a talk on the subject "Compassion; Essence of Mahayana".  Ven Yifa holds a doctorate in religious studies from Yale University.  She is presently based in the Boston Buddhist Cultural Centre, Boston.
• On 30 November, Ven Sujata, the Australian of Santi Forest Monastery near Melbourne gave a talk titled "Let the forest be your teacher".   Ven Sujata, who is a forest monk in the lineage of Ajahn Chah presented his talk with several anecdotes from his life and stories from his tradition.
• On 17 December, the popular Burmese meditation teacher Ven Dhammapiya gave a talk on the "Practice of Vipassana".  The Ven is currently resident at the Tathagata Meditation Centre, San Jose, USA.
• On 3 January 2004, we started the new year with a talk by the American nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition Thubten Chodron.  Ven Chodron is a disciple of Lama Thubten Yeshe and Zopa Rinpoche.  She is now the abbess of a new monastic training facility in Washington State, Shravasti Abbey.  She gave a talk on the subject "Relating to Spiritual Teachers.

3.2 Examination Blessing Service (23 August)
A special Blessing Service was conducted by Ven Saranankara Thera of the Sri Lanka Buddhist Vihara, Sentul for the benefit of students taking the government examinations.  The hall was filled to capacity, perhaps as a result of the "excellent" results in the previous year.

3.3 Trip to Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary for Kathina (25 & 26 August)
Three buses of members and devotees left BUBS for the Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary ("SBS") in Taiping to celebrate Kathina there. The Society, together with the Singapore Buddhist Fellowship were co-sponsors of the event.  After the offering of the Kathina cloth and other requisites, Committee members Pat Boey, Kim See and Cheah Swee Seng put on a comic sketch on the topic of "bogus monks". We also had a great time joining the Singaporeans when they sang a medley of devotional songs.  See attached article for a full report by Kim See.

3.4 Pilgrimage to India ( 3 to 15 November)
Several members from the Society made a pilgrimage to the holy sites associated with the Buddha's life in India and Nepal. Our members were also delighted to be accompanied on this inspiring trip by fellow pilgrims from other societies in the Klang Valley and Penang.  Members also took the opportunity to collect donations for distribution to 14 monasteries along the pilgrimage route. A Burmese monk, Wathawa Sayadaw also went along and led the group in the pujas. We wish to thank Mr Chan Koon San for kindly organizing this pilgrimage.

3.5 Dhamma Talk by Ajahn Brahmavamso (14 December)
The very popular Ajahn Brahm of Australia was back in Malaysia for a Dhamma talk.  He spoke on "Life's Greatest Miracle" at Kolej KDU, Damansara Utama to an audience of 1,800 people.  Five organisations in the Klang Valley cooperated to organise this event - BUBS, Buddhist Gem Fellowship, Buddhist Missionary Society, Subang Jaya Buddhist Association and Nalanda Buddhist Society.  As before, the audience were thoroughly entertained by his stories and anecdotes but also moved, inspired and educated in the Dhamma.

3.6 One Day Meditation Retreat (17 December)
Ven Dhammapiya, the abbot of Tathagata Meditation Centre, San Jose, USA conduced a one-day Vipassana retreat.  He also gave an introductory talk on the Abhidhamma.

Special Report - A Trip to the SBS Kathina Ceremony – 26 Oct 2003

Members of the Bandar Utama Buddhist Society (BUBS) are ever enthusiastic whenever an opportunity to visit the Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS) arises. The 25 & 26 October week-end visit to Taiping was organised to enable members to attend the Kathina Ceremony at SBS on Sunday, 26 October 2003.

 

As we are aware, the kathina ceremony is a robe-offering ceremony in the Theravada tradition – an offering to the Sangha collectively. This ceremony marks the end of the three-month Rains Retreat period observed by the Sangha. It is an important event to all who participate; it embodies the mutual support between the Sangha and the lay devotees.

 

At 7.00am on Saturday, 25 October 2003, participants of BUBS and their families assembled at BUBS. After puja, they excitedly boarded buses #1, #2 and #3 as allocated, settling down quickly with the anticipation of an interesting and fruitful two days in Taiping. The leaders in each bus did a wonderful job in looking after their charges and keeping them entertained while in transit.

 

After the comfort stops, the next one was for the pre-arranged lunch in Ipoh and then shopping nearby for pomelos, biscuits, etc. With the inner man catered to and pockets slightly lighter, everyone was ready to re-board the buses for the final lap to Taiping.  We checked into the Panorama Hotel smoothly. Then for the free and easy afternoon – while some members were all set for a siesta, others were rarin’ to go looking for that famous Taiping poh pniah, etc. Whatever the preferred activity, all re-assembled for dinner at 7.30pm.  After dinner, some members elected for an early night to prepare for the early rising the next morning while others opted for the curry mee in their favourite restaurant and then the famous Taiping coffee next to the market .

 

Perhaps there was enhanced excitement among our members because the Buddhist Fellowship of Singapore (BFS) and BUBS were the joint sponsors of the kathina ceremony.  Everybody was down at the hotel lobby at 6.00am as scheduled, waiting to board the bus for the foothills where SBS had arranged for their convoy of 4WDs to ferry visitors up the slope to SBS. 

 

It was an unforgettable experience to be up at SBS early that Sunday, 26 October. There was a light drizzle for a little while – a symbolic blessing on the devotees to start off the kathina ceremony. 10 members of the Sangha were present: 3 residents of SBS and 7 other monks from various parts of the country. 

 

The ceremony started with representatives of BFS and BUBS presenting the kathina cloth to the Sangha at 7.00am in the Sima Hall. This was followed by a speech from BUBS President, Bro Tan Buck Soon on behalf of the sponsors. The Sangha then awarded the kathina cloth to Ven Aggacitta, unanimously. Next, the guest-of-honour, YB Datuk Ho Cheng Wang gave his speech.

 

After breakfast, while the Sangha started on their cutting and sewing, the sponsors entertained fellow devotees with their performances, as requested by SBS -

 

BUBS entertained with a sketch, The Buddhist Experience. This is a comedy which raised the problems beginners of meditation went through, followed by the confusion caused by the presence of bogus monks in the pasar malam and other public places, had the performers speaking in Penang/Taiping hokkien spiced with English. The enthusiastic support of our loyal BUBS members inspired the main characters: Ah Beng (script writer Swee Seng), Sally (Pat Boey), Ah Lian (Kim See), Kopi Ee (Li Yen ) and rap back-up members – Charlie Chia, Teoh Yue Ling and Khaw Hoe Guan to give quite a credible performance, to the amusement of the spectators.

 

The BFS choir sang a medley of 10 hymns. The tunes were so catchy that our BUBS members could not resist swinging in to join the choir, which encouraged other devotees to do likewise and the item turned into a huge sing-along, to the delight of all. Thus, fellowship was enhanced.

 

From entertainment to authentic duty! The next item on the programme had selected members of BFS and BUBS together with SBS volunteers carrying trays of requisites and walking among the devotees, who had by then arranged themselves in rows, for them to touch the trays as a gesture of symbolic offering to the Sangha.

 

Then the monks walked along the rows of devotees, on their pindacara, the collection of alms food. Each devotee offered a spoonful of rice as they walked past them. After that, Ven Aggacitta gave a Dhamma talk before the devotees had their lunch at about 12.00 noon.

 

After lunch, most of the devotees organised themselves to depart from SBS. Likewise, after saying their farewells, members of BUBS left SBS to check out of the Panorama Hotel. As on previous visits on the way out, the three bus-loads stopped at the biscuit factory to make a clean sweep of the biscuits, etc thereby improving the economy of Taiping.

 

After all the excitement and activities at SBS, traveling home must have been rather an anti-climax. Our members were happy with the exposure to the kathina ceremony and the whole experience of the trip, but they must have suddenly realized they were also exhausted. So, it would seem it was a quiet slumbering ride back to BUBS, reaching before 9.00pm, despite the heavy north-south traffic – a happy ending to a successful week-end.  

 

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

 

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Sabbe danam, Dhamma danam jinati
Of all gifts, the gift of Dhamma is supreme