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Expedition to Bhutan |
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-FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF |
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For
many years the East Asiatic Library of the University of California at
Berkeley has been the repository for a major collection of works on
Buddhism in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian, Manchu and Tibetan. This
collection is being constantly supplemented with purchases of a growing
literature from Asian Scholars writing in their own languages, materials
that will be essential for continued study and research in Buddhism. A
group in Buddhist studies has recently been established at Berkeley which
would make possible the awarding of a Ph.D. degree in Buddhist Studies.
If the promising development continues, we will more than ever need
to make our library a complete research center. In
recent years, support for libraries has been cut back as part of a general
financial problem. The Friends of the East Asiatic Library has been formed
to give additional aid for the purchase of books and the continued support
of the excellence of the East Asiatic Library. We are now undertaking a sizeable expedition of students and faculty to Nepal and Bhutan. The first survey group will leave this spring to visit the remote monasteries of these two countries, taking with them a list of our Tibetan Buddhist materials and checking for works that may be available in the libraries of the monasteries and not in our own. Bhutan is just opening up to the outside world as a separate nation; and it will be the focus for our expedition, seeking for xylographs that can be rubbed and texts which can be microfilmed. The expense for such an undertaking is large, but we think the results will be a wealth of materials not available before in the libraries of the West. The "Friends of the East Asiatic Library", recognizing the importance of this trip for the Tibetan collection are now asking for contributions to aid in the purchase of xylographs or other original materials that are available, plus the cost of microfilm and cataloging the resulting collection. We hope to raise $5,000 to supplement the funds that have been given to this project by the Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University and the book purchase fund of the University Library. We hope that those of you who have an interest in Buddhist study will support this project and also support the East Asiatic Library which makes it possible for such a collection to be housed and serviced. ********************************** |
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Mr.
Wang T'ai Sheng, a master of the arts of wood carving and sculpting Buddha
images, recently arrived for a visit in the United States. A native of
Shanghai-Ning Po, Mr. Wang T'ai Sheng is unequalled as a Master Craftsman
and gilder, and is the only person alive in the world today who
understands and teaches the ancient technique of dry lacquer work. He
arrived in Hong Kong more than twenty years ago and set up a school for
training in the arts of carving and sculpting Buddha images where he
assumed the position of Master Craftsman. A great many students have
become accomplished carvers and gilders under his guidance. Mr. Wang recently arrived aboard Pan American Airlines for his visit to America. Here he will investigate the possibilities of expansion, and look into developing his unique art in the United States. Anyone with questions or desiring information about this matter may direct their inquiry to Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery, 1731 15th Street, San Francisco, California. The welcoming committee of the Sino-American Buddhist Association arranged the picture seen here to commemorate this event. Master Craftsman Wang T'ai Sheng is seated in the center of the first row. This assembly took place in the Jeweled Hall of the Great Heroes at Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery. ********************************* |
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Mr. Wang T'ai Sheng
(front, center) shown with the Sangha and
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The eminent Upasika Lai-Tseng Kuo Ch’eng was born in Canton province in 1907 and has been a resident of Hong Kong for the past fifty-five years. Upasika Tsang holds a number of important positions in Buddhist organizations. Among them are: Vice President of the Hong Kong and Macau Regional Centre of the World Fellowship of Buddhists; |
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Director of the Hong Kong Buddhist Association; Director of the Buddhist Bodhi School; Director of the Buddhist Sik Tak Kindergarten; Permanent Supporter of the Lotus Resolve Old Age Home; and Administrative Member of the Hong Kong Buddhist Cemetery. She was elected Model Mother by the Hong Kong and Kowloon Layman’s Association in 1954. In 1959 she received the Bodhisattva Precepts.In addition to the above posts, Upasika Tsang holds positions in a number of welfare, clan and benevolent associations. Her works in connection with these groups are extremely numerous. Upasika Tsang's work is not confined to Hong Kong but extends through the world. She has represented Buddhist groups at the Sixth Great Buddhist Assembly in Benares in 1964 as well as at the Seventh and Eighth Assemblies at Rangoon and Singapore in 1966 and 1967. Upasika Tsang is currently visiting the United States and has visited Gold Mountain Monastery. ******************************************** |
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COMING IN VAJRA BODHI SEA: Report
on the first seven-day non-stop mantra session held in the world. ********************************************* |
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New Buddhist Books Buddhist Philosophy In Theory and Practice; -Herbert Guenther; softbound, 240 pages; Pelican Books (Penguin Books Inc.); Maryland; $2.45 Buddhism- a historical introduction to Buddhist values and the social and political forms they have assumed in Asia; -Peter A. Pardue; softbound, 203 pages; Macmillian, N.Y.; $1.95 Three Unknown Buddhist Stories in an Arabic Version; -S.M. Stern and Sofie Walzer; hardback, 38 pages; University of South Carolina Press; $4.95 Buddhism for the West- Theravada, Mahayana. Vajrayana -Dorothy C. Donath; hardback, 146 pages; Julian Press, New York; $6.00 Magic and Mystery in Tibet, -Alexandra David-Neel, softbound, 320 pages; Penquin Books, Maryland; $1.65************************************************* |
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Come to the Buddha’s Birthday Sakyamuni Buddha's Birthday will be celebrated on May 20th, 1972, at Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery, 1731 15th Street in San Francisco. This day will also commemorate the formal opening of Gold Mountain Dhyana Monastery, the largest Buddhist Monastery to open in the West. The Sino-American Buddhist Association cordially invites the public to join the celebrations to honor the Buddha and to open this Mahayana Bodhimandala, as well as to join us in a vegetarian feast in honor of the occasion. Opening ceremonies will begin at 10:00am on the 20th of May. After a Great Meal Offering at 10:30 there will be a vegetarian feast at 11:00. At noon, the Buddha Bathing ceremony will begin, with an opportunity for everyone present to bathe the Buddha and cleanse his own self nature. In the evening, at 6:30pm the Buddha's Birthday celebration will begin with Bathing the Buddha, followed by talks from major Buddhist figures in the Bay Area. We hope that you will be able to attend; you are welcome to all of these events.
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CALENDAR OF BUDDHIST HOLIDAYS |
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April
29 Cundra Bodhisattva's Birthday |
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