A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space and as an aid to meditation and trance induction. In the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Shinto it is used as a map representing deities, or especially in the case of Shinto, paradises, kami or actual shrines.
Sasanarakkha Buddhist Sanctuary (SBS) is a Buddhist monastery in Taiping, Perak, Malaysia. It was founded in January 2000 by Ven. Aggacitta as a training centre for Malaysian Theravada Buddhist monks. Its mission is to prepare postulants and new monks to live in accordance with the Dhamma-Vinaya — the core principles of Buddhism — as enshrined in the Pali Canon.
Buddhism is the second largest religion in Malaysia, after Islam, with 18.7% of Malaysia's population being Buddhist, although some estimates put that figure at 21.6% when combining estimates of numbers of Buddhists with figures for adherents of Chinese religions which incorporate elements of Buddhism. Buddhism in Malaysia is mainly practised by the ethnic Malaysian Chinese, but there are also Malaysian Siamese, Malaysian Sri Lankans and Burmese in Malaysia that practice Buddhism such as Ananda Krishnan and K. Sri Dhammananda and a sizeable population of Malaysian Indians.
Buddhism is the largest religion in Singapore, practiced by approximately 31.1% of the population as of 2020. As per the census, out of 3,459,093 Singaporeans polled, 1,074,159 of them identified themselves as Buddhists.
The Buddhist flag is a flag designed in the late 19th century as a universal symbol of Buddhism. The flag's six vertical bands represent the six colors of the aura which Buddhists believe emanated from the body of the Buddha when he attained enlightenment.
Mun Bhuridatta was a Thai bhikkhu from Isan region who is credited, along with his mentor, Ajahn Sao Kantasīlo, with establishing the Thai Forest Tradition or "Kammaṭṭhāna tradition" that subsequently spread throughout Thailand and to several countries abroad.
Bhikkhu Bodhi, born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk ordained in Sri Lanka. He teaches in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publication Society and has edited and authored several publications grounded in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.
Buddhism in Germany looks back to a history of over 150 years. Arthur Schopenhauer was one of the earliest Germans who were influenced by Buddhism. Schopenhauer got his knowledge of Buddhism from authors like Isaac Jacob Schmidt (1779-1847). German Buddhists or Orientalists like Karl Eugen Neumann, Paul Dahlke, Georg Grimm, Friedrich Zimmermann and the first German Buddhist monk Nyanatiloka Mahathera were also influenced by Schopenhauer and his understanding of Buddhism. But also German Indologists like Hermann Oldenberg and his work ”Buddha, sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde“ had an important influence on German Buddhism.
Nyanaponika Thera or Nyanaponika Mahathera was a Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhist monk and scholar who, after ordaining in Sri Lanka, later became the co-founder of the Buddhist Publication Society and author of numerous seminal books and articles on Theravada Buddhism. He mentored and taught a whole generation of Western Buddhist leaders such as Bhikkhu Bodhi.
Ven. Myokyo-ni was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist nun and head of the Zen Centre in London.
Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero, a popular Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka. He rose to fame from his weekly sermon programmes (bana) on TV. A critic of the government system in Sri Lanka he joined the Jathika Hela Urumaya with a group of monks to contest the local elections in 2004 and was elected as a member of Parliament.
Pūrṇa Maitrāyanīputra, also simply known as Pūrṇa, was an arhat and one of the ten principal disciples of Gautama Buddha, foremost in preaching the dharma.
Khensur Rinpoche, Geshe Tashi Tsering is a Tibetan teacher in the Gelug tradition. He lived and taught in the West for many years in Australia, New Zealand, India and Tibet.
Ellawala Medhananda Thero is a Sri Lankan politician and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. He had also organized many charities and engaged himself in educational activities in under-prevailed rural communities. As an academic scholar he has published 40 books of academic and archaeological research of which the book on the "Sinhala-Buddhist Heritage in the Northern and Eastern Provinces" published in 2003 by Jayakody Publishers in Colombo is most well known Medhananda was a parliamentarian elected by the Jathika hela Urumaya, a party which campaigned for the rights of Buddhists. As a consequence, many Marxist as well as minority Tamil writers have criticized him for his alleged right-wing political leanings and pro-majoritarian sentiments. He presented himself for elections twice first in 2004 then in 2010. Since then he has devoted himself to charitable works, teaching and scholarly activities in rural regions of Sri Lanka
Most Venerable Madihe Pannaseeha Mahathera was an eminent Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, who was the Mahanayaka of Amarapura sect from July 13, 1969, until his death on September 9, 2003.
The Nung Chan Monastery is a monastery at Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. It was formally founded in 1975 by Dongchu, a scholar monk and disciple of renowned Chinese Buddhist master Taixu. It's named ' Farming Ch'an ' as its early residents dedicated themselves to Ch'an practice and grew their own food. Its spirit is based on 8th century Zen Master Baizhang Huaihai's aphorism, "A day without work is a day without food."
Dongchu was a Chinese Ch'an Master in Mainland China and later in Taiwan, and also the teacher of respected modern-day Ch'an Master Sheng-yen. He is the 51st generation of Zen patriarch from the Caodong School. He also established several monasteries and organizations in Taiwan that continue to exist and expand to this very day, including Chung-hwa Institute of Buddhist Culture and Nung Chan Monastery.
Ven. Kaṭukurunde Ñāṇananda Mahathera was a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu and Buddhist scholar. He is best known for the research monograph Concept and Reality in Early Buddhist Thought and the exploratory study The Magic of the Mind. Ven. Ñāṇananda was the abbot of Pothgulgala Aranya, a small forest monastery in Devalegama, Sri Lanka.
A bhikkhunī or bhikṣuṇī is a Buddhist nun, fully ordained female in Buddhist monasticism. Bhikkhunis live by the Vinaya, a set of either 311 Theravada, 348 Dharmaguptaka, or 364 Mulasarvastivada school rules. Until recently, the lineages of female monastics only remained in Mahayana Buddhism and thus were prevalent in countries such as China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Vietnam, while a few women have taken the full monastic vows in the Theravada and Vajrayana schools. The official lineage of Tibetan Buddhist bhikkhunis recommenced on 23 June 2022 in Bhutan when 144 nuns were fully ordained.
The Ti-Sarana Buddhist Association is a Buddhist organisation for the English speaking Buddhist Community in Singapore. The President of the group as of 2014 is Khemaka David Chew. Notable resident monks include Venerables Pategama Gnanarama Mahāthera, Welipitiye Ratanasiri Mahāthera and Ridiyagama Ānanda Thera.
