Total population | |
---|---|
1,074,159 [1] 31.1% of the resident population | |
Religions | |
Buddhism |
Part of a series on |
Buddhism |
---|
Buddhism is the largest religion in Singapore, practiced by approximately 31.1% of the population as of 2020. [1] As per the census, out of 3,459,093 Singaporeans polled, 1,074,159 of them identified themselves as Buddhists. [1]
Buddhism was introduced in Singapore primarily by migrants from around the world over the past centuries. The first recorded histories of the Indian religion in Singapore can be observed in early monasteries and temples such as Thian Hock Keng and Jin Long Si Temple that were built by settlers that came from various parts of Asia.
There are a variety of Buddhist organizations in Singapore, with the more predominant authorities being established ones such as the Singapore Buddhist Federation (SBF).
Given the historic status of Singapore as a British trade port and colonial state, as well as a brief period of Japanese colonial rule during World War II, over the centuries a variety of Buddhist lineages from across the globe has appeared gradually on the island. They include Japanese and Western interpretations of the tripitaka, although a substantial local presence have their origins dating back into historic South East and East Asian kingdoms.
Buddhists generally classify themselves as either from Theravāda Tradition or Mahāyāna Tradition. As the Singaporean Buddhist population is mostly ethnic Chinese people, they adhere to Chinese Buddhism (a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism).
The first existing Sunday Dhamma School was organised by late Mahaweera Maha Nayaka Thero in 1940, the syllabus was set according to the standard of Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA) of Colombo in Sri Lanka. In 1982, a 3-storey annex was built in Mangala Vihara to cater for the rapidly expanding Sunday Dhamma School. [2] The Buddhist and Pali College of Singapore was set up in 1993 at Mangala Vihara, it is to cater for the religious and educational needs of Singaporeans who seek to widen and deepen their understanding and knowledge of Buddhism. [3] Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery has also established another institution known as The Buddhist College of Singapore in 2006.
Buddhism in Singapore has been experiencing a revival after the implementation of Religious Knowledge as compulsory programme in all secondary schools from 1984 to 1989, [4] [5] There are youth groups set up in various Buddhist Temples and Centres like Wat Ananda Youth, Young Buddhist Chapter (YBC), Mangala Vihara Youth Circle, Singapore Buddhist Mission Youth and Buddhist Fellowship Youth etc. Buddhist societies are established in various tertiary institutions like NUS Buddhist Society (NUSBS), NTU Buddhist Society (NTUBS), SMU Dhamma Circle, SIM Buddhist Bhavana Club (SIMBBC), Ngee Ann Polytechnic Buddhist Society (NPBS), Singapore Polytechnic Buddhist Society (SPBS) and Nanyang Polytechnic Buddhist Society (NYPBS). There are also many foreign students in tertiary institutions joining and involving in these Buddhist societies.
In the early eighties, Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and scholar Ven K. Sri Dhammananda and several other Buddhist monastic members were frequently invited to Singapore to conduct English public talks and forums. There were also some famous Chinese Mahayana monks from Taiwan that are invited to conduct Mandarin or Hokkien public talks at the same period too. Singapore Buddhist Youth Mission once organised a large Mandarin public talk in 1999 by Ven Hui Lui from Taiwan at Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Since Ajahn Brahm was invited to be the Spiritual Patron of the Buddhist Fellowship in Singapore, he has frequently conduct English public talks in various locations of Singapore like Chui Huay Lim Club, Singapore Conference Hall and Ren Ci Hospital auditorium. In recent years, several monks from Thai Forest Tradition have been invited to conduct public talks in Singapore; Ajahn Jayasaro was invited to conduct a teaching tour in Singapore in 2017 [6] and Ajahn Sumedho was invited to conduct a public talk at the auditorium of Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in 2019. [7]
Since 2009, Buddhist film festivals were also organised in Singapore. [8]
Singapore is a society of diverse religious traditions. The Buddhist community in Singapore has contributed much to the Singapore society. One example is the Buddhist Free Clinic. The Buddhist Free Clinic has multiple outlets across Singapore, providing free healthcare services to the public, regardless of the patients' ethnicity or beliefs. This demonstrates how Buddhism is part of the religious fabric in Singapore and how multiple faiths in Singapore get along with one another. [9]
Venerable Ming Yi of Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery as of 2015 [10] was imprisoned in a high-profile corruption scandal a few years ago. Ming Yi had been sentenced to 10 months in jail in November 2009 after being convicted on four charges of fraud, falsifying documents, misappropriating funds and giving false information to the Commissioner of Charities in 2008. [11] [12] Resulting from criminal charges and investigation, the Commissioner of Charities then suspended him from decision-making positions in Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery; Foo Hai Ch'an Buddhist Cultural and Welfare Association; Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic; the Singapore Regional Centre of the World Fellowship of Buddhists; and the Katho Temple. [13]
Venerable Guo Jun, former abbot of the Mahabodhi Monastery in Bukit Timah, has drawn criticism for owning a property in Sydney worth more than A$500,000 (S$514,000) and for not wearing his monk's robe on at least one occasion in public and staying in Marina Bay Sands (MBS) integrated resort. Guo Jun also faced a lawsuit from a trustee Lee Boon Teow of the monastery, who has filed a Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) report against him. [14]
Theravāda is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed Theravādins, have preserved their version of Gautama Buddha's teaching or Buddha Dhamma in the Pāli Canon for over two millennia.
Ajahn Chah was a Thai Buddhist monk. He was an influential teacher of the Buddhadhamma and a founder of two major monasteries in the Thai Forest Tradition.
Prajñā or paññā is a Buddhist term often translated as "wisdom", "intelligence", or "understanding". It is described in Buddhist texts as the understanding of the true nature of phenomena. In the context of Buddhist meditation, it is the ability to understand the three characteristics of all things: anicca ("impermanence"), dukkha, and anattā ("non-self"). Mahāyāna texts describe it as the understanding of śūnyatā ("emptiness"). It is part of the Threefold Training in Buddhism, and is one of the ten pāramīs of Theravāda Buddhism and one of the six Mahāyāna pāramitās.
Buddhism is the third-largest religious affiliation and formed about 0.63% of the population of Bangladesh. It is said that Buddha once in his life came to this region of East Bengal to spread his teachings and he was successful in converting the local people to Buddhism, specially in the Chittagong division and later on Pala empire propagate and patronized Buddhist religion throughout the Bengal territory. About 1 million people in Bangladesh adhere to the Theravada school of Buddhism. Over 65% of the Buddhist population is concentrated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region, where it is the predominant faith of the Rakhine, Chakma, Marma, Tanchangya, other Jumma people and the Barua. The remaining 35% are Bengali Buddhists. Buddhist communities are present in the urban centers of Bangladesh, particularly Chittagong and Dhaka.
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by roughly 93.4 percent of the population. Thailand has the second largest Buddhist population in the world, after China, with approximately 64 million Buddhists. Buddhism in Thailand has also become integrated with folk religion (Bon), Hinduism from millennia of Indian influence, and Chinese religions from the large Thai Chinese population. Buddhist temples in Thailand are characterized by tall golden stupas, and the Buddhist architecture of Thailand is similar to that in other Southeast Asian countries, particularly Cambodia and Laos, with which Thailand shares cultural and historical heritages. Thai Buddhism also shares many similarities with Sri Lankan Buddhism. Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Laos are countries with Theravada Buddhist majorities.
The Kammaṭṭhāna Forest Tradition of Thailand, commonly known in the West as the Thai Forest Tradition, is a lineage of Theravada Buddhist monasticism.
Ajahn Sumedho is an American Buddhist monk. He was ordained in 1967, and was instrumental in establishing Wat Pa Nanachat in Thailand and the Cittaviveka and Amaravati monasteries in England. One of the most senior Western representatives of the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravāda Buddhism, Sumedho is considered a seminal figure in the transmission of the Buddha's teachings to the West.
Abhayagiri Vihāra was a major monastery site of Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism that was situated in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. It is one of the most extensive ruins in the world and one of the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage cities in the nation. Historically it was a great monastic center as well as a royal capital, with magnificent monasteries rising to many stories, roofed with gilt bronze or tiles of burnt clay glazed in brilliant colours. To the north of the city, encircled by great walls and containing elaborate bathing ponds, carved balustrades and moonstones, stood "Abhayagiri", one of seventeen such religious units in Anuradhapura and the largest of its five major viharas. One of the focal points of the complex is an ancient stupa, the Abhayagiri Dagaba. Surrounding the humped dagaba, Abhayagiri Vihara was a seat of the Northern Monastery, or Uttara Vihara and the original custodian of the Tooth relic in the island.
Ajahn Amaro is a Theravāda Buddhist monk and teacher, and abbot of the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery at the eastern end of the Chiltern Hills in South East England. The centre, in practice as much for ordinary people as for monastics, is inspired by the Thai Forest Tradition and the teachings of the late Ajahn Chah. Its chief priorities are the practice and teaching of Buddhist ethics, together with traditional concentration and insight meditation techniques, as an effective way of dissolving suffering.
An Uposatha day is a Buddhist day of observance, in existence since the Buddha's time, and still being kept today by Buddhist practitioners. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind," resulting in inner calm and joy. On this day, both lay and ordained members of the sangha intensify their practice, deepen their knowledge and express communal commitment through millennia-old acts of lay-monastic reciprocity. On these days, the lay followers make a conscious effort to keep the Five Precepts or the ten precepts. It is a day for practicing the Buddha's teachings and meditation.
The Buddhist Library is the first dedicated Buddhist library in Singapore. The library, which is located in a shophouse in Geylang, aims to meet the needs of the Buddhist community and anyone interested in Buddhism. It is unique in that it is not a voluntary association or a temple and because it takes a non-sectarian approach to Buddhism. Besides functioning as a lending library, it also organises Dhamma talks, accredited Buddhist courses, public art exhibitions and welfare work locally and abroad.
Buddhism in the United Kingdom has a small but growing number of adherents which, according to a Buddhist organisation, is mainly a result of conversion. In the UK census for 2011, there were about 247,743 people who registered their religion as Buddhism, and about 174,000 who cited religions other than Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism. This latter figure is likely to include some people who follow the traditional Chinese folk religion which also includes some elements of Buddhism.
A kyaung is a monastery (vihara), comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Buddhist monks. Burmese kyaungs are sometimes also occupied by novice monks (samanera), lay attendants (kappiya), nuns (thilashin), and white-robed acolytes.
Buddhism in England has growing support. 238,626 people in England declared themselves to be Buddhist at the 2011 Census and 34% of them lived in London.
Ashin Jinarakkhita, born Tee Boan-an was an Indonesian-born Chinese who revived Buddhism in Indonesia. He was also known as Bhante Ashin, Tizheng Lao Heshang 體正老和尚, Teh-ching, Sukong 師公 (Grandmaster), and The Flying Monk.
Foo Hai Ch'an Monastery, is a Buddhist monastery in Singapore. The monastery was set up by Venerable Hong Zong of Taiwan and the current abbot is Venerable Shi Ming Yi. The present premises are located at Geylang East Avenue 2, Singapore.
The Kammatthana meditation tradition originally grew out of the Dhammayut reform movement, founded by Mongkut in the 1820s as an attempt to raise the bar for what was perceived as the "lax" Buddhist practice of the regional Buddhist traditions at the time. Mongkut's reforms were originally focused on scriptural study of the earliest extant Buddhist texts, revival of the dhutanga ascetic practices, and close adherence to the Buddhist Monastic Code. However, the Dhammayut began to have an increasing emphasis on meditation as the 19th century progressed. During this time, a newly ordained Mun Bhuridatto went to stay with Ajahn Sao Kantasīlo, who was then the abbot of a small meditation-oriented monastery on the outskirts of Ubon Ratchathani, a province in the predominantly Lao-speaking cultural region of Northeast Thailand known as Isan.
The history of Theravāda Buddhism begins in ancient India, where it was one of the early Buddhist schools which arose after the first schism of the Buddhist monastic community. After establishing itself in the Sri Lankan Anuradhapura Kingdom, Theravāda spread throughout mainland Southeast Asia through the efforts of missionary monks and Southeast Asian kings.