The 14-day curriculum of the Experimental Winter School of Ling Jiou Mountain’s University for Life & Peace closed on a high note of gratification to all 35 seed representatives of both the faculty and the student body from 14 countries around the world. The structure of the syllabus and its contents for the courses to run on the basis of group studies had been carefully thought through and debated on, then implemented to evoke engaging discussions that produce strategic insight and recommendations. Challenges were overcome with love in support of the 10-year Vow of Peace for Myanmar by Dharma Master Hsin Tao. Impressed by the collective enthusiasm for the search of excellence, the Venerable Master thanked everyone for their participation that resulted in turning theories into deliverable action plans to further firm up vital details for the University for Life & Peace.
Myanmar is the birthplace of Dharma Master Hsin Tao and the dominantly Buddhist country has always been safeguarding Buddha’s original teachings. Since 2002, Master Hsin Tao in his dedication to the homeland has regularly returned to Myanmar to perform large-scale alms-offering rituals alongside journeys of pilgrimage. The 10-year Vow of Peace for Myanmar began in 2016, which includes three closely-knitted parts: the School of Sramanas at Naung Mon, the Naung Mon Eco-Farm, and the University for Life & Peace in Yangon. Both agriculture and education are typical long-term endeavors the Master has envisaged for Myanmar as concrete means to implement and promote the ideal of “Loving the Earth and Loving Peace”.
At the 3 P.M. closing ceremony, a 6-minute film clip recording highlight of the 14-day Winter School was shown that brought back heartwarming moments of how total strangers became engaging conversational partners who helped one another as study buddies. Dharma Master Hsin Tao was quite happy with all happenings throughout the two weeks and shared his hope that “everyone will join to light up the torch of hope for the University for Life & Peace. The light will lead the way forward and people will bring out the wisdom of one another’s. As long as we stay true of our chosen course, solutions to the Earth’s ecological issues will be found eventually.”
In his closing remarks the Dharma Master pointed out that “all life forms are interrelated and that interconnection is based on a symbiosis that is co-existing and interdependent. Nothing exists all by itself and everything is co-related, thus Buddha told his disciples that everything is interdependent. All these dependent arisings are made up with the essence of nothingness. Without these dependent arisings, and without our faculty, student body and future participants of our programs, it would be impossible for the University to succeed. Therefore, each and every dependent arising is of great importance.”
Professor Michael von Brück, the International Advisor to the University for Life & Peace, made the following comments while expressing gratitude to Master Hsin Tao. “Buddhas taught us to practice toward enlightenment and the mankind must make proactive changes in their heart and mind to survive. A lot of people have already taken measures to change life. We must not allow fear and anxiety to waste our resources, and we must not obstruct concerns for our future. All eras have their respective calamities that are both destructive as well as opportune. The process affords people to learn how to connect spirituality with matters to make a difference. Small changes can have a strong and far-reaching impact. It would be advisable for the University for Life & Peace to first build up a global network as a platform for “Loving the Earth” that gradually changes people’s perception towards establishing consensus.’
Alexander is from Germany and as a student, he had the following to say. “If it is a difficult task, the process to do it will for sure be imperfect and there are bound to be problems. Exactly because it is difficult, it calls for our co-operation for altruistic deeds for the Earth. Life actually will ultimately find its way out. I did not understand how lives are interrelated, but now I began to see what Dharma Master Hsin Tao means by ‘life communities’. We all must share a consensus, objectives and visions of the future. We connect with one another to help and share resources, and solve challenging issues by so doing.”
The Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society hosted a think tank conference in Yangon, Myanmar, in October 2017, and it returned there in 2019 to conduct the Experimental Winter School. The successful opening and closing manifest the paraphrase that “the end of a beginning” actually embodies the coming true of dreams. And, because of the karma that interconnects Dharma Master Hsin Tao and his 10-year Vow of Peace for Myanmar, we have the opportunity of plowing a hectare of land and sow the precious seeds of green and peace in this ancient land of Buddhism.
