The Jade Buddha of Peace now in place to safeguard future campus of the University for Life and Peace

The land area designated as the future campus of the University for Life & Peace in Yangon, Myanmar, was graced by the occasion of the arrival of the Jade Buddha of Peace. The auspicious ceremony of setting the seat in place was jointly held by the Provincial authorities of the Bago Region and Maha Kusala Yama Monastery, Yangon, Myanmar. Bago Region Chief Minister U Win Thein, Bhikkhus of the Sanga Commission, and follower representatives of Ling Jiou Mountain (LJM) led by LJM residential masters were present on the ceremonial occasion.

The statue of the Jade Buddha of Peace measures 10 meters tall and weighs 70 tons, and the carving was completed in Mandalay. The plan was to transport the jade statue to the future campus of the University for Life & Peace to meet the schedule of a 6 o’clock ceremony in the morning on June 10, upon the arrival of the Jade Buddha of Peace. The crowd queued up for the reception, but the audience waited for a long time to no avail. It turned out that a 7-hour drive took more than 15 hours to complete, as the need to replace wheels multiple times to change some 40 busted tires due to the sheer weight of the shipment took longer than usual because tradition requires that mantra be chanted and blessings given for each replaced tire. And the last mile was not uneventful, either. As the monsoon season has already set in and the truck got stuck without budging despite the collective effort of dozens of workers coming to the rescue with jacks. The truck suddenly began to move, just when Sangha elders started their Ritual of the Virtuous Water Drops. The vehicle progressed smoothly when prayers were chanted thrice for the Triple Gem to reside long-term in the world, and came to a halt exactly in front of the spot where the setting-in-place of the seat for the Buddha should take place. The Sangha elders and Bhikkhus then sprinkled scented water onto the statue, made offerings of flowers, holy water, and candlelight and performed the transfer of the merit to complete the successful ceremony on a high note.

About the University for Life & Peace, the Venerable Master Hsin Tao was quoted as saying that “what the LJM envisions is a world-class religious university that dedicates itself to the inheritance of life education, the revival of spiritual education, with deep-rooting in social and cultural education. The University will be a cradle for future Buddhist missionaries, while it nurtures religious students with a holistic philosophy so that the campus is filled with individuals whose lives are always peaceful and harmonious from within.” Dharma Master Hsin Tao’s concerns deepened with the accelerated global warming, and he calls out to the world to build up the ‘Worldwide Ecological Ethics’ to counteract the ecology endangered by mankind’s ignorance and greed and to re-construct a harmonious symbiosis between people and Nature.

Education is a centennial undertaking, and Dharma Master Hsin Tao has been promoting to the international community about the ‘Loving the Earth / Loving Peace’ movement while adding momentum to the planned future University for Life & Peace in Myanmar. The Master spares no effort in his commitment in the hope of identifying concrete solutions to issues that endanger the Earth and to eventually help curb our ecological perils.

Dharma Master Hsin Tao made the decision to build up the University for Life & Peace in Myanmar because it is his birthplace on the one hand, and on the other, it is also a place full of energies suitable for the teachings of Buddha to take up lasting abode. It is the Master’s wish to dedicate the endeavor to Myanmar, to the humankind, and to the whole world.

The future campus of the University for Life & Peace is situated 31 miles from the highway linking Yangon and Mandalay in the Bago Region, and the Jade Buddha of Peace literally symbolizes peace. The jade statue not only safeguards the land lot, but it marks a new milestone for the planned future University. Everyone is welcomed to visit the Jade Buddha of Peace on the future campus of the University for Life & Peace to leave your footprint on the trail where the Venerable Master Hsin Tao leads towards the enlightenment that ‘When the mind is at peace, the world is at peace.