The 8th Convocation of International Buddhist College (IBC) Speeches by IBC Founder Ven. Dr. Wei Wu and Rector Prof. Charles Willemen
Ven. Dr. Wei Wu: Make Good Use of Social Media
IBC continued to make good progress in the past year and I would like to express my appreciation to all council members, staff members, members of the external examination board and students to make this happen. It is important for us to continue to uplift the quality education we provide at both campuses of IBC. Let me also take the opportunity to express our appreciation to the supports for their generous donation, several major endowment funds had been established last year.
Today is a big day for our graduands, on behalf of the IBC council, I congratulate you for your success and I would like to share a story from Chinese Buddhism with you today.
Su Dong Po was a famous scholar and poet and a practicing Buddhist during the Sung Dynasty in China. One day after he got out of his meditation session, he wrote the following poem:
‘Homage to the Buddha, One who radiates brilliance towards the universe. The eight worldly winds cannot move him, He sat unperturbed in His golden lotus seat.’
The eight lokadhammas, which could be translated as “ways of the world,” although it’s often poetically rendered as the “eight worldly winds.” The eight ways of the world are pairs of preoccupations corresponding to four ways of seeking security in our insecure world. They are:
Gain and loss (materialism).
High status and low status.
Approval and disapproval.
Pleasure and pain (hedonism).
On the surface, this was a poem in praise of the Buddha, subtlety, he was implying that he himself would not be affected by the 8 worldly winds.
He then sent his attendant to send this poem to chan master Fo Yin who lived in the opposite side of the river. This was done with the intension to get an appraisal from the Chan Master.
After the Chan Master read his poem, he wrote 2 words in Chinese: ‘fang pi, fart’ or it may be better to translate as ‘bullshit’!
Su Tong Po was furious when he saw the comment of the Chan Master. He decided that he would immediately cross the river to seek for an apology.
When he reached the temple of the Chan Master, the Chan Master was not there but he left a written message of the door.
‘Not moved by the 8 worldly winds? just 2 words to move him across the river!’
Many of you are young and talented, you live in a world which is very different from the one during our time. Many of you spend hours on the internet especially your facebook every day. I know that many youngsters set target to get friends to ‘like’ them on facebook. Today everyone can say what they like on the internet.
My advice to you is to use facebook as a useful social networking tool but not to become its slave!
You may find it quite fun to criticize and ‘like’ the criticisms on others’ facebook. When you grow older and start to do more serious tasks in life, you will be criticized. My advise to you is to remember the story of Su Dong Po. Thank you for your patience to listen to my story!
The 8th Convocation of International Buddhist College (IBC)
Speech by IBC Rector , Prof. Charles Willemen
Positive Attitude
Last year I talked about suffering, the first Noble Truth. This year I would like to emphasize the happiness, because there is not only duḥkha, but also sukha. There are duḥkha vedanā and also sukha vedanā, a kind of vedanā you can feel in the body, kāyikī vedanā. Daurmanasya and saumanasya are mental feelings only. Today, positive energy is what we all try to radiate.
The ancient Chinese translated “suffering” for “experiencing vedanā”. For them, vedanā meant pain. You have unpleasant pain and pleasant pain.
Students become wiser, more learned. Teachers also become wiser. Not only do teachers teach students, students also teach teachers. We become wiser every year. Your learning increases. Our wisdom increases. I always say I am very pleased when you know more when you leave the room than when you enter it. Your learning increases, but I hope we do more than this.
For example, the way our enthusiasm works. I hope we can transmit our enthusiasm and attitude, because we teach more than just facts. We try to teach you a way of looking at things. I hope that in the future your attitude will be very positive. This not only applies to teachers, but also to the staff. I am sure that people in the office will alleviate your suffering in the future too. If you have a problem, if you need information, they are always ready to provide it, with a smile. This is the art of Thailand.
