On 5 May 2018, the 5th Cohort of Chinese BA graduates started their 10-day graduation trip to Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand, led by Venerable Chuan Li, the Class Mentor.
The first stop was the Buddhist holy site of Borobudur, the historical remains of a Mahayana Buddhist temple in Central Java, Indonesia. It was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest Buddhist temple in the world today. “Borobudur” means “a Buddhist temple on top of the mountain” and it has become the “Four Wonders of the Ancient East” alongside the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat. All the students were amazed by the Buddha statues solemnly seated in the stupas and the pieces of incomplete but exquisite sculptures. They also deeply admired the profound aspirations of the great masters who built the temple. Some paid their respects and circumambulated the stupas while others found a corner to meditate, each experiencing the holiness of the holy land in his own way.
On 8th May, the group arrived in Yangon in Myanmar, and paid respect to the sacred Shwedagon Pagoda and Kyaiktiyo Pagoda. Accompanied by Venerable Yao Xi, who was based in Myanmar, the group visited the Mahayana temples in Yangon, such as the Guan Yin Temple of the Ten Directions, Da Ben Chan Temple, Luo Han Temple, and was warmly received by Most Venerable Ming Si, Most Venerable Hong Xing and Most Venerable Cong Fa. Both parties exchanged gifts and took a group photo to commemorate the occasion.
Subsequently, the group arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, on 12th May and were warmly hosted by the staff of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU). On 13th May, the Sangharaja of Thailand presented the Bachelor of Arts degree certificates to the students. On 15th May, the graduation trip ended and the group returned to Singapore.
