On 13 March 2017 at 10:30am, the Buddhist College of Singapore (BCS) held its re-opening ceremony for the new semester. The ceremony was graced by the Rector Venerable Kwang Sheng, Vice-Rectors Venerable Dr. Chuan Sheng and Venerable Chuan Hou, the Dean of Academic Affairs Office Venerable Chuan Xiong, the Head of Admin Office Venerable Chuan Deng, the Head of Monastic Training Office Venerable Quan Zhi, the Vice Dean of Nuns Campus Venerable Xian Guang, Class Mentors and esteemed lecturers.
Venerable Kwang Sheng welcomed the students back to BCS and encouraged them to work diligently and learn as much as possible during their stay here. He also shared his vision of building a meditation centre on the grounds of the monastery and encouraged students to learn mindfulness (Vipassana/insight) meditation. While in recent decades mindfulness practice has been popular in the West and widely applied in their schools, military and hospitals, Venerable Kwang Sheng observed that in traditional Chinese temples, lay devotees usually practise chanting only and Zen Buddhist monks still focus mainly on rigorous concentration meditation which requires stringent conditions. He sees mindfulness meditation as useful in bridging this gap and as a beneficial practice in daily life.
Upon Venerable Kwang Sheng’s request, Venerable Chuan Sheng then presented a brief introduction on the BCS Myanmar meditation retreat. Venerable Chuan Sheng began by highlighting the four main schools of meditation in Myanmar and explained how and why BCS has chosen to practise at the Shwe Oe Min Dhammasukha Forest Meditation Centre located near Yangon. He further recounted the living conditions and daily schedule of practice at the centre, and summarized the main teachings of the practice taught by Sayadaw Ashin Tejaniya, the meditation master of the centre and disciple of the late Venerable Master Shwe Oe Min. In his conclusion, Venerable Kwang Sheng hopes that more students will take the opportunity to practise at this meditation centre.
