Abstract: This article traces the journey of The Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple in their mission of propagating Buddhism in the past fifty years, identifies the functions they serve in the process of interaction and dialogue between Buddhist culture and western civilization, analzyes the similarities in values between the two, unveils the intrinsic values of Buddhist culture and their implications in the modern world, all in the hope of providing insight to forthcomers in their propagation of Buddhism abroad.

Keywords: Buddhism, culture, civilization, dialogue, North America, Canada

British historian Arnold J. Toynbee once said, “The influx of Buddhism to the west will overshadow all other historical events of the 20th century. Its meaning and impact will surpass that of the two World Wars, political system innovations, scientific achievements, invention of nuclear weapon, and space development, etc. Its impact may not be felt at this time. But several hundred years later, looking back in history, Buddhism will be seen to have far more important social, cultural and spiritual impact on the western world than any other big event of the 20th century.”1

The Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple is the pioneer in bringing Buddhism to the western world, with 50-year experience in establishing dialogues with the western civilization. I am delighted to be a participant and a witness in this historical movement of Buddhism promulgation to the West, establishing congenial communications with the Buddhist communities in China, politicians in the western world, other religious sectors and the population as a whole. This article explores and examines this 50-year mission in the context of practicality and ideology. Any input or comment is welcome and appreciated.

1500 years ago, North America was not yet part of the world history. The spread of Buddhism was practically within the Asian civilizations. If we consider Master Jian Zhen’s journey to the East in Year 12 of Tian Bao (753 A.C.) as the first outreach attempt, in the long period thereafter, Chinese Buddhism was only propagated within the East Asian language circle without actually reaching the east. It was until the 60’s of the 20th century that a few pioneers entered North America from Taiwan and Hong Kong that started the North American journey of Buddhism propagation.

Daisaku Ikeda once said, “How can we conquer the calamities faced by the people of the 21st century? Basically, there is no solution that works like a magic wand. In the contrary, we must admit that the future is treacherous. We must stand up against uncivilized and barbarous challenges …. ‘The primary road to peace is dialogue’ – As long as the history of humanity does not cease to advance, all men must forever shoulder this task.” Dialogue is essential to the development and propagation of Buddhism. Dialogue is also essential to the development of world peace.

The Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple and the Young Men’s Buddhist Association of America are two pioneers in the propagation of Chinese Buddhism in North America. Several generations of abbots have placed great emphasis on establishing dialogue with the outside world, and at the same time upgrading and improving themselves and their systems of promulgation in order to achieve effective communication and interaction.

1. Dialogue between East and West

Buddhism originated in the East, and for a long time in history, its influence was mostly felt in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Chinese Buddhism was propagated in Chinese-speaking regions only. Between the 60’s and 70’s of the 20th century, in the second outreach venture, Chinese Buddhism came face-to-face with Christianity and western culture. Historically, cultural exchange between East and West was brought about by war or missionary work, with the West taking the active role and the East being the passive partner. In earlier days, Chinese Buddhism in the West only reached out to immigrants from Asia or China. This picture of imbalance is no longer true today.

The concept of multiculturalism first became social policy in the 70’s of the 20th century. The western world felt the need to understand Asian, African and Latin American cultures in relation to their history, art and religion, especially Buddhism. This policy gained momentum in the 90’s of the 20th century, and was well accepted by the western society.

In this environment, Chinese Buddhism began to take root and grow strongly in North America. In the propagation of Buddhism, the Buddhist Association of Canada and Cham Shan Temple take the following approaches:

1) Translate Chinese Buddhist scriptures into English, French and Spanish. Establish an open library system.

One of the founding Masters of Cham Shan Temple, Venerable Lok To, emigrated to America from Hong Kong in 1963. He established the Buddhist Association of the United States, Young Men’s Buddhist Association of America, Buddhist Association of San Francisco and Sutra Translation Committee of the United States and Canada. In 1974, ten years after the establishment of the Buddhist Association of the United States and the Temple of Enlightenment, he resigned from his many positions and founded the Young Men’s Buddhist Association of America. The focus of this establishment was to translate Buddhist scriptures into English. After 40 years of Venerable Lok To’s dedication and hard work, more than 30 Mahayana sutras have been translated into English. Many of them have had several editions. Venerable Lok To was the first Chinese Buddhist monk in North America to translate Buddhist text into English. His work was very influential in the Buddhist community in North America.

There are over 30 Buddhist scriptures translated by Venerable Lok To or translated under his supervision, such as: “The Dharma of Mind Transmission”, “The Sutra of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha’s Fundamental Vows”, “The Practice of Bodhisattva Dharma”, “The Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra”, “Practice and Attain Sudden Enlightenment”, “Pure Land, Pure Mind”, “Mind-Seal of the Buddhas”, “Pure Land of the Patriarch”, “Pure Land Buddhism: Dialogues with Ancient Masters”, “Three Sutras on Complete Enlightenment”, “Horizontal Escape: Pure Land Buddhism in Theory and Practice”, “Samantabhadra: Supreme Vows”, “The Seeker’s Glossary of Buddhism”, “Brahma-Net Sutra”, “Thus Have I Heard: Buddhist Parables and Stories”, “Selected Lectures of Dharma Master Fa-Fang”, “The Buddha’s Teachings”, “The Way of Fortune with Blessings”, “Give Us a Chance! A Buddhist View of Compassion”, The Fundamentals of Meditation Practice”, “The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra” and “The Buddhist Liturgy”, etc. Besides English, several of the above books have also been translated into French, Spanish and Vietnamese. There are over 20 more English books being prepared for publication.

The main work of Young Men’s Buddhist Association of America is translation of Buddhist texts into English and circulating their publications upon request to different parts of the world. These books are published for free distribution. The Association constantly receives thank-you letters from all over the world, as well as from American inmates who have requested books.

2) Participate in interfaith activities to establish communication channels with religious groups, especially Christian Churches, to strengthen friendship and cooperation. Encourage open discussion on common issues of interest for mutual benefit and support.

3) Organize Buddhism related activities such as meditation retreat, vegan festival, animal protection, tea ceremony, floral art, etc. to introduce Chinese customs and Buddha’s teachings to our western friends.

4) Actively engage in propagating Buddhism to different cultural groups by placing experienced personnel in conducting school and group visits. In recent years, Chinese Buddhism has been accepted as part of Chinese culture. Both the Police and the School Board pay regular visits to Cham Shan Temple as part of their education. According to our statistics, from September, 2007 to April, 2013, Cham Shan Temple had welcomed 32,970 visitors. This includes visitors from different school boards in Ontario, the Scouts, the elderly, the police, healthcare workers, women, adults, Christians, Jews and other religious and cultural groups. Visitors also include the Royal Ontario Museum, university faculty members, American teachers and high school teachers. In addition, the Ten Thousand Buddhas Sarira Stupa located in the scenic area of Niagara Falls provides free guided tours to visitors from June to October each year since its opening on July 1, 2001. The tour is conducted in both Chinese and English, the content of which is basic Buddhism principle and practice. Every year, over 5,000 visitors benefit from these tours.

After these approaches comes the actualization of our goal. The construction of the Four Great Sacred Buddhist Gardens in Canada is an initiative to propagate Buddhism in a multicultural environment. As seeds are sown, time for harvest is yet to come. The first phase of the project is to build Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden in Canada. Its construction is already underway. Its function is to serve as a Buddhist cultural exchange center, not only for different sects of Chinese Buddhism, but also for different traditions in Buddhism. It also welcomes visits from other faiths.

2. Dialogue between Chinese Buddhism and Other Traditions

The three eminent contemporary Masters in Chinese Buddhism: Master Xu Yun of Chan, Master Tan Xu of Tiantai and Master Tai Xu of Vijnanavada, all encouraged inter-school learning and interaction. When Grand Master Tan Xu was in charge of Qingdao College of Buddhism, he invited Venerable Hong Yi of Vinaya School to give lectures at the college. He mentioned in his biography that he had studied Taoism and Christian scriptures. One important focus of Venerable Xu Yun’s ideology of Chan was equal status of all traditions in Buddhism. “There is no superior or inferior in Dharma. It’s viability that counts.” He also said, “There are over 40 sects and 10 traditions in Buddhism. Among them, Chan, Pureland, Vinaya and Vajrayana are the most popular. Buddhaland is like a kingdom. All traditions are like roads. Roads may have different starting points, but they all lead to the same goal.”

Venerable Lok To once mentioned that there was no hope for Buddhism if different traditions attacked each other. The three Venerable Masters of Cham Shan Temple started with a very clear understanding of the importance of fostering a congenial relationship with other traditions and they worked wholeheartedly towards this goal.

The many locations of Cham Shan Temple provide a good platform for all traditions of Buddhism to promote their practice. As long as the objective is propagation of Buddhism, Cham Shan Temple is happy to supply venue and human resources to meet their needs. This approach is highly commended by important members of the Buddhist community. The three Venerables and their past effort in creating this platform are met with much appreciation and applause.

Cham Shan Temple has successfully hosted the annual Wesak Festival Vegetarian Banquet for 9 years. Every year, we invite guests from the three levels of governments in Canada, leaders of Theravadan and Tibetan Buddhist communities. There is a grand ceremony of “Passing of the Torch”. This ceremony has a significant message to show to the world: “We are the Buddha’s followers and we share a common mission and goal.”

In our interaction with Theravadan and Tibetan Buddhist communities, we realize that there are many areas we can learn from their practice and experience. This will be another topic of discussion in the future. An open attitude to learning is always a key to success. This has proven to be the case in the history of propagation for both Christianity and Buddhism.

3. Dialogue between Buddhism in Canada and Buddhism in China

The Buddhist Association of Canada, Cham Shan Temple is located in North America, which is a western culture with Christian values. Yet two places in Asia are considered our holy lands: one is the birth place of the Buddha; the other is the center of Chinese Buddhism, China. Our work is mainly developed along these two areas: to continue the legacy of the Buddha and to promote Chinese culture. We hope to bring to Canada the wisdom of the Buddha and the merit of Chinese culture. In order to achieve this aim, we are in frequent contact and in good relationship with the Buddhist community in China.

The contact is not confined only to normal communication. It also involves participation in organized events. In June 2014, the first Chinese-Canadian Buddhist Cultural Exchange Week was held with great success. 80 monastics from China participated in the biggest Ceremony of Water and Land in our Canadian history. The first 7-day Chan Retreat was held in June 2015. 10 monastics from Jinshan Temple in Jiangsu Province introduced to Canada the 1,000-year traditional discipline of Chan. These are important events to be recorded in the history of Chinese Buddhism in Canada. These events have gained fervent support from the Buddhist community and the Religious Affairs Bureau in China. Agreement has been made to have this kind of event between China and Canada held on a regular basis to further strengthen cooperation and communication between the two nations.

In order to facilitate future interaction with China in areas of Buddhist education, temple operation and management, cultural exchange, social and charitable matters, a fraternity system has been set up with several temples in China for cooperation and resources support in the promotion and development of Chinese Buddhism and Chinese culture in North America. On behalf of the Chinese Buddhist Association, Venerable Xue Cheng commended the Buddhist Association of Canada, Cham Shan Temple for their effort and contribution in promoting Buddhism and improving friendship between China and Canada.

British writer Rudyard Kipling, who was born in the East, once exclaimed, “ Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet”1. In fact, there would be a time when the East meets the West, and it is when the West discovers Buddhism. Similarly, when the western intellectuals discovered the charisma of this ancient religion, extremists such as philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed, “God is dead” and said, “Buddhism is thousand times more genuine than Christianity: part of its legacy is in addressing a problem in an objective and placid manner, for Buddhism arose from a philosophical movement that passed through hundreds of years of development.” Since then, Buddhist culture has had universal impact on the West. Contemporary philosophers Martin Heidegger and Erich Fromm were also influenced by Chan to consider westerners too confined by conscience and knowledge, which limit their vision. Chan has shown the westerners a path to freedom.

French scholar Anouar Abdel-Malek thinks that the contemporary world is no longer “the three worlds”. It is a world of two big camps: one is the Indian-Aryan language circle (including ancient Egypt, Poland, ancient Greek, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Islamic civilzation region), and the other one is the Chinese language circle (including China, Japan, Mongolia, Central Asis, Vietnam, Southeast Asia, from Persian to the Philippines Islamic civilization regions). He thinks China is the mobile centre of the eastern civilization as it is situated in the centre of Asia.

The ideas of tolerance, inclusiveness and peace in Buddhism have deeply ingrained in Chinese culture. We have the duty and responsibility to introduce and promote Buddhist culture to the world. This does not mean to say that Buddhism is supreme. Buddha’s teachings have laid down guidelines for our action and behaviour, which is fair and equal dialogue in facilitating communication and exchange.

American scholar Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of “clash of civilizations” has received a lot of attention. Nevertheless, many have, consciously or unconsciously, overlooked another aspect of Huntington’s theory, which is “amalgamation of civilizations”. He said, “In the forseeable future, there will not be an universal civilization, but a world with a combination of different civilizations, in which each civilization must learn to coexist with all others.” He thinks that even close economic cooperation must be based on a common culture. If this is the case, the global economy requires an attitude of inclusivenes among all civilizations. This is an important topic to tackle when it comes to a unified global economy. “Western nations need to understand the fundamental religion and philosphy of other civilizations, in order to gain insight into their concept of profit. It is necessary for the western world to identify the features common among other civilizations.”

In the ancient western world, scientific knowledge belonged only to the elite philosophers, and technology belonged to the artisans. Later, science and technology have come together as one subject “worshipped’ by moderners. Indeed, technology has brought a lot of convenience to mankind and freed them from primitive, heavy and routine chores. But people have found that a scientific mind and advancement in technology do not bring happiness. It is believed that wisdom, compassion, karma, affinity and equanimity can cleanse our mind, open our horizon and transcend our spirit, which brings lasting happiness to mankind. In this respect, Buddhism is science as well as an embodiment of civilization.

Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, pointed out in his speech at the United Nations, “1. Civilization is colorful. It is the diversity in civilizations that brings about interactions and advancement in man.” “2. Civilization is fair. The prerequisite for human interaction is fairness.” “3. Civilization is inclusive. Inclusiveness is the motivation for interaction.” “Diversity makes civilization colorful. Interaction among civilizations is the main force behind the advancement of civilization and world peace.”

Diversity, inclusiveness, fair interaction are concepts similar to the basic principles in Buddhism. They are also in harmony with the development of world peace. This is not a coincidence. As a Buddhist Bhikku from China, who propagates Chinese Buddhism overseas, I admire the profound understanding of Buddhism and its values expressed by the current President of China. Ancient Chinese philosophy has always emphasized that all virtues begin with the cultivation of self. When one practices self-discipline, society and the nation will be in harmony. To develop self-discipline, religion has an important role to play. Practicing Buddhist values, interacting with communities and government officials contribute to the advancement of world peace and the development of human civilization.