World Buddhist Sangha Council
The World Buddhist Sangha Council (WBSC) focuses on issues of widespread concern within the Buddhist community. Leadership education has been a particular concern, and it has tried to isolate various "extreme" elements on the fringe of the Buddhist community, which it considers outside the mainstream. The WBSC was founded in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 1966 as an expression of the international Buddhist Sangha, in this case,the community of bhiksus (monks). Within the Theravada tradition, the monks constitute the Sammati-Sangha, or conventional sangha. They provide vital expression of Buddhist life, especially in Southeast Asia, where the council has its strongest support. By their leading of exemplary and noble lives, the monks lead, guide, and inspire the whole world of Buddhist believers.
While finding its origin in the Theravada world, the council quickly spread among Mahayana Buddhism monastic communities and currently is headquartered in Taiwan. The original secretary-general, the late Venerable Panditha Pimbure Sorata Thera, a Sri Lankan, championed the idea of uniting the Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist communities. At the organizational gathering, the WBSC adopted a statement, written by Walpola Ruhala, summarizing what it saw as the "Points Unifying Theravada and the Mahayana":
1. The Buddha is our only master.
2. We take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the sangha.
3. We do not believe that this world is created and ruled by a god.
4. Following the example of the Buddha, who is the embodiment of the Great Compassion and Great Wisdom, we consider that the purpose of life is to develop compassion for all living beings without discrimination and to work for their good, happiness, and peace; and to develop wisdom leading to the realization of ultimate truth.
5. We accept the Four Noble Truths, namely, dukkha [suffering], the arising of dukkha, the cessation of dukkha, and the path leading to the cessation of dukkha; and the universal law of cause and effect as taught in the Pratitya-Samutpada (codependent arising).
6. We understand, according to the teaching of the Buddha, that all conditioned things are impermanent and dukkha, and that all conditioned and unconditioned things (dharma) are without self.
7. We accept the 37 qualities conducive to enlightenment as different aspects of the path taught by the Buddha leading to enlightenment.
8. There are three ways of attaining bodhi, or enlightenment, according to the ability and capacity of each individual: namely, as a disciple (sravaka/sravakaya), as a pra-tyekabuddha, and as a samyak-sam-Buddha (perfectly and fully enlightened Buddha). We accept as the highest, noblest, and most heroic to follow the career of a bodhisattva and to become a samyak-sam-Buddha in order to save others.
9. We admit that in different countries there are differences with regard to the life of Buddhist monks, popular Buddhist beliefs and practices, rites and ceremonies, customs and habits. These external forms and expressions should not be confused with the essential teachings of the Buddha.
It is notable that there are no Vajrayana Buddhist groups associated with the council. Two Chinese monks, Wu Ming (of Taiwan) and Kok Kwong (of Hong Kong), have recently been named honorary president and vice president of the council.
The council periodically holds a variety of international gatherings. The Seventh General Conference of the WBSC was held in Taiwan in 2000 and the Third World General Conference of the World Buddhist Sangha Council Youth Committee met in Sydney, Australia, in 2004.
World Buddhist University
The World Buddhist university (WBu) was established in 1998 by the World Fellowship of Buddhists’ general conference held in New South Wales, Australia. The university is not a new school competing with already existing institutions so much as a specialized center to conduct advanced Buddhist studies, network with Buddhist scholars worldwide, and coordinate work with other Buddhist academic institutions, especially in matters of research, training, spiritual practice, cultural exchange, and education based on Buddhism. it carries out these aims through five institutes each with a focused objective. Thus the university serves as an international community of Buddhist scholars engaged in research and postgraduate training, with interests in spiritual practice and Buddhist studies at a high academic level. in cooperation with the university of the West in Los Angeles, California, the World Buddhist university offers two distance-learning degrees in Buddhist studies at the master’s level. it also publishes a journal, World Buddhism.
World Fellowship of Buddhists
The World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB), an international cooperative organization, has five primary objectives: the promotion of the observance and practice of Buddhism; unity of the Buddhist community; propagation of Buddhism; social, education, and humanitarian service; and work for world peace and harmony. To that end the organization establishes regional centers wherever there are a sufficient number of Buddhists,establishes Dhamma centers for disseminating Buddhist teaching and encouraging Buddhist observance, nurtures Buddhist educational institutions, nurtures Buddhist social service agencies, and coordinates Buddhist propagation centers worldwide.
The WFB was formed in 1950 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, by representatives from 27 countries, including priests, monks, and laity from across the spectrum of Theravada, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism traditions. The formation of such an organization (which mirrored Christianity’s World Council of Churches formed that same year) was proposed by the Sri Lankan scholar G. P. Malalasekera (1899-1973), who was also selected as its first president (1950-58).
The 1950 meeting made several important decisions, including the adoption of the eight-spoked Wheel of the Law and the Buddhist flag, which had been developed late in the 19th century in Sri Lanka, as international Buddhist symbols. it also called for the discarding of the term Hinayana (lesser vehicle) as a designation of Theravada Buddhism.
The WFB received enthusiastic support among the majority of Buddhists in every country in which Buddhism was in the majority and was welcomed as a valued additional resource where its was a minority. Many Buddhist groups were honored by being named WFB regional centers.
The WFB meets twice a year. At its organization, it designated the country of its current president as the site of the international headquarters. For its first eight years, it was in Sri Lanka, then moved to Burma, and then to Thailand. In 1969 it was permanently established in Bangkok.
In May 1972, at the Tenth General Conference in Sri Lanka, the WFB established a youth division, the World Fellowship of Buddhist Youth (WFBY). The WFBY has established its central office in the same building where the WFB is located.
The WFB considers itself a completely apolitical organization and has welcomed Buddhist participation from countries across the political spectrum. it has attained nongovernmental organization status with the united Nations and consultative status with the united Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In 2002 it reported some 140 regional centers in 37 countries. in 1998, the WFB founded the World Buddhist University located in Bangkok.
Wu Chao, Empress (Empress Wu)
(c. 625-705) (r. 690-705) only female emperor of China
Wu Chao, who rose from relative obscurity to become the ruler of the Chinese empire, was born into a wealthy noble family and received a good education. Her beauty and intelligence attracted the attention of the emperor Tai Zong (r. 626649), and at the age of 13 she was invited to the court. She soon found her way to his bed. After Tai Zong’s death, the relatively young Wu Chao was briefly a nun, then became the concubine of the new emperor, Gao Zong (r. 649-683). She also bore him sons, whereas his wife had failed to do so. Eventually, Gao Zong put aside his wife and married Wu.
Five years later Gao Zong suffered a stroke, and Empress Wu assumed his duties. When he finally died in 683, Wu was able to have her younger son named as emperor and she continued to run the country through him. in 690, the emperor resigned and Wu had herself declared the emperor of China. She would rule for 15 years.
Unable to find support from either Daoists or Confucianists as she rose to power, Empress Wu gave Buddhism the favored status in her land. She invited gifted scholars from India to travel to China and she built new Buddhist temples and sponsored the translation of important texts. Her greatest support went to the Chan Buddhism and Hua Yan leadership. Buddhism expanded rapidly, though many who were attracted to it appeared to convert because of the mundane advantages (avoidance of taxes) it produced. She also supported female practitioners, and to encourage nuns in their practice allowed female clergy to assume roles in the rituals alongside the male priests. As she approached her 80th birthday, the aging empress was forced off the throne in favor of her third son. She died of natural causes a few months later.
Wuwei (wu wei)
One of the key concepts in the Daodejing, wuwei is normally translated as "nonaction." It is a means by which one obtains harmony with Dao. In fact, it is associated with much more than passivity; one scholar, James Miller, prefers the translation "action as nonaction" to "nonaction." Through wu wei the Dao is manifest in creation. Wu wei implies a state of harmony among heaven, earth, and humans, the triad that underlies harmony. Wu wei, then, is a technology: by tapping into the Dao, the adept is able to cultivate his or her own nature. There is no difference, then, between maintaining harmony in the self—the body—and the state—society. in no way does this imply a take-it-as-you-find-it attitude about life, as is often interpreted in popular Western writings. Instead wu wei implies a form of active cultivation by the individual.
Wuwei in fact underlies the idea of ziran, "natural," another key concept found in the Daodejing. Through practicing quiet and simplicity one attains wu wei, and thereby through complete convergence understands ziran. Wuwei is a kind of discernment that cuts through language and convention; it is nonideological.
Wusheng Laomu
Wusheng Laomu, the Eternal Mother, is a major deity in popular Chinese religion. A composite figure whose roots stretch to Xiwang Mu and Guan Yin, the Eternal Mother does not belong to such major traditions of Chinese religiosity as Buddhism or Daoism; nor is she based on a local veneration cult, such as Mazu. Instead she appears to be a manifestation of the feminine spirit within the patriarchal order that has dominated Chinese spiritual practice since imperial times.
Worship of the Eternal Mother became widespread in the Ming and Qing periods, to such an extent that we are justified in calling such worship a separate religious tradition, Wusheng Laomuism. The Eternal Mother was the centerpiece in many traditions of the time that were heterodox, not following traditionally approved forms. The sectarian groups who worshipped her nearly always included Maitreya worship (called sometimes Maitreyanism) along with Wusheng Laomu veneration. Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, often depicted since the Song dynasty as the laughing Buddha, was imagined as the emissary or messenger of Wusheng Laomu. Maitreya would intervene in human affairs, while the Eternal Mother would watch in sorrow at the ignorance and tragedy of the human condition. She is to this day often depicted in a kind of splendid isolation, the figure to whom those in need can turn, but nevertheless separate from human existence.
Although feminine figures have been present in Chinese popular worship from the beginning, hard evidence of Wusheng Laomu cannot be located before the writings of Luo Qing (1443-1527), a seminal figure in sectarian, nonorthodox worship. Luo spelled out elements of the Eternal Mother myth. He associated Amitabha Buddha with wusheng fumu (the eternal parents), a reference to Pure Land Buddhism practice. He saw the spiritual journey as a quest to return to one’s native place (jiaxiang). And he described the true self as xush-eng, or "unbegotten." Later writers built on Luo’s foundations and spelled out a complete Wusheng Laomu myth. The earliest text of the complete myth is a precious scroll dated 1523, in which the original creator, the wuji (unlimited ultimate), is referred to as the Eternal Mother. She is mother of all the gods. She orders Amitabha as well as Maitreya to descend to earth to assist the suffering humans. She sees they are ensconsed in desires and have no awareness of their original natures, and her heart is filled with compassion for their plight. She longs for the return of all her children.
In some versions of the myth she is depicted as an elderly blind woman.
The myth assumed most complete form in the Longhua Baojing (Dragon-flower Precious Sutra) produced around 1650. Here the three-part division of history into calamities is clearly spelled out; the eternal mother has prepared for the return of her children, who are trapped in materiality.
Later sectarian groups such as Tian Dao/ Yiguandao incorporated the myth of the Eternal Mother into their core doctrines.
The Eternal Mother teachings emphasized the immanence of heaven, for true believers. The elect would find a guaranteed place in heaven. Eternal Mother teachings also emphasized group ties over family and clan; one’s true family, after all, was headed by Wusheng Laomu. Such teachings obviously went against the grain of established Confucian orthodoxy. The Eternal Mother was also a key figure for the independent, powerful woman, another teaching at odds with orthodoxy. Women were offered important positions of power within most of these sectarian groups of the Ming and Qing periods.
xin/xing (hsin/hsing, mind and human nature)
In Confucian thought, xin is the mind that is developed through cultivation. one understands one’s own nature, xing, only through such cultivation of mind. The Confucian philosopher Mencius stated that people’s original nature is good. Moral failings occur through a failure to develop one’s xin. Thus original nature, while good, is blocked until the superior person makes it fully manifest. And through understanding of one’s nature (xing) one is able to commune with heaven, to understand fully tian dao (The Way of Heaven). The ultimate goal is for the individual to be in complete accord with the will of heaven.
Xiwang Mu
Xiwang Mu, the "Royal Mother of the West," one of the most important female Daoist deities,is said to be the primary keeper of the secrets of immortality. Perhaps the foremost ruler of immortals, Xiwang Mu resides in a palace hidden in vast reaches of the Kunlun Mountains, located in the far western regions of China. As described in the early classic of imaginative Daoism Huainanzi (c. 140 b.c.e.), this place is the very axis of the world. This mystic land cannot be reached by ordinary means as it is surrounded by a vast moat of "weak water" upon which even a feather cannot float. Within this paradise, Xiwang Mu dwells in her magnificent jade palace, which towers nine stories and is surrounded by a wall of pure gold measuring more than 1,000 miles in circumference.
In her secret garden Xiwang Mu cultivates the legendary magic peaches that bestow immortality on whoever partakes of them. These peaches form one at a time every 3,000 years and then take an additional 3,000 years to ripen. When it is ripe, Xiwang Mu invites all immortals to feast upon the fruit and so renew their immortal powers.
As one of the most formidable of Daoist deities, Xiwang Mu has enormous powers and numerous duties. She can, for instance, summon spiritual forces from throughout the universe and call upon all sages and worthies in the world. Above all, she is the keeper of the doorway to immortality. She also oversees all covenants and examines the quality of ordinary people’s faith. In the heavenly realms she presides at all formal banquets and other observances and supervises the editing of various portions of the Daozang (Daoist sacred canon).
Over the course of history, the figure of Xiwang Mu has undergone numerous transformations. Most often she has been portrayed as a beautiful young woman wearing an elegant royal gown, often astride a resplendent peacock. This form, however, seems to have become popular only during the early years of the Common Era. In earlier texts such as the shanhai jing (Classic of mountains and oceans) she is described as a monstrous being with a human face, the teeth of a tiger, and a leopard’s tail. Early texts also call her the goddess of epidemics who ruled over the demons of plague. Historically, veneration of Xiwang Mu seems to have reached its height during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.-220 C.E.), and during this time murals depicting her were painted in numerous tombs. She also seems to have been the focus of various Daoist-inspired millenarian movements that arose near the dynasty’s collapse. According to legend, she is alleged to have visited various worldly rulers, presenting them precious gifts of jade (or even her famous peaches).
Xiwang Mu sometimes appears to have a "dark" side—rather appropriate considering that she is the embodiment of "pure yin." Some traditions say that she achieved and maintains her immortal status by engaging in sexual intercourse with young men and robbing them of their vital energies (jing, "semen").
In some later apocalyptic texts of Lingbao Daoism, there are predictions that Xiwang Mu will appear at the end of the world to gather up the virtuous few (described as "seed people") and spirit them away to her "Land of Bliss" deep in the Kunlun Mountains. There they will be safe from the catastrophes that the world will endure.
Temples to Xiwang Mu can still be found in China, particularly in the western regions. Most Daoist communities honor her on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month with special feasts.
Overall she remains one of the most important figures in Chinese religious tradition and continues to play a significant role in Daoism.
Xuan Zang (Xuanzang, Hsuan-tsang, Hsuan Tsang)
(602-644/664) Chinese traveler and translator
Xuan Zang was one of the most important translators of texts from Sanskrit into Chinese. His translations continue to be admired to this day as models of accuracy and balance. His translation of the Thirty Verses was so admired that it became the basis of a short-lived school of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, the Faxiang (Hosso).
Xuan Zang was a major player in the religious politics of the Tang period (618-906). He tried but failed to get the blessings of the emperor to set out on his 16-year voyage to india, intended to study and collect Buddhist materials, between 629 and 645. But upon his return to the capital he was hailed as a hero and honored by the emperor, who felt he could gain valuable information from Xuan Zang.
During his voyage Xuan Zang had visited the oasis states along the Gobi Desert and all the major sites of Buddhism in India. He lectured at the Buddhist University at Nalanda, under his master Silabhadra. He toured southern India and Sri Lanka and returned home laden with documents and texts, enough to keep an army busy translating.
After his return the emperor Taizong (549649) supported Xuan Zang’s translation efforts.
A 212-foot bronze image of the Buddhist pilgrim Xuan Zang (602-664), in Xian, western China
He was assigned assistants and copyists—some 23 monks—and based himself in the capital, Chang An. The next emperor, Gaozong (628-683), agreed to build a pagoda, named the Wild Goose Pagoda, to house the many sutra texts taken back by Xuan Zang. This pagoda stands to this day.
A major figure in Chinese Buddhism, Xuan Zang has over the years also become a key figure in the popular imagination. He is the model for Tang Sanzang ("Tripitika"), a key character in the Journey to the West (Xiyouji), a classic Chinese novel first published in 1592. In this story the author added significantly to Xuan Zang’s biographical details and mixed them with those of his fellow travelers, including Monkey, who are charged with protecting Xuan Zang on his sacred mission to retrieve sutras. In large part because of the popularity of this tale, Xuan Zang is a fixture in the popular imagination throughout East Asia and is often depicted in movies and cartoons.
