Kalyanamitta

A Buddhist & Pali College eBulletin December 2010

Dear Kalyanamitta,

Sukhi hontu!

1. You may be wondering if we have made a mistake – your receiving the

December‟s issue in November! Well, our team will be taking a break in
December and we do not wish to go away worrying about December‟s
issue. So we have sent it out early!

2. Thank you for your support of the Kalyanamitta eBulletin. With effect from
2011, the eBulletin will be published bi-monthly. Our next issue will be in
February 2011 – our eBulletin 1st Anniversary!

3. Keep in Touch - If you have Chinese New Year greetings that you wish to
send to your classmates or teachers, please email us by 31st December
2010. Please state your name, year of graduation and a short message
(not more than 40 words) if any.

4. GAQ and BA students will be sitting for their examinations in December

2010. “Good Luck” and please do your revisions !

5. Registrations for 2011 GAQ Bachelor Degree is now open to all Diploma
graduates. Please refer to Page 2 for details.

6. On Page 3-4, Ven U Cittara has kindly penned “An Intellectual Approach”

7. “Young litterbugs growing in number. NEA notes blasé attitude among teens
especially” – Page B8 of The Straits Times of 18Nov2010
Read Bro George Kuan‟s timely article on this issue on Pages 5-7.

With Metta,
Jasmine Tan
Editor/BPC eBulletin

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Kalyanamitta
A Buddhist & Pali College eBulletin December 2010
Buddhist and Pali College of Singapore

Registration for Bachelor of Arts 1st Year

(General Art Qualifying)

The new course will begin on 9 January 2011( Sunday).

All diploma graduates are welcome to register for the course.

BPC Alumni will be organizing a briefing and registration session as follows:

Date: 19 December 2010 (Sunday)

Venue : Mangala Vihara Buddhist Temple

Time: 3.00pm- Briefing

3.30pm- Registration
4.00pm- Tea gathering

The classes will be conducted on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7.30pm to

9.30pm and on Sundays from 2.00pm to 5.15pm.

For those who intend to sign up for the course, please email your name and
contact no to:

The Secretary,
BPC Alumni at bpc2alumni@yahoo.com.sg

For those who want more information before they decide to sign up for the course,
we look forward to seeing you on 19 December 2010.

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Kalyanamitta
A Buddhist & Pali College eBulletin December 2010

An Intellectual Approach
Written by Ven U Cittara
Resident Monk of Mangala Vihara Buddhist Temple

Scenario (1)

We were told that the MahaSammata, the ancestors of the Buddha

renounced the world disappointedly after realizing that the human society, supposedly with
the most intelligent of beings demanded the ruling system.

We were also told that our elder monks were very upset when they
knew that an examination system was needed to motivate Buddhists to learn the teachings
of the Buddha. In fact, both the MahaSammatas and our elder monks simply
overestimated us. We still and will need a governing system to keep our morals upright
and an examination system to motivate us to learn the teachings of the Buddha.

Scenario (2)

Twenty-seven days after I became a monk, my father passed away in my

village. When I arrived at my village from Mandalay, many people tried to console me by
saying such big words as Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta and life is like that, so on and so forth.
Unfortunately, none of those words struck me nor reached my heart.

At that time, a man told me that my father had already fulfilled his
duties as even his youngest son was old enough to become a monk. He had been trying
so hard to provide for the needs of all his seven children. Now it was time for him to take a
rest and to be taken care by new parents in the next life. I felt much more relieved. He
looked at my father‟s death from a different perspective. Sometimes we need to view
something from a different angle and only an intellectual approach can help us.

Continue Page 4

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Kalyanamitta
A Buddhist & Pali College eBulletin
December 2010
Continuation: An Intellectual Approach Page 2/2

Scenario (3)

We have learnt that there are 3 kinds of Bodhisattas: the Intellectual,

Devotional and Energetic types. What is more interesting is the duration of the bodhisattas‟
fulfilling their perfections: 4 asankheyya, 8 asankhyeya and 16 asankheyya respectively.
Among them, the intellectual Bodhisatta attained Buddhahood within a shorter period than
the other two types because they have no fear in making mistakes. Lessons can be learnt
from mistakes. According to Buddhavamsa, our own Gotama Buddha is cited as one of
the Intellectual group.

Gotama Buddha followed ascetic practices to the extreme for six long years
and then practised the Middle Path. This is a perfect example. By the power of wisdom, the
intellectual Bodhisattas can fulfil their path faster than the devotional and energetic ones.

Scenario (4)

During the lifetime of the Buddha, he bestowed individual titles to his

followers based on their fields of excellence. Venerable Ananda received the most number
of titles, 5 altogether. Why did the Buddha do this? According to the Commentaries, this is
the nature of the Buddhas. Logically speaking, the titles somehow can boost one‟s
confidence.

Soon after the Buddha passed away, the ones who re-organized the
Buddhist community and re-compiled the teachings of the Buddha were Venerables
MahaKassapa, Ananda and Upali. These three were title holders rendered by the Buddha
himself. Buddhism is more than 2,500 years old and still flourishing.

Believe it or not, it seems to me that these are probably the reasons why
Buddhist universities and colleges come into existence and continue to survive in this
world. Our Buddhist and Pali College is no exception.

Just as an intellectual Bodhisatta attained Buddhahood faster than the

devotional and energetic ones, an intellectual approach to Buddhist teaching could show
us the way to a more in depth knowledge of the Lord‟s teachings and a shorter path to
enlightenment.

- End of Article-

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Buddhist Morality
Ever mindful that Buddhists are exhorted to be compassionate on their littered path to Nibbana, I sha

Kalyanamitta
A Buddhist & Pali College eBulletin December 2010

Littering: An Anti-Social Behaviour and the Buddhist Perspective

. Written by Bro George Kuan

Years of anti-littering campaigns have made Singapore into a „fine‟ city. However,
those efforts have been thrashed. Of late, littering has reared its obnoxious
presence in housing estates, beaches and Orchard Road.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Habits are not inborn but acquired. Good and bad habits begin from the home
just like charity. Whether a person litters is influenced to a large extent by
whether a close family member or friend either approve of littering or commit the
act themselves, the NEA‟s sociology study showed. If a child is not taught to
place litters in a bin but allowed to leave rubbish all over the house or not picked
up, he will grow up thinking that it is perfectly all right to litter, even in public
places. Obviously, the child must be taught by parents or guardians. Even if they
do not explicitly teach the gospel of godliness, they should at least set good
examples. Sad to say, many parents or guardians don‟t. Failure to teach is
already bad. Leading by bad example is worse.

Poor house-keeping where homes are not just messy or untidy but also filthy give
young kids the impression that a dirty and unkempt surrounding is norm. Mothers
and wives were found to bear the greatest influence on what their children and
husbands did. Among the 1,500 youths interviewed, 45% said their mothers were
a strong influence in shaping their attitudes towards littering. For men, the same
proportion listed their wives. This clearly showed the role of women as „important
facilitator‟ in shaping the values and actions of their families. This „important‟ role,
I am afraid, is already abandoned by working mothers who prefer to let their
domestic maids do all the cleaning work.

Buddhist Morality

Ever mindful that Buddhists are exhorted to be compassionate on their littered

path to Nibbana, I shall see what the dhamma has to say about anti-social
behaviours before making sweeping statements.

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Kalyanamitta
A Buddhist & Pali College eBulletin December 2010
Continuation – Littering Page 2/3

Almost 95% of the people surveyed said they knew it was wrong to litter. So,
littering is a moral issue. Morality is about doing the right thing and refraining from
doing the wrong thing. Hence, any idea or intention to litter is wrong thought. For
that matter, thinking that littering is harmless is wrong thought. If you throw banana
skin on the ground and someone step on it and slip, you are the cause of his
mishap. So throwing rubbish callously out of the window is an inconsiderate,
selfish, and wrong act. The test of what is right or wrong is Anumana – that which
is unpleasant to one is also unpleasant to another. In other words, if you wouldn‟t
let some other people dump rubbish into your home then you shouldn‟t litter in
public.

Buddhist Social Dimension

Littering is an antisocial activity. If not arrested, it becomes a social norm. In many

Asian countries, it is customary to see people littering everywhere with not the
slightest compunction. There are several agent of socialization, namely parents,
school, peer groups, religion and mass media.

In the Sigalovada Sutta, a discourse on domestic and social ethics, the Buddha had
laid down the social obligations of a layperson and his interaction with society. To
which of the six quarters do we look for ways to smother anti-social behaviour?

In the eastern quarter, parents shall restrain their children from anti-social
behaviours and exhort them to virtue. That is, they teach their children as young as
toddlers to be clean and tidy. No leaving of litter or waste around and to discard
them into proper receptacles. Also, parents should teach their kids to pick up after
themselves and not wait for someone else to do. When they get older, parents
should let their children help in cleaning the house. Apart from cleaning and tidying
up their own rooms, they should be assigned to clean common areas like dinning,
living and kitchen as well as the toilets! Idling around the house should not be
encouraged and maids should be dispensed as soon as children become
independent

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Kalyanamitta
A Buddhist & Pali College eBulletin December 2010
Continuation – Littering Page 3/3

In the southern quarter, teachers shall train students in civic-consciousness, to

hold fast to good social behaviour, and to instruct them in the art of loving and
appreciating the environment. Thus, teachers have a duty to inculcate good
social behaviour and the importance of keeping Singapore clean. School
teachers should be more knowledgeable about protecting the environment and
impart this knowledge to their charges. During civic lessons students should be
told that littering in public is really obnoxious. Would they like to travel in buses
and trains peppered with litter and crawling cockroaches? Would they like to
negotiate piles of rubbish as they walked on the streets and to hold their breath
when crossing choked canals?

In the northern quarter, friends should disapprove of their peers who litter and are
inconsiderate to others by leaving unwanted tissues behind. They should
reinforce each other‟s good habits and admonish bad ones. This is easier said
than done. When a young girl was caught by NEA officers for throwing cigarette
butt on the ground, her friends were trying to justify her inconsiderate action.

In the zenith quarter, religious teachers shall restrain the laity from harming the
environment through indiscriminate littering. They should admonish such anti-
social behaviour in their weekly sermons. Perhaps, religious teachers have the
moral authority to exhort the lay to do good, correct mental defilements and
reveal to them the way to heaven is cleanliness.

Written by:
George Kuan
BPC Diploma 2009/2010