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Lopon Karma Phuntsho introduces the Buddha-Nature Conference by pointing out the auspicious circumstances for the event. The auspicious venue (གནས་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) is the glorious temple of Shechen monastery, next to the Bouddha Stūpa, where the three great figures of Padmasambhava, Trisong Detsen, and Śāntarakṣita are said to have made the first prayers to spread the Buddha's teachings in Tibet, and in a country where the Buddha was born. The auspicious time (དུས་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) is the holy fourth month in the Himalayan Buddhist calendar, the auspicious teachers (སྟོན་པ་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) are the brilliant khenpos, lopens, and geshes chosen by the Tibetan Buddhist leaders to represent their respective traditions, and the auspicious retinue (འཁོར་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) includes the great scholars and monks from Shechen and representatives from some 32 monastic centers in Kathmandu and the virtual audience from all over the world. The auspicious dharma (ཆོས་ཕུན་སུམ་ཚོགས་པ་) is buddha-nature, the essence of the ground, path, and fruition of the Mahāyāna spiritual system.
He then briefly explains the project of Tsadra Foundation to spread the Tibetan Buddhist message of wisdom and compassion across the globe and the five main programs carried out to this effect. The five programs include grants for the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism, funding translations and scholarly work, support for Tibetan Buddhist publications, organizing conferences, trainings, and workshops, and building IT infrastructure and tools to promote Buddhist teachings. The buddha-nature website, which was launched in 2020, falls within the fifth program.
Having built the web resources, he explains that Tsadra hosted three scholarly events on buddha-nature: an academic conference in Vienna in 2019, an online conversation series with distinguished scholars and practitioners in 2020 (an ongoing series), and a panel on buddha-nature in Prague in 2022. These meetings and conversations were conducted in English. Seeing the great need to introduce the web resource to the Tibetan Buddhist centers in the Himalayas and to engage traditional scholars, the conference in Kathmandu was planned.
Furthermore, he explains why Tsadra built the buddha-nature web resource by citing the verse from the Ultimate Continuum in which Maitreya presents the five flaws which the buddha-nature teachings help overcome. First is the sense of diffidence and timidity to do good or seek enlightenment. He points out that people today, more than ever before, are stressed, confused, and mentally vulnerable. Many suffer from depression, struggle even to live their life, and engage in self-harm. The second is the problem of contempt toward other beings. Despite globalization and enhanced interaction through technological advancement, people still remain insular and biased, leading to serious contempt and mistreatment of others, who are perceived as inferior or less privileged. The third flaw is of holding onto the misconception. The world is rife with misinformation, fake news, and commercial and political deception, and most people are engrossed in what is vain and popular. They do not see the real or the truth, which is the fourth problem. People do not understand the theory of cause and effect and the importance of inner wellbeing, let alone the ultimate nature of reality. The fifth problem Maitreya points out is self-love or attachment to one's own creed, race, color, or group. Lopon Karma Phuntsho says that efforts to promote the teachings on buddha-nature is an attempt to overcome these problems by highlighting the point that all beings are by nature good and, in fact, are pure and compassionate like the Buddha.
He then goes on to describe how the presenters have been chosen by the leaders of the respective Tibetan Buddhist teachings, the mode of the presentations and discussions, and the schedule. He ends with a prayer that the teachings of buddha-nature reach far and wide and help people reveal their innate good nature.About the video
| Featuring | Karma Phuntsho |
|---|---|
| Creator | Tsadra Foundation |
| Director | Perman, M. |
| Producer | Tsadra Foundation |
| Event | 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference Kathmandu (1 June 2023, Shechen Monastery, Kathmandu) |
| Related Website | Buddha-Nature |
| Creation Date | 1 June 2023 |
| Citation | Phuntsho, Karma. "Karma Phuntsho Introduction to the 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference." 2023 Buddha-Nature Conference, Shechen Monastery, Kathmandu. Produced by the Tsadra Foundation Research Department. Video, 13:17. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Omyw-1iKEZQ. |
