Here we present the first in a new series of articles "Buddhism Around The World", which we hope to continue on with here. Our first "highlight" is Lee Yue Heng from Singapore. We hope you enjoy what he has to share...
I am a Buddhist blogger of Chinese ethnicity from the Republic of Singapore, which is a small island in Southeast Asia. Buddhism is a mainstream religion here, adhered to by about 42.5% of the population as of 2000.
We also have a very diverse Buddhist scene here. There are Theravadains, Chinese Mahayanists, Korean Zen practioners, Sokka Gakkai devotees, Vajrayana, etc. and they generally co-exist in harmony.
Personally, I am not exclusively affiliated with any particular school or sect but I do try to integrate aspects of Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism, with a little dash of Tibetan Buddhism, into my daily practice. This is not unusual among Buddhists in Singapore and sectarian lines are not so rigidly defined.
For example, some time ago, I attended a talk by Venerable Thubten Chodron (who hails from the Tibetan tradition) which was hosted at a Theravada Temple and Ajahn Brahamavamso (from the Thai Forest tradition) frequently gives talks at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, which is a chiefly Chinese Mahayana organization.
Recently, I began a blog exclusively centered on Buddhism and its address is
http://refugee1978.blogspot.com/
I try to write about daily life from a Buddhist perspective and sometimes there are posts on the state of Buddhism in Singapore (from my humble and subjective viewpoint of course)
It would be nice to interact with Buddhists from all over the world and the Blogisattva Awards platform seems like one of the venues for doing so. Recently, you had a post about highlighting bloggers from non-English countries. Singapore is in Southeast Asia, but because of our colonial history, our main language is English. If you feel that any of my posts will be of interest to your readers, feel free to direct them to "The Refugee"!
Hoping this finds you in good health. With Metta
Lee Yue Heng
