Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU) has been privileged to witness
and play an instrumental role in developing and hosting successful UNDV and IABU
celebrations, annually. As always, we are all very grateful to the Royal Thai Government for
its constant support and thank the Thai Supreme Sangha Council for its blessings, guidance, and support. We are indebted, also, to the United Nations for recognizing the thrice-sacred
Buddhist holy day.
This publication could not have been possible without the persistence, hard work,
and dedication of MCU’s scholars and staff. I wish to thank all members of the International
Council for The Day of Vesak and the Executive Council of the International Association of
Buddhist Universities, and the other members of the Editorial Committee for their devotion.
I am also grateful to our many donors, sponsors, and dedicated volunteers who return year
after year to support the IABU and United Nations Day of Vesak Celebrations.
We all truly celebrate the Buddha’s Enlightenment and hope these words reach
the hearts and minds of the readers.

Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU) has been privileged to witness
and play an instrumental role in developing and hosting successful UNDV and IABU
celebrations, annually. As always, we are all very grateful to the Royal Thai Government for
its constant support and thank the Thai Supreme Sangha Council for its blessings, guidance, and support. We are indebted, also, to the United Nations for recognizing the thrice-sacred
Buddhist holy day.
This publication could not have been possible without the persistence, hard work,
and dedication of MCU’s scholars and staff. I wish to thank all members of the International
Council for The Day of Vesak and the Executive Council of the International Association of
Buddhist Universities, and the other members of the Editorial Committee for their devotion.
I am also grateful to our many donors, sponsors, and dedicated volunteers who return year
after year to support the IABU and United Nations Day of Vesak Celebrations.
We all truly celebrate the Buddha’s Enlightenment and hope these words reach
the hearts and minds of the readers.

Welcome to the 3rd Journal of the International Association of
Buddhist Universities. This volume is long overdue, for too many
or numerous reasons, none of which should be recollected. It’s here
now, and we are excited to see it finally in print.
The IABU has been functioning for several years now, bringing
Buddhist universities together on a larger academic platform,
through the many successful academic conferences that we hold at
Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, the gracious host for
the office for the IABU Secretariat. Nearly annually, we organize
academic conferences in which around seventy academics
presenting their research or academic articles on Buddhism are
brought to the public and attending students. Each conference
has about four subthemes in which, generally each paper is given
about fifteen minutes of presentation-time, followed by about five
minutes for some brief comments. Our papers in this journal have
been contributed by several professors, all of which attend and
present in our academic conferences, and it is well within our hopes
that each paper can find a home in the hearts of someone, perhaps
some young researcher, who can take up the knowledge or wisdom
in the paper and create a larger or better text – maybe be a reference
or serve as a catalyst for a thesis or a dissertation project.
The International Association of Buddhist Universities
is committed to improve the academic scholarship of Buddhist
Studies scholars. We have well-established scholars in our network,
as well as younger, aspiring scholars working equally as hard to
bring aspects of Buddhism to the interested reader.
Professor Kwee brings the knowledge of Indonesia to our
attention. The IABU has many universities from Indonesia in our
association, and such an article shares the wisdom of this ancient
Buddhist chain of islands. Professor Abeynayake’s paper is
the Keynote Speech delivered to our 2nd IABU Academic Conference
on Buddhist Philosophy & Praxis, which discusses a dilemma with
the four noble truths. Dr. Peoples contributes an article here on
a possible relationship between a philosophical-school and a group
of people that the Buddha met. Both Jana Igunma and Professor
Mahanta discuss a popular Jataka story, from different perspectives.
Dr. Peoples contributes a second piece, a fresh article on a recent
controversial figure who possesses an interesting critical-perspective
on Buddhism. Finally, Professor Lee contributes an article on
the peace work done in the United States by the Tzu Chi
organization. Please enjoy these contributions to the emerging realm
of Buddhist academia.
Please take the time to read these articles, and we hope to bring
out additional issues in a more timely manner. We also will strive
to bring out higher-quality material in the future. Our goal is to
continually improve our young association.

The Volume Two of the Journal of The International
Association of Buddhist Universities, JIABU, is now in your hand.
I regret that it has come out a few months overdue. The IABU is
a new academic block that aims to reach out beyond scholastic
community and this means that at times the resources are spread
thin and wide. However, the IABU as a whole is determined that
the JIABU comes out annually and is of the highest possible
academic standard.
While Volume One (2008) consists of articles from
scholars all well-established in their fields, this Volume Two (2009)
comprises of eight articles, two of which are from emerging scholars,
Dion Peoples and Pram Sounsamut, both of whom are active in
research and teaching. The inclusion of their good work here
advances the goal of the IABU in encouraging the younger generation
of scholars to realize their potential.
The other articles mainly focus on the topics popular to
both researchers and practitioners in the world. They are,
for example, Buddhist meditation in the West (Sarah Shaw);
Buddhist Psychology (Padmasiri de Silva); science and Buddhism
(Colin Butler) and the impact of globalization on different Buddhist
schools (Asanga Tilakaratne). Justin McDaniel and Pram Sounsamut’s
articles also focus on important areas but within Thailand.
Andreas Doctor’s is the only article on Mahayana Buddhism in
this volume and we hope more good research articles on Mahayana
Buddhism will be included in the next volumes. Doctor’s area of
focus is also popular but little has been published in modern
languages of such controversy on either revelation of treasured
teaching or reincarnation.

          The International Association of Buddhist Universities, IABU,
is a new grouping in the world of Buddhist Studies and higher
education. It is only a year old and still in its formative periods.
The IABU was born of sustained collaborations between Buddhist
leaders and scholars from all over the world who began meeting in
2004 in Bangkok to mark the United Nations Day of Vesak, UNDV,
celebrations.

          Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, MCU, of which
I have the honor of serving as its rector, has been privileged to witness,
in fact, play a crucial part in initiating and subsequently hosting
the UNDV for four years between 2004-2007. The UNDV has
brought the Buddhist world closer than before. For this, we thank
the Thai Supreme Sangha Council of Thailand for its blessings and
guidance. We are also grateful to the Royal Thai Government for its
constant support.

          Apart from the UNDV, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya
University has also taken the responsibility to host the Secretariat
of the IABU and finance its operation for the first year. In January
2008, in its first regular meeting, in Bangkok the IABU Executive
Council decided to hold an international conference on ethics and
Buddhism and a summit during that conference and to publish
an annual academic journal of a high standard.