The WHY Series: New Insights Into Old Issues

The WHY Series: New Insights Into Old Issues

[1] 04.10.12: WHY Buddhism (Over Other ‘isms’)?
What Did The Buddha Teach About Various Religions?
What Is The Big Deal About Buddhism?

[2] 07.10.12: WHY Multi-yana (Instead Of Mono-yana)?
What Is The Truly Earliest Form of Buddhism?
Is There Harmony Among Various Buddhist Traditions?

[3] 11.10.12: WHY Bodhicitta (For Beyond Self-Liberation)?
Should Everyone Strive For Buddhahood?
What Is The Essential Cause Of Supreme Enlightenment?

[4] 14.10.12: WHY Pure Land (Instead Of Samsara)?
Is It Possible To Meet And Learn From Many Buddhas?
What Is The Swiftest Path To Buddhahood?

[5] 18.10.12: WHY Vegetarianism (Or Less Meat-Eating)?
How Un/Important Is Vegetarianism?
Can What We Consume Make Us Impure?

[6] 25.10.12: WHY ‘Anything’ (Under The Sun)!
Why Practise Active Enquiry?
(Session for answering any remaining Dharma questions!)

About Shen Shi’an 沈时安: An independent Buddhist teacher and writer, he was one of the founding members of the Dharma Propagation Division of Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (Bright Hill Temple in Singapore) in 1997. Holding an MA in Buddhist Studies, which covered the major Buddhist traditions, he recently served as a Dharma Trainer and Project Coordinator in its Community Development & Training Department till 2011, focusing on Buddhist research, writing, teaching and answering of media queries. He was the founder of the temple’s Youth Mission (now ‘KMS Youth’), a book purchaser for its Awareness Place project, and the Chief Editor of the Web (and Library) Department, which co-supported Buddhanet.net, one of the world’s most popular Buddhist websites.

He is the founder and editor of TheDailyEnlightenment.com since 1997, one of the world’s largest independent Buddhist inspirational e-newsletter with over 29,000 members, the editor of ‘Be a Lamp Upon Yourself’, ‘Awaken: Gateway to Buddhism’ and the writer of ‘The Daily Enlightenment (Book 1,2,3,4,5)’. He also contributes occasionally to magazines such as ‘Nanyang Buddhist’, ‘Awaken’ (for which he was a Contributing Editor) and ‘For You (Information)’, and writes movie reviews for BuddhistChannel.tv, the world’s leading Buddhist news network. To date, he had reviewed over 300 movies. He popularised Dharma@Cinema, which is an innovative way of sharing the Dharma through detailed review discussions of both popular and offbeat films, and was part of the a Buddhist film festival’s film selection team.

Specialising in the Pure Land teachings, he has taught the subject at Singapore Buddhist Federation, Pu Ji Si Buddhist Research Centre and Poh Ming Tse, while leading the ongoing weekly Pureland Practice Fellowship at Kong Meng San, where he continues to teach various Dharma courses. He is also frequently invited to conduct Dharma discussions for youths for tertiary institutions’ Buddhist societies (SPBS, NPBS, NYPBS, NUSBS, NTUBS) on various subjects, along with the sharing Buddhist perspectives at Secondary Schools (SPS, Manjusri School), Junior Colleges (CJC) and International Schools (UWCSEA, SJII).

He was also a guest speaker for Dharma activities hosted by Dharma Drum Mountain (Singapore), Fo Guang Shan (Singapore), Tai Pei Buddhist Centre, Singapore Buddhist Mission Youth, Singapore Buddhist Youth Mission, Wat Ananda Youth, Buddha of Medicine Welfare Society and Kampung Senang. He has represented Buddhist views at governmental events conducted by NACLI, NHB, NHG, SAF, SPF, MHA, ACM, STB and OnePeople.sg, and was a committee member of the Inter-Religious Organisation, co-representing the Buddhist faith, through which he served in interfaith harmony projects such as giving of public talks to introduce Buddhism. He also co-runs Moonpointer.com, which is a community blog that promotes sharing of Buddhism via creative writing through thousands of articles. (He can be reached at moonpointer@gmail.com for invitations to share the Dharma via talks and classes.)

A Buddhist magazine’s interview: http://moonpointer.com/new/2011/07/interview-with-shen-shian