Buddhist Needs to be more Engaged

Over the past months, we we have been hit by news of religious intolerance and fanaticism. Many concern people have voiced their opinions and through the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Toaism (MCCBCHST) have organized prayer gatherings, vigils and even a memorandum to our Prime Minister. I am sad that it seems that the Buddhist community does not seem to show much concern or awareness of such issues.

A quick glance of blogs and websites that carried the MCCBCHST news and activities are mostly Christian-based websites. There seems little or no news carried in any of the major Buddhist websites or blogs. Am I wrong to say that the Buddhist community are not aware or we not concern about these issues. I do hope I am wrong.

While we focus the mind and the breath during meditation, we need to be aware of the quality of air we are breathing, what will be the point of meditating when the air we breath is dirty. So to with our community, where is real metta, karuna or mudita when we do not feel and act to the injustices in our community.

I pray we can and will make a positive impact to our community.