On 4 August 2013, Nalanda was honoured to be among the recipients of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s 16-volume set of new publications, which were published to mark the Venerable’s 75th anniversary of monkhood.
Read moreThe Nalanda Bulletin Issue No.15 (May 2013) is now available for reading on-line! Copies are also available at any Nalanda Centre near you. Thank you and metta!
Read moreThe Nalanda Bulletin Issue No.14 (March 2013) is now available for reading on-line! Copies are also available at any Nalanda Centre near you. Thank you and metta!
Read moreThe Nalanda Bulletin Issue No.13 (January 2013) is now available for reading on-line! If you would like to have a hard-copy, kindly collect one from any Nalanda Centre. For Nalandians going back to your hometowns during the Chinese New Year, please collect some hard-copies to be distributed to your families and friends, as well as for local Buddhist organisations near you.
Read moreNalanda Bulletin Issue No 12. November 2012
Read moreNalanda Bulletin Issue No 11. September 2012
Read morePindacāra, the practice of collecting alms-food, is observed by Theravada Buddhist monks who have gone forth from ‘home-life’ to ‘homelessness’. A Buddhist monk is known in Pāli Language as a ‘bhikkhu’ - meaning ‘one who lives on alms’.
Read moreRehearsing the Dhamma-vinaya
The Pāli term ‘Sangāyana’ can be translated as rehearsal or communal chanting. The purpose of a Sangāyana is to accurately preserve the original teachings of the Buddha. The reciters’ duty is to rehearse, examine, and review the Canon so that no parts of which are added, omitted or altered, and any such deviations were to be rectified. Throughout history, there had been six such formal occasions where the entire Pāli Canon was rehearsed and authenticated.
Read moreTranquility permeated the shrine hall as devotees sat in silent meditation, calming the mind, absorbing the surrounding aura of peace. It was the start of the Nalanda Annual Gimhana Dhamma Retreat. ("Gimhana", in pali means "summer" or "hot season")
Read moreThe Pāli Language was derived from a Prakrit (folks’ dialect) of Magādha in ancient India. Its grammar is similar to those of Sanskrit and Latin. Pāli was chosen as the language to rehearse and record the Buddhist teachings at the First Rehearsal (Sangāyana) in 543 BCE. Pāli is unique among languages in that it is not used for any other purpose except to record Buddhist doctrines. Thus the meanings of its words were not ‘corrupted’ by common usage or ‘evolution’ over time.
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