Simon Hui is founder of Mindful Studio HK, a yoga studio offering courses to seekers of physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Try imagining someone born in Hong Kong who grew up in Nigeria, was educated in the US, learned yoga in India, and ordained as a monk in Myanmar. That is my continuously unfolding adventure, and […]
Hong Kong
A Buddhist Cosmopolitanism
It should make us realize people unlike us were humans just like us, and replace superstition and suspicion—the pillars of tribalism—with curiosity and compassion.”
Exemplary Buddhists: Hong Kong’s Sri Lankan Community
I was unfortunately out of Hong Kong and missed my chance to attend the Sri Lankan community’s 71st celebration of Independence Day. 4 February, like the equivalent commemorations of so many postcolonial societies, is critical to modern Sri Lankan identity, and in many ways the opinion makers and influencers of Hong Kong—scholars, journalists, writers—have not […]
Let the Lotus Bloom Forth: Buddhism in India
2019 marked the 70th anniversary of the promulgation of India’s constitution: itself a complex and multilayered story in which Buddhism is interwoven. This year’s reception bid farewell to Mr. Puneet Agrawal as India’s consul-general in Hong Kong and Macau. Buddhistdoor Global first began collaborating on Buddhist projects with his predecessor. Under Shri Puneet Agrawal’s consulship, […]
Sending Loving-kindness
“Did today’s guided meditation session make your mind happy and peaceful?” I asked this question to Chan Oi Wan, an undergraduate student who was enrolled in a minor course offered by the Centre of Buddhist Studies (CBS) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU). The course was called Buddhist Psychology and Mental Cultivation. 200 undergraduate […]
How Huayan Led Me to Pure Land
Guan Yin Temple. From Planet Lantau (see their temple photo gallery here) The first thing a visitor perceptive in Mahayana aesthetics notices at Guan Yin (or Kwun Yam, officially) Temple on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, is the pervasiveness of Huayan symbolism and imagery in the original hall, which was built in 1910, and the top […]
Why Hong Kong remains a pulsing hub of Buddhist inspiration
“Who said Hong Kong is too small? In size perhaps but not in its soul and personality. Every corner in this city giving you full of surprises, if not every hour but at least every day….” ― Baris Gencel Some of my favourite cities and towns are Wanaka and Queenstown in New Zealand, Haarlem in the Netherlands, […]
The Beauty of Buddhist Tradition: Celebrating Vesak with Hongkongers
On 27 May, I was in the Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong (BDCHK), Hong Kong, to celebrate Vesak. It was the weekend, with lay Buddhists from diverse backgrounds: including local Hongkongers, Mainland Chinese, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, and Thais. Devotees who came to BDCHK on this special day were dressed in white clothing. Twelve Buddhist monks […]
Celebrating Vesak at Hong Kong’s Sri Lankan Buddhist Cultural Centre
Last month, I had a truly inspiring and uplifting Vesak (the annual celebration of the Buddha’s life) among Hong Kong’s Sri Lankan Buddhist community. The families comprising the island’s immigrants and expats here come from diverse backgrounds and work in many different trades. What binds them together is a sense of community and duty to […]
Hong Kong’s Buddhists Plug into the Belt and Road Initiative
By Arun Kumar Yadav Over the past few years, several major Buddhist institutions in Hong Kong, including the famous Chan monastery of Po Lin, have expressed their interest in participating in China’s monumental Belt and Road Initiative. Another such group is the Institute of Maitreya Studies, a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong. On its […]