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The Globalisation and Modernisation of the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Buddhist Education Enterprise
Robert H.N. Ho, an advocate of modern Buddhist education. With his eyes on the global arena, his main concern is the provision of Buddhist education at the tertiary level.
Lady Clara very early on outlined several key aspirations for the development and direction of Tung Lin Kok Yuen. Specifically, it was her express wish that Tung Lin Kok Yuen inherit her lifelong ambition and efforts to be adaptive and responsive in the dissemination of the dharma, and to expand this dissemination by building a foundation in Hong Kong and Macau, gradually reaching out to other parts of China, and eventually spreading it to other parts of the world. Thankfully, history has shown that Tung Ling Kok Yuen’s efforts to fulfill this aspiration have met with significant success.
In the spirit of these aspirations, Tung Lin Kok Yuen has in recent times also undertaken several new initiates. It has promoted, initiated and sustained Buddhist education programs at university level, helping produce highly educated and multi-skilled propagators of the Buddha’s teachings. It has also played an instrumental role in the establishment of many connections between Buddhist Studies departments and scholars from esteemed universities from across the globe, as well as advancing the realization of the contemporary notion of ‘humanistic Buddhism,’ which recognizes the social responsibility and utility of Buddhism to serve the broader community, and to help dissolve traditional conflicts between races, creeds, and religious denominations. Perhaps most importantly, Tung Lin Kok Yuen has taken great strides to utilize the Buddhist teachings to help people deal with the common yet ever changing stresses and spiritual conundrums inflicting modern society and the information age.
The person who has masterminded these initiatives and their gradual implementation is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tung Lin Kok Yuen and the grandson of Lady Clara Lin-Kok, Mr. Robert H. N. Ho.
Mr. Robert H.N. Ho and Educational Initiatives
Robert H. N. Ho’s Father, Ho Shai-Lai (1906-1998), was an esteemed general in wartime China, served as the Ambassador to Japan for the Republic of China in the early 1950’s, and later served in a Nationalist China military attache to the United Nations. After leaving the army, he returned to Hong Kong in 1961, where he became Chairman of the Chinese language newspaper Kung Sheung Daily News. A man of responsibility, a strongly developed social and international awareness, and gifted with a rare adaptability and openness, Ho Shai-Lai was to impart to his son many qualities that would prove invaluable for a lifelong career dedicated to serving the Buddhist religion and the public welfare.
Robert H.N. Ho was born in Hong Kong in 1932. He obtained a Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University in 1958. Since then, he has worked for the Pittsburgh Press, National Geographic, and the Kung Sheung Daily News. In 1984 he entered the family business, from which time he began earning a reputation as a generous philanthropist. Later he became Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tung Lin Kok Yuen. Much influenced by his father, and strongly committed to realising the aspirations of his late grandmother, Lady Clara Lin-Kok, he has since zealously developed, globalised and modernized the education enterprise of Tung Lin Kok Yuen, helping it break new grounds in its quest to respond to the needs of a more sophisticated and integrated contemporary age.
In line with this vision, Robert H. N. Ho’s greatest contribution to Buddhist education during his tenure as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tung Lin Kok Yuen has been the international advocacy, ongoing support, and in instances establishment of advanced Buddhist study research and coursework programs and institutes in esteemed universities. Below is a brief introduction of this initiative’s main beneficiary and subsidiary institutions:
The Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong
One of Tung Lin Kok Yuen’s most notable contributions to Buddhist education in the 21st century is its annual donation, since 2001, of HK$2,000,000 to the Centre of Buddhist Studies at The University of Hong Kong. This sum is used to pay the salary of the Centre’s academic staff, covers the costs of Buddhist studies lectures and seminars, and includes the provision of academic scholarships for talented monks and nuns. First established in September 2000, the Centre of Buddhist Studies was the first of its kind in Hong Kong. Presently, it offers coursework and research master degree and doctorate degree programmes in Buddhist Studies. Each year, a total of forty to fifty people from various cultural backgrounds register for the programme as full-time or part-time students. Thus far the Centre has been host to students from China, Mongolia, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, the United States, Australia and several European countries.
The unique geographical location and cultural milieu of Hong Kong has endowed the establishment of the University of Hong Kong Centre of Buddhist Studies with great significance. Specifically, given the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the Centre’s own development has functioned as a direction-pointer for the development of Buddhist education and the promotion of academic research in Buddhist studies in Mainland China. Building on the renowned academic standards and accomplishments of The University of Hong Kong and drawing upon the city’s strong bilingualism and unique multicultural setting, the Centre has pursued Buddhist Studies as a more macroscopic and internationalized discipline, and hopes to utilize its advantages to have an epoch-setting impact on the promotion of Buddhist Studies worldwide.
Tung Lin Kok Yuen, Canada Society
Another of Tung Lin Kok Yuen’s celebrated achievements under the tenure of Robert H. N. Ho was the establishment of the Tung Lin Kok Yuen, Canada Society in Vancouver in 1994. This centre has been actively propogating the dharma within the local community, and has served as a base for the promotion and advocacy of Buddhist education.
Utilising this facility, the Tung Lin Kok Yuen Foundation was formally established in 2004 to promote Buddhist education to the higher education sector in Canada. Since 2005 the Foundation has sponsored Buddhist education programs in several Canadian universities.
The Tung Lin Kok Yuen Canada Foundation was a fruit of the revolutionary vision of Robert H.N.Ho to establish a “global network” of Buddhist studies scholars and institutions, making maximum use of modern information and communication technologies. His goal is to establish Centres of Buddhist Studies at major universities in many locations across the globe, each with unique fields of specialty, and each connected to the others by the commitment and facility to freely exchange academic resources. Such centres have already been established in Hong Kong and Canada, and plans are under way to expand this network to universities in the U.S. and Europe.
Centre of Buddhist Studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada
Supported by Tung Lin Kok Yuen’s donation of CA$4,000,000, North America’s first Centre of Buddhist Studies was established in February 2005 at the University of British Columbia in Canada. The Centre’s program, which revolves around the theme “Buddhism and Contemporary Society,” seeks to develop curricula that enhances and broadens the concrete benefits of Buddhism to society through applying Buddhist theories and principles to the humanities, education, medicine, environmental studies, politics, economics, etc. Dr Pitman Potter, Director of the Asian Studies Center of the University of British Columbia, stated that this Centre’s primary objective is to undertake research that would enhance Buddhism’s impact on the world, whilst advancing the exchange of ideas and theories between Buddhism, sociology, and economics.”
One of the key factors underlying Robert H. N. Ho’s choice to sponsor the Buddhist Studies program at the University of British Columbia is the University’s strength in Asian, and particularly Chinese studies – key areas for providing a solid foundation for undertaking Buddhist centred reserach. Columbia University is also well equipped to access resources from other Centers of Buddhist Studies, having already integrated state of the art networking and teleconferencing technologies for the purposes of teaching, inter-institutional cooperation, and academic exchange.
The University of Toronto at Scarborough
In 2006, Tung Lin Kok Yuen donated the sum of CAD$4,000,000 to The University of Toronto at Scarborough to fund the invitation of visiting scholars and the organization of conferences. Renowned Buddhist scholars are often invited to such events, often held by the South East Asian Studies Department and the Religious Studies Department. Such events usually elicit the participation and cooperation of other universities, and adopt an open, multidisciplinary perspective.
Thanks in part to the support of Tung Lin Kok Yuen, Buddhist Studies at the University of Toronto has seen considerable improvement. Prof. David Naylor, Chancellor of Toronto University, felt Tung Lin Kok Yuen’s support had enhanced the international reputation of the University’s Buddhist Studies programs, stating the funds donated constitute “an enormous investment in the development of Buddhism in Canada. It facilitates the understanding of Buddhism in the West.” Dr. William Bowen, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, further attested to the success of the program, saying it had helped Buddhist studies at The University of Toronto establish an expanding network with international partners.
The International Buddhist College in Hatyai, Thailand (IBC)
In addition to the Center of Buddhist Studies of the University of Hong Kong. Tung Lin Kok Yuen in 2005 extended its support for tertiary studies in the Asia region by sponsoring the International Buddhist College of Thailand. This institution, accredited in 2003, is one of this Buddhist nation’s three non-lineage affiliated Buddhist Universities, providing a multidisciplinary and non sectarian approach to the study and application of the Buddhist teachings.
Future Direction
Having developed from humble aspirations in an epoch of intense chaos and widespread depravation, Tung Lin Kok Yuen has expanded on its commitment to grassroots educational assistance to encompass a role of supporting and facilitating institutional and individual efforts to effect the modernization, globalization and broader application of the Buddhist teachings. Maintaining a non sectarian approach, Tung Lin Kok Yuen is committed to ensuring that Buddhism and Buddhist education overcomes the challenges of an increasingly rapid, technologically developed and integrated world, and continues to be a source of inspiration, comfort and benefit for individuals, and the society at large, well into the 21st century.
This is the aspiration, spirit and legacy of Lady Clara Lin-Kok and Sir Robert Ho Tung.
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