The Buddhist Attitude to War and peace

 Some months ago in Singapore, I picked up a bundle of Buddhist tracts. Here is another tract. It is entitled

The Buddhist Attitude to War and peace 

By

Senarth Wijayasundara, M.A.

The book was published by the Buddhist Research Society of Singapore. Like the previous book in the series, the reverse of the title page tells us who sponsored the printing/donated the book. The Donor in this case was Miss Chan Yin Leng. 

The cover page 

Donor page and acknowledgments

P. 1

p2-3

P. 4-5

P. 6-7

P. 8-9

p.10-11

p 12-13

p. 14-15

p 16-17

p. 19 

This book is evidently one of a set of 10 publications. 

The books are: 

1. Meditation by Ven. Dr. M. Vajirana Thera
2. The Buddha - His Life and Teachings bu Ven. Piyadassi Thera
3. A Modern View On Buddhism by Bhikshu Sangharakshita (will be featured subsequently) 
4. Facts of Life by Narada Thera
5. Health through Buddhism by Dr M. Vajirana Thero
6. Peace through Buddhism by  Dr. M. Vajirana Thera
7. Guide through Visuddhi Magga (A study on the path of purification) by Dr. U. Dhammaratna
8. Buddhist Attitude to War and peace by Senarth Wijayasundara, M.A.
9. An introduction to Buddhism by Dr. H. Saddhatissa
10. One Vehicle for Peace

If any knowledgeable readers may locate online copies of any of the above works, the author will be most grateful. 

The Wisdom Book Centre of Singapore does not seem to have an online presence. 

An outline of Buddhism and the meaning of worship

Some months ago, I chanced upon a pile of rather old and crumbling Buddhist pamphlets published in the late 20th century. I have scanned them in their entirety, and will be slowly uploading them on the blog. This first book is the Buddhist Missionary Society Publications'  An outline of Buddhism and the meaning of worship. 

This short pamphlet is actually two books in one. The first is "An outline of Buddhism", which is... an outline of Buddhism. It is anonymous, as far as I can tell.  The second is "The meaning of worship". It is written by Dr. Narada Malalasekera. It is a short description of Buddhist religious practices. Each of these works is is separately paginated, even though they are printed in the same book.

***

Some context: In Asia, copying and distributing Buddhist books is a way one can attain good karma. Some texts give detailed descriptions of the benefits, like
-  Protection from evil spirits and unpleasant creatures,
- Extirpation of bad Karma,
- Good health,
- General good luck
- Rebirth into better realms
(For more, see https://purelandbuddhism.info/ten-rewards-from-printing-buddhist-sutras-and-making-buddha-images/)

This last consideration doubtless was on the minds of the friends and relations of Mr Chin Ah Loong.
The book tells us that this volume was printed in his memory.We know at least some of these people. Their names are printed beneath his picture. They are Mr & Ms. Tan Tiek Beng and family.

The author hopes, by showing scans of the book here would  fulfill the intent with which the Tan family, and all the other donors and authors of the book placed the book out into the world-- For the universal education of humanity, at no cost.

*** *** *** 

The inside of the cover page. The start of An outline of Buddhism. The stamp over Mr. Chin's portrait is of Evergreen Buddhist Center. It still exists in singapore, and its website is  https://www.evergreenbuddhist.com/  For the Chinese version, see https://www.evergreenbuddhist.com/zh

OOB 2-3

OOB 4-5

OOB 6-7

OOB 8-9

OOB 10-11

OOB 12-13

OOB 14, and the first Donor page

The second Donor page, and Dr. Narada Malalasekera's The meaning of Worship begins here. 

MoW 2-3

MOW 4-5

MOW 6-7

MoW 8, plus a list of books

The Buddhist Missionary Society of Malaysia is still going on strong. Here is their website: https://bmsm.org.my/  Issues of The Voice of Buddhism mentioned can be found Here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BxNRdXXc_II_MGF4N0JLU0Rzd2c . It was still published as of 2018. 

Envelope lining 7

This is the lining of a fairly large envelope posted in the UK in early 2019. It is a simple pattern of blue lines, in a hexagonal shape.

Envelope lining 6

This particular envelope comes from the UK. It came from the same set of materials as "Envelope Lining 5"-- a set of leaflets for the UK Charity Prostate Cancer UK , encouraging donations. This was the envelope the charity provided for donors to send in their donations.

The pattern of this envelope is a "herring-bone" pattern in blue. 

Joss paper 3: Clothes

Yet another form of joss paper. This particular example was collected in Singapore around 2014. It is a more elaborate version of the paper featured previously 

This particular piece of paper is intended to be burnt as an offering to the deceased. It would then re-materialize on the "Other side"  as a garment. 

It consists of a T-shaped piece of decorated paper, to which a pair of yellow triangles of crepe paper have been attached to either side. (The triangle on the left side was crumpled in the process of scanning). This is a particularly conservative form. Paper makers also make more modern-looking clothes. 

These clothes come in a pack of around 20 pieces. The garments in such a pack come in several different colours of paper-- yellow, red and green in addition to white.  

Paper makers also sell smaller versions of such clothes, intended as offerings for the wandering spirits of those who died in infancy. 

Envelope Lining 5

This envelope enclosed promotional materials from Prostate Cancer UK , soliciting for donations. It is a pattern of hexagons, printed in a dull grey. Like the previous examples featured here, the pattern is printed onto the paper.

Florist's wrapping paper (3)

Another piece of decorated paper. The author recalls it was used by florists to wrap flowers. This particular pattern seems to be a bric-a-brac of several other patterns.