Venerable Professor KL Dhammajoti’s Mission and Aspiration
Venerable Professor has been lecturing in tertiary institutions for years. He also publishes considerable academic monograhs in Chinese and English. Upon his retirement from the Glorious Sun (Endowed) Professorship in Buddhist Studies (Endowed Professorship) of The University of Hong Kong, Venerable Professor set up The Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong and Āloka Vihara, dedicating himself to propagating the Buddha Dharma for the benefit of sentient beings. Motivated by his sense of mission, he accepted the appointment as the Chair Professor, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China, Beijing and served in the post for about eight years. At one time, he was also Visiting Professor of Fudan University, Shanghai.
Following the objectives of his alma mater, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, Venerable Professor pioneered various Buddhist Studies programmes in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. “As a Buddhist, I am non-sectarian. In my view, we should learn from the Buddha and directly probe into the original intention of the Bhagavan”, said Venerable Professor. He advocates “Buddhist Studies through Buddhist practice; Buddhist practice through Buddhist Studies” under the auspices of the five spiritual faculties (faith, vigour, mindfulness, equipoise, understanding).
Venerable Professor leads research in Buddhist Studies and Buddhist text linguistics, thereby effectively grooms Chinese Buddhists of the next generation: inspired by Venerable Xuanzang, Venerable Professor trains young Buddhists through the process of translation of Buddhist scriptures. He propagates the true Dharma and dedicates himself to the cause of world Buddhism, especially the unity of all Chinese Buddhist traditions.
From the University of Kelaniya (having taught there for 22 years) to The University of Hong Kong, and now The Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong (also affiliated to the University of Kelaniya), Venerable Professor has successfully supervised more than 20 PhD students. In recent years, Venerable Professor launched formal Buddhist Studies programmes in the Chinese medium which “adopts the university methodology” and “incorporates the essence of modern Western culture”. At the age of over 70, Venerable Professor still travels all over the world to spread the Dharma and promote Buddhist education for the cause of the Dharma.
