A Tale of Еwo Cultures

For years the phrase “love Taiwan” has been one of the hottest and most frequently mentioned words in Taiwan’s highly polarized political environment. The phrase is widely used by local politicians to accuse their counterparts of failing to do something or other simply because deep in their hearts they don’t really “love Taiwan.”

The ‘love for Taiwan’ vs. ‘lack of love for Taiwan’ debate has consequently turned into an empty phrase in which the true meaning has been lost in the midst of all the political squabbling.

Yet there are indeed many people, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, young or old, men or women, and of course, whether they are Taiwanese or foreigners, who have put tremendous efforts into making the country a better place to live, an act that can truly be attributed to the spirit of “love Taiwan”. The Israeli Representative to Taiwan, Raphael Gamzou, is one of these people.

You may have spotted Gamzou, a foreigner wearing a gray Tzu Chi Foundation T-shirt, at a recycling station in Taipei City’s Jianghu Flower Market and Jade Market from time to time. Very often on weekends, the de facto Israeli ambassador to Taiwan spends an hour or two serving as a recycling volunteer in this not-so-pleasant environment for the largest Buddhist charity group in the world.

His foreign looks have very often drawn the attention of passersby, many of whom are stunned when they discover that the middle-aged foreigner is none other than the Israeli Representative to Taiwan.

“I remember when I went there (the recycling station) for the first time,” said Gamzou, “since I was big and it was hot and I sweat a lot, many Taiwanese people who saw me would ask my Tzu Chi friends about who I was.”

“They were really surprised when they learned that I am the Israeli Representative,” he said, “I love very much the reactions of these people, it helps to send the message that even though I am a foreigner, I belong to the society here.”

The head of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said he believes that as a diplomat, when one serves in a country one should become involved in and make a contribution to that society. He added that his involvement in these activities comes about because it is important for each one of us to dedicate some time as a volunteer.

He also thinks that when Taiwanese people see him doing volunteer work, it will encourage more people to join such activity. “When people see me do these works, they think that if a foreigner like me can bend and do volunteer work for the country, he must really love Taiwan.”

When the Israeli representative meets Tzu Chi

It might seem rather extraordinary for a Jew like Representative Gamzou to do volunteer work for a Buddhist group, but Gamzou himself says that he really enjoys doing so. “It is not that I have become a Buddhist or anything like that, but I am definitely committed to the humanitarian and social goals of Tzu Chi,” he noted.

His association with Tzu Chi goes back to 2006, when Gamzou first came to the country to take up his post in August of that year. While preparing for his post, Gamzou read about the local Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, known for its international humanitarian works, in a chapter of a report about non-government organizations in Taiwan left behind by his predecessor. He was immediately intrigued by Tzu Chi’s unique combination of religion and humanitarian acts.

Not long afterwards, Gamzou become more and more interested in Tzu Chi. The ISECO head learned that David D’Or, a famous Israeli singer, had been invited to sing at the celebration in Bangkok commemorating the Thai King's 60 years on the throne.

Knowing that D’Or, a vegetarian who engages in charity events around world, would be the perfect guy to share the idea of Tzu Chi with, Gamzou successfully persuaded the vocalist to make a stopover in Taiwan for benefit concerts to raise money for the organization in December of that year,.

Since then D’Or has performed for Tzu Chi three times, including a series of charity concerts organized by the Buddhist Compassion Relief foundation in 2008 to help raise funds for victims of China’s Sichuan earthquake and the cyclone that hit Myanmar.

Encouraged by the spirit of founder of the Tzu Chi Foundation, Master Cheng Yen, D’Or himself has even produced an English-language CD exclusively for Tzu Chi.

Even more importantly, six out of the 13 songs in the album were written by D’Or himself in accordance with Cheng Yen’s own words and teachings.

“The CDs have been sold after every one of D’Or’s concerts all over the world,” said Gamzou, “and all the profits go to the Tzu Chi Foundation for humanitarian acts.”

After successfully holding the fund-raising event, Gamzou said his wife told him that they should do something more directly involved in Tzu Chi’s volunteer work.

Because of the language barrier, Mr. and Mrs. Gamzou picked the recycling activities after going through a whole list of volunteer works that one can do for the foundation, since it required only basic language skills. And that marked the beginning of his volunteer service with the foundation.

Finding similarities between Jewish ideology and Tzu Chi

Though he does not consider himself to be a religious man, Gamzou says that rather than differences, he found a lot of similarities between Jewish thought and the ideas of Buddhism. This was especially true regarding the interpretations of Master Cheng Yen, who believes that all religions are important if they work for peace and promote love among human beings.

“There is no contradiction between Tzu Chi’s values and my identity as a Jew,” Gamzou said. On the contrary, the Israeli representative said, there is a concept in Judaism called “tikkun olam” which he believes is very similar to the ideas of Tzu Chi.

"Olam in Hebrew is the world, the globe, and tikkun means to amend or repair," he pointed out.

“‘Tikkun olam’ basically means that God creates the world, prepares the infrastructure for us. But as human beings, we have the obligation to constantly make it better – to help the poor, defend the weak, heal the sick.” The way he sees it, Gamzou says, he finds in Tzu Chi’s charity work a full and complete implementation of the concept “tikkun olam.”

Another idea of the Buddhism foundation which Gamzou really admires is the tolerance of all people and all religions, a rare idea - especially for a Jew like him from a neighborhood in the Middle East where tolerance of other religions is very often not the case.

That is why you can see the sight of Tzu Chi volunteers and devotees around the world, helping needy persons regardless of their nationality, religion, sex, or the color of their skin, Gamzou noted.

“In the eyes of Tzu Chi, there is only one kind of person, which is people in need. This is the only category that matters to the foundation,” he noted, adding that the idea is one that should be promoted to the world.

As a great admirer of Master Cheng Yen, when Gamzou finally met the leader of Tzu Chi for the first time in Hualien, he decided to prepare an appropriate present for her.

Instead of giving Master Cheng Yen a necklace or a ring, Gamzou had 18 trees planted in her name in Jerusalem's Forest of Peace as the best gift for the founder of the world’s largest Buddhist charity group.

"In Hebrew, the number 18 symbolizes `life,' which corresponds to [Cheng Yen's] ideas very closely," he said. “I think that would be a most appropriate gift for her,” he explained, as it has meanings involving both environmental protection and religious significance.

The love of Taiwanese culture

Having spent the past three years on the beautiful island nation of Taiwan, the head of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei said he has tried to immerse himself in Taiwanese culture as much as possible by enjoying local artistic performances such as music and Chinese opera.

Even though very often he doesn’t understand the language, he still finds himself deeply in love with Taiwanese culture.

All the same, Gamzou noted that he thinks the Taiwan government should engage in efforts to help foreigners who have not mastered the Mandarin or Taiwanese dialect to get more involved in learning and acquiring a better knowledge of local culture and tourism.

“The best way to do that is to improve the English-language information on the street,” he pointed out.

On the other hand, the Israeli representative said Taiwan is one of the few places that he finds being a foreigner is a “privilege”, as the Taiwanese people are extremely warm and welcoming to foreigner visitors to the island nation.

He also finds Taiwan culture fascinating and special simply because it is so different from his own culture.

“I take all my guests who come to visit me in Taiwan to Longshan Temple and to the area around it because I think it is so interesting and the best place to experience the unique Taiwanese culture.” Gamzou said.

A visit to Longshan Temple is a fascinating celebration of all the senses, as the temple is decorated in colorful paintings, and at the same time one can listen to sutras chanted by followers and smell incense burning.

“This is something I will definitely miss when I leave Taiwan,” said Gamzou, who is scheduled to leave the country some time next year.

As a genuine lover of Taiwanese people and its culture, Gamzou, who used to be an official in his country’s ministry of foreign affairs responsible for promoting Israeli culture around the world, said he would like to offer a few suggestions to the local government about culture promotion.

“I am afraid there is too much investment [by the Taiwan government] in building new art centers, and not enough in encouraging new local talent.”

The Israeli representative believes that Taiwan should put money into the support of creative young artists and give them subsidies to study aboard as well as spending money in educating local audiences.

“If you want to have a flourishing culture, you have to have enough audience to support it, this should be the priority.”

Also, the government should be more generous in assisting local performing groups when they go abroad.

Taking the example of the recent visit of U-Theater, who were invited to tour Israel by ISECO and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv in March, Gamzou said the Israeli side put more money into covering the theater’s expenses than the Taiwan government did.

A successful tour by one of Taiwan’s performing groups such as U-Theater or Cloud Gate abroad is so important for Taiwan that the government should pay special attention to these events, according to Gamzou, adding that soft power can help to promote local culture to the world.

Written by Joseph Yeh

Indigenous Culture and Traditions of Nepal

Nepal is the pious country in the lapse of the Himalayas, which is beautiful, quiet, the birth place of Buddha and origin of Hinduism. Besides being the country of Everest it is equally popular with its diverse cultural values. This is the land where civilization began and is also known as the country of 'SANGRILA.' Nepal is as holy place to Hindus & Buddhists, as Mecca for Muslims and Jerusalem to Jews and Christians.

Nepal is a country sandwiched between China and India. Because of its geo-political situation, Nepal's sovereignty has always been very sensitive. Nepal is rich culturally and naturally. Our successful foreign policy would be to maintain our culture, traditions and indigenous identities to balance between China and India. Actually, Nepal is a paradise which provides calmness and rejuvenation to the mind. This lovely place is also said as the potpourri of ethnicity and has many cultural landscapes. This land of bio-diversity has so many cultural and religious landmarks that give a soothing experience to everyone.

Prithvi Narayan Shah, the unifier of Nepal is the pride of Nepal. It was almost 100 years before unification of Germany (1868), Italy (1868), and the restoration of the Meiji (Japan, 1868) in which America was also under British dependency, that Prithvi Narayan Shah had already unified (1768) 54 small fiefdoms to build a large, expanded and greater Nepal. But after the movement of April 2006 and the party leaders came to power they smashed the statue of the great King, contempt and insulted him and called off the birth anniversary of the late king as a day of national unity.

Why? A country's existence and prestige can gradually be eroded by finishing off its faith and belief tradition and culture and the creator of nation. If anyone wants the assurance of integrity and lasting peace in this country, one must not be confused about the country's century's old customs and religion traditions as well as the builder of nationality and unity.

Nepal was worthy to be bowed down by Hindus all over the world. This is the highest honor Nepal could receive from the international community. Nepal's prestige and honor would elevate further if this country is declared as "Hindu and Buddhist" country, instead of a secular state. But, at present why the peaceful country where Lord Buddha was born has become the venue of confrontations?

The main causes of the crisis is the abolishing our culture and traditions. Some are going to abolish the creations of Prithbinarayan Shah and to destroy his statute. Similarly, some are active to minimize Hinduism and dismiss the existence of Buddha. One of the communist old-leader Mohan Bikram Sing has written that Buddha was burn in Orissa (India) but not in Nepal. (See: Kantipur B.S.2059 Bhadra 19) What is that means? Such antagonistic so-called politicians, some against of Christian are habituated to exploit our national culture, religions and identities. This is the matter of grief for all the nationalists.

Everybody knows, among all religions of the world Hindu religion is considered as the most liberal. According to renowned philosopher Voltaire, Hinduism is the best gift of the East to the West. Similarly, George Bernard Shaw, Irish litterateur also said 'Hindu religion is the most important and the most liberal religion in the world. According to Encyclopedia of Religions and Ethics, signs of Hindu religion are even found in the present Islamic country like Iran. A stone scripture of 486 BC found in Iran contains the words Hindu and Hindus.

Even an ancient Parsi scripture 'Shatir' has lifted a word of Ved Vyas 'I am a true Hindu born in a Hindu country'. Another Hindu philosopher Manu has taken the area between Bindhya in south India and the Himalayas in the north as Aryabrata, the land of Aryans. Even outside travelers like Megasthaniz and Fai Han have written in their travel memoirs after their visit of the Kingdom of Chandra Gupta Maurya that Hindus have tall figure, long life, healthy, who avoid narcotics, simple, intelligent, truthful, who do not keep witness in transactions, do not lock their houses and there is no theft.

So, in the evolutionary process of the world's civilization, Hindu philosophy is taken as liberal, simple and tolerant. A Nepali Scholar Mr. Dinbandhu Aryal expains -'Hinduism is the sum and substance of the traditional humane cordiality. The African leader Nelson Mandella was impressed from Vedas, legends and Upanishads. He wanted to be converted Hindu for that purpose he wanted to perform penance or provide donation if necessary. He would be gratified and feel fortunate'

Hinduism is the most liberal and tolerant of religions. How can the oldest and most liberal of religions be thrown away just like that? No religion (and certainly not Hinduism & Buddhism) should be made a political issue. Why the culprit leaders of (Congress,UML & Maoists) party didn't try to understand the sentiments of the people?

It is the main duty for all the leaders to care the basic norms and values of the nation. But, by declaring Nepal a secular state, the visionless party leaders have done just that: tried to put together the unmixable, which could be dangerous for the stabilized Nepali society. No one has right to trample believe and conviction of the people rights.

Is a matter of grief that our cultural assets are thieving by the some Nepalese culprits and the foreigners since 30 years? Being not the national honesty to our political leaders and administrators, Nepal is becoming poorer & poorer day-by-day in our culture and national existence & spirit.

One of the cultural historians G.C.Alpen has written remarkably before 24 years ago in The Rising Nepal - 'To see well this organized art theft going on daily apparently unhanded, is a painful experience for those of us who do not look at all upon Nepal as an 'under-developed', but a highly civilized country, unique in the world as a fascinating focus of culture and religion, a treasure-house of spiritual knowledge and traditions that have survived here, as if a miracle-amidst a spreading world of our and aggressive materialism.'

People in the developed country appreciate the physical beauty of the stolen ancient images from the temple of Nepal at their respective country while the Nepalese old mothers are desperate and breaking out into tears. The images which were meticulously carved with precious stone and jewels taking two thousand years were destroyed within the period of recent thirty years. Let there be no such destruction anymore.

More than that the Hindus have the freedom to pursue their own way of observing the religion. If Nepal is to be declared a secular country, all countries, which call themselves as Christian or Muslim countries should also be declared secular countries.

If they want Nepal to become a secular country, then they should also be willing to shun their 'Cross' of the Christians, 'sign of David of the Jews and 'Kava' of Muslims. However, it needs to be pondered that even if Nepal was a Hindu Kingdom, its nature was like a secular country as Hindus have never done anything that would harass or trouble other religions. The Hindus and the Buddhists are more than three billions.

It is a scared land for more than a billion Hindus and Buddhists. So, it is our request not to exercise in ineffectiveness. In the name of transforming the country into 'New Nepal' this is not the way to destroy our culture and traditions. We should have to think independently and have to come to our own conclusion. This will be the solution to keep intact our indigenous cultural assets and our monarchy & sovereignty.

By Dirgha Raj Prasai

Walk with Buddha

He walked... in India. Incredible India.

The Scientists Have Made a Photo of Christ

World sensation: the secret of the "Turin shroud" is solved


Russian FSS (ex. KGB) experts the first proved authenticity of the Turin shroud, and their conclusions were confirmed by last researches in Oxford. For the first time the scientists have made an ultraprecise digital picture of the well-known Turin shroud, which is the most mystical and mysterious relic in the humanity history.

Christians name a piece of a linen cloth "the Fifth Gospel ", because the face and a body of Christ wonderfully were impressed on it, as on photo. Every wound of Jesus', every drop of blood spilled in rescue of humanity was embodied!

It’s the message of almost two thousand years age is visual evidence of everything that is written in the Gospel is true”, director of the Russian center of the Turin shroud, physicist Alexander Belyakov said, “it brings to people a good news about the Savior, about the victory over the death …”

“What have the militant atheists not done to try to announce the unique relic by a fake! Stupidly repeated, that it was only picture of the artist. Examination has denied this version: on a fabric really mirror impression of a body. Other sceptic argument has bust also with crash: as if the person, smeared by paint, was wrapped by cloth. There is not the ochre on the cloth, there is blood. Successes in finding out its components: hemoglobin, bilirubin and albumin. By the way, the raised bilirubin abundance testifies that the person has died in a condition of stress, under tortures. The group of blood was determined - IV (АВ). Male sex was defined by the set of chromosomes in leukocytes.

Digital technologies have allowed to recreate a face of Christ.

But the most heavy argument of the shroud authenticity proof was found by experts of Institute of criminalistics of FSS of the Russian Federation, they have established, that the radiocarbon analysis of fabric age which was made by laboratories in the Great Britain, the USA and Switzerland twenty years ago, to put it mildly, were inexact. It’s Dr.Sci.Tech. Anatoly Fesenko’s opinion, headed researches, that foreign experts "have rejuvenated" a relic more than on one thousand years, because haven’t considered the major circumstance. There was a terrible fire in a cathedral where the shroud was stored in the Middle Ages, and soot particles have settled on the fabric. Therefore devices have fixed not age of the fabric, and the carbon connections fragments which have stuck to it …

Picture

In Oxford the newest researches confirmed, that FSS experts were right - the shroud was really weaved in days of Christ life.

By the order of Vatican the most precise picture by the permission in 12, 8 billion pixels were made from it for the first time. On it silhouette of the body of the Savior and his face is impressed in the smallest details on it. The advanced technologies have allowed familiarizing the greatest relic in details.
Scientists photographed thousands of fabric fragments, and then picture of a shroud was spreaded from them on computer as if from puzzle parts.
The strong magnification allowed to see spots of sacred blood of Jesus.”We connected 1600 picture areas together, everyone has size with a credit card, and then we created a huge picture. It’s in 1300 times more, than a photo, which was made by the digital camera with the permission in 10 million of pixels”, explains Mauro Gavinelli, “Owing to new technologies it is possible to consider every thread, all details …”



Trepidation

Funeral cloth of Christ is unwrapped before believers extremely seldom. The shroud is stored in silver casket in the curtailed kind. For all last century it was got only five times! Last time it was exposed before pilgrims in Turin in 2000. And at the next time - in 25 years.

Now everyone can look at repeatedly magnified face of the Savior, which was wonderfully impressed on a linen cloth, and scientists plan to upload the digital photo into the Internet. And each person can join its familiarizing; it will be tremendous day for humanity! People by own eyes will see impressed body of Jesus Christ.

The Turin shroud was started to study exactly 120 years ago and owing to a photo. At that time the linen cloth was removed on a photographic plate by the Italian lawyer Sekondo Pia. After developed it, he looked at a negative. Also he instantly understood, that the objective embodied that eyes did not see - a impress of bearded person body, which had pierced wrists and feet. And his face was as on icons of the Christ!

The cloth, which was weaved of the Mediterranean flax with a touch of the Egyptian cotton, has kept on itself wrapped image of Jesus' – to his full height, in front and behind. Here is the description of the picture, which was made by scientists: "There are hair, which are confusedly sprawled on the cloth, a small beard and moustaches. The right eye is closed, left is poorly slightly opened. There is a drop of blood above the left eyebrow. The nose bone is interrupted from cuff from the left side. From the left side of face a cheekbone is broken, there are signs of a hypostasis. There is a spot from blood to the right of a mouth.”

Analysis

Scientists from the Oxford University in the Great Britain again try to determine age of the Turin shroud, already considering amendments of the Russian criminalists. The brigade under direction of Professor Christopher Ramsi spends analyses of disintegration of cloth hydrocarbon for the first time for last 20 years. The purpose of researches is to correct a scandalous mistake of twenty years' prescription about dating the shroud.

At that time it was declared, that provisional age of this relic seven-eight centuries, a cloth it is weaved from 1260 for 1390.

20 years ago three independent groups simultaneously researched the shroud in Zurich, Arizona and Oxford by method of the hydrocarbonic analysis and have made the conclusion, that it existed in the Middle Ages.

At that time Oxford professor Edward Hill said: " Someone bought a piece of flax, drew outlines of a body on it and strongly torn " …

The figures was presented by experts, pushed Turin cardinal Anastasio Alberto Ballestero to tell then, that the shroud indeed can be a forgery!

This pastor doubt revolted feelings of believers. They refused to trust a science. Hasty applications of the Oxford researchers was denied then in Russia, and in the most serious structures, such as FSS!

"The shroud is the original, which is concerning by the first century of our era, it’s not later fake ", that was the conclusion of experts commission under direction of director of Institute of criminalistics of FSS, Dr.Sci.Tech. Anatoly Fesenko.

“The reason of an error is the natural polymeric covering, which has formed on fabric fibres after monks cleared its vegetable oil in Middle Ages. It also has rejected analysis indications", experts counted.

Film

The professor from Oxford Christopher Ramsi, recognized reasons of Russian criminalist Fesenko, and he declared, that there could be a mistake at analyses 20 years ago.

“The age could be certain incorrectly because of pollution which have accumulated on a shroud”, he said, “besides in 1988 almost nothing was known about carbon-14 which we have well enough studied now. Probably, something unusual will open in it, that will help to reveal a secret the most mystical relic of Christianity”.

The newest researches will be shooted on video for channel BBC in Oxford. The project director doctor Rolf said, that is enough to remove from a shroud only two percent of pollution, to obtain true data.

Believers are assured, that till the end of March, when results of researches will be promulgated, it will be absolutely precisely proved, that a shroud is that fabric by which the the Savior body has been covered almost two thousand years ago!

In Russia the photo of the Turin shroud is stored in Sretensk monastery in Moscow, according to blessing patriarch Alex II . Believers pray to this picture, as to an icon. “We feel by hearts, that the Savior is on a picture”, believer said, “In fact they are filled with love …”

How to Consciously Choose the Life of Your Dreams

Everything in life is a choice and your spiritual growth depends entirely on the choices you make and the spirituality information that you immerse yourself in. The key to creating the life of your dreams is to begin the process of understanding how important it is to be conscious and aware of the choices you are making and whether those choices are serving you or not.

Relativity tells us that you can't know something as an experience until you first come to know its opposite. That is the purpose of the theory of relativity and all physical life. That is why we have this other beautiful, magnificent and glorious ability in our lives called choice. We get to choose whatever it is that we desire. We can say "the devil made me do it" all we want, but the ultimate reality is that we make a choice about every decision we make in our lives. Now comes the important question. Are you making your choices consciously or unconsciously? Really think about that one. Remember we are thinking up the life of your dreams here. Are you thinking consciously or unconsciously? Think about that, consciously. Right now you are reading this article. You are fully in the present moment. Your mind is engaged. Your brain is processing the data. You are in a conscious endeavor to improve your life. Right now you are thinking consciously, but what happens when you stop reading this article? Are you going to go over and turn on the idiot box and watch the next generation of a "reality show?" Are you going to mindlessly subject yourself to the commercials that tell you to go out and buy the next best version of the useless material possessions that already fill your cupboards and closets and your life? Is that what you call conscious living? Does that serve you? I'm not making judgments here; I am just making observations. It is entirely your choice as to what you fill your days and nights with. I just want you think about what you are thinking about because that is the only way that you can begin to think consciously. If we are saying that life is a process, and we are, then we want to be awake and aware of that process. You can only do that if you are conscious that life is a process and then consciously aware about how the process works. That's why you are reading this article. To understand the true nature of how things work. This is a conscious endeavor, which takes some concerted effort, but the rewards and riches that await you are worth the undertaking. We are not thinking about short-term gratification. We are going for the long haul, the big picture, the effortless life that awaits us when we wake up to this clarion call to consciously view life as a process. Telling ourselves that "the devil made me do it" isn't going to cut it anymore. You can only use that excuse when you are living unconsciously. Remember we are changing the way we are thinking and thinking different thoughts. Thank you Albert Einstein for telling us that you can't change your current situation by thinking the same thoughts that got you there. You must change the way you are thinking and think different thoughts.

Start the process of consciously being aware of your current situation and the begin to consciously make choices that open up different avenues of thought that have the potential to create the life of your grandest dreams and aspirations.

About the Author

Richard Blackstone is an author and international speaker on Life, Love and The True Nature of How Things Work. He won the prestigious "America's Next Top Author" award from ConsciousOne.com for his book, "Nuts & Bolts Spirituality." Read his FREE report, "The 3 Simple Immutable Laws of the Universe" at: http://www.NutsandBoltsSpirituality.com

Buddhism culture week in Hue

VietNamNet Bridge – Buddhism Culture Week will take place at Tu Dam pagoda, in the central city of Hue from March 1-7, with presentations by famous scholars and scientists, a photo exhibition, and meetings between senior monks and local young people.

On this occasion, 108 photos captured by Thich Minh Hien in nearly ten years will be introduced at an exhibition named “Japanese and Tibet land and people”.

Hue residents will also have a chance to meet and listen to presentations made by famous scholars, for example a presentation about conflicts between civilizations by Professor Cao Huy Thuan on March 2, Zen and health by doctor Do Hong Ngoc, Buddhism in a multi-cultural context by Dr. Thai Kim Lan on March 3, Hue characteristics in Vietnamese culture by Professor Buu y, Indian identity by writer Ho Anh Thai.

Taste of Cherry, a film by Abbas Kiarostami which won the Golden Palm award of the Cannes Film Festival 2007, will be screened.

Artists from the Hue Conservatory of Music will have a special concert with music pieces by Pham Duy, Trinh Cong Son and famous western classical music works.

The event is held to celebrate the UN Vesak Day celebration, which will be held in Vietnam from May 13-17, 2008.

(Source: Tuoi Tre)