FGS Buddha Museum

Text | British Library “Discovering Sacred Texts” Website

Edited by Buddha Museum International Affairs Department

In January 2018, Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum and the British Library signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the hope that this partnership would bring long-term benefits and contribute to the reservation and promotion of Buddhist archives and collections. Discovering Sacred Texts is one of the important projects in the collaboration. Through this website, one will be able to turn the pages of sacred Buddhist texts and learn more about the texts interpreted by Venerables of Fo Guang Shan. This project aims to contribute to global conversation around religions and enhance the connections between the young generation and faiths of the world.

On the website, British Library has made a video introducing how different Buddhist traditions practices their faith through the concept of the Three Jewels: the Buddha; Buddhist teachings (Dharma); and Sangha, the religious communities that practice Dharma. The Mahayana tradition was represented by Fo Guang Shan. In the video, Venerable Ru Hai commented on the importance of precepts, “the precepts are our foundation and the basis of being a human. Similarly, a country cannot be without laws. A household cannot be without rules. Precepts are standard for Buddhist practitioners. As a female Buddhist, after we renounce to become a monastic, we transcend gender forms. So both males and females have to undertake the same responsibilities; there is no difference.”

During the three-year partnership, both the British Library and the Buddha Museum had exchanged ideas on digitisation, Buddhist exhibition curation, Buddhist scriptural research, and community engagement programmes. Although the MoU has come to an end, both hope to continue their partnership after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Watch full video on https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/videos/buddhism#