2022 Dhammacakka Virtual Celebration

Please Join Us

The Hawaii Association of International Buddhists presents

2022 Dhammacakka Virtual Celebration

Date: Saturday, September 10th (Full Moon)
Time: 4:00 - 6:00 PM (Hawaii time) on Zoom
(Zoom link will be emailed to you when you register)

Dhammacakka (Pali) or Dharmachakra (Skt.) means Dharma Wheel. The traditional Dhammacakka celebration commemorates the first discourse by the Buddha to the five ascetics he had practiced with prior to his awakening.

Program Schedule

Welcome:

Michael Kieran, HAIB President

Opening chants:

Bishop Eric Matsumoto of Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii (Mahayana)

Venerable Lama Mingma of Kagyu Thegchen Ling (Vajrayana)

Venerable Dhammamuni of Wat Dhammavihara Hawaii (Theravada)

 Panelists speak on the Buddha's profound teaching of Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda)

So profound is the truth of Dependent Origination, the Buddha declared: 
“One who sees dependent origination sees the Dhamma. 
   One who sees the Dhamma sees dependent origination.”

Panelists:

Venerable Dhammananda: Abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery in Thailand  (Theravada)

Bishop Clark Watanabe: Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii (Mahayana)

Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo Professor ofBuddhist Studies University of San Diego (Vajrayana)

An open Question and Response period will follow the presentations by our panelists.

See below for additional biographical information on each panelist.

Watch the Replay : 

Biography of Panelists

Venerable Dhammananda (Dr. Chatsumarn Kabilsingh) In 2001 Venerable Dhammananda became the first Thai woman to be ordained in the Theravada tradition. Receiving full ordination in 2003, she brought the lineage from Sri Lanka to Thailand and today there are around 270 ordained women spread throughout many provinces in Thailand. Venerable Dhammananda is the leader of Songdhammakalyani Temple in Nakhonpathom, near Bangkok, the first temple in Thailand for Buddhist nuns.

Prior to her ordination Venerable Dhammananda studied philosophy in India, completed her Master’s degree at McMaster University in Canada, and earned a PhD in Buddhism from Magadh University in India.  

Bishop Clark Watanabe was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on April 10, 1969.  He graduated May, 1993 from the University of Hawaii, Manoa, with a BA in Religion.  Through a scholarship administered by UH Manoa, History Dept., he attended the Urasenke Gakuen Professional College of Chado, Midori-kai Program from 1990 to 1991.   He was ordained at the Koyasan Sanboin Temple on December 10, 1994 and given the Buddhist name, “Zenkyu”, then entered the Koyasan Senshu Gakuin Seminary in April 1995 and graduated in March 1996.  From 1998, he was the Assistant Minister at the Koboji Shingon Mission in Honolulu.  On June 2, 2008 he was assigned as the Resident Minister of the Honomu Henjoji Mission. In 2012 he was also assigned as the Resident Minister of the Hamakua Shingon shu Kyodan/Paauilo Kongoji Mission.  In April 2016, he became the 13th Bishop of the Koyasan Shingon Mission of Hawaii.

Venerable Karma Lekshe Tsomo began meditating in the Zen tradition in Japan in 1965. In 1972, she began practicing vipassana with U.S.N. Goenka and various meditation systems with H.H. Dalai Lama and other teachers in India. She is a professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of San Diego, where she teaches Buddhist Thought and Culture, World Religions, and Dying, Death, and Social Justice. She was ordained as a novice nun in France in 1977 and received full ordination as a bhikkhuni in Korea in 1982. She is a founder and past president of Sakyadhita: International Association of Buddhist Women, and director of Jamyang Foundation, an innovative education project for women in developing countries.  Currently, she is director of the La‘i Peace Center in Waialua.

The Hawaii Association of International Buddhists is an active organization of individuals with diverse Buddhist backgrounds coming together to get to know one another and to learn the rich and varied practices of our different Buddhist traditions.  HAIBs founding principles are fourfold: 

1) To foster friendship and understanding among all Buddhist groups; 

2) To secure solidarity among them through realization of the essential 
unity of all Buddhist schools; 

3) To promote the development of spirituality for improving the quality of life 
among Buddhists as well as humanity as a whole; and 

4) To organize programs for the achievement of peace and harmony through Buddhism's benign spirit of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity, and the pursuit of happiness and well-being for all humankind.

In this, HAIB's 30th Anniversary year, we especially invite you to join us and support our work. Visit: https://www.hawaiibuddhists.org/ and click on the button that says "Join HAIB" in the upper right corner of the home page. Mahalo!