Deputy Sangharaja of Bangladesh visits IBC

The Deputy Sangharaja of Bangladesh, Most Venerable Gyanasree Mahathera visited IBC Korat together with a group of 14 (7 monks and 7 lay devotees) on 18th December 2011. Venerable S─½lananda, the 4th in rank among Bangladesh sangha was in the group, too. There were also a few University professors and editors of popular Bengali Buddhist Journals amongst our distinguished visitors, too.

Most Venerable Deputy Sangharaja and his entourage had paid a visit to the Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, Surin branch of Thailand before travelling to IBC Korat. The Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya, Surin had conferred upon Most Venerable with an Honorary PhD degree earlier on in 2008. His Eminence Deputy Sangharaja had made the trip to congratulate and express his good wishes for IBC upon hearing of the contributions of IBC to promote Buddhism.

We at IBC are honoured and grateful that His Eminence and his erudite entourage had graced our Korat campus. We have all had a pleasant and informal meeting first at the library before adjourning to the Chanting Hall. Venerable Zhen Chan first offered the candles to the Buddha image and then extended his good wishes and warm welcome to His Eminence and all our distinguished guests. He aired his deep appreciation for the visit and requested for more students from Bangladesh to attend IBC courses in future. This was followed by a short video presentation of IBC before our Dean of Faculty of Religious Studies, Prof. Dr Kapila A. shared his feelings of IBC endeavour and our Bangladeshi students.

Prof. Dr. Kapila spoke about the importance of academic Buddhist studies and commended upon the performance of Bangladeshi students. He had also suggested the likeliness of the students contributions for worldwide Dhamma propagation in future. One of our erudite guests spoke about the Buddhist heritage of Bangladesh.

Finally, His Eminence, the Most Venerable Deputy Sangharaja had also graced us with a few words. His long awaited words inspired and encouraged us deeply. His Eminence appreciated our IBC endeavour and congratulated us for our service to the t the global community in general and the Bangladeshi students in particular. .

After the mini speeches, Venerable Zhen Chan offered a token of remembrance to His Eminence and some other tokens of appreciation to all our venerable guests. The memorable event ended witha blessing chant led by the Deputy Sangharaja and a group photo ensued. We are blessed indeed with this auspicious visit of the the 87 years old Venerable Deputy Sangharaja of Bangladesh and the 83 years old senior venerable who accompanied him. This will be an event well remembered.