Went to the library yesterday. To my great disappointment, there aren’t many English or Chinese Buddhist books to borrow. I heard it’s the same for the central National Library’s borrowable collection. Am wondering if it’s the same case islandwide. I wasn’t expecting an entire room of Buddhist books but two rows on a single shelf of is really pathetic. And the rows are not even very packed. Let’s not forget the selections are not exactly updated. Neither is there much variety. Some of the Chinese books are really old and in bad shape.
It made me wonder whether the libraries are doing any active sourcing for new books. If they do, I’m sorry to say it’s a helluva lousy job they are doing. Comparing the volumes of Buddhist books with other religions’ books, they are truly few and far behind. If the libraries are not so keen on religious books, maybe they can be less biased by allocating every religion with a fixed number of them, to not favour one over another.
In Singapore, 43% of its citizens (and increasing) are Buddhists of various traditions. If religious ratio as a guide is anything to go by as a guide for purchasing materials, there should be much more Buddhist stuff, and with a wide range too. It does not do much justice at all. Gosh. I’m glad the Buddhist community has its own libraries to promote Buddhism. As history’s longest teaching founder of a world religion, the Buddha taught for 45 years. His works and commentaries on them deserve proper archiving to share with the public.
Some Buddhist Libraries in Singapore
Buddha of Medicine Welfare Society : www.bmws.org.sg
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery : www.kmspks.org/library
Tai Pei Organisation : www.dabei.org.sg
Singapore Buddhist Youth Mission : www.sbym.org.sg
Singapore Buddhist Welfare Services : www.sbws.org.sg
The Singapore Buddhist Lodge : www.sbl.org.sg
The Buddhist Library : www.buddhlib.org.sg
If you know any other local organisation with a ‘decently’ sized library, please add on the list by commenting below!
The Mahaprajna Buddhist Society 慧严佛å¦ä¼š
http://tmbs.org.sg/
Cheng Beng Buddhist Society 净åä½›å¦ç¤¾
Our national libraries do indeed have only a limited number/range of Buddhist books in either English or Chinese.
Seriously speaking, books on/related to Christianity are usually/generally more well-stocked in our national libraries than that on other religions.
As Buddhists or as those who are interested in learning more about Buddhism, each of us can contribute to effect a positive change by recommending to the library our recommendations of certain Buddhist books or books related to Buddhist truths.
How do I recommend a particular title or collection to NLB?
You can use the ‘Recommend A Title’ link in the Catalogue results page to forward us your recommendation
Or this: http://tinyurl.com/9agn5h
I am greatly interested to learn about Buddha teaching (The Dharma) and am reading relevant books in Chinese and English. However, being English educated, many a times I could not understand the meaning of words, phrases found in both the English and Chinese text. Please guide me how and where I could find books or dictionaries to explain such words/phrases? I thank you for your guidance.
Respectfully,
Ping
Hi Wai Ping,
You can try to get this book from Kinokuniya or Amazon : Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: With Sanskrit And English Equivalents & a Sanskrit-pali Index
Not sure it will answer all your doubts, but basic Buddhist terms should not be a problem.
Wai Ping, I am using this online dictionary for the english translation. http://www.drba.org/dharma/btts/
Dharma Drum Singapore also has a library mostly Chiness Mahayana Sutras.
email : ddrum@singnet.com.sg
website : http://www.ddsingapore.org
Address: 100A Duxton Road
Singapore 089544
Tel: 6735 5900 :-O