 Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association
新加坡中华佛教会
celebrates 80th anniversary
 The Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association 新加坡中华佛教会 was founded after Venerable Tai Xu’s 太虚法师first visit to Singapore in 1926. Venerable Zhuan Dao 转道和尚 and Venerable Pu Liang 普亮法师 initiated the founding of the Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association in 1927.
Since its founding, the association has served different social functions as Singapore went through different historical stages from a British colony to an independent city state.
In 2007, the Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association had been founded and had served the society for 80 years. To mark this milestone, a series of events was launched as their 80th anniversary celebration.
The celebrations started with a prayer session （消灾植福药师法会）at the hall of Singapore Buddhist Federation in November 2007.
In early December 2007, a series of 3 talks on Venerable Taixu, his teachings and his impact on Buddhism in Singapore were organized. These talks gave audiences the opportunity to understand the work and contribution of Venerable Tai Xu and his impact on the development of Buddhism in China and overseas including Singapore.
A photo and material cultural exhibition and handicraft sale （中华80回顾展与手工艺品义展 ）was held at their premise to share the history of the organization. A large collection of photos, documents, old meeting records, letter heads, membership cards and other relic were put on display. Many of them were extremely valuable artifacts from the prewar period. They have been very well preserved and presented for the exhibition.
An anniversary dinner (会庆文娱晚宴) was also organized in Singapore Chinatown by invitation only. The entertainment was provided by different Buddhist organizations and demonstrated the strong relationship between Buddhist organizations in Singapore.
Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the 80th anniversary celebration was the specially commissioned book entitled fayuan 法缘that documents the history of Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association.
This publication is very well researched and documents the founding of Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association and their social, cultural, charity and religious activities over the 80 years. Many extremely rare photographs were included in the publication.
By doing so, Singapore Chinese Buddhist Association documents, records and presents their history for future generations to understand the contribution of Buddhism to Singapore society. This volume will certainly provide valuable materials for future researchers.
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