KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 (Sin Chew Daily) — A total of 4,600 Malaysians are among the 40,000 people across the world sitting for online Buddhism exam simultaneously in eight languages organized by Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA).

The online Buddhism exam received full support from Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon who launched the online exam for Southeast Asia zone.

Dr Mah also gave words of encouragement to the 2,500 primary and secondary school students sitting for the online exam.

He expressed gratitude to Fo Guang Shan for organizing the exam in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic so that students have the opportunity to learn Buddhism at home.

“The Education Ministry not only encourages students to take part in the online exam but also endorses the organizer and the participants. All students taking part in the online exam will be allocated points for extracurricular activities,’’ he said.In her opening speech,

Ven Jue Cheng, the deputy secretary-general of the Southeast Asia zone under the International Association of Fo Guang Shan said the examination this year is unique in that Buddhist devotees and Fo Guang Shan members across the world are taking part together. It also receives endorsement from the Ministry of Education Malaysia.

“Dr Mah proposed to us to list the online Buddhism exam as an extracurricular event for schools. The proposal is also supported by the 13 state education departments in the country,’’ she said.

Ven Jue Cheng, who is also the chief abbess for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand under the Fo Guang Shan, described the online exam as a wisdom test which aims to assist the participants in learning more about practical Buddhism approaches.

The online exam is based on true Buddhism written by Master Hsing Yun.

In the past, the exam used to be held at various Fo Guang Shan temples in different parts of the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity for the online exam to be held simultaneously in Chinese, English, Portuguese, Korean, French, Japanese, Spanish and Tamil for participants in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America, North America and Oceania.
Close to 5,500 participants from Southeast Asia took part in the online exam.

In Malaysia, apart from Fo Guan Shan members, teenagers, primary school pupils, Buddhists and non-Buddhists also took part in the exam.