On Monday, an American Buddhist monk, who is on the forefront in the fight against world hunger, will be speaking at Syracuse University as part of a Syracuse Symposium series.

Bhikkhu Bodhi will speak on issues surrounding world hunger and how people can help end it, said Jikyo Bonnie Shoultz, the Buddhist chaplain at Hendricks Chapel. The event, called “Engaged Buddhism: Listening and Responding to World Hunger,” will be hosted at Hendricks at 5:30 p.m., she said.

Bodhi founded the Buddhist Global Relief, an organization based on Buddhist principles that works to fight chronic hunger and malnutrition, Shoultz said. The organization funds global projects such as providing a meals program for children in Haiti, free meals for hospital patients in Vietnam and improving food production in Ethiopia, according to the organization’s website.

Bodhi is also recognized for being the foremost translator of Buddhist text from its native language to English, Shoultz said.

“He’s never been here before and he probably won’t be again because of his stature as this Buddhist monk who’s done so much,” she said. “It’s rare for us to have the opportunity to hear somebody like that.”

Shoultz compared Bodhi’s upcoming visit to the Dalai Lama’s visit to SU last year, saying he exuded the same compassionate responses to global issues as the Dalai Lama did.

His speech will discuss creating sustainable production, flaws in the current global food system and major shifts concerning ecology and agriculture, according to documents Hendricks provided.

“He’s not taking the position that our major job is to provide food, so much as our major job is to provide people, and interrupt the global system that denies food to so many people,” Shoultz said.

She added the university will be making a donation to the Buddhist Global Relief.

With Bodhi’s arrival on campus, SU and Hendricks have developed a yearlong world hunger awareness program, organizing a series of events on the issue and having student groups involved, Shoultz added.

“It’s really because of him that we’ve developed this initiative,” she said. “Not only is he doing this globally, but we should be doing activities locally. We really want students to have an opportunity to help.”

Published on September 12, 2013 at 2:48 am

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