Nordic Buddhists gathering for conference - Estonian Press 11.09.2011

Original in Estonian

English translation

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Konverentsi osalejad Veltsas stuupat külastamas

15.-16 septembril toimub Tallinna Ülikoolis viiendat korda Eesti Njingma rahvusvaheline konverents "Budism ja Põhjala". Konverentsiga seotud küsimustele vastab Eesti Njingma sekretär ja konverentsi üks korraldajaid, Marju Broder.

Mis on Eesti Njingma? Kellele ja milleks niisugust konverentsi vaja on, mis toimuma hakkab?

Eesti Njingma koondab tiibeti vanima traditsiooni – njingma koolkonna järgijad ning on ajaliselt kõige vanem budistlik ühendus Eestis. Nimelt sai Eesti Njingma alguse juba 80. aastatel, kui Vello Väärtnõu asutas esimese Eestimaa Budistliku Vennaskonna aastal 1982 ning rajas sellega Eestisse praktilise budismi ja njingma traditsiooni. Väärtnõu on ainsa eestlasena õppinud Ivolga kloostris, pealaamade Hambo Erdineevi ja Hambo Tsybikovi juures. Vennaskond ehitas Väärtnõu juhtimisel Eestisse neli stuupat, mis olid esimesed põhjamaades ning ainsad nõukogude ajal ehitatud stuupad NL territooriuumil, Vennaskond tõlkis ja paljundas kümneid raamatuid (nn.samizdat), valmistas budakujusid ja siiditrükis thankasid (budistlikud pühapildid)

Tänapäeval tegutsevad nii vanad kui uued njingma-pad sama õpetaja, Vello Väärtnõu juhendamisel.

Laiema avalikkuseni jõudis taas Eesti Njingma nimi 2007.aastal seoses esimese konverentsiga “Budism ja Põhjala,” mille idee autoriks ja juhiks on Vello Väärtnõu. Peale iga-aastaste konverentside organiseerimise on Eesti Njingma on paari viimase aasta jooksul lisanud Pärnumaale uut budistlikku arhitektuuri - viies stuupa (10m), Tuletempli, palveveski jm. 2005. aastal sai alguse Eesti Njingma budismialane veebientsüklopeedia, mis on ühe inimese, V. Väärtnõu ettevõtmine ning on ainus omataoline eesti keeles. Eesti Njingma on Eestimaale tuntust toonud ka kaugel Aasias, sh. visiidiga Vesak 2011 konverentsile Bangokki, kus Tai kuningapere ja MCU ülikooli rektor omavad Väärtnõu loodud thankasid.

Vajadus sellise konverentsi järele oli suur - budism on Eestimaal kohal juba üle 100 aasta, kuid siiani ei ole selle ajalugu ning kuulsaid isikuid Eestis üldse uuritud ega eriti kirja pandud. Ajalooliselt on Eesti budismi isaks Karl Tõnisson ehk Vend Vahindra ehk ka rahvanimega Paljasjalgne Tõnisson, kes oli mungaks ja eestseisjaks St. Peterburi Budistlikus Templis ning tegutses Eestis eelmise sajandi algul. Tõnissoni näol on eestlastel olemas esimene rahvuslik pühak –nimelt kuulutati ta peale surma Rangoonis Bodhisattvaks - ei ole just palju rahvaid, kes omaks isiklikku budistlikku pühakut. Eesti budist on ka parun Roman Ungern von Sternberg, tema nimi on au sees nii Mongoolias kui Burjaatias, kus teda jumaluse kehastuseks peetakse. Ühesõnaga, meil on palju materjali, mida uurida ja säilitada tulevastele põlvedele. Meie kultuuriloo budistliku aspekti uurimine ja salvestamine on meie kohustus ja missioon, kuna eesti vähene orientalistika on sellest siiani mööda vaadanud ning esitleb end pigem värskete budistidena.

Konverentside käigus on leidnud kinnitust fakt, et ka teistes põhjamaades on kohaliku budismi uuringud alles lapsekingades, seda kinnitas prof.Offermanns Lundi ülikoolist 2. konverentsil ja ka paljud teised. Seetõttu on loomulik teha koostööd oma naabritega ning vaadelda, kuidas peegeldub see kauge idamaade kultuur meie põhjamaises kontekstis ning tuua välja meie ja naabrite kuulsad isikud ja nende tegemised.Veel praegugi on “Budism ja Põhjala” ainus iga-aastane põhjamaade ja Põhja- Euroopa budismi uuriv konverents Euroopas.

Selle aasta konverentsil kuuleme budismi-teemalisi ettekandeid teadlastelt ja budistlikelt õpetlastelt erinevatelt maadelt– see on hea vorm koostööks, sest uurijad (budoloogid) ja uuritavad (budistid) täiendavad üksteist teemade käsitlemisel. Kahe päeva jooksul võetakse kõne alla budistlik tühjuse-teooria (A.Terentiev, “Buddhism of Russia” peatoimetaja), budistlikud tantrad (V. Korobov, Vilniuse ülikool), iidne kalligraafiakunst Hiinas (Ch.Chou, Hamburgi ülikool) ja chan-budismi areng (Ming Bao, Rootsi).

Juttu tuleb Rolpai Dorje müstilisest loost tsatsa kujudega (H.Wahlquist, Stokholmi Etnograafiamuuseum), budismi ajaloost Ungaris (Z. Cser, Dharmagate College Budapest), 'Kajo Zendost' Soomes (M. Laitinen, Helsingi ülikool), budismist igapäevases elus (Zhen Chan Thai Budistlikust kolledzh). Peterburi budolooge vaatleb E. Soboleva Peterburi Antropoloogia ja Etnograafiamuuseumist, Läti budismi tänapäeval prof. Stasulane Daugavpilsi ülikoolist, tiibeti meditsiini korüfeesid N.Bolshohoeva Burjaatiast ning sanskriti-tiibeti-mongoolia nimetusi võrdleb Natalia Jahhontova (VTA Peterburi Idateaduste Instituut).

Kas budismil ja budismil on vahe? Miks konverentsil rõhutatakse seda, et tegemist on Põhjamaade budismikonverentsiga?

Budismil nö. endal ei saa kuidagi olla vahet, pigem on tegu siin budismi aspektide peegeldamisega erinevate inimeste poolt. Kui isegi tava-asjadest saavad inimesed äärmiselt erinevalt aru, siis on loogiline, et vastavalt vaimsetele võimetele ja teadmistele ning kultuuritaustale mõistetakse ka budismi erinevalt. Nagu igas valdkonnas, on budismis olemas spetsialistid ja laiem ring, lisaks peab rõhutama, et on suur vahe intellektuaalsel lähenemisel ja praktiseerimisel – kas oskad maja ehitada või ainult räägid sellest.

Väga huvitavad on olnud prof. Stasulane ettekanded, kus kirjeldatakse budistlike terminite kajastamist ja mõistmist eelmise sajandi perioodikas Lätimaal, prof. Offermannsi ettekanded budismi kajastamisest Rootsis alates 17. sajandist. Praegu tunduvad nii mõnedki tolleaegsed tõlgendused lausa naljakad, seepärast tuleb siia saabunud budistlikku kultuuri uurida mitmekülgselt, ka teaduslike vahenditega, et seda paremini mõista.

Hiljutine dalai-laama külaskäik Eestisse ja tema kohtumine või mittekohtumine erinevate poliitikutega on palju tolmu üles keerutanud. Missugune on dalai-laama roll Teie silmis? Kas ta on pigem poliitiline figuur või usutegelane? Mis Te arvate, kas eestlased suhtuvad temasse kui budismikuulutajasse või kui vabadusvõitlejasse? Miks see nii on?

Dalai laama on tiibetlaste jaoks kaastunde jumaluse Avolokiteshvara kehastus ja nii arvavad nad ka tegelikult. Läänes on budismiga tegelejatel sageli kaks seisukohta – oma, nö. tegelik (lääne arusaam) maailmast ning sõnade-budism, mis ei ole nende enda maailmavaade ja veendumus, vaid sõnaline väljendus.

Aga see asjaolu, et Dalai laamadel on olnud ka poliitiline võim, see jäägu tiibetlaste endi hinnata. Budistide vabadusvõitlus on praktiline tegevus rahva heaks ilma endale võimu soovimata – Eesti Rahvusliku Sõltumatuse partei loomise ettepanekuga tulid Eestis välja just budistid, täpsemalt siis Vello Väärtnõu ja Vennaskond 1987. aastal, mil enamus Eesti praegustest funktsionääridest veel teise, valitsevasse parteisse kuulusid. Nagu ütles Tunne Kelam aastapäevakõnes – see tegu nõudis ERSP loomise ettepaneku esitajatel head intuitsiooni ja suurt isiklikku julgust.

Eestlaste suhtumise kohta küsiks vastu - kas saab sel sellist ühest määratlust olla, see on üldse lääne mõtlemise viga, et kõik olgu määratletud: kas ei või jah. Inimestel ja nähtustel on enam aspekte kui kaks, eks siis saab ka Dalai laamat vaadelda eri kontekstides, vastavalt informeeritusele ja maitsele kas usutegelasena või poliitilises plaanis. Kusjuures seda peab küll mainima, et budismi ei kuulutata nagu näiteks kristlust, kus see kuulutajale plusspunkte annab. Budistile pole sellest mingit tolku, ta peab ise oma meeltega tegelema, ise ennast ümber töötlema tavakodanikust budaks, seda saab ta teha ainult ise ja õpetaja juhendamisel.

Dalai laama ei tulnud siia omal algatusel budismist rääkima, vaid kutsuti siia – need on erinevad asjad.

Eestlased ei ole kuigi religioosne rahvas, kogu usk tundub meile kas kauge ja võõras või kauge ja iganenud. Mis võiks budismi juures eestlastele sobida, meid paeluda?

Budism ei ole religioon tavamõistes, seda lihtsalt nimetatakse läänes religiooniks üldistavalt ja harjumuslikult, pigem on see suur ja iidne kultuur. Kui monoteistlikes religioonides -kristluses, islamis, judaismis on üks jumal, kelle poole pöördutakse ja kes siis tegeleb teiega, siis budismis sellest nähtust pole. Budistil pole ülimuslikku ainujumalat, keda paluda, vaid ta teeb tööd endaga, toetudes õpetaja juhendamisele. Küll aga on tohutu hulk jumalusi (mitte segi ajada kristliku jumala mõistega), kes osutavad abi budistile tema õpingutes ja keda vaadeldakse sisimas tähenduses kui oma meele ilminguid, mida tegelikkuses sellisena ei eksisteeri. Meie meeled on piiratud ulatusega, meie igapäevased mõõteriistad –silm, nina, kõrv jne – valetavad meile, annavad ebapiisavat infot, lisaks teadvus, mis kogu selle puuduliku info kokku võtab ning igaveseks tõeks kuulutab.

Meil on kõigil enam-vähem sarnane keha ja meeled, me oleme inimesed. See, mis sinna peale ehitatakse, on erinev nii geograafiliselt kui kultuuriliselt, kuid baas on üks – see oleks seos ka eestlaste jaoks. Kui meie tegevusplatsiks ja lähtepunktiks oleme meie ise, siis ei saa see vast kuidagi olla iganenud või tunduda igav.

Missugune on lühidalt eesti budismi ajalugu, kui suur on siinne kogukond, millal ja kus kogunetakse, mida tehakse?

Eesti budismi ajalugu algas üle 100 aasta tagasi, seoses juba mainitud Karl Tõnissoni tegevustega Eestis koos oma õpilase F. Lustigiga. Ajalooliselt järgmine budist oli parun Roman Ungern von Sternberg, kes võitles kommunistliku terrori vastu idas, kuid temast kui budistist ei teata Eestis suurt midagi. Olev Remsujev on kirjeldanud oma raamatutes meie esibudiste parimate nõukogulike traditsioonide kohaselt - groteskselt, neid halvustades ja rumalateks pidades, kuid teaduslikud uurimused neist puuduvad.

Seejärel oli pikk vaikuse-periood, kuna nõukogude ajal oli religioosne tegevus põlu all ja lausa karistatav ning praktlise budismiga tegelemiseni jõuti alles 80 aastatel, kui asutati Eestimaa Budistlik Vennaskond. Nemad viisid läbi ka esimesed budistlikud rituaalid Väärtnõu juhtimisel, seda küll kitsas ringis, sest see oli ohtlik ja riskantne tegevus tol ajal.

90-ndate aastate alguses tekkis mitmeid budistlikke rühmitusi, hakkasid liikuma rändavad budistlikud õpetajad jmt.

Kõik see üle 100-aastane materjal oleks vaja läbi uurida ja kirja panna akadeemilise teaduse poolt. Meie tudengid võiksid selle peale mõelda, kui hakkavad oma BA, MA ja PhD tõid tegema.Veidi materjali leiab huviline nii budismientsüklopeediast kui ka konverentsi kodulehelt.

Ühtset kogukonda aga Eestis pole, nagu meile kombeks, nokitsetakse eraldi oma asju ajada ning ka budistlike ühingute lähenemine budismile, eesmärgid ning arusaamised on erinevad. Budisti eesmärk on targaks saada ja seda saab ka eraldi teha, miks nad muidu seal lumises Tiibetis üksinda koopas vahel istusid. Kindlasti mitte eesmärgiga kannatada, vaid ikka targaks saamise vajadusega.

Lõpuks paar tehnilist küsimust: kui konverentsi töökeeleks on inglise keel, kas see tähendab, et mingit tõlget ei ole? Mis ajaks peaks huviline end konverentsi kuulama registreerima ja kas saab ka niisama kohale tulla? Kui pikad konverentsipäevad on?

Konverentsi töökeeleks on inglise keel, kuna kokku tulevad eri rahvustest inimesed, peab mingi ühise keele kommunikatsiooniks valima. Teine põhjus aga on lihtne - raha tõlgeteks ei ole. Riik on üritust toetanud väga marginaalselt kahel korral, vaatamata rahvusvahelise ürituse kätte-toomisele, võtab Tallinna ülikool aga meilt alati täisüüri, nii et tõlked jäävad paremaid aegu ootama. Kuid on ka väga toredat suhtumist, mitu aastat järjest on konverentsile õla alla pannud Sokos Hotel Viru, kelle esindaja suust kostis Eestis harvaesinev lause – no haridust ja kultuuri toetame ikka.

Konverentsi kuulama kutsume aga kõiki idahuvilisi – tulge julgelt kohale, lihtsalt niisama!
Sissepääs on vaba ja tasuta, lektorid on oma ala spetsialistid ja huvitavad inimesed.

Neljapäeval on konverents kuulajatele avatud 11.00-17.00 ja reedel 9.30 –12.30. Pärast seda jätkuvad lektorite üritused omavahel. Slideshow vormis näitame konverentsi vaheaegadel ka fotonäitust Ivolga kloostrist 80.aastatel ning tänapäeval.

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AI translation of the Estonian text.

Conference people in Veltsa visiting the stupa

On 15 to 16 September the international conference of Eesti Njingma, "Buddhism and Nordland", will take place at Tallinn University for the fifth time. Questions about the conference are answered by Marju Broder, secretary of Eesti Njingma and one of the organisers of the conference.

What is Eesti Njingma? For whom and why is such a conference needed, and what will take place?

Eesti Njingma brings together the followers of the oldest Tibetan tradition, the Nyingma school, and is the oldest Buddhist association in Estonia in time. Eesti Njingma began as early as the 1980s, when Vello Väärtnõu founded the first Buddhist Brotherhood of Estonia in 1982 and thereby established practical Buddhism and the Nyingma tradition in Estonia. Väärtnõu is the only Estonian who has studied at the Ivolga monastery, under the head lamas Hambo Erdineev and Hambo Tsybikov. Under Väärtnõu's leadership the Brotherhood built four stupas in Estonia, which were the first in the Nordic countries and the only stupas built in Soviet times on the territory of the USSR; the Brotherhood translated and copied dozens of books (the so-called samizdat), and made Buddha statues and silk-screen thangkas (Buddhist sacred images).

Today both old and new Nyingmapas work under the guidance of the same teacher, Vello Väärtnõu.

The name of Eesti Njingma reached the wider public again in 2007 in connection with the first conference "Buddhism and Nordland", whose idea was conceived and is led by Vello Väärtnõu. Besides organising the annual conferences, Eesti Njingma has in the last couple of years added new Buddhist architecture in Pärnu County: the fifth stupa (10 m), the Fire Temple, a prayer wheel and more. In 2005 the Buddhist web encyclopedia of Eesti Njingma was begun; it is the undertaking of one person, V. Väärtnõu, and is the only one of its kind in the Estonian language. Eesti Njingma has also brought recognition to Estonia far away in Asia, among other things with a visit to the Vesak 2011 conference in Bangkok, where the Thai royal family and the rector of MCU University own thangkas made by Väärtnõu.

The need for such a conference was great: Buddhism has been present in Estonia for over 100 years, but until now its history and its famous figures have not been studied in Estonia at all, nor much written down. Historically the father of Estonian Buddhism is Karl Tõnisson, also known as Brother Vahindra, or by his popular name Barefoot Tõnisson, who was a monk and the head of the Buddhist Temple in St. Petersburg and was active in Estonia at the beginning of the last century. In Tõnisson the Estonians have their first national saint: after his death he was proclaimed a Bodhisattva in Rangoon. There are not many peoples who have a Buddhist saint of their own. Baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg is also an Estonian Buddhist; his name is held in honour both in Mongolia and in Buryatia, where he is regarded as the incarnation of a deity. In a word, we have a great deal of material to study and preserve for future generations. Researching and recording the Buddhist aspect of our cultural history is our duty and mission, since Estonia's small field of oriental studies has so far overlooked it and rather presents itself as made up of fresh Buddhists.

In the course of the conferences the fact has been confirmed that in the other Nordic countries, too, the study of local Buddhism is still in its infancy; this was confirmed by Prof. Offermanns of Lund University at the 2nd conference, and by many others. It is therefore natural to cooperate with our neighbours, to look at how this culture of the distant East is reflected in our Nordic context, and to bring out the famous figures of our own and our neighbours and what they did. Even now "Buddhism and Nordland" is the only annual conference in Europe that studies the Buddhism of the Nordic countries and Northern Europe.

At this year's conference we will hear papers on Buddhist subjects from scholars and Buddhist teachers from different countries. This is a good form of cooperation, because the researchers (Buddhologists) and the researched (Buddhists) complement each other in treating the subjects. In the course of two days the discussion will cover the Buddhist theory of emptiness (A. Terentiev, editor-in-chief of "Buddhism of Russia"), the Buddhist tantras (V. Korobov, Vilnius University), the ancient art of calligraphy in China (Ch. Chou, University of Hamburg) and the development of Chan Buddhism (Ming Bao, Sweden).

There will be talk of the mysterious story of Rolpai Dorje with the tsatsa figures (H. Wahlquist, Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm), of the history of Buddhism in Hungary (Z. Cser, Dharmagate College, Budapest), of "Kajo Zendo" in Finland (M. Laitinen, University of Helsinki), and of Buddhism in everyday life (Zhen Chan, Thai Buddhist college). The Buddhologists of St. Petersburg will be looked at by E. Soboleva of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in St. Petersburg, Latvian Buddhism today by Prof. Stasulane of Daugavpils University, the great figures of Tibetan medicine by N. Bolsokhoeva of Buryatia, and Natalia Yakhontova (Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg) will compare Sanskrit, Tibetan and Mongolian names.

Is there a difference between one Buddhism and another? Why does the conference stress that it is a conference on Nordic Buddhism?

Buddhism itself, so to speak, cannot have any difference at all; rather, this is a matter of aspects of Buddhism being reflected by different people. If people understand even ordinary things in extremely different ways, then it is logical that Buddhism, too, is understood differently according to people's mental abilities, knowledge and cultural background. As in every field, Buddhism has its specialists and a wider circle; in addition it must be stressed that there is a great difference between an intellectual approach and practice: whether you can build a house or only talk about it.

Very interesting have been the papers of Prof. Stasulane, which describe how Buddhist terms were presented and understood in Latvian periodicals of the last century, and the papers of Prof. Offermanns on how Buddhism has been presented in Sweden since the 17th century. Today quite a few of the interpretations of that time seem downright funny; that is why the Buddhist culture that has arrived here must be studied from many sides, also with scientific means, in order to understand it better.

The recent visit of the Dalai Lama to Estonia, and his meeting or not meeting various politicians, has stirred up a lot of dust. What is the role of the Dalai Lama in your eyes? Is he more a political figure or a religious figure? Do you think Estonians regard him as a preacher of Buddhism or as a freedom fighter? Why is that so?

For the Tibetans the Dalai Lama is the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the deity of compassion, and that is what they really believe. In the West, people involved with Buddhism often hold two positions: their own, so to speak real (Western) understanding of the world, and a Buddhism of words, which is not their own worldview and conviction but a verbal expression.

But the fact that the Dalai Lamas have also had political power is for the Tibetans themselves to judge. The freedom struggle of Buddhists is practical action for the good of the people, without wishing power for oneself. It was precisely Buddhists who came forward in Estonia with the proposal to found the Estonian National Independence Party, more exactly Vello Väärtnõu and the Brotherhood, in 1987, when most of Estonia's present functionaries still belonged to another party, the ruling one. As Tunne Kelam said in his anniversary speech, this act required of those who put forward the proposal to found the ERSP a good intuition and great personal courage.

As to the attitude of Estonians, I would ask in return: can there be one single definition of it? It is altogether a mistake of Western thinking that everything must be defined: either no or yes. People and phenomena have more aspects than two, so the Dalai Lama too can be seen in different contexts, according to one's information and taste, either as a religious figure or in a political light. It must be mentioned, though, that Buddhism is not preached in the way that, for example, Christianity is, where preaching earns the preacher plus points. For a Buddhist there is no use in that; he must work with his own mind himself, transform himself from an ordinary citizen into a Buddha, and this he can do only himself, under the guidance of a teacher.

The Dalai Lama did not come here on his own initiative to talk about Buddhism; he was invited here. Those are different things.

Estonians are not a very religious people; all faith seems to us either distant and foreign or distant and outdated. What in Buddhism might suit Estonians, might fascinate us?

Buddhism is not a religion in the usual sense; in the West it is simply called a religion as a generalisation and out of habit; rather, it is a great and ancient culture. Whereas in the monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, there is one God to whom one turns and who then deals with you, in Buddhism this phenomenon does not exist. A Buddhist has no supreme single God to pray to; he works on himself, relying on the guidance of a teacher. There is, however, an enormous number of deities (not to be confused with the Christian concept of God), who give help to the Buddhist in his studies and who in their innermost meaning are regarded as manifestations of one's own mind, which in reality do not exist as such. Our senses have a limited range; our everyday measuring instruments, the eye, the nose, the ear and so on, lie to us and give us insufficient information; and in addition there is consciousness, which sums up all this deficient information and declares it eternal truth.

We all have more or less the same body and senses; we are human beings. What is built on top of that differs both geographically and culturally, but the base is one, and that would be the connection for Estonians too. When we ourselves are our field of activity and our starting point, it can hardly be outdated or seem boring.

Briefly, what is the history of Estonian Buddhism, how large is the community here, when and where do people gather, and what do they do?

The history of Estonian Buddhism began over 100 years ago with the activities in Estonia of the already mentioned Karl Tõnisson together with his pupil F. Lustig. Historically the next Buddhist was Baron Roman Ungern von Sternberg, who fought against the communist terror in the East, but as a Buddhist hardly anything is known about him in Estonia. Olev Remsujev has described our first Buddhists in his books in accordance with the best Soviet traditions: grotesquely, belittling them and regarding them as stupid; but scholarly studies of them are lacking.

Then there was a long period of silence, since in Soviet times religious activity was in disfavour and even punishable, and practical Buddhism was taken up only in the 1980s, when the Buddhist Brotherhood of Estonia was founded. They also carried out the first Buddhist rituals under Väärtnõu's leadership, though in a narrow circle, because it was a dangerous and risky activity at that time.

At the beginning of the 1990s several Buddhist groups came into being, wandering Buddhist teachers began to travel, and so on.

All this material of more than 100 years ought to be studied and written down by academic scholarship. Our students could think about this when they start their BA, MA and PhD work. Anyone interested can find some material both in the Buddhist encyclopedia and on the conference website.

But there is no single community in Estonia; as is our custom, people potter about with their own affairs separately, and the Buddhist associations also differ in their approach to Buddhism, their aims and their understanding. The aim of a Buddhist is to become wise, and that can also be done separately; why else did they sometimes sit alone in a cave in snowy Tibet. Certainly not with the aim of suffering, but out of the need to become wise.

Finally, a couple of technical questions: if the working language of the conference is English, does that mean there is no translation? By when should someone interested register to attend the conference, and can one also just come along? How long are the conference days?

The working language of the conference is English, since people of different nationalities come together and some common language has to be chosen for communication. The other reason is simple: there is no money for translation. The state has supported the event only very marginally, twice, despite our bringing an international event here, while Tallinn University always charges us the full rent, so translations will have to wait for better times. But there are also very kind attitudes: for several years in a row Sokos Hotel Viru has given the conference a helping hand, and from the mouth of its representative came a sentence rarely heard in Estonia: well, of course we support education and culture.

We invite everyone interested in the East to come and listen to the conference: do come along, just like that!
Entry is free of charge, and the lecturers are specialists in their fields and interesting people.

On Thursday the conference is open to listeners from 11.00 to 17.00 and on Friday from 9.30 to 12.30. After that the lecturers' events continue among themselves. In the breaks of the conference we will also show, as a slideshow, a photo exhibition of the Ivolga monastery in the 1980s and today.

Notes

• The interview is with Marju Broder, secretary of Eesti Njingma, before the 5th international conference "Buddhism and Nordland", Tallinn University, 15 to 16 September 2011 (Thursday and Friday). See also Vello Vaartnou -Nyingmapa from Estonia.
• The web encyclopedia begun in 2005 is Vello Väärtnõu's Estonian-language Buddhist encyclopedia, the forerunner of the Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia.

Current name is Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia

Source

kultuur.delfi.ee