International Conference
An International conference was held in Colombo on ‘Buddha Sasana in Theravada Buddhist Countries: ‘Issues and the way Forward’. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Buddha Sasana in commemoration of the 250th year of the revival of higher ordination and the founding of the Syamopali Maha Nikaya in Sri Lanka. Bhutan, Combodiya, India, Laos,Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand were invited as participants while Bangladesh, Republic of China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Singapore and Vietnam were invited as observers. The conference was held from 16th to 19th January at Galadari Hotel, Colombo.

Dongguk-PGIPBS seminar on Buddhist Thought and Culture
A one-day seminar was held at the Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, Colombo, on 8th January. The seminar was initiated by Brain Korea-21 Project and jointly sponsored by Dongguk University, Korea and PGIPBS, Colombo. Buddhist academics from the two countries presented papers.

Seminar on Buddhist research methodology
A ten session seminar on Buddhist research methodology will be held at PGIPBS starting from early March. For the benefit of those graduate students and young scholars working in Sinhala, the seminar will be held in the Sinhala medium. For more information you may contact Prof. Asanga Tilakaratne, the coordinator of the seminar, at Tel. # 368894.

Russell Bowden, currently researching for an M. Phil. At the Post-Graduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies of the University of Kalaniya, on the invitation of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka, delivered the above address. The text is being finalized for publication in the next issue of the RAS’s journal. The paper is developed from a Student’s Guide that he was preparing for his use and that of fellow researchers-particularly those working in English. In it access details are provided to more than twenty-three libraries’ collections in Sri Lanka (each examined personally) and instructions given on how to access remote overseas libraries’ catalogues, via the internet, and how subsequently to obtain sight of those overseas materials via an International Federation of Library Associations’ Voucher Scheme. The paper clearly identifies researchers’ major working ‘tools’ - such as bibliographies, index, significant catalogues as well as abstracting and indexing services - for ola - leaf manuscripts, monographs and journal articles. It concludes with references to these to provide a clear guide into resources for Buddhist Studies.

(Russell, Bowden is a former British Council Librarian and University lecturer currently pursuing postgraduate studies at PGIPBS)