The 3rd convocation seminar was officially declared opened by pro vice chancellor of Hong Kong university, Prof C.F. Lee on the morning of 1st August 2009 at Than Hsiang Temple’s multipurpose hall . In his opening speech, Prof Lee, conveyed the good news that The Geneva-based International Coalition for the Advancement of Religious and Spirituality (ICARUS) has bestowed "The Best Religion In the World" award this year on the Buddhist Community. This special award was voted on by an international round table of more than 200 religious leaders from every part of the spiritual spectrum. It was fascinating to note that many religious leaders voted for Buddhism rather than their own religion although Buddhists actually make up a tiny minority of ICARUS membership.

The convocation seminar was attended by over 250 participants and held in two venues to cater for the English and Chinese medium. The Chinese medium seminar had four speakers namely, Ven. Prof Dhammajoti, Prof Willemen, Dr. Chu and Dr. Fa Qing while the English medium had five, namely, Prof Dhammajoti , Prof willemen, Prof Toshiichi Endo, Prof Karunada and Prof Kapila. Their papers presented were as follow:
1. “The question of the oldest teachings of the Buddha: some remarks of the criteria for the stratification of the Buddhist Canon”.( in Chinese & English) - Ven. Prof Dhammajoti
2.“ From Where the Chinese Buddhism come?”(in Chinese & English)—Prof Willemen.
3. “ Lotus symbolism in Buddhism”(in Chinese)—Dr. Chu
4. “ Buddhist perspective of death”(in Chinese)—Dr. Fa Qing.
5. “The value of Pali Commentaries for Buddhist Studies”(in English)—Dr. Toshiichi Endo.
6. “ Birth of Buddhism as a critical response to spiritualist and materialist views.”(in English)—Prof Karudanasa.
7. “ The importance of kamma in Buddhist ethics”(in English)--- Prof Kapila.

The seminar ended at about 5.15 pm .The consensus from the participants is that the seminar presented an opportunity to gain a better understanding and insight into the pristine teaching of the Buddha as presented by the participating distinguished Buddhist scholars who are experts in their respective field. All look forward to have similar seminars in the future .