BLIA South Island NZ hosts Sharing Session for the “Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s Complete work”
On the 22th of July, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island New Zealand organized a sharing session to encourage fellow BLIA members to read the “Venerable Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s complete works”. The event was attended by Fo Guang Shan (FGS) New Zealand Abbess Venerable Manshin, Temple Minister in Charge Venerable Jue Xi, Venerable ZhiWu, BLIA Dharma lecturer Rona Ku, BLIA South Island Vice Presidents James Low and Lih-Son Ding, Directors Mei-Hwa Chen and Tracy Chen, and nearly 40 BLIA members. Seven groups of people shared their thoughts on six different categories in the complete series that day, distilling down some of the knowledge found in more than three thousand million words spread across 365 volumes.
The first group from the ‘English Dharma group’ shared what they gained from “The Core Teaching” sections, plus those of the 16th, 17th, and 18th volumes. The second ‘Caring group’ had Humanistic Buddhism philosophy as their reading topic. Group leader Jack Liu used the Chan’ story of Venerable Master Jindai, who was able to let go of his precious orchid collection after his disciple accidentally knocked over all of the pots, as an analogy for how we should learn about Buddhism. We practice for the sake of obtaining joy, and not for the sake of getting angry. The third ‘Triple Gems group’ had the encyclopaedia series, which taught them a lot about Buddhist terminologies and the makeup of the Dharma. Group leader Forest Lin summed up the reading for everyone and hoped that more reading classes like these will continue. The fourth ‘Great sages group’ studied Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s wisdom words and from their study of the ancient virtuous sages’ various poetry, they found out how Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s modern day interpretation of the poems made the difficult words simpler and easier to relate to. To spread the ideas better, this group used singing combined with lute music to express the beautiful poetry verses.
The fifth ‘Generation Z Humanistic Buddhism group’ selected a series of Venerable’s letters to read, and after reading them, they felt Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s strong concern for the people. Even in the early construction days of Fo Guang Shan in Kaohsiung, he would still find time in the busy schedule to write to his disciples in Japan. The sixth ‘King Kong photography group’ had ten copies of book series to look over. Group leader Kok Wei Low expressed how a picture can truly speak for a thousand words, and a good one is not only a historical record, but also a story that can broaden one’s mind. The seventh ‘happiness and Joyous group’ had annotated scriptures to review, consisting of four books which includes Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s work on explaining the various Dharma scriptures line by line. Group leader James Low summarized them of how Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s simple annotations turned an otherwise hard document into a much easier read, and what we can gain from them depends on how much wisdom we have.
The book sharing session was interspersed with four performances. The English Chapter’s members sang a recitation of Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s wisdom words; the Youth Adult Division performed “The Hundred Syllable Vajrasattva Mantra”, and “There will be a way with the Buddhist way”; and some BLIA members sang “Giving is power”. All these interesting performances led to lots of laughter and joy, and it was great to see so much creative energy being put into the whole thing.
Venerable Abbess Manshin remarked on how exciting learning about Buddhism is, especially because of the many Venerable Masterpieces Venerable Master Hsing Yun has written, all condensed into a collection of 365 books that originally came from over 500 books. Abbess spoke of how it can be very busy for people learning Buddhism, but it is worth it to be busy sorting out one’s poor habits. If there are parts that are not up to standard, we must make up for it. Greed can be lessened by learning to give. Wisdom can be replenished through reading and diligent practice. This mega collection from Venerable Master Hsing Yun gives us many ideas. Abbess continues by saying how this sharing session is only the first part, and there will be a second, third, and more to come, so BLIA members should continue to read the complete works and grow their wisdom. At the same time, learn how to use the Dharma’s wisdom to live a more comfortable and fulfilling life. The abbess kindly presented 2019 calendars to all the participants that day.
During that day’s sharing session, the temple and association kindly prepared light snacks for the participants. This “Venerable Master Hsing Yun complete works” sharing session was not only educational, but also pointing at the essence of Humanistic Buddhism, which is to learn human to human what it means to be in this world. BLIA members thank the temple and the association for organizing this event, and allowing them to spend their weekend in such a fruitful and interesting way.