BLIA South Island NZ members share thoughts on Master Hsing Yun’s new book during seminar
Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island New Zealand held a seminar for BLIA members on 27th July, inviting Fo Guang Shan (FGS) NZ Venerable Abbess Manshin to give a lecture about Master Hsing Yun’s “True Meaning of the Dharma” book. There were also other talks and book sharing sessions, plus a monthly birthday celebration, with about 50 BLIA South Island members attending that day.
Abbess explained the true meaning of the Dharma to the BLIA folks and how to live according to the Dharma. She said that learning Buddhism requires dexterity, wisdom, commitment and clear thinking that will make matters well. Learning Buddhism requires understanding cause and conditions, accepting what life throws at you. Venerable Abbess reiterates on how learning Buddhism requires a great deal of commitment and service to others, the more we help others, the more happy we will be. We should not fear hard work, but treat it as food for spiritual wisdom, nutrition to make us grow better day by day. Although the Dharma’s wisdom is very powerful, Venerable Abbess reminds us to learn to embrace the living, recognise life and death and seek to apply the Dharma’s true meaning into our daily lives.
During the BLIA meeting, reports were given respectively by BLIA South Island NZ President Bernie, Vice Presidents James Low and Lih-Son, Ding, First Chapter President Louisa Kuo, Second Chapter President Cao Qian, and Third Chapter President Sally Lim. The agenda included an introduction to BLIA’s core values, how to join BLIA, the role of BLIA members, how to recruit new members and get them up to understand on BLIA’s spirit and philosophy.
Book reading club members next shared their thoughts from reading the “I did not become a monk for food” book. The knowledge transfer was done via a “Three reeds” performance, poem recital, singing, and sign language. These active techniques resonated well with the audience, allowing them to better understand the book’s concepts. Not only did the members gain a lot from reading, they also found other cross-sharing methods to be effective in helping them understand the dedication of Master Hsing Yun’s life work in promoting Buddhism selflessly over the years. They were very touched by the stories and this strengthened everyone’s belief and heart, motivating them to promote Humanistic Buddhism further.
Venerable Jue Xi in her speech described Humanistic Buddhism as a sort of challenge against human nature. The more we dislike a task, the more we should do it until we like it. The more we dislike someone, the more we need to learn to get along until we like him/her. All doubts in life have their answer in the Dharma. Venerable Jue Xi encouraged everyone to follow Humanistic Buddhism from generation to generation, letting our lives find the rightful place where it belongs.
Finally, BLIA had a birthday celebration for all of those born in July with a delicate birthday cake, and Venerable Jue Xi on behalf of the temple and association gave a “longevity bun” to each birthday star. Each BLIA member learned a lot about the Dharma that day, sharing their thoughts and absorbing all the valuable information. They hope to organize more seminars in the future, with more people always welcome to join and listen in on how to apply the Dharma to our daily lives.