Visit to FGS South Island Enabled Christchurch Groups to Appreciate Embroidery and Better Understand Buddhism
On 8th June 2021, the Artist Yao Hong-Ying’s Magnificence of Embroidery Exhibition at Fo Guang Yuan (FGY) Art Gallery Christchurch welcomed 35 visitors from three groups, namely the Bev Campion and Friends, the Lincoln Tuesday Walking Group and the St Marks, Samerfield, Methodist Women’s Fellowship. On arrival, the visitors were received by Gallery staffs Ella O’Donoghue and Juin-Mei.
The visiting Bev Campion group consisted of 5 people. During her previous visit to The Cities of the World Quilt Art World Tour Exhibition at FGY Art Gallery, through the leaflet distributed, group leader Bev learned of the impending Magnificence of Embroidery Exhibition, and she immediately arranged with her friends for a visit. The Lincoln Tuesday Walking Group had once visited the Temple before. Today being a Tuesday, 20 members from the group came to visit the Exhibition. Their group leader Lena learned about the exhibition through the newsletter of the Friends of FGY. Patricia Chapman, the head of the Methodist Women’s Fellowship, said that today’s visit to the Water Drop Cafe was meant for their regular monthly gathering, and it was attended by a total of 10 people. Apart from attending their gathering, the group was surprised and elated to also visit the long-awaited Magnificence of Embroidery Exhibition. Patricia had visited Yao Hong-Ying Embroidery Exhibition 11 years ago, and until today, she was unable to erase the fond memories of the previous Embroidery Exhibition from her mind.
In addition to visiting the Embroidery Exhibition, the visitors also visited the Buddha Hall. There, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island Volunteer Jack Liu introduced to them the life story of Buddha, and explained the philosophy of Buddhism and the settings in the Buddha Hall. Jack’s explanations made the visitors realise that the teachings of Buddhism are so intimately intertwined with and applicable to modern lives. In the Buddha Hall, some visitors even started scripture transcriptions. Later, the visitors adjourned to the Water Drop Cafe for their meals, and they were full of praises for the delicious food served there.
After careful scrutiny of the works, the visitors were full of praises for the Embroidery Exhibition. Afterwards, the Temple presented each visitor with an auspicious lucky bag as souvenir. In addition to admiring Artist Yao's high-level embroidery works, what the visitors learned from Jack in the Buddha Hall also made them realise that Buddhism is such a friendly and approachable religion. They promised to revisit the Temple again in the near future and they would also introduce it to their friends.