Symposium on Humanistic Buddhism Reading Group Facilitator

On July 8, FGS NZ Venerable Abbess Manshin invited the team of Humanistic Buddhism Reading Group from the Headquarters, Taiwan. The team including the Guiding Venerable, Venerable Manmu, the Director of Taiwan Region Reading Group, Shuming Deng and Lecturer Guifang Peng to FGS Christchurch to hold a Symposium on Humanistic Buddhism Reading Group Facilitator. Nearly 40 BLIA South Island members, including President Bernie, Advisor Louisa Kuo, President of Subcharpters attended.

In Abbess Manshin’s speech shared that New Zealanders have been deeply influenced by the wisdom of Venerable Master Hsing Yun, through his book "366 Days with Wisdom", copies of which have been distributed to more than 700 hotels in the North and South Islands.

Venerable Manmu explained the purpose of the Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s founding of the Humanistic Buddhism Reading Group, and the technique to operate it in a flexible way. She appreciates the opportunity to interact with BLIA NZ members and happy to hear their own experiences in leading the study group.

Shuming Deng thanked Abbess Manshin for sharing various collective innovative activities that fuse Humanistic Buddhism with the local culture in New Zealand. Especially the detailed tour with the Buddhist Practitioner’ spirit of the architecture of every corner of the Temple by Abbess Manshin coincided with the method of Reading Group that adopt travelling as another form of reading. Although members may not all sit at the table and read articles together, they can still stir up dialogue through guided tours, and learned about Buddhism in the process.

Peng Guifang shared that: if one wants to cultivate good temperament, reading is one of the ways, especially the 395 volume of the “Complete Works of Venerable Master Hsing Yun”. With an articles, a reading group can be set up with just 3 members. The facilitator of a reading group will benefit others as well as himself when reading become a part of life.

BLIA South Island President Bernie expressed the gratitude to the Headquarters Reading Group Team for their precious sharing and believed all BLIA members will actively participate and organise different kinds of reading group to benefit everyone.

BLIA South Island Advisor Louisa Kuo shared that she was very fortunate to have joined and facilitate the reading group of “Humanistic Buddhism Tribute Hymn Reading Group”, in memory of Master Hsing Yun. She thanked the Temple for giving the opportunity to learn about Venerable Master’s wisdom in a lively way with all members.