FGS South Island NZ Filial Piety Month Cultivation with Ksitigarbha Dharma Function

Every year on the seventh lunar month of filial piety, Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island NZ would organise two weeks of evening chanting starting from 1 August and host the “Ullambana Filial Piety Dharma Function” on 10 August. FGS NZ Abbess Venerable Manshin and the other Venerables led the devotees in reciting the “Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva’s Great Vows Sutra” in a sincere manner, with the merits transferred to their ancestors.

Once the Dharma ceremony concluded, Abbess explained, after the Buddha's enlightenment, he was deeply moved by the fact that all living beings are suffering so much. When he was about to reach Nirvana, he entrusted the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva to continue in saving all living beings so they could escape from the sea of suffering. Abbess expressed, the public should be grateful for the all the wise words left behind by the Buddha, such that we can still hear about the Dharma in this solemn and transcendent space today, escaping suffering to enjoy happiness. Everyone should cherish the present moment and cultivate themselves diligently.

Abbess encouraged the public with ten key points from the Exhortation to Resolve Upon Bodhi:
1. Pay respects to the Buddha
2. Pay respect to parents
3. Pay respect to teachers and elders
4. Pay respect to alms givers
5. Pay respect to all living beings
6. Recognise the suffering of life and death
7. Respect those who passed away
8. Repent on your wrong doings
9. Seek rebirth in the pure land
10. Understand the difficulty of the right path.
Lastly, Abbess encourages everyone to cultivate Bodhi spirit everyday and create good karma, to have the opportunity to hear about the right teachings of Humanistic Buddhism generation after generation.