FGS South Island’s “3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing”- Day 2 and Day 3
Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island’s “3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing” entered its 2nd and 3rd day on 15th and 16th May 2019 respectively. On 15th May, led by teacher and staff members Linda Strachan, Melissa Heyrick, 9 students from Christchurch Rangiora High School took part in the event; whereas on 16th May, accompanied by 7 teachers, 7 students from Kingslea Special School, attended the same event. Kingslea Special School was no new comer to the 3G4G Festival. In fact, they had participated in the event last year and returned this year because of its educational benefits.
The 15th May event was headed by Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island Vice President Lih-son Ding with assistance from BLIA members and other volunteers. The first programme of the day was the guided tour of the temple building including those areas such as the external frontal wall, the Art Gallery, the Time Tunnel, the library and the Buddha Hall. Ding started by first explaining the design concept adopted for each part of the building, namely: the significance in the installation of the statues of the four Bodhisattvas in temple sandstone wall, the artistic ambience designed for the Art Gallery, the duality of “light and shadow” design of the Time Tunnel, and the creation of literary temperament for the library. In each of the case, Ding pointed out how it fulfilled the concept expounded by Humanistic Buddhism. Ding taught the students that Humanistic Buddhism can be found everywhere in our daily lives and the students can practise “3G4G” anywhere and anytime, if they choose to.
Next, Ding led the students to the Buddha Hall where they carried out Buddha bathing. The students were told the origin and meaning of Buddha bathing. This was indeed a new and fresh experience for the students, and they could not help but started chanting “say good words, do good things, think good thoughts” while performing Buddha bathing. After this, Ding guided the students to practise basic sitting meditation to allow them to relax and find their inner tranquillity. On top of all these, the students also took part in sutra copying, and origami, folding paper into lotus flower. Since the students come from different countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, BLIA member Kok-Wei explained to them how Chinese words are formed, and the proper way of holding writing brush. Kok-Wei’s explanation aroused the interests of the students who then enthusiastically carried out their sutra copying. Before the end of the Festival, temple presented to each participant a lucky wind-chime.
Linda Strachan and Melissa Heyrick expressed the view that the “3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing” was a programme beneficial to one’s mind as well as one’s body. It allowed the students to learn about life philosophy and morality through unconventional methods and out-of-classroom activities. This had greatly raised the students’ interest in learning. At the same time, the students claimed that they were glad to have the opportunity to come into contact with a different culture and religion which had broadened their outlook. From their participation, they had also learnt the “3G4G” concept, and hence the way to become a better person.
In the case of Kingslea Special School, the students had shown tremendous commitment and dedication in their participation, and they hoped to be able to come back to again participate in such meaningful programme so that they can benefit further. They would always remember what they had learnt from this “3G4G” Festival and promised to put them into practice. Teacher Dionne Fowley was full of praises for the event and said that the wonderful ambience of the temple had changed the normally shy students into ones who dared to speak up openly in public. She was very impressed with the lesson on sitting meditation which had managed to calm down the restless students and return them to a tranquil world. Dionne had a plan to include meditation into the courses for the students so that they can, through meditation, find their own true peaceful nature.