Invitation of BLIA NZ Member to the National Police Remembrance Day – Soothing Prayer from Venerable Master Hsing Yun
Abbess Manshin of Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple NZ was invited to the Australia/New Zealand and South Pacific Police Remembrance Day 2018 located in the countries capital of Wellington on the 28th of September 2018. The day pays tribute to police officers who have given their life in the line of duty for the past 132 years. The VIP attendees where NZP Commissioner Mike Bush, Minister of Police Hon Stuart Nash, Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement, Acting Deputy Commissioner Andrew Coster, Padre David Dell, police superintendent, inspector, police officer, Venerable Jue Xi, Venerable Ru Lian, BLIA member Nick Yoong, family members and about one thousand of the local community came. All attendees were wearing the HUIA badges to pay respect to police officers who had died in the line of duty.
The memorial service was hosted by the Acting Deputy Commissioner Superintendent Andrew Coster. The ceremony was started with the traditional Maori prayer by Inspector Anaru George, followed by the singing of the national anthem by everyone. The name of each police officer that died in the line of duty or killed by criminal acts were mentioned by the superintendents. The list included fourteen police officers that died during the end of first world war.
“Police Remembrance Day is the saddest day for us, as we mourned for our beloved friends, just like how we grieved for our family”, as mentioned by Commissioner Mike Bush. This year, NZ Police Department carved the name of the 14 police officers on the monument. “Our police officers are always our first line of defence. In the most critical moments, they are a doctor, nurse and funeral director! They will have the highest honours and the names will be carved on the monument, just like how we remember our beloved police officers that have fallen in the duty”.
In the speech of Minister of Police Hon Stuart Nash, he was still shocked by the sudden murder of Police Len Snee in his hometown, Napier. Len Snee had portrayed the qualities of a good police officer, he was respected and loved by the community, but still died unexpectedly while on duty, protecting and bringing peace to the society. On this day, everybody appreciates and recognised every police officer that contributed and sacrificed for the nation.
Next, Padre David Dell gave a salutation speech and a representative of the family member of deceased police officers read the Bible as the prayer. Besides, the choir group from the NZ police gave a touching poem, bagpipe performance from the Royal Police NZ, flower offering and the Hakka performance from all police of Patron 319 to show the highest honours to the police.
In this memorial service, Abbess Venerable Manshin gave a reassuring prayer from Venerable Master Hsing Yun: “Buddha bless the deceased police officer so that they will be directed to a good place or returned to the Earth, their bereaved family will be taken good care and every committee member in the society will bear the responsibility to become a police officer”. The prayer is soothing, and the police superintendents showed there appreciation to Abbess Manshin.
Inspector Rakesh Naidoo remarked that Abbess Manshin was invited because in the past ten or more years, the contribution of Buddhism towards the society was excellent, and it was believed that the message from Buddhism is able to transmit positive energy to the fallen police officer and their family members.