Buddha's Birthday Festival 2008

On the 5th of April 2008, Fo Guang Shan South Island conducted the Buddha’s Birthday Festival, which was held at Cathedral Square. The lion dance marked the beginning of the festive event.

Later in the morning, 11 offering groups, accruing to 110 people in total, participated in the offering ceremony. The groups offered incense, flower, light, fruit, tea and statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

FGS South Island's Venerable Abbess Manshin and Buddha’s Light International Association president Almeric Cheng cordially received the distinguished guests, namely New Zealand Cabinet Minister Hon. Lianne Dalziel, representative for NZ nationals MP Mr Marc Alexander, Christchurch City Councilor Helen Broughton, Christchurch Cathedral Square associate Dean Canon Diana Rattray, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office representative John Chen, Catholic representative, Rev. Carl Telford and Islam representative Mojdeh Moghaddam.

Abbess explained the significance of bathing the Buddha, and doing so gave the metaphor that just like how water is soft in nature, and can diffuse with anything and everything it comes into contact with, we can adopt the characteristics of water, and present religion, culture and life as an interconnected entity. The festival was a success, with 7000 people in attendance.

A baby blessing ceremony was held at 2pm, with close to 30 babies receiving the blessings of the Buddha. Abbess Manshin approached each stall with gifts, giving volunteers “Prosperous future generations” souvenirs. The festival drew to a conclusion at 4pm.

Account by Sheng Han Lim