FGS South Island Ullambana Dharma Service

On the 2nd of August, Fo Guang Shan South Island NZ held an Ullambana filial piety Buddhist dharma service in Christchurch Harvard Community Lounge, passing on the great blessings of this filial piety lunar month prayers onto our elders and ancestors, as well as a heart-felt lament for Kaohsiung, Taiwan's gas leak explosion accident victims.

The dharma service was led by FGS New Zealand Venerable Abbess Manshin whom along with 70 odd Buddha Light International Association (BLIA) members and fellow Buddhists, chanted “The Sutra of the Fundamental Vows of the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva”. This was followed by a recital of Venerable Master Hsing Yun's “Prayer for the Kaohsiung 731 gas leak explosion accident”, to further bless the victims of the disaster and help them move on from the tragedy.

This year during the lunar filial piety month, FGS South Island has especially been dedicated in organizing prayer and practice sessions, amassing a total of four hundred Ksitigarbha Sutra recitals, ten thousand origami cranes and ten thousand Heart Sutra recitals. The fellow participating Buddhists showed their best in happiness and sincerity of heart, sharing the outcomes of these sessions in order for more people to understand the compassionate nature of Buddha and the preciousness of Buddha's teachings. Also pray for such accident or similar incident will not spreading or occur.

Abbess Manshin later addressed the crowd to tell the story of the Ksitigarbha Sutra's origin and purpose, especially in regard to how it is relevant to the Kaohsiung gas leak explosion accident victims in helping them spiritually. In light of this tragic accident which reminds us of the unexpected dangers in life and it's fragility, Abbess encourages everyone to not linger too much when life is short, to make use of our time to build good relationships, to do more good deeds, and have a positive attitude in cultivating this one life of ours to be as wonderful and meaningful as possible.