Yilan Humanity Explorational High School NZ Visit

On 29th April, teacher Fan Qi led a group of 15 from Yilan Humanity Explorational High School, Taiwan to visit Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island New Zealand. Venerable Abbess Manshin, Venerable Jue Xi, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island NZ president See Shen Lee, vice president Louisa Kuo and several other BLIA members gave them warm welcome.

Fan Qi said that the main purpose of the trip was to lead students to participate in the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) in Nelson, New Zealand from 9th to 12th April, which would be an opportunity to exchange foreign democratic education. In addition, they seek to inspire students' thinking and enhance their world views and broaden their horizons through international participation. Despite their ages varying from 12 to 20, everyone would gain their own experience without doubt.

Fo Guang Shan prepared a tasty lunch for the visitors, and the exchange allowed the young students to better understand New Zealand. Venerable Jue Xi encouraged the students to improve their competitiveness on the world stage in the future, to learn language down to earth, preferably more than 2 languages. Furthermore, she suggested more reading on subjects like history, the humanities, philosophy and other various categories, which would help them discover their own interests, plus knowledge acquisition would aid them in developing ideas, and to lay the foundations for writing and expression skills.

Venerable Abbess Manshin taught them, from her own experience, the way to keep calm and self-improvement in a volatile situation. She expected the group to come back to understand themselves eventually, after having known about people and the environment during the visit. Moreover, Abbess quoted Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s idea of living a 300-year-old life to encourage people to make good use of every day, to bring out the best of their lives, and to seize the time exploring themselves and creating a life plan while young. She then wished everyone being a plus for the team, enabling the team to reach higher achievement.

The president See Shen Lee and vice president Louisa Kuo, and other BLIA directors also drew from their own experience to encourage the young students. The whole group described the visit as a humble and unforgettable one, which brought excellence and surprise.