Police Commander visits FGS South Island New Zealand

New Zealand Police’s Canterbury Region District Commander John Price and Inspector Rakesh Naidoo visited Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island New Zealand on the 25th of August. They were accompanied by Venerable Abbess Manshin, Venerable Jue Xi and four Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) members on a tour around the FGS South Island temple which is undergoing repair work. Venerable Abbess Manshin spoke to the two officers on the temple about the current plan and progress for repairing the earthquake-damaged temple.

District Commander John Price was especially concerned for the condition of the temple, having been the Police’s Officer in charge of the 2011 Canterbury Earthquake recovery efforts. He was very glad to hear that the work is scheduled to be completed next year, and will soon be open again to the general public. Venerable Abbess Manshin was also happy to hear of his continued interest in maintaining a good relationship with the temple, and promised to welcome John Price to visit the temple once all of the scheduled repair works is completed.

After the tour, Venerable Abbess Manshin led the police officers to have lunch at the Cloud Water Cottage with some BLIA members. The two police officers spoke highly of the delicious vegetarian food. Both of the officers socialized well with the BLIA members, exchanging odd news from the police headquarters with those within the wider FGS community. Of particular note was the upcoming BLIA Global Directors Meeting to be held at Da Jue Temple in Beijing, China, and it was hoped that BLIA New Zealand will have the opportunity to host this grand meeting some day in the future when the conditions are ripe.

Finally, the Venerable Abbess Manshin presented each of the officers with a copy of Master Hsing Yun’s “366 days of Wisdom” book. The two police officers sincerely thanked FGS New Zealand for all their effort in this country, and hoped that the continued friendly relationship between the temple and the police force will help to foster peace in the community.