2016 BLIA Chinese New Year Gathering

The “2016 BLIA Chinese New Year Gathering” was held on 28th February. It was attended by Venerable Abbess Manshin, Venerables, BLIA North Island President Steven Xu, Advisors, Directors, BLIA members and members of the youth group, altogether over a hundred in attendance. The venue was meticulously decorated to reflect Abbess’s quote of: “Today this is the venue for the gathering of all BLIA VIPs”

The celebration started with words of New Year’s well wishes from each group. This was followed by interactive team games including “Buddhist terminology squatting competition”, “Charade” and “Buddhist terminology quiz”.

Then youth group member Kazin emulated a variety talk show called “A Date with Karzin”. Firstly she interviewed members of the youth group on their experiences of serving the Chinese New Year’s celebrations. Then she heard experiences from young people of the Gardening group, with the summarising quote of: “Trimming trees is like trimming one’s bad habits, where we can continuously identify our areas of lacking.” They also described feelings of awe and encouragement by witnessing the hard work of everyone around them. YAD Chairperson Annjo was also invited to share her rewarding and inspirational feelings after undertaking challenges of MC duties on stage, doing charity sales and filming.

Then BLIA member Han shared the quote of: “There are more and more New Year’s visitors every year, hence I have to be there to do my part.” She felt that her biggest value in life is her ability to serve the visiting masses. BLIA Member Pauline talked about her experiences of doing performances with the temple’s dance group. She proudly expressed that despite that no one is a professional dancer in the group; their diligent perseverance always maintained their enthusiasm. Advisor Jennifer and Member Ronald shared their experience during explaining Dharma words during the New Year. They felt that learning to explain Dharma words can elevate one’s Buddhism knowledge as well as bringing hope and confidence to people’s lives. Lastly Annie Ng was interviewed about her trips to distribute “366 Days with Wisdom” all around New Zealand. She expressed that despite the tiring schedule every moment was worth it knowing they are bringing the wisdom of Venerable Master Hsing Yun to land to facilitate diversity and interfaith dialogue.

While interviewed, BLIA North Island President Xu affirmed the contribution of every BLIA member’s service and contribution during the Chinese New Year through decoration, organising, taking care of VIPs, explaining Dharma words, providing security, setting up the venue, doing performances and filming. If a single person is missing then the team cannot work properly. Then the background story behind many volunteer’s contributions were shared to bring many touching tales to the audiences. Again President Xu thanked everyone’s effort and encouraged everyone to strive on forward together to allow the flourishment of Humanistic Buddhism in New Zealand.

Then the Abbess followed up with a Dharma talk including the quote of: “Life’s energy comes from the deep valley of our life, because this space allows us to contain many contents, which can be transformed into nutrients for our life.” She encouraged everyone to always remain diligent by remembering others. We should always remember to put others first, ourselves second and the Monastery first and ourselves second. It is BLIA member’s mission to pool our aspirations, spirit and actions together to cultivate toward the Way and make this temple prosperous. Finally the Abbess wished everyone can continue to improve through cultivation, uncover potentials and discover many more wisdom.