Humanistic Poetry Recitation Competition

In order to celebrate Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’s birthday, BLIA North Island held a “Clever and Agile” Humanistic Poetry Recitation Competition at the temple on 10th April. This event was participated by 7 teams formed by the various sub-chapters and the youth group. Through creative approaches and beautiful voices everyone expressed their sincere sentiments and the kindness of Humanistic Buddhism through the recitations.

The competition judging panel included Venerable Rulian, Venerable Youcheng and BLIA North Island Head Advisor Dolly Tsai. BLIA North Island President Stephen Xu served as the event host. Marks were awarded for technique, voice quality, presentation and creativity.

After an introduction speech and explanation of the rules by Sub-chapter 1 Chair Han, the competition was underway. Team “Compassionate and Joyful Giving” recited the poem “Great Buddha”. Team “3G4G” narrated the poem “When there is Buddhism there is a Way” in rap format. The youth group performance two song and dance called “Way of Life” and “Good things happen to those with a good heart”. Team “Cloud and Water” performed the song “Song of cloud and river”. The only all male team “Fo Guang 3 Musketeers” used 3 different languages to recite the poem “The road is hard to walk”.

The fierce competition was supported by many cheers and applause from the audience. At least Venerable Rulian announced the winning team as team “Cloud and Water”. The second and third place were held by team “Clever and agile” and team “Fo Guang 3 Musketeers”. Rest of the teams all received a joyful participation award.

Afterwards Venerable Rulian spoke about all participants’ great spirit and creativity, where Venerable Master's literary works were great mediums to bring out everyone's talents. She hopes more activities such as this can be organised for the future to bring out Humanistic Buddhism’s practical ideals and applications in life.