Daily News - 6 September 2009‏

Ullambana: Offering to the Sangha Dharma Function

On the Sunday 6 September 2009, members of all the Buddha’s Light International Association North Island, devotees and guests gathered together in the Main Shrine to begin the annual Offering to the Sangha. Ullambana is held to honour the Sangha for their compassion and dedication in carrying out their mission to propagate Humanistic Buddhism and enables the lay members of the community to express their appreciation to Fo Guang Shan as their spiritual home. This was followed in the afternoon by the Amitabba Sutra Triple Recitation Dharma Service.

The Sangha were invited into the Main Shrine by members of the BLIA committee led by the President, Dolly Tsai and Advisor, Peter Young. The ceremony began with chanting which was followed by offerings from the devotees who wore traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese dress highlighting the multi-cultural nature of Humanistic Buddhism.

During the ceremony, offerings of food were made to the Sangha and each sub-chapter gave a performance as well as the North Island Warrior Team, the Young Adult Division (YAD) and students from the Chinese School. The performances included drama; song and dance; haunting flute playing, awe-inspiring traditional fan dancing, graceful Malaysian dancing, comedy plays and uplifting choral recitals which were thoroughly enjoyed by the Sangha and devotees alike.

This was followed by alms-giving to the Sangha when devotees gathered in the courtyard to give alms and show their appreciation for the Sangha’s dedication to Buddhism, and their commitment to propagate Buddhism in New Zealand and around the world. Alms giving is a tradition practiced from the time of Buddha, where devotees present the Sangha with donations of money to show their support and appreciation to ensure that they can continue to propagate Buddhism.