Oceanic Abbess Outlines Dharma Propagation Steps

The Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Oceanic Head Abbess Venerable Manko, during her visit in the early September Emperor Liang Repentance Dharma service period, specially organized a workshop with BLIA committee members on the 11th of September, outlining the five years plan for Dharma propagation in all temples within the Pacific region. Present at the workshop was FGS North Island New Zealand Venerable Abbess Manshin, FGS South Island supervisor Venerable Jue Xi, FGS North Island supervisor Venerable Rulian and Venerable YouCheng, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) North Island New Zealand Senior advisor Dolly Tsai, BLIA North Island New Zealand President Lintao Yu, BLIA South Island New Zealand Vice Presidents Louisa Kuo, James Low and other BLIA committee members making up about 20 people in total.

Venerable Abbess Manko first summarized Fo Guang Shan’s vision, mission and core values from the past 50 years, and then used the Australian NanTien temple’s development as an example on how to work out a five year blueprint. There are provisions for improving the collaboration and quality of the monastic community in Australia/New Zealand, with clear plans on what is the focus of Dharma propagation, pushing for higher numbers of devoted followers, as well as the setting up of a comprehensive financial system, among other things. After this outline framework was given, the BLIA committee members broke up into small groups and set to work out the details, independently listing the things BLIA New Zealand does well or does poorly, and the opportunities and dangers that FGS may face in its next development path.

BLIA South Island committee members pointed out that the FGS South Island temple is not only of an exquisite design, but is well placed geographically in a golden spot. The temple is also Christchurch’s only Humanistic Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism temple. The BLIA South Island New Zealand team is also an extremely well organized and tight-knit group, under the leadership of the Venerables, have used various predominantly cultural and artistic methods to gain the visibility of the wider public community, various organisations, and prominent artists. Another strength is that the BLIA North Island and South Island teams are aligned together, often understanding and helping each other in order to better spread Humanistic Buddhism in this country. However, as Christchurch is still a predominantly Christian city that lacks an understanding of foreign Buddhist teachings, not to mention how small the city is in population, there are limits to the number of people joining as a BLIA member, as well as limits to the number of visitors to the temple. Moving forward, there is a strong need to adapt our propagation methods to local tastes, via meditation or English classes for example. At the same time, the committee needs more training, to cope with diversity and multiculturalism that will help in better integrating Humanistic Buddhism into the local region.

BLIA North Island committee members followed up by stating how the New Zealand team as a whole have been and needs to continue to lean more towards young people, and that the leadership of the Venerables have been indispensable on this highlighted focus of the Dharma propagation plan. With the increasing addition of new immigrants, the need for Buddhist teachings is also becoming more apparent. This is especially so, seeing that recent statistics shows that people with no religious faith are increasing locally, which can be seen as both an opportunity and a challenge for us.

Abbess Manko also offered some suggestions for FGS New Zealand’s future advancement. The temple could look into additional community services to increase visibility and attract new members, start a time-keeping system to keep track of the time put in by volunteers, continue to attract and retain youth who are the next generation’s leaders by giving more priority to the Chinese school and maybe with the implementation of a scout troop, and to start asking for feedback after events to improve their effectiveness in their future. Finally, Abbess Manko said that she was impressed by the Buddhist youth group’s activities and passionate attitudes, that shows much promise in the continuity of Buddhism. Hopefully everyone will work together to create a unique oceanic culture in the future.