Students Receives Blessings from the Temple before their Exams
A blessing ceremony for students facing upcoming midterm exams was held at the temple on 9th October. It was attended by 35 members of the YAD at the Main Shrine, where Venerable Abbess Manshin led them to recite the “Heart Sutra” and “Prayers and Wishes for Students taking Exams” by Venerable Master Hsing Yun. They all received anointment of holy water on top of their crowns to receive empowerment from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, so they can be relieved of stress and make high achievement during their respective exams.
The students expressed that they sometimes find it hard to focus due to high stress and pressure. One member called Karzin shared her own story of the temple’s care and nurture to her toils. Where they will always leave food for her when she returns to the temple at a late hour and then having to study all night, this is when Venerables and fellow members will encourage her with kind words. She expressed that: “The temple is a place of motivation for studies, as without support of the masses, I might have already given up.”
When asked the questions: “Why should I pay homage to the Buddha?” the Abbess responded that paying homage to the Buddha can bring out our Dharma Joy, our intrinsic nature’s Buddha Mind so we can become our own teachers. While living in our ever competitive and stressful society, we all need to meditation to settle and focus our body and mind.
The Abbess presented gifts of “Satisfaction” pendants to the youths as encouragement. Learning, accumulation and understanding of knowledge takes time, but the reward will be that we are able to help many others with our knowledge, as well as enrich ourselves and society. From patience we can cultivate a cleverly agile mind to perfect our characters. Then the Abbess quoted an inspirational phrase from the Venerable Master “The future is for those who are willing to serve others” to remind everyone to not shy away from hard work, to study diligently, to advance courageously, to be willing to give ourselves to others, to be able to serve others and to be always willing to take responsibilities without backing down.