Fo Guang Shan: Retrospective

In conjunction of Fo Guang Shan (FGS) 50 years anniversary and the founder, Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s 90 years old birthday, adding on to the reopening of FGS South Island New Zealand (NZ) in August, great activities have happened. As in August, “Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s One-Stroke Calligraphy 2016 International Tour Exhibition” took place, a three week long “Filial Piety Ksitigharba Bodhisattva Chant”, the “Ullambana Festival” and the “Emperor Liang Repentance” that goes through September and October all took place smoothly.

To celebrate the completion of “Emperor Liang Repentance”, a Dharma talk entitled “About Fo Guang Shan: Retrospective” was held on September 17 where invitations were given to Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) North Island NZ Senior Advisor Dolly Tsai, President Steven Yu, South Island President See Shen Lee and vice president Louisa Kuo were the speakers of the first part for the day. As for the second part of the talk, FGS South Island temple supervisor, Venerable Juexi and Venerable Rulian were the speakers. They have shared the history of FGS, the conditions being with FGS, interaction with Venerable Master Hsing Yun and many other experiences. Around 60 of the North and South Island BLIA members attended the talk.

Hosts, Melody Cai and Harry Wang started with a short film from Venerable Master Hsing Yun which introduced how the master, in these 50 years have continuously promote education, culture, art and various positive aspects into everyone lives. After the film, the hosts invited the first group of speakers to share their words. Senior Advisor Dolly Tsai shared, after marrying into to NZ, the couple have always visited FGS and it’s a pleasure for them to know more about master’s idea and bring Humanistic Buddhism over from Taiwan to NZ. President See Shen then expressed she treasured the 8 years she had been in BLIA from a member of Young Adult Division into helping the Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery II. Next up, President Steven Yu said that it’s a gratitude for him to be the youngest president of the BLIA community giving him a chance to share his experience and also gain more wisdom while going back to FGS headquarters. Vice President Louisa shared when she was in Taiwan, she has no time for her kids, and for the sake of her children she moved to NZ and is happy to have a close connection with FGS. She continued that it is a big change for her and her children giving them more quality of life. BLIA Committee, Tracy Chen also had a chance to share her experience with FGS and encouraged everyone to visit the temple more, as she has experienced rich and free minded experiences.

Following on, Venerable Abbess Manshin, Venerable Jue Xi and Venerable Rulian go on with the talk as they showed how FGS propagate Dharma, the cause and conditions, the stories, the activities and many more. Venerable Rulian told that after she graduated from the Buddhist College, her heart wished to propagate Dharma in western countries, and she was then given a call to help out in NZ. There, the venerable helped in the construction of the Buddha’s Hall with the assistance of the devotees and it made FGS North Island a serene and peaceful place for the people in Auckland.

Venerable Jue Xi in the talk told that she was born in a tiny island of Taiwan called the Penghu Island. While Venerable Jue Xi was 15 years of age, Venerable Master Hsing Yun and other venerables once brought them to FGS. At that time, Venerable Jue Xi is shy and don’t dare to talk much. The other venerables tried to talk to Venerable Jue Xi using the moon as titles of proverbs and poetries to help crack a conversation. Now, after ordained, Venerable Juexi travelled to Australia and NZ with great challenges. Venerable Mater Hsing Yun encouraged Venerable Jue Xi to be brave and when you’re not afraid of failure, things will become successful and complete.

Venerable Abbess Manshin expressed that following Venerable Master leads to a lot of learning, dedication and ways to help the community. Even when the master is not around, reading and knowing his wisdom, mind’s agility and way of giving solutions to a matter is the experience gained. The hosts then asked the abbess on the design and process of the temple building. The abbess thoroughly answered the questions and the answer to it is always like what the master taught, “Do not waste space”, and this gave the abbess a highly professional way to use rooms.

At the end of the talk, the abbess thanked everyone for their presence and encouraged everyone to propagate Dharma, working together in giving NZ a place for Humanistic Buddhism. The event ended with everyone singing “We are all people of Buddha’s Light” with pure joy and happiness.