Young and Flying High - the Start of 2009 New Zealand Buddha’s Light 3rd Youth Summer Camp

Summer Camp started on 29 December!
This is the third year since starting in 2007 that New Zealand Fo Guang Shan has organized a camp for children and teenagers who are on summer holidays .Summer Camp enables them to have an experience of monastery life. There are 10 participants this year with an average age of 12. Two participants are from Fo Guang Shan South Island.

The youths will join in the morning and evening chanting, learn to play dharma instruments, help with the maintenance of the Temple plus there is a full list of interesting activities lined up for them. The camp started after a brief explanation of the daily routine in the Temple by Venerable Rulian.

The first lesson was on Buddhist protocol where they learnt to prostrate before the Buddha wearing a robe and it was also on Buddhist terminology.
Then they were shown how to do weed around the trees in the courtyard. They learnt that in order for a tree to grow healthy and strong, one has to remove the weeds to nurture the tree.
Similarly in our lives, we must purify our minds to cultivate wisdom.