Visit to the home of BLIA Vice-President, Linda Daniell

On Tuesday 16 February Linda Daniell, her daughter, Victoria, son-in-law, Mark and granddaughter Jasmine hosted a home visit attended by Venerable Abbess Manshin, Venerable Miaoyu and more than thirty BLIA members. As Linda has a very small house she was extremely grateful to Steve Goh who came to the rescue and delivered twenty stools from the Temple just a few hours before the visit.

The Dharma talk, guided by Venerable Abbess Manshin, provoked lively discussion which contributed to greater understanding between Western and Asian perspectives of cultural differences and acceptance.

The theme of the Dharma talk was ‘let go and move on’. The Abbess emphasised that the past is past, live in the present moment because the future cannot be predicted. The memories in which we hold our past experiences are not to be denied but used as experiences to help us grow. Someone asked ‘how do we move on and let go?” This was explained very clearly in that we have to have to be motivated to move on so we can learn and train our selves not to be afraid of accepting the challenges to become mentally clear and physically strong. By thinking positively we increase the ‘mega bytes’ of our wisdom.

Human beings have enormous potential to develop wisdom and become free but they also have many excuses which manifest in negativity. Everyone has the capacity to achieve and will do so in their own time without comparing themselves to others who have different fears, both in the present and from their past lives.

The evening passed quickly and gave everyone something on which they could reflect and put into practice.

Linda and her family were very appreciative of the Abbess, Venerable Miaoyu and all the members who came to her home and cherish to opportunity to be part of the Fo Guang Shan community.