Fo Guang Shan (New Zealand) Ullambana Festival and Offering to the Sangha Ceremony

On 22 August morning, The Fo Guang Shan (North Island) held the Ullambana Festival and also Offering to the Sangha Ceremony. It was attended by 350 members and devotees. It was raining the whole morning but about 9.40am , just before the ceremony started, the sun finally put on a great smile and its golden rays shone upon the temple grounds.Such was the Buddha’s Blessing! Accompanied by the solemn chimes of the bell and the beating of the drum ,the venerables were invited into the main shrine by 24 BLIA (North & South Island) directors led by BLIA (North Island)’s President Dolly Tsai. Abbess Manshin presided over the ceremony and led the devotees in the recitation of the Ullambana Sutra. After which, 13 offering groups dressed in multi-cultural costumes like Thai, Malay, Vietnamese etc offered flowers, light and food. That was followed by splendid performances by different sub-chapters and the Chinese school.

BLIA (North Island) President Dolly Tsai, on behalf of the members, expressed her heartfelt gratitude to all the Venerables for their patience, loving care and effort in propagating Humanistic Buddhism in such a beautiful country. They have taught others by their own examples and have helped others enriched their spiritual practice as well as wisdom.

Abbess Manshin encouraged everyone to continue his spiritual practice and stated that religion has advanced over the years especially recently, from the aspect of nature; the worshipping of an idol; the superstitious belief in ghost, and now, to the detachment of ego. She hopes that everyone can continue to contribute and propagate Buddhism through the right path.

The ceremony ended on a very happy note when all the devotees and members gathered along the field of merits during the alms giving parade for an opportunity to present their ultimate best wishes to all the Venerables.