30 September ~ New Zealand Youths ‘South Meets North’

After 3 months of freezing winter, we finally welcome beautiful and cosy spring. This coincides with a two-week school holiday. On 29 September, 3 Fo Guang Shan (South Island) youths Jordon, Christ and Hao Tin flew to Auckland from Christchurch to spend their holidays at Fo Guang Shan (North Island).

12 year-old Christ looks younger than his age. When he first came to the temple , he was hugging his pillow with a knapsack on his back. He is so adorable that inevitably, he caught everyone’s attention. His 16 year-old brother has a very strong bond with the North Island youths. He promised to visit whenever time permits.

The youths from the north and south islands take turns to visit each other and learn to help one another when the need arises. Hao Tin, another South Island youth often join in the temple activities during the school holidays. According to her, staying at home makes her lazy so she would rather spend a more fulfilling time at the temple.

After dinner, Venerable Rulian and sister Annie brought 7 youths for a bush walk as it was a beautiful spring night. When they returned to the temple, the youths were informed of the rules and regulations and allocated duties for their week’s stay.

The following day, the youths did their morning chanting, temple chores, learn the dharma instruments and recited the Heart Sutra under the guidance of Venerable Rulian.
When doing chores, the youths find them challenging even brain cracking as they learn to serve and solve problems in order to get things going. They fully understood the phrase “Nothing is impossible, just do it”.