New Year’s Celebration House Blessing series

It is now the New Year; Fo Guang Shan continues to spread its New Year spirit on the second and third day of the New Year inviting devotees to come celebrate at the Temple. On the afternoon of 4th February, Director Mr. Ku and wife Mrs. Ku invited the Abbess of FGS New Zealand, Venerables and BLIA directors to their home for a home blessing. Mr. and Mrs. Ku have a close tie with FGS from the time they encouraged the establishment of FGS South Island New Zealand to their full support from the old premise to the newly built Temple. The Abbess led everyone through a brief prayer service and encouraged the whole family to continue living a life the Buddhist way, bringing them peace and harmony. The Abbess also presented them with a “One-stroke character” gift made by the Grand Master that day. The Ku family were appreciative to FGS and the BLIA for their New Year visit.

Another home visit was made on 5th February to the family of Director Mr. Hu and Vice President Ms. Chen by the Abbess and the Venerables. The Abbess led everyone through a brief blessing ceremony, praying for peace, happiness and protection over the family. She talked and explained the importance of faith and heritage and how it will benefit the future generations. The family were presented with one of the “Inked Treasure” and were given a blessing for their future generations to continue to be people of Fo Guang Shan.

The Abbess and her group continued on to visited the home of Ms. Sally Lim, the Secretary of the English Chapter. Ms. Lim gave her appreciation to the guidance of Abbess and the Venerables, for which they have helped her with her understanding of Buddhism and its application in her daily life, resulting in much self improvement. The Abbess used the example to explain that in the process of understanding Buddhism, one must know their personal flaws and to use the wisdom of the sutra for self improvement. She encouraged Ms. Lim to make her journey of understanding Buddhism and Dharma more interesting by involving her children as well to learn from the wisdom of the Buddha together. Ms. Lim was presented with the 50th Anniversary Album of Fo Guang Shan as well as the “Immense Star and Cloud” CD.

A visit was made to the home of the Vice President of the West Chapter on the afternoon on 5th February. The whole family shared the experience of the two sons who recently attended the Summer Youth Camp at Auckland FGS with the Abbess. Ms. Bi expressed her appreciation to Abbess for her care and guidance for her family since the presence of Buddhism in the family have been life changing and made their lives more interesting, valuable and with more purpose. The Abbess shared the story of the racing pigeon and the Bodhisattva that day. A pigeon helped a Bodhisattva by delivering gifts to people in need after giving up its own dreams. After days, months have passed; the pigeon gradually reached the end of its life but never once asked for anything in return. The Abbess encouraged everyone to learn from this story of selfless contribution and also for the family to continue learning about Buddhism for self improvement. She presented the family with the Fo Guang Shan 50th Anniversary album as a gift.