Sharing of Life Experiences in Buddhism
A Sharing of life experiences in Buddhism was organized by the Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island, North Subchapter on October 16 entitled, “The latency of my Buddhahood – Stories from various walks of life”. It is the first time in using a concept of a talk show host interviewing people to propagate Dharma in Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island. The host, Ding Lihson interviewed the history and feelings of three members of the BLIA: Luping, Quiny Liu and Benny Wong in how they became volunteers in FGS South Island. 75 people came to this interesting event which includes FGS South Island temple supervisor Venerable Juexi, Venerable Miaoyu, BLIA South Island vice-president Mei-Hwa Chen, director Louisa Kuo, lay Dharma lecturer Rosa Chen, North Subchapter president Christine Wang, West Subchapter president Susan Wu and many honourable guests.
The host started by introducing the interviewees, followed by questions about how did they get involved with Buddhism, why did they not give up in learning the Buddhism way even though it was difficult, what are the changes in their selves and family members after practicing Buddhism, which kind of life would they take if they could choose again and sharing of other wisdom in their journey of Buddhism.
Luping was a smoker, alcoholic and a gambler that became a volunteer and serviced everyone in the temple. She was grateful that Venerable Miaoyu gave her a lesson over a bowl of vegetarian braised noodles which changed not just her life, but also her family members. Benny Wong, a youngster that loved car racing became a volunteer that does everything from maintenance to design in the temple was grateful of everyone in giving him a chance to change and made him into someone really useful today. Quiny was a lazy girl that loved to sleep but today she is the earliest volunteer to reach the temple every morning. She now keeps the temple clean because she witnessed the compassion of a venerable she could not believe.
The wonderful and touching stories gained warm applauses from the audience with tears were also seen falling from the eyes of the audiences. A great interaction in between the audiences and the people on stage were also felt where the audiences have the chance to ask questions. Questions like, what gave Benny the confidence to go for a short monastic retreat in FGS headquarters Taiwan, what did Luping's children went through in practicing Buddhism, what Quiny said about vegetarianism and so on were asked. In the end, the organizer of the event, North Subchapter president Christine Wang gave a short talk and invited Venerable Juexi up on stage to give encouragement and share her wisdom to everyone. She shared on how to release negative pressures, how to gain happiness, joy and other high energies. She also encouraged, in the future, everyone could participate more temple activities and share their life stories similar to today's event.
In this event, the sincerest of heart have been shared by these volunteers to give everyone a better understanding of the compassion in learning Buddhism and the power of how a faith or religion could change lives; the value of life can be developed more. Audiences were very impressed and wished such an event can be hosted more as it escorts the heart of many Buddhist devotees.