Family visit with an Experienced Guide

On the shiny day of December 13, with an arrangement of Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island member MeiLing, the secretary of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Service in NZ, Anna Lo with her family of five visited Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island. Anna has visited FGS South Island not long ago and with this cause and condition of her family coming to New Zealand for his son’s graduation, she is blissful to show her family this unique and special Buddhist temple.

This pre-arrangement has also got the experienced temple tour guide, Jack Liu in guiding them today. After Jack briefly introduced himself to the group, he firstly introduced Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order and the challenges in getting a venue for the building since more than a decade ago. He then talks about the concepts and design of the building with the facade and picture of Longmen Grottoes. Bringing the group out to the entrance of the building, he talks about the architecture of the building with the Four Great Bodhisattvas representing the temple. The tour continued into the Courtyard, Time Tunnel, Buddha Hall and the Art Galleries where every story was interestingly told by the guide.

Anna and her family was fascinated and well informed not just about the building temple, but also the history of Fo Guang Shan and Humanistic Buddhism. They gratefully thanked Jack for showing them around and felt joyous getting to meet Buddha in a faraway place from home. At last, they took their time relaxing and enjoying a vegetarian lunch at Water Drop Cafe.