English Sub Chapter Monthly Report for June 2008

This is a report of the activities of the English Sub-Chapter during June.

1. Crime Watch Patrol
On Wednesday 4 June members of the English Sub-Chapter Lotus Link Dharma Group arrived at Fo Guang Shan Temple for their usual Wednesday night class. The class had been cancelled but the group was more than happy to attend the meeting to raise the awareness, of both local and Chinese members, to Crime Watch Patrol.

The members showed considerable interest and a co-coordinator, Iris Lau, was appointed to liaise with the Chairpersons and organise volunteer applications. The ESC would be very happy if Alan Young and Iris Lau could give us feedback so that we can consider how we can participate as we are aware of how important it is to contribute to the community.

2. Saturday service and new members
At the end of May several members of the English Sub-Chapter met to talk about ways in which we might be able to attract more local people to the Temple, take part in the Saturday Service regularly and become more involved in their activities.

Six new members joined the English Sub-Chapter in June and more new people are participating in Tai Chi and meditation. Most have become regular and some have joined in the Humanistic Study Group on a Wednesday night. We do keep in touch with our regular members and participants through email and other activities.

Recently one of our members faced some obstruction and we sent them a card to express our loving kindness, concern and support at this difficult time.

3. Guided tours training session
First of all, we would like to thank Jane Lee for the training she gave on Saturday 21 June to five of our members who already have some experience in guiding tours, Dane Brett, Graham Trail, Peter Batten, Lesley Ruki-Willison and Ruth Wagner. We greatly appreciate the detailed and informative script and her generosity in giving instructions about how to set up the different activities in which visitors participate, giving our members a deeper understanding.

The English Sub-Chapter is aware of the needs of the Temple and although many members have full-time jobs they are happy to contribute by giving their time, effort, talent and honour to lead the guided tours which is a productive way to create a good impression of Humanistic Buddhism in the local community.

Betty Jackson, Colleen Smith and Alan Hardistry have recognized the work involved in preparing for the tours and are now helping the tour guides to set up the activities. This demonstrates co-operative teamwork which is the essence of Humanistic Buddhism

4. Writing the Daily News and translate Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s teaching
It is very good news that the Fo Guang Shan website is now available in English. We are very happy that according to the needs we can offer a greater understanding of the Temple through its activities and Daily News. The English Sub-Chapter has formed a team to write the Daily News and translate Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s writing so that more people can learn about Humanistic Buddhism.