New Year’s Greetings Family Visit – BLIA Member Li Huan Jong

On the morning of 20th February, Venerable Abbess Manshin, Venerable Jueguang, BLIA chairperson Dolly Tsai and 12 Fo Guang people arrived at the home of East 1 sub-chapter member Ms Li Huan Jong to bring her New Year’s Well Wishes. After joining the BLIA on 2007, Ms Jong always strive to participate in every temple event no matter big or small. From beginning of simply coming to pay homage to the Buddha, she has now become a full-fledged member, thus elevating the quality of her faith. This action has led the example of showing her family and friends that faith is the foundation of practicing Buddhism. Ms Jong really admires Fo Guang people’s attitude when it comes to selflessly contributing to the temple, especially when she sees the Abbess personally leading the team on cultivating the shrubs and trees, weeding and other gardening tasks. This really exemplified Fo Guang people’s spirit of giving.

An accompanying Fo Guang youth Dan Chi Luo shared with everyone her insights gained from the weeding chores. She expressed that even though her contact with the temple has only been a short 3 month, the mind changing experience of self-reflection through doing seemingly simple manual labour has been tremendous. The process of removing weeds requires one to recognise the differences between desirable and unwanted grass, as well as distinguishing the different types of weed, because some can be easily uprooted, but some cannot be completely removed even after great toiling. So while practicing these various techniques, one’s observation skills and concentration can also be practiced. Under the guidance of the Abbess, every blade of weed must be fully uprooted, even if it takes digging a big hole to locate the full root system. So we must pay attention to doing a good job in one go, instead of leaving left over tasks to be completed by others. After a period of cultivating perseverance and endurance, one will be able to cautiously remember all their past experiences, thus making our lives more down to earth.