Fo Guang People Attends Religious Communities Leadership Forum

On the evening of 5th December, a Religious Communities Leadership Forum was hosted at an Auckland Mosque, organised by various religious leaders and the New Race Relations Commission. Fo Guang Shan’s Venerable Abbess Manshin, Venerable Miaoyu, and BLIA director Annie Ng were invited and attended the event. Including delegates from other religious organisations, there were a total of 40 members in attendance. This was the first time in New Zealand where different religious organisations from all over the world and important community leaders were invited to one location, so inter-religious spiritual ideologies and achievements in religious propagation can be shared.

The Forum’s banquet commenced after an Islamic religious ceremony, followed by words of welcome and appreciation for attendance by New Zealand Buddhist Council representative Joan Buchanan and Muslim representative Dr Anwar Ghani. Tonight’s friendly banquet is intended to increase mutual understanding, as well as inter-religious harmony and consensus in New Zealand. Religious leaders and representatives from different organisations were all invited to share their insights gathered from faith and daily life experiences. Abbess Manshin shared with everyone Humanistic Buddhism’s “3 Good” (Speak good words, do good things, have good thoughts) and “4 Giving” (Give others joy, give others convenience, give others hope, give others confidence) as encouraged by Venerable Master Hsing Yun. By using real life events as examples, one should start religious cultivation within themselves first, to eventually progress toward the improvement of social harmony.

All religious delegates in attendance were invited to become a role models for the New Zealand’s inter-faith harmony.