Fo Guang Shan Invited to Tibetan Palpung Buddhist Monastery Auckland’s Ground Breaking Ceremony

On 24th March, a delegation of 10 from Fo Guang Shan answered the invitation to join a ground breaking ceremony for the Tibetan Palpung Buddhist Monastery. The group included Venerable Juehao, Venerable Miaoyu, Dolly Tsai, President of BLIA (North Island) and other BLIA Members. Special guests also included representatives and Venerables from the Thai WAT YARNPRATEEP Buddhist Temple and Tibetan Karma Choeling Buddhist Monastery, altogether 60 people in attendance.

The ceremony was presided over by Pungri Rinpoche and followed by offerings of scripture chanting and blessing from Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan Venerables. This was followed by Pungri Rinpoche personally operating an excavator to break earth as well as sprinkle Holy water over the ground. All guest Venerables also participated in the ground breaking with shovels. Together, everyone gathered to wish peace to the land and protection from the Celestial gods.

The proposed Palpung Monastery will be situated over 15 acres of land in South Auckland. The blueprint for this Monastery was designed by Palpung Lineage’s Twelfth Patriarch, Kenting Tai Situpa, Pema Donyo Nyingche Wangpo. It was designed with concepts that emphasises environmental protection and sustainability. It is planned to have completed over 1000 square meters of the temple by the end of this year.