Rejoicing in 2019 FGS South Island ‘3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing’
Ever since its inception in Christchurch in 2018, the ‘3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing’ has received very good response from schools around Canterbury area. This time around, Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island had hosted the Festival from 14th to 23rd May 2019. In all, 631 students from 6 schools enrolled to participate. The Festival was initiated and led by FGS New Zealand Abbess Manshin, and jointly run by FGS New Zealand and Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) North and South Islands.
On 14th May 2019, accompanied by Assistant Headmaster Jack Goodfellow and their teachers, 200 students of Hornby High School, split into morning and afternoon groups, took part in the Festival at the FGS Temple South Island. The event was headed by BLIA South Island Vice President Lih-son Ding with assistance from 20 other BLIA members. At the start, Ding taught the students how to use FGS’s signature ‘lotus hand gesture’ to convey ‘welcome’ and ‘auspicious’ wishes. Next, the students were taken by BLIA member Kok Wei to watch the animation ‘The Life Story of Buddha’. The students were totally absorbed by the lively cartoon characters in the movie, and, through the movie, they came to know the life story of Buddha. Afterwards, Kok Wei taught the students the art of origami turning paper into lotus flower. The FGS volunteers also had 3G4G Tattoo Sticker put on the hands of the students. The students found these activities new and interesting.
Later, Ding guided the students through a tour of various sections of the temple, such as the Art Gallery, the Time Tunnel, the library and the Buddha Hall. While touring the Temple, Ding did not miss any chance to make use of the external encounters to explain to the students the concept of ‘Three Good Deeds and four givings’. To all the questions casually posed by Ding, the smart and alert students were able to offer their answers correctly and easily. These instantaneous interchanges had indeed positively and joyously charged up the whole atmosphere. At the Buddha Hall, Ding guided the students in performing Buddha bathing and in practising sitting meditation. Some of the students experienced joy and tranquillity while some others suffered muscle pains in trying out the sitting meditation. Ding told the students that to fully realize the beneficial effects of meditation, they have to persistently and consistently carry out the practice. Before the Festival came to the end, temple presented to each participant a lucky wind-chime and encouraged them to follow the example of lucky wind-chime and start turning their own ‘3G4G’ Dharma Wheel.
Later in her feedback, student Chloe thanked FGS for their lively ways of teaching the concept of ‘3G4G’, allowing them to learn through the many and varied activities in which they joyously participated. Teacher Rachel Davis was of the view that the ‘3G4G’ Festival was very meaningful in the sense that it allowed the students to learn a noble concept through the participation of simple day-to-day activities. Normally, the subject of ‘morality’ would be taught on papers and would be dry and stale. But this time around, FGS had managed to teach a noble concept effortlessly through the many lively activities. This was incredible indeed!
The 2 hours long ‘3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing’ had not only allowed the students to fully enjoy themselves but also learn about the 3G4G concept. The teachers, the parents and the students were all glad to have participated in this Festival and hoped for a chance to come back again for a second time!