While Fo Guang Shan (FGS) North Island New Zealand (NZ) started their fifth “3 Goodness and 4 Giving Festival of Cultural Sharing”, FGS South Island started the festival from 21 until 23 May, 2018 for the first year. On the first day of this festival, Sacred Heart School principal Frank McManus led around 180 students into participating this event.
They were warmly welcomed by FGS NZ Abbess Venerable Manshin, FGS South Island NZ Minister-In-Charge Venerable Juexi, Venerable Zhiwu, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island NZ Deputy President Ding Lihson and 15 more members plus volunteers. Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery Sydney Supervisor Venerable Ruyi and three BLIA Sydney members were also there to help making this festival a success.
The abbess showed the lotus hand sign and greeted “We welcome you” following with “Auspicious Greetings” which is pronounced as “Ji Xiang” in Chinese. Deputy President Ding then introduced the meaning of “3 Goodness and 4 Giving” and how to put it into their daily lives following with a tour of the building. Fo Guang Yuan Art Gallery Christchurch coordinator Vicky Han then shared stories of Prince Siddhartha, Bathing the Buddha and explained the meaning “I am the Honoured One” followed by folding lotus origami and getting 3G4G water tattoos.
Canterbury NZ Police Constable Meg Moynihan was invited to give a sharing on what are the core values in being a police in NZ and what are the school’s core values connecting it with the “3 Goodness and 4 Giving” that students learned today. In the end, the students were all given a wind chime as a souvenir as a reminder of putting 3G4G into action.
The students were all happy to have joined in the 3G4G event and vowed to be a better person. They were also amused by the design and architecture of the building additionally learning multiculturalism. Many students and teachers hope they could join in the “3G4G Festival of Cultural Sharing” and principal Frank thanked the hosts in preparing this event for them. In return, the students have prepared a Maori song to express gratitude and sang it in the Main Shrine for the abbess and all FGS and BLIA volunteers with joy.
