The 5th Meeting of the Forth Board of Directors Opening Ceremony
On 17th October, the 5th Meeting of the Fourth Board of Directors commenced in Suntec City Convention Centre of Singapore. Almost 4000 Buddha’s Light Members attended this meeting, coming from over 30 countries of five continents. President of the BLIA Head Quarters Venerable Master Hsing Yun, and the special guests were welcomed with thunderous applause. Venerable Master used ‘Bodhisattva and Volunteer’ as the theme of this Meeting to encourage all the Buddha’s Light members present to learn from the spirit of the Bodhisattva and constantly review themselves to find out whether their wisdom and compassion has increased.
In response to the Meeting’s theme ‘Bodhisattva and Volunteer’, Venerable Master Hsing Yun pointed out that the greatest strength in the Human World is patience. If we have patience, we can do anything this world asks of us and we should always ask ourselves whether our patience has improved year by year.
“Buddha, compared to Gods of other religions is very different, He can be said to be the volunteer of the human world”. To elaborate this further, Venerable Master mentioned that in ‘The Chapter on the Universal Gateway of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva of the Lotus Blossom Sutra’, Avlokitesvara Bodhisattva traveled the land saving those in need, which in itself is a form of volunteering by serving all living beings. Another example is Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva; the spirit embodied in his statement: “If I don’t go to hell, then who will?’ makes him an even greater volunteer.
Venerable Master Hsing Yun was delighted to see the large number of Buddha’s Light members who attended the meeting and said, ‘Singapore is a country always looking for ways to improve the land and the people, we can learn a lot from these Singaporeans by holding our meeting here.’ He also hoped that by having all the Fo Guang People gathered in one place, everyone may discuss and share the principles of the Buddha Dharma and bring back new ideas and understandings to their own countries and share it with their fellow local Fo Guang People so that they may establish households in accordance to the teachings and spirit of Humanistic Buddhism.
The meeting’s main organiser was Buddha’s Light International Association Head Quarters and the co-organisers were BLIA Singapore, BLIA Malaysia, BLIA Bankok Thailand, BLIA North Sumatra Indonesia and BLIA Brunei. Special guests who attended the meeting included Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Chang who is also the Minister of Defence of Singapore, Thailand Embassador Mr. Yayan Mulyana, Taiwanese Representative in Singapore Mr. Shi, BLIA Singapore President Mr. Wen, BLIA Chinese Head Quarters President Venerable Hsin Ting, Fo Guang Shan Abbot Most Venerable Hsing Pei, BLIA Head Quarters Secretary Venerable Tze Rong, Vice-presidents of BLIA Head Quarters Mr. Yu and Mr. Yen, Singapore Buddhist Representative Venerable Chuan Guan and many others.
During Minister Chang’s speech, he mentioned that although our world is constantly struck by political differences, fluctuations within the economy and natural disasters, religion is a powerful tool which gives us the power to comfort the people and guide them towards the righteous path, however, “if this tool was misused, then it could lead to conflicts and cause pain among the people”. He suggested that as Singapore is a country of multiple religions, the harmony between the different religions is paramount, as he stated, “We use various laws and guidelines to try and maintain the harmony between religions in Singapore. Under the current legislation, people of different religions can live together, learn together and grow together. Even though they live within the same space, devotees of different religions have the right to choose which religion they want to follow and have their own worship place”.
Mr. Chang also commended Venerable Master’s spirit in propagating Humanistic Buddhism worldwide. “I really admire Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s propagation of Humanistic Buddhism. Wherever he goes, he always encourages devotees to create a world full of harmony, tolerance and happiness, and asks them to refrain from being overly discriminative between religions or race. I think that this is a very important message as it contributes significantly to the creation of world peace”.
At the opening ceremony of the meeting, Venerable Master Hsing Yun certified the newly founded branches of BLIA, including BLIA North District Chinese Head Quarters, BLIA Central District Chinese Head Quarters, BLIA Taoyuan Hsingchu Miaoli Chinese Headquarters and BLIA Jeju. Following that was the hand over ceremony between the old and new presidents of BLIA. Venerable Master Hsing Yun also presented certificates to the newly elected Directors of each BLIA branch. The ceremony came to a successful conclusion with everyone singing the song ‘Harmonise’.
Talking Buddha Dharma on a Boat
On 18th October the almost one thousand Directors, Representatives and Presidents presented their reports on fundraising, communication via the internet, the promotion of books and articles and its Young Adults Division. That night, Venerable Master Hsing Yun and the BLIA committee members talked about the Buddha Dharma onboard a ship. Venerable Master Hsing Yun encouraged everyone to maintain harmony within their homes, respect others, create harmony within society and to propagate world peace as they practice the “Three Goods Deeds and Four Givings’. The abovementioned ways of practice are the main foci for Humanistic Buddhism and within these points, propagation of world peace is the paramount mission of all Buddha’s Light members.
World Peace- The Seed of Compassion is in Everyone’s Hearts
On the night of 18th October, Venerable Master Hsing Yun focused his Dharma Talk on the theme ‘How to grasp the real meaning of Humanistic Buddhism’. Venerable Master explained that he was born during a time of war and that his father was killed in Nanjing Massacre, and thus witnessed the fragility of life during the cruel war. Through his experiences, he had developed a deep understanding and insight into the phrase ‘I’d rather be a peaceful dog than a human being during the time of war.’ He emphasised the importance of peace as well as the cruelty of war and used many historical examples to illustrate his point which is most lives are lost due to the lack of peace.
At that point, Venerable Master Hsing Yun asked all the Buddha’s Light members to propagate Buddhism’s principles of world peace, tolerance and selflessness and to allow Buddha Dharma’s prajna wisdom to permeate the world. ‘Buddha’s Light members must spread the seed of happiness all around the world and sow the the seed of compassion within everyone’s hearts.’
Harmonious Family- The relationship between the mother and the daughter-in-law
‘Lay devotees regard family as most important, and that harmony is the basis of the household. Whether it is parents and children or wife and husband kinship, we must treasure and cherish each other as it is because of affinity that we are together. The family network also includes mothers-in-law, brothers, sisters and many other types of kinship, and if harmony is absent when living under the same roof, then the pain endured by the family members will be unfathomable.’ Venerable Master Hsing Yun suggests that a household should be one of happiness and warmth, and that if there were conflicts, misunderstandings and jealously between family members, then the home becomes one of pain and suffering.
‘The most troublesome of family relationships is most likely to be between the mother and daughter-in-law and the only solution is for them to Tango.’ Venerable Master Hsing Yun emphasises that we should focus on the positives of everything; if we treat others well, others will treat us well and that this is the solution as suggested by Humanistic Buddhism. Venerable Master Hsing Yun says that if we are respectful towards others and own up to our own mistakes, then that will bring happiness and harmony to everyone. Venerable Master used personal experiences of China and United States to explain his point of the importance of having a common language between groups of people from different backgrounds. ‘In Buddhism we talk about repenting for our sins, and for most people, it means to simply own up to a mistake, this is something that is worth teaching and respect.’
a
a
