Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island New Zealand hosted the Embracing Love and Peace Blessing for Christchurch event at the Aurora Centre in Christchurch on 2nd November attracting around 700 people which includes Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector Hon Poto Williams; on behalf of Christchurch Mayor, Councilor Anne Galloway; New Zealand Human Rights Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon; Dean of the Christchurch Cathedral the Very Reverend Lawrence Kimberley; Muslim representative and the Imam of the Muslim Linwood Mosque Mr. Ibrahim Abdelhalim; President of the Christchurch ulticultural Council and Hindu representative Mr. Surinder Tandon; Maori representative Whaea Danna; New Zealand Police Canterbury District Commander John Price; New Zealand Police Race Strategy Adviser Rakesh Naidoo; Deputy Dean of University of Otago Christchurch Professor Vicky Cameron; renowned artist Keith Morant and the public of Christchurch.
The purpose of the Embracing Love and Peace – Blessing for Christchurch event is to uplift Christchurch, which has suffered from natural and man-made disasters. It is hoped that religious representatives will pray and bless to restore joy and happiness of the public. With the combined strength of the Oceania region, a total of 18 Venerables from Australia and New Zealand staged a performance of Buddhist chanting. Following that, nearly 60 performers sung and danced and more than 50 volunteers made the event a success. In addition to the performances, there is a wall of blessing for the public to write their wishes at the entrance. Love and Peace mascots and commemorative shirt booths were also there to fundraise the event.
VIPs were warmly received by Chief Abbess of the FGS Oceania Region Venerable Manko, Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) Fellowship Committee Director Ms Dolly Tsai, BLIA South and North Island NZ Presidents Bernie and Yu Lintao, and all BLIA members. The event includes prayers, speeches by various religious leaders and VIPs, Buddhist chant from FGS Venerables, dance by the Dunhuang Dance from the FGS Dunhuang Dance Troupe, a Maori performance from the Kaiapoi High School, an Irish dance from the Southern Cross Irish Dance, a famous choir Christchurch City Chorus and a talk by Dr. Eric Chan which gave great surprises to the audiences.
The event started with a blessing by a Maori representative Whaea Danna followed by the clear chanting of the Buddhist Venerables to bless Christchurch. Venerable Abbes Manko then read out Prayer for World Peace written by Venerable Master Hsing Yun with a calm and solemn voice where the audience lit up 700 lights giving a warm and touching atmosphere.
Dean of the ChristChurch Cathedral, the Very Reverend Lawrence Kimberly then gave a prayer and said, “The city of Christchurch, we pray for peace in our hearts and homes, in our nation, and in our world.” Muslim representative Mr. Ibrahim Abdelhalim then followed with a Muslim prayer and expressed, “Peace be upon you all, this is a blessed day, this is a blessed time. To be all together in this place with different faces and different colours.”
Venerable Abbess Manshin gave a speech and quoted the founder of FGS, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, “Love is the instinct of human beings. There is the power of love, hope of love, friendship of love and true love. We must use pure love solemnly and beautifully. We must use compassion to purify and love, use wisdom to lead love, use goodness and wholesomeness to achieve love, use morality to bless and love at the same time practice equality of the Bodhisattvas. With the great compassion, let love spread throughout New Zealand, let everyone have love and peace in this world.”
Hon Poto Williams uses a famous Maori song to bring her speech in. It’s a song called Te Aroha and the words in the song are very simple. The song is about is love, faith, and peace. With these three elements we can be one and when we think about those simple words, we have to think about what they actually encompass.
Councillor Anne Galloway representing the Mayor Hon Lianne Dalziel in her speech pointed out, “We are uniting here today to remember to embrace peace and love. For in doing so we will bring blessing to our neighbours, our city, our nation and indeed to ourselves. Fo Guang Shan, you have continued to lead the way and demonstrate the way to be a blessing for others. For 20 years, you have been a vessel of love and peace for Christchurch. During the earthquakes, you all worked tirelessly to meet the needs of those affected and this was a huge blessing to many. Your presence in our city uplifts the people of Christchurch. No matter what their race, religion, culture and where they are from. You challenge us to be a blessing for each other and how does that look? It’s simply a smile, a hug, it’s always thinking of giving, helping, lending a hand, offering an invitation, acknowledging a stranger, making someone feel at home, teaching, helping someone to understand, offering insight and inspiration, encouraging with a kind word. It’s not hard to find ways to be a blessing.”
District Commander Superintendent John Price thanked and acknowledged the hard work of the Abbess all these years and said, “I think we forget the community, you are the ones that every single day have chosen to rise up against harm and hurt in our community. To the children that are here, I absolutely honour you. You are the future and what you bring to our community, we are in a really really good space coming forward”. He then added, “We must all join together. Today is the start of that so to Venerable Abbess, thank you so much. This is a true leadership, someone takes any idea as a seed, plants it, gets the help of the Australians to do it, that’s got to be a good thing, and grow peace across Aotearoa and across the world. Go in peace, thank you everyone.”
Dr. Eric’s talk on Smile! It is life! mentioned that in life we can’t avoid unfortunate incidents. Maybe the society is ruthless, but no one can take the joy and peace of mind in our hearts. How can we face a challenging society in order to be calm? Only learning to live in the present, to be aware of what is happening now, to come, to be safe, and to respond with the mentality of “Smile, embrace life!” Dr. Eric praised today’s blessings to gather the power of various religions. The positive energy radiated by each other and the rhythm of love and peace was implanted in the hearts of the masses and became a warm current.
At the end of the program, VIPs and Venerables are in the VIP room to share their experiences. The VIPs said that the Embracing Love and Peace – Blessing for Christchurch event embodies the power of all religions to present wholesomeness to Christchurch, especially from the Buddhist Chant which touched them deeply in their hearts. NZ Human Rights Commission Meng Foon felt the enthusiasm of FGS and BLIA bringing blessings to the people of Christchurch remarkably. Those who came said that it is rare for Christchurch to have such a wonderful blessing event, bringing harmony of religions, moreover, the feeling of peace and joy in the heart.