Christchurch elder Glenda Newton celebrated her 70th birthday with a tea party hosted by 20 friends and family members on 10 August at the Fo Guang Shan (FGS) South Island NZ Water Drop Cafe. Glenda had a good impression of the cafe during a previous meal and thus she came up with this idea of a birthday tea party. After the birthday tea party, the diners toured around the temple, led by art gallery coordinator Juin Mei. She led them to visit the art gallery’s current exhibitions: Transience, Reflections, and Life of Leisure Water Colour Paintings. They later visited the Main Shrine, Time Corridor and library. At the Main Shrine, Juin Mei told the visitors about the story of how the prince became ordained and introduced them to how the incense, flowers, lamps were laid out on the altar. They were all impressed by the artistic and peaceful atmosphere of the temple.
Glenda was delighted to celebrate the occasion and her family thanked the temple for the opportunity to visit and get to know FGS South Island NZ. They were initially curious about the temple and Buddhism, thus asked a few questions such as: “How long did the Buddha take to become enlightened?”, “Why meditate?”, “When do Buddhists worship and practice together?”, “Why chant the sutra?”, “What is the English term for someone who is ordained as a practitioner?”. “What clothes are worn by Venerables?”. Juin Mei answered the questions one by one and everyone was satisfied. Not only did they manage to celebrate Glenda’s birthday, the guests also left with a better understanding of Buddhism and said they will visit the temple sometime again in the future.