The FGS Monastery organized the 2022 Triple Gem Refuge & Five Precepts Ceremony on 8th May in Taiwan Headquarters. At the same time, devotees from North America, South America, Oceania and Asia participated simultaneously online. Together there were about 3000 people took refuge and became the students of Buddha. FGS Auckland has 111 participants gather in the Temple and went through the ceremony via Zoom. The ceremony was presided by the Head Abbot of FGS Most Venerable Hsin Bao.
Venerable Manshin, the Abbess of Fo Guang Shan Auckland mentioned to the participants that everyone was very blessed to be able to participate in such an extraordinary and auspicious ceremony. The FGS HQ had actually gathered the efforts of many volunteers and the technical teams. Those crews and staffs from difference countries had conducted numerous rehearsals and technical tests runs to ensure the ceremonial proceedings will be running smoothly on the actual day. The Abbess admonished everyone to cherish the affinity and vow to be a righteous disciple that will always share the teachings and benefits of Humanistic Buddhism.
Terry Hampson, a BLIA North Island Chapter committee member who has been a temple tour guide volunteer at the 3G4G Cultural Festival for many years. He shared that he has gained much wisdom and life inspirations from the literary work of Venerable Master Hsing Yun. Terry quoted his reading of 366 Days with Wisdom and Buddha-Dharma: Pure and Simple. He is able to gain strength and aspirations by going back to his inner self through the guide of Humanistic Buddhism.
Nadine, a special-needs primary school teacher in Auckland shared that she has been touched by the Buddha statues since young. At home, she has many different sizes of Buddha statues and enjoys reading Buddhism books in order to find out more about the causes and lessons in the scriptures. The atmosphere and ambience of the Temple makes her feel calm and relax always. She shared that she had almost encounter a car accident before the registration deadline, which could have stop her to come to the Temple. Nevertheless, she believed that with the blessing from Buddha, she was able to make her way and successfully completed her registration in the very last minute.
In this auspicious occasion, the most elderly participant in NZ was 84 years old, and nine of the participants were below 10 years old. The son of LinTao Yu, the advisor of BLIA North Island, is the youngest among all participants, only 6 months old. He was attending the ceremony with his 4-year-old sister DaoXin. Besides that, the two sisters DaoRu and DaoYi, who have just recently participated in the Children’s Triple Gems Refuge Ceremony in April, attended the Five Precepts Ceremony together with their mother. It is through this ceremony, the light of faith has ignited in the hearts of everyone and Buddha’s light will constantly guide their pathways for generations.