On 13 October, 33 retirees from North Harbour Ladies Probus Club visited Fo Guang Shan NZ (North Island). After a relaxing and meditative session of Taichi, English Sub-chapter members Daisy and Rebecca showed them around the temple and explained the significance of the architecture and shared the concept of Humanistic Buddhism. Margaret, the coordinator of the group, discovered the cherry blossoms when she visited the temple a few months ago. She visited the temple again today hoping to share the breath- taking scenery of the cherry blossoms with her group members. However due to the cold weather, the 56 cherry trees along the Path of the Buddhahood are still unaware of the heralding of spring and are still hibernating. But the meaningful temple tour, peaceful environment and beautiful vegetarian food more than made up for that.
Also, on the same day, the temple welcomed a volunteer from Fo Guang Shan Taipei Vahara. She was warmly welcomed by the temple’s volunteers which made her feel at home. She liked the ‘Way of Life’ photography exhibition and hoped to visit Fo Guang Shan (South Island) one day. She was a retired teacher and expressed her wish to visit New Zealand again and to contribute her talents to the temple’s Chinese school.