It was a pleasure and privilege to join the Buddhist community in their celebration of the Chinese new year, the Year of the Monkey at the Fo Guang Shan Temple.
I was invited by the delightful venerable Miao Dao from Taiwan, who heads the temple. A good friend, it was marvelous to spend time with her and her wonderful team. May Yau, the Chairman of this temple arranged my visit. I attended in my personal capacity as well as representing Faith Network 4 Manchester as its Vice-Chair and trustee of Manchester Multi-Faith Center.
I was part of and joined all the celebrations till midnight, start of the new year, including in the communal new year prayers and calligraphy/mandarin writing. I was offered fabulous hospitality and really well looked after. Lovely Christine Lau was my immediate host, guide and wonderful ‘minder’ for the evening. You will see her lovely, smiling face in quite a few pictures. I came away feeling highly uplifted and definitely well informed about Buddhism. I met a lot people and of course, all the lovely friendships & bonding took place. And I left with a gift box of food goodies!
Meal
I really enjoyed a very healthy Chinese vegan meal. With lots of lovely fresh vegetables, spicy sauces and served by a smiley team of volunteers!
Activities
I made three wishes with the “wishing bell” kindly helped by Irene another member of the temple team.
Calligraphy
It was great to have an opportunity to practice calligraphy and mandarin writing. Especially important for me now with the recent publication of my novel ‘The Holy Woman’ in Mandarin. The well stocked library room was full of people quietly writing away. You can see me writing away at my desk and holding up the completed my childish looking first draft of mandarin writing.
Stalls & Activities
In the main hall downstairs there were lots of stalls including food with red bags of auspicious rice!
Shrine Tour
Thanks to my wonderful friend Christine I was taken on a guided tour of the Temple. With affiliation to Taiwan, Fo Guang Shan is beautiful with three marvelous shrine halls upstairs. I was awe-struck. There was so much for me to see, to take in and learn about, including burial rights, etc.
Prayers for the New Year
It was a privilege indeed to join the Buddhist community in their prayers and chanting for the Chinese New Year. Everyone was so gracious and welcoming. There was a lovely atmosphere in the main hall where venerable Miao Dao led the prayers with smiles, humor and dignity and ensured that some of us non Buddhist visitors were fully included.
The Dragons’ Dance
Of course, we can’t celebrate the Chinese New Year without the exciting dragon dance -that was the highlight of the celebration & the evening just before midnight. What a lovely time we had watching the two dragons and their delightful antics and the playing of the drums by young children. Such a wonderful, buzzing atmosphere. Inside the dragons were the young children receiving money gifts in red envelopes.
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