With our great honour and pleasure that we had invited the Venerable Guo Xing, Abbot of Dharma Drum Retreat Center and Chan Meditation Center in New York, to give us a talk on Karma – Causes, Conditions and Consequences on September 25, 2014. This was the third time that Abbot offered his teachings at the offices of Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans of Canada in Vancouver.

On September 1st, 2014, the Dharma Drum Mountain Drum Ensemble had an excellent performance in Downtown Vancouver at the Taiwan Festival. The day started bright and early at 9 am at the temple. We had a complete rehearsal with the kids group and the adults. There was a bit of confusion with the gong and the orders, but overall everything ran smoothly. Once again, thank you to all the volunteers for the delicious lunch to keep us energized for the long day ahead of us.

1. Sunday, September 21, 9:15 am-9:45 am: Short Introduction to Meditation

Description: Guo Sheng Fashi will be conducting an Introduction to Meditation for those who are new to meditation. At this time, Fashi will introduce the brief basics of meditation, including posture and basic methods of relaxation and sitting meditation.

The Venerable Guo Xing, Abbot of Dharma Drum Retreat Center and Chan Meditation Center in New York, gave a follow-up presentation hosted by the Chan meditation community of practice at the Douglas Jung Building on “Attention with and without Duality” on January 23, 2014 to approximately three dozen Environment Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada colleagues. Venerable Chang Wu, Director of the Dharma Drum Mountain Centre in Richmond, started the session by leading participants in a brief seated meditation body scan, from head to toe, to relax our bodies, which helped to relax our minds in advance of Venerable Guo Xing’s presentation. She reminded us that we can do the seated meditation almost anywhere at any time and immediately experience the calming benefits that it brings to our bodies and our minds, and encouraged us to do so more often.

During our lifetime, our main goal may be just to seek happiness. However, what is happiness? In view of this, the Abbot President of DDM, Venerable Guo Dong will deliver a special speech on October 26th at Sheraton, New York to explore the simplest and purest form of happiness in our mind through the wisdom of Buddha Dharma.

On November 8th, the central area of the Philippines was hit by a super strong typhoon, Haiyan, which caused heavy damage and left tens of thousands of people dead and injured. The Philippines authorities have called for international assistance, stating that approximately 630,000 people are displaced and that the disaster area is seriously short of supplies. In order to urgently help DDM, under the direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, immediately collected supplies and necessities and sent them to the disaster areas of the Philippines in the afternoon of November 11th, 2013.

On 28 October, Abbot President of Dharma Drum Mountain Venerable Guo Dong was invited to the DDM Tallahassee Chan Center in Florida by Associate Professor Yu Yong-Fong from the Department of Religion at Florida State University, where he led the refuge-taking ceremony. Approximately 100 attendees were present to listen to the teachings of the Abbot President and about 40 of them took refuge to be disciples of the Three Jewels. Participants were almost all Americans, a testament to the universal nature of this splendid ceremony.

“…we are good neighbours in the global village. Indeed, we are all sons and daughters born of the same Mother Universe”.(Ven. Master Sheng Yen - Peace Summit, UN 2000)

Let’s promote Chan practice and uplift the character of humanity¬! Following the spirit of the late Venerable Master Sheng Yen, the DDM Chan Meditation Center in Sunnyvale, San Francisco held a Chan Practice for a thousand participants on October 20, 2013. Previously, this event was held in Taiwan in both 2012 and 2013 with over ten thousand participants. The event, “Chan 2013 Live!” was held in San Francisco and welcomed people of all different races and religious faiths from all over the country to gather together and experience Dharma Drum’s Eight-Form Moving Meditation in a large group setting. The event encouraged relaxation of the body and mind, promoted peace of mind and showed participants how to merge Chan with their daily lives, in the hope of bringing peace and stability to the surrounding environment.

Before ending their reconstruction assistance after the Haiti earthquake, from October 16th to 19th, DDM Social Welfare and Charity Foundation (DDMSWCF) visited numerous principal rescue units such as local juvenile vocational schools, street schools and children hospitals. Forthright and sincere youth and children showed their passion with tooth exposed smiles to joyfully greet the volunteers from Taiwan who have been precious friends for them in this period.