The Eighteenth National Dharma Teachers Workshop— The More You Teach, The More You Feel at Peace
To recreate the joy of last year’s gathering, Ven. Chang Zao (常藻) was once again invited to lead this year’s eighteenth National Dharma Teacher’s workshop. The topic of this year’s workshop was, “the more you teach, the more you feel at peace.” It was held in chief by the Taiping Buddhist Center, in cooperation with Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Centre Malaysia. More than fifty dharma teachers along with a number of college students participated in this activity, which lasted from May 30th to June 3rd and was held in the Taiping Buddhist Center.
Ven. Chang Zao was the lecturer of this dharma workshop, which was focused on the text The Universal Door of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. She led the participants to penetrate the Sutra and to introduce Bodhisattva depicted in Universal Door of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. Though one may feel confident and satisfied from a superficial reading of the text, with deeper penetration one reveals many characters, spirits, and methods of practice from which we can learn. During the interaction between participants, Ven. Chang Zao cited the careers of teachers of great wisdom, and explained how to make their sometimes difficult lessons easy to learn through the application of dharma -- in this ceaselessly changing environment, we can reach toward Utopia and settle our minds.
Accompanying the venerable were three volunteers from DDM Malaysia: Liang Lifang, Chen Yunjie, and Lu Haopei. They shared with the students the function of meditation, the method of meditation, and the practice of meditation in daily life. Additionally, two hours were reserved for meditation each night. This sharing of ideas and methods allowed the participants who had not tried meditation to gain a foundation in the practice. On the last day of the workshop, Ven. Chang Zao held the three refuges and five precepts ceremony; in all, fifteen participants took refuge and became practitioners of Buddhism. The ceremony was simple and solemn.
The spirit of the Bodhisattva may at times seem too remote to reach, but if we only have confidence in ourselves, do our utmost, and view others as Bodhisattva as well, and then all could learn this precious spirit and walk the Bodhisattva path.
Reported by Chen Yunjie(陳允潔)
Photography by the accompanying team
Translated by Frances Liu (劉珮如)
Edited by Matthew Stoia