DDM Vancouver Celebrates the Vesak Festival

On the morning of 22 May, 2010, Dharma Drum Mountain in Vancouver (DDM Vancouver) celebrated the Vesak Festival with the bathing of the Buddha ceremony. Over 230 Buddhist followers from the great Vancouver metropolitan region attended the gathering.

The celebration began in the Grand Buddha Hall, with a chanting of the Buddhist scriptures and paying respect to the Buddha by vowing to work on ridding ignorance and self-centeredness, in order to minimize karmic retribution, to improve self-perseverance and to return to the purity of mind.

Abbot of DDM Vancouver, Venerable Chang Xing, said that the Buddha came to this mundane world to educate people about the impermanence of life. Venerable Chang Xing also encouraged the participants by saying that learning and practicing the Dharma in the face of difficulties is the correct path.

In line with the Buddha’s compassion and the aspiration in promoting the Dharma, Venerable Chang Xing went on to share that this is the reason why the late Master Sheng Yen had founded the Dharma Drum University in Taiwan, for the benefit of sentient beings.

Every participant felt gratitude in their heart. Just like the Master had taught, ‘A mind at peace gives rise to a peaceful world’.

(translated by Jin Yang/edited by DDM Australia Editing Team)