Abiding by his last wish, the ash burial ceremony of the late Eighth Vice President of Republic of China, Mr. Lee, Yuan-Tsu, was held at 2.00 p.m. on March 31, 2017 at the Eco-Friendly Memorial Garden of Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education. Led by honor guards, representatives of the family held his ash box and slowly filed along the winding trail lined with cherry blossoms and banana magnolia trees. Late Mr. Lee’s wish for a natural burial was fulfilled after the hundred participants made their silent prayer and shared their recollections.

Based on the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, the assembly reflects the Buddhist spirit of great filial piety.

As a way to show gratitude and repay kindness, the seven-day Amitabha Recitation Retreat is a popular event for many practitioners during the Tomb-Sweeping Festival. Of various Buddhist methods of practice, reciting Amitabha Buddha’s name is a most straightforward and effective way to help us gather our mind and live in the present. By reciting Amitabha Buddha’s name in one-minded concentration without confusion and distraction, we will be more able to calm and settle our mind.

The Concept of Repaying Kindness: To Benefit All Sentient Beings through Actual Practice

Purifying our minds and society through diligent practice of the Dharma at the Dharma assembly:

In Chinese culture, the Tomb-Sweeping Festival is a time to pay respects to one’s ancestors, by remembering their kindness and the value of filial piety.

The annual Transmitting the Light of Dharma ceremony was held at the Dharma Drum World Center for Buddhist Education at 7:00 p.m on Febuary 4, 2017. The ceremony was broadcast in real time to its 12 branch monastries across Taiwan via video-conferencing.

On the Chinese New Year’s Eve, the bronze Lotus Bell inscribed with the whole Lotus Sutra, the first of its kind in the world, sounded its toll as thousands of participants lighted up their inner brightness for the coming new year, amid the ocean of lanterns on Dharma Drum Mountain.

Dharma Drum Mountain held its 22nd Buddhist-style group wedding ceremony, an effort to promote protection of the social environment and encourage establishment of more Buddhist families, at the Dharma Drum World Center for Buddhist Education at 2:30 pm on January 15. Forty-nine couples from home and abroad and hundreds of their friends and relatives participated in the ceremony.

Promoting Chinese Buddhism had always been a mission of the founder of Dharma Drum Mountain, Master Sheng Yen, who considered Buddhist education as being essential to the future development of Chinese Buddhism. The second Forum on Chinese Buddhism in Recent and Contemporary History, organized by the Sheng Yen Education Foundation, took place at Baoyun Monastery in Taichung from December 18 to 20, 2016, drawing around 20 scholars from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, France, and the US, who dealt with the problems and challenges of modern Chinese Buddhism in terms of Buddhism education, as well as its future opportunities and direction.

During Chinese New Year, many people go to temples to pray for blessings and prosperity. As a token of faith, they light lamps before the Buddha, praying for their wishes to be fulfilled and granted through the Buddha or a bodhisattva’s spiritual responses. To light a lamp in front of the Buddha is to light up our inner brightness, and the world as well, just as the sun shines on all sentient beings and the rain nurtures all creatures. It corresponds with the spirit of the Bodhisattva and reflects the meaning of lighting the lamp.