Ven. Panyalinkara, abbot of the Chinese Buddhist Temple in Nalanda, India, visited Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education together with five members of Taiwan’s Dharma Zen Center, at 9:30 a.m. on January 20, 2016. Ven. Changxue (常學) of the Sangha Education Department and Ven. Changji (常寂) of the International Relations Office welcomed the guests on behalf of DDM, who visited the Wish-Fulfilling Guanyin Hall, the Founding History Memorial Hall, and the Grand Buddha Hall, with detailed explanation by Venerables Changxue and Changji about the ideals of DDM as a practice center and its calming and peaceful environment featuring the spirit of Chan.

At 10:00 am on January 13, 2016, His Holiness the 37th Drikhung Kagyu Kyabgon Chetsang visited Dharma Drum Mountain’s Nung Chan Monastery, together with Tsai Desheng (蔡得勝), former director-general of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, and Zhang Pingzhao (張平沼), president of Taiwan General Chamber of Commerce, among other distinguished guests. The group of 10 guests was warmly welcomed by DDM’s abbot president Ven. Gong Dong.

At 11 in the morning of January 14th, Rev. Joshin L. Bachoux, abbot of la Demeure sans Limites, visited Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education together with Sakyadhita Taiwan. Dedicated to sharing Zen teachings as Dharma Drum Mountain is with Chan teachings, the Reverend, who visited Taiwan for the first time, said that Dharma Drum Mountain projects a calming energy that enables people to feel joy, while DDM monastics praised her for being able to engage in the challenging task of propagating the Dharma in Europe with a firm determination.

【 A Tale of Two Futures - Planetary Realism in the Time of Climate Change 】 By Tim Dai

Introduction

Venerable Chang Ji just delivered an amazing talk at Dharma Drum Vancouver Center, and the talk was closely related to each one of us. It’s on Global Climate Change of our common home - earth. As you may already know, in December 2015 there was an important international conference took place in Pairs regarding Climate Change – COP21. Venerable Chang Ji, representing DDMBA US, attended the full conference which lasted for almost 12 days, and we were very lucky to have her sharing with us what she learned. Unfortunately, some people weren’t able to attend her talk. Therefore, here is my report on her talk and hopefully it can give you a little taste of her talk and this important topic

To further experience Buddhist culture, Republic of Guatemala’s Vice President, Excmo. Sr. Juan Alfonso Fuentes Soria, his wife, daughter, confidential secretary, and Guatemala’s Minister of Labor visited Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education at 10am on December 27, 2015. He was accompanied by Larry R. L. Tseng, Taiwan Director-General of Protocol Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other officials. Ven. Gong Dong （果東法師）, DDM’s abbot president, together with Ven. Chang Yuan (常遠法師), Ven. Guo Gao (果高法師), Ven. Guo Yue (果悅法師), Ven. Guo Shu (果樞法師) cordially welcomed the group of VIPs, and gave them a guided tour of the Buddha Hall to pay respect to the Buddha, the Founding History Memorial Hall, and the Wish-Fulfilling Guanyin Hall. Finally, the guests were presented the Great Compassion Water and the spiritual prescription slips as blessings.