The Buddha Dharma and Hospice Care Symposium
The Buddhist Lotus Hospice Care Foundation is a Buddhist hospice that uses Buddhist philosophy and practices to comfort and inspire the dying as well as the bereaved. Its 10th Buddha Dharma and Hospice Care symposium was held on October 10 to commemorate its 20th anniversary. The Abbot President of DDM, Ven. Guo Dong, as well as several community representatives were invited to deliver the opening speech at 9 a.m.; these speakers expressed their gratitude to the late Venerable Master Sheng Yen for the Dharma affinity he created lasting until today.
In discussing the issues of ageing society, low birth rates and dementia that comes with old age, Ven. Guo Dong pointed out that “ageing” is usually accompanied by frustration and despair. In response, US-based writer, Wang Ding Jun mentioned that although many elders do not complain, these elders do not have any aspirations either. We should realize that only compassion and wisdom remain with us through the rebirth process, nothing more. Therefore, having compassionate vows and cherishing our life could give us hope and prevent despair from setting in.
The Abbot President also expressed his heartfelt joy and appreciation to the Foundation’s President, Cheng Rong Kee, Director, Chang Pao Fang, and all the volunteers for their contribution to hospice care. In elaborating “8 Positive Ways to Deal with Expectations”, he indicated that we could develop compassion and wisdom through hospice care; offering care with compassion enables us to cherish sentient as well as non-sentient beings; this, in turn, allows us to realize the phenomena of becoming, impermanence, non-self and emptiness.
The President of Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts (DDILA), Ven. Hui Min, was also invited to give a special keynote address, “Liberal Arts Education of DDILA and the Program for Developing Clinical Religious Masters”, to introduce the new Master degree in Life Education that will be offered next year.
(Translated by Tom Hsieh/Edited by Leefah)