Venerable Master Sheng Yen's Artworks on Calligraphy Hits the Spotlight in Tainan
Venerable Master Sheng Yen, accompanied by the Abbot President, Venerable Guo Dong, arrived in Tainan City on 2 June 2007 to mark the inauguration of "The Tour Exhibition of Venerable Master Sheng Yen's Works of Chinese Calligraphy".
The exhibition is being held on the fifth floor of Shinkong Mitsukoshi department store, located at the Tainan New Life Square. It will be on display every day from 11:00am to 9:00pm until 10 June.
Since Chinese New Year's Eve on17 February 2007, the Master's 481 works of Chinese calligraphy have been displayed on a rotational basis at the Founding Memorial Hall of DDM World Center for Buddhist Education in Jinshan Township, Taipei County. However, to allow more people from around the island to appreciate the Master's fine artworks, Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM/Fagushan) specially initiated the tour exhibition, which will continue to the end of August starting with Tainan City, followed by Taichung City, Kaohsiung City and Taipei City.
To acknowledge the Master's arrival to Tainan, the Mayor, Hsu Tian-Tsair attended the inauguration ceremony. On behalf of Tainan's residents, Mayor Hsu said people in Tainan were very happy to see the arrival of Venerable Master Sheng Yen, and were sincerely looking forward to more visits by the Master, especially for his messages on peace and dharma teachings. The mayor also expressed his well wishes for a successful tour exhibition.
The opening ceremony was full of DDM's followers, Tainan's residents and local reporters. The Master not only thanked every participant, but also warmly prayed for peace and harmony to the residents of Tainan City with his palms joined.
Venerable Master Sheng Yen said he hoped that individuals would come here to enjoy the fine artworks and then become volunteers to propagate DDM's ideas and encourage more people to support Fagushan. The Master added that the goal of the exhibition is to attract more people to support financial contributions to the ongoing funding of the Dharma Drum University in Jinshan Township. If one donated merely NT$5 a day for the Dharma Drum University, a total of NT$5,475 would be collected after three years. The Master stressed that up to seventy percent of the current compassionate donors are not yet followers of Fagushan.
Indeed, if more people would show their support to the university, the Master's compassionate vow of 'building a pure land on earth' can be passed down through the generations and be realized.
This exhibition is only a beginning to realize DDM's wishes for more people in Taiwan to come to the DDM World Center for Buddhist Education to support the Dharma Drum University, learn the Dharma and experience the joy of Chan practice.
(translated by Jin Yang/edited by DDM Australian Editing Team)
