DDM Initiates the 2011 Pilgrimage to Honor the Master’s Compassion Across the Island
In the early morning of 13 February 2011, sixty devoted members of ‘The Compassion Pilgrimage’ consisting of monastics from the DDM Sangha Community and lay practitioners departed from the Dharma Drum Mountain World Center for Buddhist Education in Jinshan District of New Taipei City.
After three days of marching in chilly and rainy weather, they arrived at Zhaiming Monastery of Taoyuan County on the afternoon of 15 February.
The late Venerable Master Sheng Yen had ever described himself as a monk walking in the snow for long suffering people. Members for ‘The Compassion Pilgrimage’ have vowed to cultivate the same compassionate spirit as the Master’s as well as to practice harder for purification of one’s mind.
Chu-Mei Chang, a lay practitioner, reflected on her three-day faithful walking saying that the journey of life is like learning how to walk, and that one’s mind and even the society, can be purified as long as one is on the right path.
The devoted pilgrims left Zhaiming Monastery in the morning of 16 February for the next stop – Hungkuang University in Taichung. Upon their arrival, the Dharma Assembly of Transmitting the Light was held at the main auditorium on the late afternoon of 19 February. Following the event, they continued their faithful pilgrimage towards Tainan City and Kaohsiung City.
(translated by Jin Yang/edited by DDM Australia Editing Team)
