This uniquely Australia day fell on the Sunday 4 March 2007.

Liked previous years DDM members turned up in a large group to help in the clean up of the Westerfords Park on the out skirt of Melbourne

Last December Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) worked with the Warrandyte Uniting Church to create a mosaic peace wall to offer a place for spiritual and peaceful reflection for the people living in the region. Over 1000 people from local organisations, churches and interfaith groups took part in this amazing project.

I joined as a volunteer of Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM/Fagushan) for the first time in order to help out the seven days of Chan retreat at the Triratna Monastery from 22 to 28 October 2006.

---Wang Dingjun's New Chapter in Life

Mr Wang Dingjun, a well known prolific Chinese writer, recently visited our Shifu, Master Sheng Yen. During Shifu's short, one month stay in New York during late autumn this year, Mr Wang visited the Chan Meditation Center not once, twice but three times to be with a great master whom he deems difficult to meet.

Northern Sri Lanka has been suffering from civil war for nearly thirty years. On 5 August this year, I returned for there with Ms. Bi-Hua Chiang, to implement an initiative to help war-afflicted students. This initiative offers stipends to a total of thirty students and has been approved by the Dharma Drum Mountain Social Welfare and Charity Foundation (DDMSWCF), with liaison with Department of Health officials in northern Sri Lanka who made recommendations for the stipend recipients.

My experience at DDRC was life changing. I have read many
books on Buddhism and all the reading has been helpful. However,
reading books on the path, and actually taking steps on the path or
entirely different things.

I have considered myself a Buddhist for the past thirty years, but the past two years have taken me into a deeper understanding of Buddhist thought and practice about life. I became acquainted with Master Sheng Yen three years ago when visiting Dharma Drum Mountain Monastery in Taiwan for a day tour.

Sunday February 28 was the most exciting day in the history of Canadian athletics. The last event of the Winter Olympics was taking place. It was the national sport – ice hockey – against the country’s biggest rivals, the USA. Vancouver’s streets were crowded with cheering fans staring up at huge screens fixed to tall buildings.

This was the second time I participated in the Living CH’an Workshop held at the Vancouver Dharma Drum Centre. I learned a great deal when I participated in the workshop last time.

Two Days Retreat with Guo Yuan Fashi.
Jakarta, Indonesia, 31 Oct - 1 Nov 2009

A lotus for you all, Buddha to be.

This is my first Chan retreat with Guo Yuan Fashi. When I welcomed and saw Guo Yuan Fashi coming into the retreat villa "Amitayus", all of a sudden, I felt a very deep impression of Fashi’s strong compassion that radiating from his face.