Chinese New year celebrated at Nan Hua Temple

On the eve of 30 January 2014, local Chinese gathered at Nan Hua Temple to enter the new lunar year in traditional Chinese style.

Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated at the turn of the Chinese calendar. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name, Nian festival. The New Year is celebrated on the first new moon of the New Year. This year is the Year of the Horse according to Chinese customs.

The Abbot of Nan Hua Temple, Venerable Hui Fang, opened the doors at 23h30 and the celebrations started with a service that included paying homage to a thousand Buddhas. The traditional incense offering led to the chanting of the Heart Sutra after which the chant of the prayer to all Buddhas took place followed by the attendees taking Refuge in the Triple Gem and the Transference of Merit.

Venerable Hui Fang led the proceedings and read the prayer for the New Year written by the founder of Fo Guang Shan, Master Hsing Yun. Venerable Yi Chun shared a very inspiring message for the upcoming year and also recalled some past memories.

Our sincere apologies to those who did not receive the message that there would be no event on 31 December 2013 at the Temple due to the passing of Madiba. Chinese New Year will be celebrated as usual on 2 February 2014 from 9h30 to 15h00 with a cultural festival. Nan Hua Temple will celebrate New Year 2015 in its usual way on 31 December 2014.

The illuminating Light of the Buddha continues to shine even to areas situated quite far away from Nan Hua Temple. The blessings of the Buddha and its teachings of compassion and giving, has spearheaded life-changing experiences to people that not had the privilege of gaining skills such as the ability to use computers. The program, which was originally intended to assist the community around the Temple in Bronkhorstspruit, has now reached people 600 kilometres away and is still going strong.

The launch of new computer lab in Giyani on 13 December 2013 proved a very valuable early Christmas present for the Giyani community. This fully-furnished computer lab with well-trained computer skills facilitators and state-of-the-art computers is situated in the rural Makosha village. The classes are offered free of charge. 15 computers were handed over to the Vongani Skills Development Centre in order to provide much-needed computer training to the previously disadvantaged people of the Giyani community.

Venerable Hui Xing, Nan Hua Temple’s Manager, blessed the occasion with his heartfelt speech, when he reminded the community that, the hardship, lack of skills, poverty and their desire to develop and grow both financially and personally, is felt by the people at the Temple 600kms away. In answer to this, the 15 computers were installed and the first 30 beneficiaries were graduating. He continued saying that, through the Buddha’s compassion and the willpower of the people of Giyani to acquire knowledge in the future, more and more centres like this will be opened and more and more people will have a chance to gain the knowledge, enabling them to kick-start their life. The crowd applauded joyfully and celebrated loudly. Lastly, he reminded the graduates to be role models for those who will follow and to encourage others to make use of this great opportunity to enable them to also give back to the community.

Mrs Mathonsi, founder of the centre, shared the history of Vongani Skills Development Centre and its dealings with Nan Hua Temple. She recalled her request for 20 wheelchairs, which were delivered in 2009 and another 15 wheelchairs, which were delivered earlier this year by the Temple. Through this unconditional assistance from the Temple, she realised that religious boundaries are mere illusions, as we all strive to reach the same goal; hence, she has so much respect for the Buddhism and what it stands for. She encouraged the community of Giyani to see for themselves what Buddhism can do for their community.

She reminded the community about compassion shown by the Temple and said that they should ask themselves that if, for example, their neighbour’s child wants to come and learn to use the computer in their house, would they allow that without worrying ‘what if this or that would’ happen. “Now look at the Buddhist community from far away, who just presented us with gifts without ‘what ifs’, she concluded.

Lastly, Chief of Homu, the traditional leader, on behalf of the community of Giyani, thanked the Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) for the wonderful gift presented to their people. He assured the Temple that the computers were in good hands; that the community will look after and cherished it. He also said that the community will be encouraged to not only learn from the heart, but also apply what they learn to improve their life lives rapidly. He welcomed the graduates back to the community and reiterated that they must use the skills they gained to be more useful to themselves as well as the community of Giyani as a whole.

These were the words said by Mebby Sipopo, as she addressed her Pastel Payroll classmates at the graduation ceremony held at Nan Hua Temple’s gallery area on 8 November 2013. She continued by saying that their three-month marathon journey of classroom study, homework and learning almost daily, still made them anxious - especially at the beginning of their studies - about whether they will be able to make it or not. But through their own patience and hard work, and the effort of their facilitators, they knew soon knew they will make it. No matter what, the success is coming their way - and indeed today they were rewarded with their accomplishment and held with pride their PASTEL PAYROLL CERTIFICATES.

Representing the last intake from Limpopo, Miss Judith Mahlodi thanked the Buddha Light International Association (BLIA) for all three years of continually assisting the indigenous people, especially the youth of Monsterrus, Mpumalanga. Many of these youths could have been still without the vital computer skills, mainly because of lack of money, but the BLIA, with its dedicated staff made sure that this is not going to happen. It is up to them now to go out there and assist others and not only look for paid jobs, but also volunteering can help them to gain experience, as well as introduce them to the work environment. Well done BLIA!!!

Eddy Tshabalala, a former student from our computer centre in Zithobeni, used this occasion to pass the message of determination and faith to the graduates. He urged the graduates to be very determined in what they want to achieve, as well as have faith in what they believe is right. As these two phenomena are the source of courage and strength that we need, to propel our lives into greater career heights.

Venerable Hui Xing, delivering the keynote address, emphasised the need for acquiring experience and for using one’s experience to learn even greater things in life. He gave the graduates Buddha’s Blessings and invited them to come back to Nan Hua Temple and NHA as guests any time, to share their future progress and success.