More than 800 volunteers washed and cleaned 15,400 Buddha statues of varying sizes at the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Kaohsiung on Monday, an action that senior monk Hui Chuan (慧傳) said would cleanse people’s minds as they prepare to greet the new year.
Fo Guang Shan Monastery, the largest in southern Taiwan, started the campaign to clean the Buddha statues as part of its activities to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China.
Hsin Pei (心培), the monastery’s head monk, said Buddha, as an -enlightened being, would not care if his images were covered with dust.
PHOTO: CNA
However, the ritual and symbolic action of cleaning his statues with water could endear believers to Buddha’s body, enabling them to get rid of not only the physical dirt, but also spiritual disturbances.
Hui said the temple held an -activity two years ago asking people to bathe and clothe seniors in a filial gesture of respect.
For similar reasons, he said, bathing the Buddha statues could be seen as a way for people to cleanse their minds, giving them the peace of mind needed to obtain the wisdom to weather all difficulties and enjoy a smooth and auspicious future.
A three-story scaffold was erected on the wall of the main temple hall and volunteers passed 14,800 statues down to the ground where another group of volunteer workers cleaned them with water.
In addition, another 600 statues were taken from three other halls for the annual cleaning, bringing the total to 15,400.
Many of the volunteers hailed from Argentina and other countries, some of whom came from three generations of the same family.
Chinese tourists visiting Fo Guang Shan marveled at the grand and rare sight of so many people acting together to wash Buddha statues, and some joined the ranks of volunteers.
When their tour guides called them to return to their tour buses, they regretted having to leave so soon.
“How quickly time passes! It’s too bad. I haven’t gotten enough of this,” one Chinese tourist said.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS