SFYAD

2021 The 2021 Fo Guang Shan New Year Festival of Light and Peace 2/12/21 -2/28/2021... http://online.fgs.org.tw/lightoffering/ 2021212228 The 2021 Fo Guang Shan New Year Festival of Light and Peace will be held from February 12th to February 28th. Due to the impact of the coronavirus, many activities have been converted to online events. Following the launch of the official website of the festival, we are now introducing Virtual Light Offering, using a mouse instead of matches to light up our inner heart, to pray for the world, family, and for oneself.

In order to fulfill the heartfelt wish of many to officially become a Buddhist with right faith, Fo Guang Shan Monastery will conduct a virtual Triple Gem Refuge Ceremony on Guanyin Bodhisattva's day of remembrance. DATE: 3/30/2021 (Tuesday) TIME: 6:00 pm PST (9:00pm EST) PLATFORM: Zoom Meeting... Sign up here: http://bit.ly/fgstriplegemrefuge

Today is Lunar Eighth of December, The day of the Buddha's enlightenment. Like seeing a bright star in the middle of the night, Henceforth, giving rise to branc...hes and thorns. Happy Buddha's Enlightenment Day! May we all be enlightened quickly, just as the Buddha did 2,600 years ago :)

2021 New Year Letter from FGS Head Abbot, Venerable Hsin Bao https://www.fgs.org.tw/events/2021ny/letter/index.html

Hi everyone! SFYAD got into the finals for Sounds of the Human World Singing Competition, and the final round is a popularity voting contest held tomorrow online. All 12 entries will be shown on this YouTube video tomorrow at 1pm: http://rebrand.ly/0crl0ai... Please vote for our performance here: https://fast-poll.com/poll/19f254df

When we think of sharing, we normally think of sharing things we could see, hear, smell, taste, touch, or think about. But we could also share our compassion and kindness with others! Even more, we could share them through the six senses. Through sharing mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival, people may start to open up and create good affinities with you. Moreover, they may also start to share this joy and kindness with others as well.

The 2020 Buddha’s Light International Association World Headquarters Online General Conference was held at 7:30PM Pacific Time last night over Zoom platform. Even as the pandemic resulted in physical distancing between everyone, through technology it allowed over 11,000 participants from 50 different countries and 101 BLIA Chapters to be together virtually. YADs from around the world, where among those were 8 members from SFYAD, also joined this global event. Venerable Master Hsing Yun, Founder of BLIA, gave an opening speech to welcome all distinguished guests and members. He hoped that everyone can continue caring about the future of our countries and societies, and wished us all happiness and be at ease.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! SFYAD is having a Mid-Autumn Festival gathering this Saturday. We will be playing trivia to learn more about the festival history and designing postcard together online via Aggie.io. If you are an artistic and creative, you should join our postcard designing. You can register through our website: https://www.sfyad.org//mid-autumn-x-double-ninth-festival-

Join us and hear our Winson Yang speak about the current progress in mindfulness research!

September Newsletter - Not McMindfulness! Towards a right view of mindfulness. Be sure to join our events that we have lined up! - Showcasing Yourself Through Your CV, - Virtual Escape Room... - Scientific and Dharma Talk on Meditation - Mid Autumn Festival See more

Four Immeasurables If Buddhist practitioners can uphold the Four Immeasurables loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity... not only will one’s merit and wisdom increase, afflictions will also be eliminated, for these are the four secrets to success in the journey of life. Four Immeasurables ***** It is said in the Avatamsaka Sutra, Find joy in gentleness and patience; abide in kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity are the Four Immeasurables; they are the cornerstones of reliance and abiding. By practicing the Four Immeasurables, one can subdue inner afflictions such as greed, anger, ignorance, and arrogance. The Four Immeasurables correspond with the Working Creed for Buddha’s Light Members that I have established for Fo Guang Shan. Immeasurable kindness is to give others faith; immeasurable compassion is to give others hope; immeasurable joy is to give others joy; and immeasurable equanimity is to give others convenience. Through practicing the Four Immeasurables, one will be able to improve interpersonal relationships, and cultivate merit and wisdom that benefit the peace and happiness of countless sentient beings. How can the Four Immeasurables become the fundamental guidelines for self-establishment and dealing with situations in our daily lives? . to be continued Four Immeasurables Venerable Master Hsing Yun

Today is the International Day Commemorating the Victim of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. In Buddhism, where is no such thing as a just war. The ...Buddha taught that, The victor breeds hatred and the defeated lives in misery. He who renounces both victory and defeat is happy and peaceful. Not only did the Buddha teach nonviolence and peace, He was probably the first and only religious founder who went to the battlefield to prevent the outbreak of a war. Once, King Virudhaka wanted to attack Kapilavastu. According to Indian tradition, if an army encountered a monk, the war had to be halted immediately. To protect his homeland, the Buddha sat quietly in the path of King Virudhaka’s army. Since the army could not advance, the king got down from his carriage to ask, Buddha, the sun is scorching, so it is inadvisable to sit for so long in the middle of the road. Why not sit under the lush trees where it is cooler? the Buddha replied, The shade of my clan surpasses any other shade. Touched by the Buddha’s compassionate words, King Virudhaka ordered the army to retreat. Read up more on Google Arts & Culture: https://g.co/arts/i3sKjMy2MaXYmDMF8 Google books: https://books.google.com.tw/books #nonviolence

SFYAD hosted a vegetarian forum recently! We watched snippets of The Gamer Changers, followed by a forum with three panelists, Venerable Miao Zhong, Winson, and Ben. Our panelists shared their challenges and benefits of being vegetarians, as well as its misconceptions. More importantly, they shared that it is important to keep a balanced diet for a healthy body!

Looking for a new movie to watch this month? Join us for our monthly gathering online as we watch the movie "I Lost My Body" together and bond over Zoom! Popcorn not included :)