The Nanputuo
Temple of Xiamen held the Opening Ceremony for the 9th Volunteer
Training Session on 14th Oct 2017. The volunteers from the Nanputuo
Volunteer Service Society (NVSS), Buddhist communities and volunteer groups
from Nan Chan Temple (Changding, Longyan), Tong Fo Temple (Quanzhou), Long Xing
Temple (Qishui, Linqi) and Pantu Village have participated this session. The
opening ceremony was presided over by Ven. Rong Rui, who is the Official
Receptionist of the Nanputuo Temple.
Having gathered
at the double storey’s Dining Hall, 3,000 volunteers stood respectfully and
sang the Song of Triple Gem to
welcome the Most Ven. Ze Wu (the Abbot of Nanputuo Temple and Mentor of
Volunteers) at 8:00 a.m. Then the Most Ven. Ze Wu hosted the Buddhist ritual
and led all the participants to pray for world peace, prosperity for the
country, peace for people, harmony for family, booming of industry, as well as
the purity of mind for all sentient beings by freeing from suffering and
defilements. After the ritual, the Most Ven. Ze Wu preached the Buddhist Dharma
to all the participants.
The Most Ven. Ze
Wu said, “The Nanputuo Volunteer Service Society has been established for 9
years. At the beginning it only served for the Temple, later it extended its
services to different communities and public. With the accumulated practices and trainings
for these years, the volunteers of Nanputuo Temple have become a practical team
of Buddhism. They have not only
established a professional capability of services but also have developed a
right faith in Dharma. The aim of the
Volunteer Service Society is to practice the Way of Bodhisattva - Spreading Compassion and Loving-kindness to
All Beings without Differentiation - which is the spirit of the Mahāyāna Buddhism
as well as the Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva of Nanputuo Temple. All the
volunteers, who came to this place to study and practice
volunteer service, have gone through a learning process from the
beginning with no faith on Buddhism; later faith arising eventually possess the
right faith in Dharma. In your daily support of Buddhism, you should gradually
follow the Way of Bodhisattva and practise the Dharma by utilizing this platform, eventually it will lead you to the
Buddhist enlightenment. This training session provides you a great opportunity
for learning. In the journey of learning and practicing Buddhism, one of the important
ways is to associate with knowledgeable persons, and therefore, the Temple has
invited several venerable monastics and teachers to deliver lectures for you in
this session. Thus, I hope all of you could
study with full enthusiasm and the training session could be completely
successful.”
The Opening Ceremony ended successfully at 8:30 a.m. Since it was founded in 2009, the NSVV at
first had only hundreds of members, but now it has more than 5,000 members. Its services also expanded from supporting the
Temple at initial stage to caring the community at present. In these 8 years,
our volunteers with different occupations, backgrounds and abilities gathered
here for the same aim. They help and care each other, study together, explore
and find themselves through social services, and seek happiness by devoting
themselves to the society. With the spirit of Spreading Compassion and Loving-kindness to All Beings without
differentiation and the purpose of serving the publics, the volunteers of
Nanputuo Temple went out to serve the society
and did volunteer work in various communities according to the needs of
people. The volunteers have been dedicating themselves in the various occasions
such as the door-to-door propaganda of fire-safety, caring for poor people,
concerning for elders in the community on the birthday of the Buddha (Vesak
Festival), and provide service in the transport stations during Spring
Festival. Consequently, they can be often seen in places such as households, communities, hospitals and transport stations.