In order to organize the Buddhist circles of Xiamen for further study, the spirit of the “two sessions” enhanced the ideological and political qualities of the public. In the afternoon of March 30th, 2018, the Most Ven. Ze Wu (the Deputy of the National People's Congress, the Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China, and the President of the Buddhist Association of Xiamen) delivered the speech of “The Spirit of the ‘NPC &CPPCC Sessions 2018” for the four kinds of disciples（catasraḥ parṣadaḥ) at Monastic Dining Hall of the Nanputuo Temple. All the standing members of the 9th Council of Xiamen Buddhist Association, the abbots and residential monastics of the registered and open monasteries of Xiamen, and all the teachers and students of the Buddhist College of Minnan, etc., more than 700 people attended the meeting. Mr. Shen Zhongyong（The Commissioner of Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of Xiamen Municipality）and the Researcher Huang Sijian were invited to attend this meeting. The Ven. Jing Xin (Vice present of the Buddhist Association of Xiamen) hosted this meeting.
At the meeting, the Most Ven. Ze Wu combined his own experience and profound understanding of the “two sessions” of the country. He explained the profound things in a simple and practical manner, and spoke about the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping and the spirit of the “two sessions” in the country. First, he introduced the connotations of the “two sessions” from the interpretation of the “two sessions” from the special era background, special tasks, and special significance. He emphasized that this is a great Flag of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The conference comprehensively implemented the socialist ideology of Xi Jinping with Chinese characteristics and the spirit of the Nineteenth National Congress of CPC. It was a democratic, united, truth-seeking, and progressive congress. Subsequently, the theme of the two sessions was systematically interpreted by four perspectives: adherence to the leadership of the party, ownership of the people, legal governance, and openness and development. The Master said that adhering to the leadership of the CPC, maintaining the authority of the central government, and maintaining the authority of President Xi Jinping were the highest rules in the current Buddhist circles. They must be conscientiously implemented and show as a pioneer demonstrator who acts accordingly! Adhering to the leadership of the CPC can effectively ensure that the whole country concentrated its strengths on "Being capable of doing well, doing good things and getting good results". It was the fundamental guarantee for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Immediately afterwards, the Master made a comprehensive and in-depth exposition on how the Buddhist community in Xiamen should implement the spirit of the “two sessions,” safeguarded the authority of the constitution, take the lead in implementing the constitution, and play an active role.
Holding up the banners of patriotic and religious faith
The healthy development of Buddhist cause of China in the new era must adhere to patriotism and religious faith. The Buddhists are citizens of the country. The majority of teaching staff should practice Buddhism to promote "Repaying four kinds of gratitude to – parents, teachers, motherland, sentient beings, " hold high the banners of patriotism and religious faith, and uphold the leadership of the Party over the country. We should take the lead in studying, propagating and implementing the constitution. We must have right-speech, right action, in-depth implementation of Buddhist College Teaching, and provide guidance to faculty members to observe the law and Buddhist disciplines. We should devote time and energy to improve one own religious cultivation and religious affairs, maintain a purified and solemn behavior, continuously innovate the motive of promotion of Buddhism and benefit sentient beings. By realizing the common ideal of “Chinese Dream”, we apply it to unite or coordinate the positive energy of Buddhist disciples to serve the community and be a law-abiding faculty member.
The healthy development of Buddhist cause in China in the new era must adhere to the Ideology of “Humanistic Buddhism”. The majority of Buddhists should love their country and benefit the people with the spirit of Mahāyāna's Bodhisattva, promote Buddhism, lead with the core socialist values, and profoundly explain Buddhist values and the core of socialism. The value-relevance between the two values complemented each other, and further promoted Buddhism to adapt to the socialist society in the new period, and made new contributions to build a well-to-do society in an all-round way and realizing the Chinese dream of a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The healthy development of Buddhist cause in China in the new era must adhere to the Sanitization of Buddhism. Since Buddhism was introduced to China about 2,000 years ago, the majority of faculty members and religious believers should work together to dig deeper into the core of traditional Chinese Buddhist culture and explore the contents of teachings that are conducive to social harmony, progress of the times, and healthy civilization. We should establish deep feelings with Triple Gem (Triratna) with faith, understanding, practice and a reality of teaching, strengthen the study of Buddhist cultural heritage, tidy and research Buddhist scriptures and books, do a good job in the protection and inheritance of temple culture, adhere to the foundation of Buddhism in China, and take the initiative to adapt to Chinese cultural traditions, social reality world, and the needs of the new era. The promotion of the prosperous cause was unified to the requirements and deployment of the “two sessions”.
Implementing “Regulations on Religious Affairs”
The majority of teaching staff must adhere to the basic guidelines of the party on religious work to study propaganda, and implement the newly revised “Regulations on Religious Affairs”. The revision of the "Regulations" was an important measure to implement thoroughly the spirit of the important speech of the General Secretary Xin Jinping and the spirit of the National Conference on Religious Work. It is conducive to have a better protecting right of freedom and religious belief for citizens and further improve the level of legalization of religious work marking the legalization of China. The construction of the rule of law in religious work has reached a new level.
Expanding and intensifying the cultivation of talented monks
We must intensify the training of talented monks in order to well establish the Buddhist College of Minnan. Furthermore, we should combine the cultivation of talented monks with the development of temples, and we should provide an appropriate residential monastery for Saṃgha (Buddhist community); therefore, the monastics can promote the Buddhism in an effective way. We must actively broaden the channels for selection of talented monks and used new ideas and mechanisms to gather all kinds of talented monks in order to: (1) create a study environment that is suitable for peace of mind and growth of talented monks; (2) train international talented monks for outstanding promotion of Buddhism; and (3) develop the cultivation of high-level and high-quality talented monks in order to assimilate and integrate Buddhist development, innovation, and foreign exchange.
Utilizing the role of Buddhism in “One Belt and One Road”
The government work report pointed out that it is necessary to promote the international cooperation of “One Belt and One Road" this year. The development of Buddhism must be integrated with the development of the country. The proposal of the “One Belt and One Road” has provided a rare opportunity for Chinese Buddhism to go to the world in a new era. The Buddhist disciples must grasp the lifeline of Buddhism in the new era and promote Chinese Buddhism initiatively to go global, and also develop friendly exchanges with countries along the “One Belt and One Road” in order to promote the communication and communication model of religious culture in the new era; consequently, it displays a good image and cultural charm of Chinese Buddhism. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out exchanges and dialogues between different religions and cultures actively, and we will play an important role in Buddhist cultural ties which enhances the soft power of the country, and built a humane community to contribute to the common prosperity of mankind and world peace.
The government work report mentioned that it is necessary to expand cross-strait economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation. Xiamen and Taiwan are close neighbors separated only by a strip of water. The two sides of the strait have the same roots in Buddhism. We must fully utilize unique advantages of Xiamen in Taiwan and should take the lead in the exchange of Buddhist culture on both regions. Moreover, we would continue to carry out various forms of exchange activities with Taiwan in conjunction with 31 measures for benefiting Taiwan. The cross-Straits of Buddhist community exchanges will be promoted in order to build traditional cultural exchange platforms for cross-strait youths, and fully utilize the indigenous cultural advantages which can be strengthened for the protection and restoration of cultural relics and monuments of Taiwan.
At the end of the lecture, Most Ven. Ze Wu emphasized that we must adhere to our patriotism and religious faith. We are guided by the socialist ideology of Chinese characteristics with a new era of Xi Jinping under the leadership of the Party. We believe in – Cause and Effect（hetu-phala）, earnest practice, right intention and right livelihood – which develop the advantages and privilege for Buddhism in Xiamen. In the process of social stability and development, we would continue to maintain the outstanding traditions of Buddhism in Xiamen, a high degree of unity of thought, and hope that all my colleagues would work hard together to make concerted efforts for the pure land of Buddhism in Xiamen.
The spirit of the "two sessions" and the wonderful speech of the Master were encouraging, inspiring, and received thunderous applause.
The Buddhist community in Xiamen City conveyed the spirit of studying the important speech of Xi Jinping (The General Secretary) and the spirit of the “two sessions”.
Ven. Jing Xin (Vice president of the Buddhist Association of Xiamen) hosted the meeting.
The Most Ven. Ze Wu (the President of the Buddhist Association of Xiamen) delivered the speech of the Spirit report of the “NPC &CPPCC Sessions 2018”
The Participants listened to the report of the Master
The Participants studied the spirit of the "two sessions" seriously.
More than 700 people attended the meeting.