人間通訊社

The FGS “International Book Fair and Vegetarian Expo,” being widely praised in the past by all communities as the largest scope of the event in southern part of Taiwan, will take place on November 4th, 2017 at the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum. The day of the event, the host will present a unique well-designed activity called “Sunning Sutra Ceremony – The Light of the Wisdom” for the first time, as the opening for this book fair. This program is not only a pioneering invention, but also a rare golden opportunity for people to enjoy this festival of Body and Mind.

This year the main theme is “Classic Life, Wisdom Living.” The notable event highlights are One Thousand People in Sunning Sutra, One Thousand People in Copying Sutra, One Thousand People in Tea Chan, One Thousand People in Chanting Sutra. At 9 o’clock of the first day of the Book Fair, thousands of people are coming from all over the world to gather on the Bodhi Concourse of the Buddha Museum. Sutras that would be used during this ceremony include the Diamond Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, Lotus Sutra, Fo Guang Buddhist Canons, as well as numerous pieces of the One-Stroke Calligraphy by Venerable Master Hsing Yun. People will accumulate merit and wisdom thru the ceremony of Passing-Sutra, Sunning-Sutra and Reading-Scripture at the beginning of this event.

“To practice Sunning-Sutra will deliver all living beings from suffering and live with the endless virtue.” According to the record about Sunning-Sutra from the Chinese Temples, Venerable Master XuanZang took the journey to India to learn Buddhism and bring back the Sutras in the Tang dynasty. On his way back home, the Sutras by accident were dropped in the water and then picked up from the water. Those Sutras went thru with the process of drying so they can be brought back to China in good condition. Later, many temple people follow the same practice to dry the old collected sutras under the sun so that the sutras can be preserved for a longer term.

The wisdom from sutras and scriptures has been passed down for all eternity due to our ancestors’ hard work. Now the practice of “Sunning-Sutra” and “Copying-Sutra” is to gratefully appreciate the Buddha who let the Dharma truth be widely handed down. In the book fair, the activity of “Sunning-Sutra” will make the light of Buddha’s wisdom spread all over the world, and it becomes people’s wisdom tips to interact with others and to deal with affairs in their daily lives.

In addition, there was a vast and extensive response regarding last year from the public about “Little Tea Masters.” The children who participated showed the skills they had learned, such as concentration and manners. People felt touched and joyful about what the little tea masters showed. Therefore, this year this program will be expanded in a bigger venue as “One Thousand People in Tea Chan” at Bodhi Wisdom Concourse of the Buddha Memorial Center, so that more people can appreciate the sincere skill of tea art from the little tea masters, and experience the spirit of Chan style while tasting the tea. At the same time, this will strengthen people intrinsically with the Chinese traditional cultural concepts for respecting parents and relatives, ethics, and friendly ideas. In addition, blessed happiness will rise among the parents, children, relatives, and friends via this opportunity.

Activities on Nov. 4th are:
14:00
Little Horse Crosses the River – A Fairy Tale with Animation, Puppets, and Musical Show

(Whole Day Activity)
Dream with Wings Water and Cloud Mobile Libraries
(Display books on 50 of Water and Cloud Mobile Libraries.)

(Translated by Chih Fang Tsai)