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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS