Ceremony of Lights For Students

The Ceremony of Lights started with Venerable Bensi introducing the 2 bodhisattvas in our main shrine : Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva whom embodies compassion and Manjushri Bodhisattva whom epitomize wisdom.

Venerable told the story about the first person that Buddha helped. Despite being harmed by that person, the Buddha with compassion & wisdom vowed to help the perpetrator upon gaining enlightenment. Venerable also shared his experience in seeking help from Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva. By praying "Namo Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa” during his growing up stage and facing life events, this cultivated the natural habit to seek help every time.

Right Thoughts

Two young sisters, Shu Fang and Shu Qing, performed light-hearted skits. The first skit was about the natural tendency to quickly capture the negative aspects of a situation. Shu Qing presented 3 steps to reframing our thoughts. :

1. Observe our thoughts

2. Question whether they reflect the full picture of reality

3. Train our minds to take on different perspectives.

In the second skit, Shu Fang was being flamed online by another person in school and she was so angry that she wanted to take revenge by doing the same to that person too.

Shu Qing then shared the story of the Buddha and an angry young man. The young man insulted the Buddha but Buddha was not upset by the insults. The young man was curious why the Buddha was not angry in which the Buddha asked “If you give someone a gift and he doesn't accept it, then the gift belongs to who ?" The young man replied that it would still belong to him, the giver. The Buddha then replied, Similarly, if I don't get angry, then the anger falls back on you, all you would have done is hurt yourself. If you want to stop hurting yourself, then you would have to stop hating others and have love for others."

Shu Qing continued by advised that we should not react to insults but have the wisdom to reflect and understand that such negative actions results from one being overpowered by their negative emotions. Instead of anger, we should feel sorry and develop compassion for them since everyone has their own troubles.