What other things are better than these?

An English session of Fortune Blessing was presided by Venerable Bensi on 2 February 2020, 7.30pm-9pm at BW Monastery, to supplicate for blessing by the Triple Gem for the members of public, our country, Singapore, and the world to have peace, harmony, prosperity, good health, free from diseases and calamities.

For us to be happy, we need merits. The means of accumulating merits are by making offerings to Triple Gem, Dharma protectors and deities, ancestors and karmic debtors, and clearing of obscurations through:

1. Repentance of past non-virtuous deeds

2. Refrain from doing non-virtuous deeds such as disrespecting the Triple Gem, being unfilial to our parents. The key is to make a strong determination before the Buddha to stop non-virtuous deeds

3. Remedy with virtuous deeds

4. Raise our understanding of right and wrong views according to the Buddha's teachings so that we will have the wisdom to make the right decisions to benefit ourselves and others.

The key to attain wisdom is through respecting the Buddha's teachings, and sutras, and so during the session, the attendees recited the Heart Sutra to plant the causes of wisdom.

The key to clearing all obscurations lies in the intention when doing good deeds, and making aspirations to be like the Buddha - to attain the perfect wisdom and compassion, in order to benefit all sentient beings.

The attendees also recited 4 Buddhas' name for:
- Namo Abundance Treasure Buddha
- Namo Wondurous Form Buddha
- Namo Vast and Extensive Body Buddha
- Namo Fearlessness Buddha

The Buddhas represent the clearing of stinginess, eliminating ugly external appearance, attaining healthy body with leisure and opportunity and wish for all beings to have abundance of wealth, and no lack of resources and live fearlessly in harmony, respectively.

The next exciting moment was when a big red bag, that was right above the Buddha’s statue in the shrine hall, slowly descended and the venerables shook it to unveil lots of Prosperity Wisdom angpaos, that represented a gift from the Buddha, bestowing everyone with worldly and Dharma wealth!

Lastly, attendees made offerings to the Sanghas to plant a good cause and multiply their merits manifold. Each attendee then received the Prosperity Wisdom angbao from the Venerable and happily headed home.

As Venerable Bensi has said it -  when making offerings, we should generate a sense of gratitude, as in the past, we were virtuous persons, because the Buddha had taught us how to perform virtuous deeds for future happiness. Now that we have the opportunity to attend the puja and continue to create causes for future happiness, what other things are better than this?

Let’s continue to “Huat ah” (prosper) and "huat" all the way to Buddhahood!

Sharing by the attendees:

Samyak, 9 years old: I felt good because I believe my year will be a great one after attending the Fortune Blessing.

Cai Zhenzhen 蔡真真：I brought my son, Guan Xuehong 关学宏, to attend the Fortune Blessing Puja, hoping that he would be well and happy throughout the year.

Li Mei Ying 李美莹: after attending the Fortune Blessing Puja, I felt calm and have a peace of mind, stress-free from the recent epidemic outbreak.

Allice Tan, Bruce Phua - We came for puja every Friday and felt rejuvenated and recharged after a week's work stress. We came to learn and be reminded of Buddha's teaching as a guide in life.

Lee Kok Kin, Tay Hwi Yee and their children, Lee Jacinth 7 years old, & Lee Janeane, 4 years old. Mr Lee: I am glad that there is a monastery in Woodlands now which is nearby and we brought our children here, wishing for them to have a bright direction in life.

Joyce Liu Qianqian: By participating in this Fortune Blessing puja, my body and mind felt fully bestowed with joy, wisdom, confidence and energy for me to strive towards the new year, 2020.

Angel Lau刘美鑘， Kevin Chong 张冠升, both live in JB Malaysia and travel to work in Singapore daily.

Angel: We came to the monastery for the first time and like the monastery's ambience. We felt joyous and blessed after the Fortune Blessing Puja.