At the interfaith forum organised by the London Fo Guang Shan Temple and Parliament in the Jubelee room (House of Lords, Palace of Westminster).
Representatives of Islam and Hinduism gave their perspective on Democratic Harmony.
The Buddhism Research Support Group from London Fo Guang Shan introduced the latest book by Venerable Master Hsing Yun, “Buddhism Depends on Me”.
On the 18th of May INCISE, together with Venerable Nuns from the London Fo Guang Shan Temple and Volunteers from the Buddha Light International Association organised a workshop on Vegetarianism and Buddhism.
The Venerable Ru Hai, superintendent of the London Temple, prepared some wonderful Chinese vegetarian pastries for everyone to sample. How to make these yourself is shown in the video below.
On the 18th of May, we welcomed the Superintendent of the London Fo Guang Shan Temple, Venerable Ru Hai and the Venerable Dr Miaolung to Canterbury Christ Church University for a workshop on vegetarian food.
The Venerable Superintendent Ru Hai (third from left) and the Venerable Dr Miaolung (fourth from left) with Professor Scherer (Director of INCISE, second from left) with the volunteers from the Buddha Light International Association (BLIA).
Professor Helen James, SMT member for Student Experience also attended the event.
Together with the volunteers from the Buddha Light International Association (BLIA, the lay branch of Fo Guang Shan) we were treated to a guided tea ceremony that instilled peace and calm in everyone.
After a short video on how some of the food was prepared it was time to sample the wonderful food prepared by the Superintendent Venerable Ru Hai.
Venerable Ru Hai puts the finishing touches to one of the dishes made entirely out of mushrooms but closely resembling roast beef.
BLIA volunteer Ricky Wong closed the event by presenting a current programme run by BLIA and Fo Guang Shan to promote vegetarianism. The programme is called Vege Plan A and more information can be found on their website at vegdays.org
Professor Helen James remarked how marvellous it was to just sit and be quiet with regards to the tea ceremony. She called it humbling and really warm.
Seeing how much effort and attention to detail went into the food preparation she remarked how much more appreciative she was of the food and how much more it allows her to take the time to enjoy it, rather than rushing about.
A video impression of the day will be published soon.
The Intersectional Centre for Inclusion and Social Justice (INCISE), together with the Business School at CCCU will be hosting a lunchtime lecture on 22 May at 12noon with
His Eminence the Third Dupseng Rinpoche.
After Rinpoche’s successful lecture last year on Tibetan Medicin (available here) he is back this year with a lecture on Mindfulness.
The lecture is part of the ongoing programme with the Business School on Human(ising) Organisations.
Places can be booked through the Canterbury Christ Church University Box office at the link below.
https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/arts-and-culture/event-details.aspx?instance=277806
Places for this free event are limited, so register soon.
