Than Hsiang Temple held a birthday celebration on March 15th at 8 PM.

That evening, everyone gathered at the Great Compassion Hall, and participated happily in the celebration. The birthday celebration is a day for everyone to celebrate their birthdays together in a Buddhist way. Before the celebration began, the Brahma Voice Group's members led everyone in chanting the Verse in Praise of Amitabha Buddha, reciting the Buddha’s name, and circumambulating the Buddha. After the circumambulation, Venerable Zhen Ru gave a compassionate Dharma talk on the topic of “Cultivating Both Merits and Wisdom in Buddhist Practice.”

Venerable Zhen Ru shared a story from the Mahāratnakūta Sūtra about two monastic brothers. The elder brother was usually enthusiastic and diligent in his practice, performing various austerities and services, but he did not like to study the scriptures, seek to understand their meaning, or strive to develop wisdom. He was “cultivating merits without cultivating wisdom.” On the other hand, the younger brother only focused on studying the scriptures every day, possessed great wisdom, but was not diligent in performing duties and was unwilling to serve others. He was “cultivating wisdom without cultivating merits.”

After the elder brother passed away, because he had only cultivated merits and not wisdom during his lifetime, he was reborn as a large elephant. Although born into the animal realm, he had great blessed rewards. He lived in the palace every day, ate delicacies, was adorned with jewels, and was very majestic. The younger brother, who possessed great wisdom, later attained enlightenment and became an arahant. However, because he had not cultivated merits but only wisdom in the past, no one was willing to offer him alms when he went out begging for alms. One day, as he was walking, he arrived at the palace, intending to collect alms from the king. Because he had attained the “Divine Eye (divyacakṣus),” he saw that the elephant in the palace was his reincarnated elder brother. He said with emotion, “Although my elder brother is in the palace and enjoys great wealth and glory, he is still in the animal realm and cannot hear the Buddha’s teachings. Although I have attained Arhatship, my life is difficult, and I lack food and clothing.” It turned out that cultivation requires cultivating both merits and wisdom!

Following this, Venerable Zhen Ru mentioned that besides often practicing generosity to cultivate “merit,” we should also delve into the Buddha’s teachings and cultivate “wisdom” to be free from Saṃsāra. Venerable encouraged everyone, in addition to participating in helping others, we must also cultivate merits, try to also arrange time for participating in various practices such as joint Dharma assemblies, Eight Precepts Retreats, Amitabha Recitation Retreats, and short-term novitiate programs, actively accumulating wisdom merits for oneself to achieve “cultivating both merits and wisdom.”

After the Dharma talk, the birthday celebration officially began. The emcee, Sister Be Hong, led everyone in singing a song called “Han Lei de Gan En (含泪的感恩).” This song talks about Mother’s Day and praises the greatness of mothers. When a mother gives birth, two lives are struggling, which includes the pain and joy of childbirth. Every year, we remember that we have passed another birthday. While happily celebrating, let’s not forget to be grateful for the kindness we have received. Perhaps there will be a day when we will realize that the preciousness of Mother’s Day is irreplaceable. After singing this song, the birthday celebrants went forward to offer red packet to Venerable Zhen Ru and received the Venerable’s blessings, including a flower and a small gift.

Then, the birthday celebrants and Venerable Zhen Ru made a wish together, blew out the candles, and cut the cake while singing the “Buddhist Birthday Song.” Every year when we celebrate birthdays, we sing birthday songs, but today we sang a special Buddhist birthday song. After taking a group photo, Sister Be Hong led everyone in singing “Mei Nian de Jin Tian (每年的今天),” which is a very meaningful song. This song talks about how every year today is not just a commemoration of the beginning of life, but also a testimony to the parents’ dedication, daily hard work, and even their lack of time for themselves and their sacrifices for the children.

Next, the emcee, Sister Be Hong, briefly introduced the 40th-anniversary activities and welcomed everyone to register and participate. Subsequently, the Brahma Voice Group's members led everyone in taking the Three Refuges and dedicating the merits. The birthday celebration concluded successfully.

Than Hsiang Temple holds an Amitabha Sutra on-site cultivation every Saturday at 8 PM, and the birthday celebration is held every three months.

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More photos: https://www.thanhsiang.org/ch/node/6432
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