各位护法朋友们祝福身心自在.DOC

PAGE PAGE 5 Dear Dharma Protectors and Friends, Happy New Year. May you be free from the cares of body and mind. After enjoying the spring blossoms, the autumn moon and winter snow, the year 2004 seems to approach faster than we realize. Yet, the world’s misfortunes do not look as if they are fading away despite the fact that lives have begun to thrive. Nor does there appear any sign of development in the whole world’s longing for peace and prosperity though the four seasons continue to come and go. I look back to all that has happened over the past year. There was March, a time when lives begin to grow, but also the time I was admitted to Taipei Veterans While I was in the hospital, news about the war between the USA and Iraq was continually shown on television. It was heartbreaking to see the satellite images of Baghdad drowning in the sound of explosions and fierce flames, and its citizens forced to leave home, escaping in desperation to survive. The outbreak of SARS in May caused many young doctors and nurses at Taipei Hoping It was encouraging to see more than fifty thousand guests at the Buddha Memorial Hall Foundation Laying Ceremony last January. Some were curious about why the ceremony was called “foundation laying” instead of the usual “groundbreaking.” This was because I believe mother earth does not need us to break her, especially at a time when chaos and turbulence pervades the world. As the whole world wishes for peace and stability, this is the reason why I named it “foundation laying ceremony.” The question of how much the construction of the Buddha Memorial Hall costs was raised quite often. Fo Guang Shan does not have any consolidated or surplus funds, all we have to offer is our sincere hearts to the Buddha, hoping that he will bless us with strength, wisdom, compassion, and faith. After the foundation laying ceremony was completed, Cardinal Paul S.J. Shan invited me to the foundation laying ceremony of the Cathloic Zhenfushan Soci