On October 20th, the “Zhi Jiang Wen” – the 9th Chinese Buddhist Lecture Exchange Conference in Keqiao District was grandly held at Pu’an Temple. Nearly 50 leaders and representatives of believers from various Buddhist venues in the region participated in this lecture exchange meeting. Lu Jianxiang, Deputy Minister of the United Front Work Department of the Keqiao District Committee of Shaoxing City and Director of the District Civil Affairs Bureau, attended the meeting and delivered a speech.
The lecture exchange meeting was grandly opened amidst the solemn national anthem, and five Buddhist masters selected from various Buddhist venues throughout the region took the stage for the lecture exchange. Based on the various scriptures of Chinese Buddhism, the mages closely adhere to the theme of advocating frugality and avoiding extravagance, and combine their own learning experiences to explain the scriptures clearly and thoroughly. They also highlight the contents of the scriptures that are conducive to social harmony, era progress, and health and civilization, with continuous applause at the scene. Through on-site scoring by judges, Master Chang Shun from Ankang Temple won the first prize, while Master Pu Yong and Master Dao Shan from Longhua Temple won the second and third prizes respectively. The president of the Keqiao District Buddhist Association and the abbot of Ankang Temple, Fahong, commented on the lectures of the participating monks.
Lu Jianxiang fully affirmed the achievements made by the Buddhist community in our region in actively promoting Buddhist preaching and exchange activities in recent years. He also expressed three hopes for the Buddhist community to make good use of the achievements of the seminar and constantly strengthen the self construction of the Buddhist community: first, we should adhere to patriotism and love religion, and support the leadership of the CPC. The exchange of Buddhist scriptures must revolve around how to carry forward the excellent Buddhist traditions of patriotism and love for religion, adhering to the direction of sinicization, serving society, and advocating frugality and avoiding extravagance, guiding the majority of Buddhist believers to firmly establish national awareness, civic awareness, and legal awareness. The second is to promote excellent traditional culture and firmly adhere to the direction of Sinicization of religion. The exchange of Buddhist scriptures must deeply explore the content of Buddhist scriptures, doctrines, and rules that are conducive to social harmony, era progress, and healthy civilization, and strive to build a religious ideological system with Chinese characteristics, so that “religion in China” becomes “Chinese religion”. The third is to strengthen the self construction of Buddhism and effectively achieve the unity of knowledge and action. Members of the Buddhist Association in the district should take the lead in preaching scriptures, consciously resist commercialization tendencies, and maintain the good image of Buddhist purity and solemnity.
The Chinese Buddhist Lecture Exchange Activity in Keqiao District, Shaoxing City has been continuously held since 2013, aiming to create a good atmosphere for reading, studying, teaching, and practicing the classics in the Buddhist community through lecture exchange, cultivate and discover Buddhist monks, guide believers to believe and practice, and unleash the positive energy of Buddhism.