Ling Wan Monastery Visit
“Kwun Yum Treasury Opening”(觀音借庫) is a local custom folk in Hong Kong, according to oral history, “Kwun Yum Treasury Opening” is from the Kwun Yum Tong of Tai Ping Shan Street.
The Kwun Yum Tong was rebuilt in 1895 during the Guangxu Era of Qing Dynasty. Tang Kei-tsun, the fifth generation successor of the establishment, said the temple was built long before Hong Kong became an open port. The temple is the first Kwun Yum Temple of the Hong Kong Island, and was later moved to its present address. Because of its antiquity, it is difficult to trace the beginnings of the Kwun Yum Treasury Opening Festival, or the reason why the custom is set on the 26th of the 1st month of the lunar calendar. One only knows that the people of those days, seeing that many children did not have the money to attend school, followed a Kwun Yum-related folklore to collect donations from worshippers to help children in need.
Although “Kwun Yum Treasury Opening” is not a Buddhism festival, Ling Wan Monastery wants to apply some Buddhist elements to a local folk to promote Buddhism.
During the “ceremony”, we have chanted Buddhist scriptures and experienced a ceremonial lunch(過堂飯). In the Buddhism context, breakfast and lunch are one of the five studies. Before we have lunch, we have to chant Buddhist scriptures.
In order to participate in the ceremony, we travel around in Ling Wan Monastery. The stone statue of Eighteen Arhats(十八羅漢) in the garden is impressed. The Eighteen Arhats are depicted in Mahayana Buddhism(大乘佛教) as the original followers of the Buddha who have followed the Eightfold Path and attained the Four Stages of Enlightenment. Interestingly, it originally had Sixteen Arhats and added two more Arhats after Tang Dynasty.
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回覆刪除HI I'm Chan Pui Yee (11239967) from Buddhism Group 2. Thank you for your blog post, which has explained “Kwun Yum Treasury Opening” and some Buddhist traditions such as ceremonial lunch in details. The English translations of Buddhist term are accurate. I believe that you have spent a lot of time on research to confirm its accuracy. Thanks for sharing, your point with relevant research inspire me to study Buddhist traditions in deep. I think a Buddhist monastery holding “Kwun Yum Treasury Opening” represent cultural integration, which mix with Hong Kong historical folk culture, Taoist culture and Buddhist culture.
回覆刪除Hi, I am Ng Hok Yee from Group 5. Thank you for sharing the blog. I have joined this activity too. I appreciated that you have found history of the tempo and explained in detail of the ceremonial lunch(過堂飯). You have showed us photo about what does the ceremonial lunch have. It makes me get more interest on the whole ceremony of "Kwun Yum Treasury Opening".
回覆刪除Hi, I am Cindy Zeng Yang Xing from Group 4.Thank you for sharing the precious memories . I have visited this place too. Actually, I am appreciate what you have mentioned above recording the process of visiting. The most impressive part is During the “ceremony” and a ceremonial lunch(過堂飯), we had experienced Buddhism lifestyle. It is great chance to know more about Buddhism .
回覆刪除Hi, I am Alvin from Group 3. This is very nice to see your groups learn both the theory of Buddhism and some folks culture. Some local culture always fusion with different tribute or even religion as you mentioned Kwun Yum Treasury Opening is not originally Buddhism. Also, thank you for your explanation of Mahayana Buddhism.
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