The 25th Water, Land and Air Dharma Assembly of the Ling Jiou Mountain (LJM) and the Concert of Life & Peace were officially opened at the Taoyuan Arena on August 8, 2018. The rites of purification by sprinkling blessed water(Great Compassion Dharani water) commenced at 6:30 PM to mark the opening of the clean, unpolluted, solemn, and sacred dimensions designated for the Waterland Ritual grand opening. Riding on the pronged theme of the occasion as ‘Jointly Shared by Guan Yins’ and ‘Commonly Desired by Religions’, the opening event was attended by more than 200 special guests as interfaith representatives, ranking executives of participating religious establishment, government officials and local dignitaries. It was with all these guests that a traditional LJM joint prayer session for blessing was expanded. Ceremonial cymbals and gongs were struck in a gesture of praying for global peace and loving the Earth, and that Taoyuan be granted her wishes for prosperity and harmony. The LJM Waterland Dharma Ritual has always been a major annual event in Taoyuan, and it has just been made so much more special this year with the presence of 25 statues of Guan Yin to physically embody the great compassion to relieve sentient beings of their sufferings.

The LJM monasteries are popular places for Guan Yin worship in northern Taiwan and the LJM Buddhist Society celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2018 while conducting its increasingly popular annual Waterland Dharma Ritual for the 25th time running. To mark the auspicious occasion, 25 statues of Guan Yin were respectfully loaned by local religious establishment, ranging from Buddhist temples, Taoist shrines, to places of folklore worship. Such co-operative support and generous loans was almost unheard of, and the organizers respectfully cordoned off an area for their display right at the main East entrance of the Arena A very solemn and august ceremony was performed in strict observation as prescribed by the relevant ritual for relocating the statues and into place for the duration. Holy water was sprinkled to symbolize that the illumination of Guan Yin’s great compassion will shine on all sentient beings.

The ‘Interfaith Joint Prayer Session for Blessing’ on the eve of the 8th showed much fanfare in high spirit in welcoming guests and religious representatives upon their entering the Arena, with cymbals and chimes for traditional Chinese music and dance performed by the award-winning ‘Jin Hong Lions Dance Group’. The commotion-studded lions’ dance was then followed by much calmer and soothing tunes that are chants and odes of Guan Yin, that filled the Stadium with a sense of tranquility and harmony. The performer was the ‘Dian Yueh Lue Chinese Music Corps’.

The Prayer Session for Blessing was attended by more than 200 religious representatives and VIPs: the LJM Founding Abbot Dharma Master Hsin Tao, Taoyuan Mayor CHENG Wen-Tsan, Taoyuan City Council Speaker CHIU Yi-Sheng, Councilman SU Jia-Ming, Councilwoman WAN Mei-Ling, Taoyuan City Civil Bureau Chief TANG Huei-Jen, Sports Bureau Chief HSIA Jin-Hsing, CEO of the Guan Yin Chapter at the Waterland Ritual LIN Jian-Lung, Chinese Regional Bishops’ Conference of Taiwan Executive Secretary Father Paulin Kubuya Batairwa, and Vatican’s Emissary and Cardinal TSAI Guang-Szi, among many other dignitaries.

And according to people with insight into the meaning of the ceremonial cymbals and gongs: strike once to sound through all Dharma dimensions and you pray for all beings of the Dharma dimensions of all ten directions to be collectively relieved towards becoming consummate and complete. Strike twice to sound through all Dharma dimensions and you pray for the country’s stability and people’s peace and good climate, as well as for the local auspices and bliss. Strike thrice to sound through all Dharma dimensions and you pray for interreligious harmony, respect and tolerance and world peace. And the eight-day-seven-night Waterland Dharma Ritual was pronounced open on that third strike of the cymbals and gongs.

Taoyuan City Councilman SU Jia-Ming, who also wears the hat as the Commissioner of the Guan Yin Chapter at the Waterland Ritual, is instrumental to the successful congregation of the 25 Guan Yin statues from local religious establishment. Su expressed sincere gratitude toward participating temples and shrines for their generous loans of the respective Guan Yin statues to join the LJM’s 25th Annual Ritual for shared praying and worshipping, so that the religion’s stabilizing impact becomes further-reaching and more powerful.

In his congratulatory remarks, Taoyuan City Mayor CHENG Wen-Tsan said that the interfaith prayer session was graced by representatives of different religions, and that the Waterland Dharma Ritual is being joined by 25 Guan Yin statues to bring peace to Taoyuan, and that they jointly point to a truly profound and positive karma. He also said that there will be a Life-&-Peace concert on August 16 and he welcomes everyone to join in to let go of our inner restlessness. He wishes for all to find the strengths of peace of mind.

In his benevolent remarks on the occasion, Dharma Master Hsin Tao said that the Waterland Dharma Ritual is a grand rite of the liberation of suffering and karma. This time around the annual event not only joins forces with temples and shrines in Taoyuan but has invited interfaith representatives to collectively pray for the Earth and for world peace. Thus accordingly, we try to practice the Bodhisattva conduct of Guan Yin, in his footsteps of the great compassion and help stabilize the society towards lasting harmony. Dharma Master Hsin Tao will establish the University for Life and Peace in Myanmar as a key part of his efforts in contributing to a much beleaguered ecology, which has been showing deteriorating symptoms in recent years by way of relentless floods and draughts. Master Hsin Tao calls out to everyone to consume more vegetable or even become vegetarians to help slow down the pace of global warming.