Guang Ming Chan Monastery Celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival with 500 People Across Faiths and Cultures

Life News Agency— Xi Chen, Manila, Philippines

Fo Guang Shan Guang Ming Chan Monastery in Cavite held its Mid-Autumn Festival celebration on September 26 under the theme “Reunion Under the Full Moon, Celebrating Together in the Warmth of Lanterns.” Around 500 people from different religious and cultural backgrounds joined the celebration, creating a lively and harmonious atmosphere.

The festivities featured a blessing service, a dice game based on the Three Acts of Goodness, Four Givings, and Five Harmonies, DIY lantern-making, vegetarian barbecue, night-market food stalls, and song-and-dance performances by students of Guang Ming College.

Venerable Miao Jing, Abbess of Mabuhay Temple, together with Venerable Zhi Yi, Superintendent of Social Education, and Venerable Jue Ci, led the congregation in chanting and prayers for blessings. They also read A Prayer for Our Parents, Relatives, and Friends by Fo Guang Shan founder Venerable Master Hsing Yun, offering blessings to everyone present.

In her remarks, Venerable Miao Jing shared that Guang Ming Chan Monastery has been established for nearly 18 years. She expressed gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Kim Ku Young for their long-standing support of Buddhism and for dedicating the monastery to Fo Guang Shan, allowing the mission of Humanistic Buddhism to continue and flourish.

She expressed her hope that Guang Ming Chan Monastery would become a spiritual center with a global reach. In the 21st century, as people face increasing uncertainty and restlessness, she emphasized that spiritual support and guidance through faith are more important than ever.

Using the full moon as a metaphor, Venerable Miao Jing explained that the moon itself is always complete, even when temporarily obscured by clouds or the Earth’s shadow. Likewise, our dreams and aspirations toward goodness and beauty are always present. As long as we remain steadfast in our beliefs, the clouds will eventually clear and the full moon will shine again.

She reminded everyone that Buddhist practice begins with planting the right seeds and nurturing wholesome ones. She encouraged participants to pray for world peace, social harmony, and happy families while practicing the Three Acts of Goodness — do good deeds, speak good words, and think good thoughts — and the Four Givings — give others confidence, joy, hope, and convenience — as they work toward realizing the Five Harmonies.

The evening program opened with Our Moon Will Surely Be Full, a song blending Chinese and Filipino languages. Its cheerful melody and localized lyrics symbolized reunion and harmony across cultures, ethnicities, and religions.

The choir continued with songs including Three Acts of Goodness, conveying the spirit of Humanistic Buddhism as members of the audience joined in singing. The song Giving echoed the ideals of the Four Givings and invited the audience to dance together, filling the celebration with joy and bringing blessings into everyone’s hearts.

Venerable Miao Jing also introduced an upcoming international performance by students of Guang Ming College, who will travel to Taiwan in 2026 to participate in the musical Star and Cloud at the Taipei Dome. The event is expected to bring together around 40,000 people. The musical presents Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s lifelong dedication to education, the establishment of temples, and the propagation of the Dharma.

She shared that although Venerable Master Hsing Yun had limited access to formal education, he was awarded 36 honorary doctorates throughout his lifetime. Through his philosophy and lifelong dedication to serving others, he worked to promote human well-being, happy families, and harmonious societies.

Venerable Miao Jing warmly invited everyone to visit Guang Ming Chan Monastery often — to greet the Buddha, Venerable Master Hsing Yun, and the tea masters, and to experience the positive energy of the monastery surrounded by around one hundred pine trees. She encouraged everyone to cultivate a heart like a pine tree: resilient yet gentle.

Adding a delightful moment to the celebration, five-year-old Wang Zifei recited a Mid-Autumn rhyme in both Mandarin and Hokkien. Her innocent and charming presentation received enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Throughout the evening, participants strolled beneath the moonlight and enjoyed moments of peace, lit lanterns carrying their wishes and blessings, shared night-market delicacies and vegetarian barbecue, and took part in cultural games. Song-and-dance performances by Guang Ming College students energized the crowd and brought everyone together on the dance floor, showcasing the vitality and enthusiasm of the younger generation.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a celebration of reunion and hope. Through the evening’s activities, the spirit of light, joy, and togetherness was shared among people of different faiths and cultural backgrounds.

Guang Ming Chan Monastery presented each participant with a mooncake, extending warm wishes to everyone for a happy, peaceful, and auspicious Mid-Autumn Festival.