On 2nd and the 3rd of May 2023, the entire Year 9 cohort went to Fo Guang Shan Buddhist temple to participate in a cultural sharing event called “3Gs and 4Gs”. The 3Gs stands for doing good deeds, thinking good thoughts, and saying good words. The 4Gs stands for giving others joy, giving others convenience, giving others confidence, and giving others hope. The purpose of this event is to promote kindness and compassion in our everyday lives.

As soon as we entered the temple my first impression was the grandiose and the beauty of the architecture, and it is really different to other temples or churches I’ve visited, and the atmosphere was so peaceful.

First we did calligraphy, writing Chinese characters with a Chinese pen called an Uni, which is a paint black pen, and then traced the Chinese characters to make them stand out. When you are writing the characters, you need to be calm in your mind and steady in your hand.

After that, we went to a room that had a statue named Avalokiteshvara bodhisattva, and over there we lit some incense, and made offerings to the Buddhist statue.

The next stop, we were taught what 3Gs and 4Gs really mean and how we can start from ourselves and practise these values in our everyday lives. We held the candles in our palm and made a promise to ourselves that we will be a better person for ourselves and others. We also wrote some wishes on small coloured papers and pinned it on the wishing wall. I chose Joy, and wished for people to feel joy in their lives.

Lastly, we sat down in the beautiful courtyard and enjoyed 5 minutes of mediation. The purpose of meditating was to clear your mind from other distractions. When we opened our eyes, everyone felt very calm.

After the meditation we headed into a room that had police, where we were taught a lesson about making the right decisions, and not making bad ones.

Then he talked about conscience and temptation.

The highlight for me was the refreshments provided by the temple. We had some vegetarian fried rice, which was very yummy. I had about seven servings! We also had some time to explore the temple before we boarded the buses and returned to school.

To be honest it was actually one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. The people are nice, they welcome us to their temple, I loved everything I experienced, it was so much fun.

I hope I go there again!!

by Tevita Mafi 9BN and Ms Hsiao