by
the Hong Kong News Group
On
Ching Hai Day and Tomb-Sweeping Day 2004, fellow initiates in Hong Kong
enjoyed the bliss of selfless service by bringing happy surprises to
homeless people in two old districts of the city.
On Ching Hai Day, which fell on February 22 this year,
a number of initiates traveled to the Kowloon District to visit the
Yaumatei Center for the Homeless — one of three shelters of its
kind run by the Hong Kong Relief Society. The sisters and brothers found
great happiness in distributing clothing, daily necessities and sandwiches
to the Center’s residents in this activity of love, during which
the facility’s superintendent was only too delighted to help distribute
Master’s sample booklets.
The second trip of the day began at Banyan Tree Park
with a search that found more than twenty homeless in the Park and on
adjacent roads. The initiates quickly went up to their less fortunate
friends to offer gifts and express their concern.
On
April 4, Tomb-Sweeping Day, the fellow initiates visited the Wanchai
Center for the Homeless, also operated by the Hong Kong Relief Society,
on the island of Hong Kong. It was comforting to note that government
accommodation measures had caused the number of vagrants in this district
to fall sharply. The initiates arrived at the facility with dozens of
beautiful gift packs full of clothing, daily necessities and vegetarian
food, and were warmly welcomed at the main entrance by the superintendent
and a group of residents. When the Center’s occupants heard that
the initiates were from a spiritual group — The Supreme Master
Ching Hai International Association — the superintendent exclaimed,
“Your Master is very famous!” adding that one of his relatives
often attended Master’s lectures. In addition to a gift package,
each resident also received a copy of Master’s sample booklet,
setting off a warm discussion in which many people asked questions about
religious beliefs. One of the residents, who was of Mongolian descent,
requested an English sample booklet.
Less than ten days after this visit, the Hong Kong Welfare
Services Department announced government plans to organize three more
general service teams than usual that month to secure employment and
lodging for the region’s homeless. The ultimate goal was to ensure
accommodations for the remaining five hundred homeless citizens of Hong
Kong. For local fellow initiates, this was good news indeed and a sign
of Master’s blessing energy at work!
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