{"id":10785,"date":"2011-12-14T03:17:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T19:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=10785"},"modified":"2012-01-25T16:48:33","modified_gmt":"2012-01-25T08:48:33","slug":"how-we-celebrated-amituofos-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2011\/12\/how-we-celebrated-amituofos-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"How We Celebrated Amituofo’s Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

I had requested feedback from a recently completed class:\u00a0http:\/\/thedailyenlightenment.com\/2011\/07\/understanding-amituofo-via-the-amitabha-sutra-8th-run<\/a>\u00a0This is a part of what I received,\u00a0a nice commemorative Amituofo coin with a message. I’ve never won any major prizes in my life and this is probably the closest to getting something that resembles a medal! Thank you for the encouragement!<\/p>\n

Dear Bro. Shi’an,<\/p>\n

“The Gift of Truth Excels All Other Gifts”<\/p>\n

Thank you for sharing the Pure Land Teachings with us.\u00a0You have delivered the teachings in a very concise,\u00a0interesting and creative manner.\u00a0We enjoyed the lessons very much and have benefitted a lot from them.\u00a0We are glad to have an excellent Dharma teacher like you in the Buddhist world.\u00a0Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu! Amituofo!<\/p>\n

With appreciation,
\nTuck Khuen, Amy, Ivy, Doris & Joey<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"\u00a0\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

A very meaningful gift indeed!\u00a0It’s a gift of the Dharma too, as it has a verse for repentance and aspiration for birth in Pure Land. It’s now on my shrine at home.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the second time I have taught at a Buddhist centre (Buddha of Medicine Welfare Society)\u00a0that issues certificates for its classes’ students. (The previous was at Singapore Buddhist Federation.) Above is a ‘sample’ certificate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A class participant receiving her certificate from the Venerable (Xiantong) in charge of Dharma education. Bro. William is the\u00a0coordinator\u00a0and emcee. The centre was trying out to see how well received an English class would be, as most of its classes are in Chinese. To everyone’s pleasant surprise, including mine, 73 participants signed up for this class.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some early birds for the graduation ceremony singing ‘Way Out West’.\u00a0Here is the video played by the volunteer who really loves the song.<\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

By an auspicious ‘coincidence’, the ceremony for this Amitabha Sutra class\u00a0happened to fall on Amituofo’s birthday (last Sunday).\u00a0I took the opportunity to share the inspiring story of how the 17th day of the 11th lunar month\u00a0came to be regarded as his birthday.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0\"\"\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Above are scenes of an interesting group discussion to wrap it up, on learnings from the course.\u00a0We chanted the Amitabha Sutra and Amituofo’s name too.\u00a0A fruitful day of practice with reverence to Amituofo! The best way to celebrate his birthday is surely to be mindful of him and to share his teachings. Namo Amituofo :-]<\/p>\n

Related Articles:
\n<\/strong>
\nUpcoming 2012 Classes<\/span><\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/thedailyenlightenment.com\/category\/11<\/a>
\nScenes from the Class
\nhttps:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2011\/11\/scenes-from-a-pure-land-class<\/a>
\nThank You for the Thank You Gift
\nhttps:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2011\/12\/thank-you-for-the-thank-you-gift<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had requested feedback from a recently completed class:\u00a0http:\/\/thedailyenlightenment.com\/2011\/07\/understanding-amituofo-via-the-amitabha-sutra-8th-run\u00a0This is a part of what I received,\u00a0a nice commemorative Amituofo coin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[341],"tags":[475],"class_list":["post-10785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photojournal","tag-amituofo","wpcat-341-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}