浴佛圣法会佛历2568 – 议员Heather Chong女士代表克拉伦斯市议会致辞
【观众热烈地掌声】
谢谢你！市长无法出席，副市长今天早上生病了，对此深表歉意，所以我是最后一刻来填补并参与。
【观众笑声；观众热烈地掌声】
我已故的岳母是一位佛教徒。不知道她一直是否遵循教义。【观众笑声】她毕竟是我的岳母。 但我总是发现她告诉我的故事以及她试图向她非常白人的家庭传递的教导都很有趣。我想作为一个外国人，无论是在婚姻中或关系中，我总是着迷于它如何教导她怎么样在日常生活中做事，它为她的每天生活所带来的什么样意义。
我自幼是身为英国圣公会教徒，这是如您可以在圣诞节和复活节做的事情一样简单。所以我发现佛教之间的区别以及祂让你思考你每天如何生活的方式与我的成长方式非常不同。
所以，今天很荣幸来到这里，我已经参加过几次这样的活动，每次来到这里总是感觉非常美好且这受肯定的活动。我也非常感谢塔州中国佛教学院邀请我今天来到这里与大家一起共度时光。祝大家新的一年吉祥如意！
【观众热烈地掌声】
Bathing Buddha Holy Ceremony Dharma Meeting Buddhist Calendar 2568 – Speech by Councillor Ms Heather Chong representing Clarence City Council
【Audience applaud enthusiastically】
Thank you! And apologies from the Mayor who is unable to be here, and the Deputy Mayor who is sick this morning, so I am a late minute standing.
【Audience laughs; Audience applaud enthusiastically】
My late mother in-law was a Buddhist. Not sure she always followed the teachings.【Audience laughs】She was my mother-in-law after all. But I always found it fascinating the stories she would tell me, and the teachings that she would try and pass on to her very white family. And as a foreigner I guess in the marriage, and in the relationship, I was always fascinated by how it taught her how to do things on a day-to-day basis, what meaning it brought to her everyday life.
I grew up an Anglican, it’s kind of one of those things you can do at Christmas and Easter. So I find the distinction between Buddhism and the way it makes you think about how you live everyday really different to how I was brought up otherwise.
So, a great honour to be here today, I have been to several of these, and it is always beautiful and affirming activity to be here. And I do thank the Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy for inviting me to be here to join with you today. And I wish you all a very auspicious year!
【Audience applaud enthusiastically】
