浴佛聖法會佛歷2568 – 議員Heather Chong女士代表克拉倫斯市議會致辭
【觀眾熱烈地掌聲】
謝謝你！市長無法出席，副市長今天早上生病了，對此深表歉意，所以我是最後一刻來填補並參與。
【觀眾笑聲；觀眾熱烈地掌聲】
我已故的岳母是一位佛教徒。不知道她一直是否遵循教義。【觀眾笑聲】她畢竟是我的岳母。 但我總是發現她告訴我的故事以及她試圖向她非常白人的家庭傳遞的教導都很有趣。我想作為一個外國人，無論是在婚姻中或關係中，我總是著迷於它如何教導她怎麼樣在日常生活中做事，它為她的每天生活所帶來的什麼樣意義。
我自幼是身為英國聖公會教徒，這是如您可以在聖誕節和復活節做的事情一樣簡單。所以我發現佛教之間的區別以及祂讓你思考你每天如何生活的方式與我的成長方式非常不同。
所以，今天很榮幸來到這裡，我已經參加過幾次這樣的活動，每次來到這裡總是感覺非常美好且這受肯定的活動。我也非常感謝塔州中國佛教學院邀請我今天來到這裡與大家一起共度時光。祝大家新的一年吉祥如意！
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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】
