On November 3rd, 2019 - the San Francisco Young Adult Division (SFYAD) held their Annual General Meeting at San Bao Temple; where 23 members, together with YAD Advisor Venerable Miao Zhong and BLIA San Francisco Chapter President Katy Hsu gathered together to review the activities held in the past 12 months and be brought up to date on the work plan for 2020.
The meeting kicked off with an Ode to the Triple Gem, followed by Katy giving an opening speech. Through a story between Venerable Master Hsing Yun and a famous computer scientist, she cautioned the participants not to get attached to negativity but to instead focus on ways to help the society. Katy encouraged everyone to unite, do good, and make the world a better place.
Right after, Selene Chew, the President of SFYAD took over and provided everyone an overview of the organization structure of Fo Guang Shan (FGS), BLIA and YADs. This is followed by the welcoming of 7 new members who joined in the past year, boosting the group’s total membership to 32. After that, Yuchen Qian, the secretary of SFYAD, announced the Outstanding Member Awards, based on voting done by members. Qianjun Wang and Amanda Ong were awarded and Venerable Miao Zhong presented the awardees a gift of appreciation.
The focus returned to Selene, where she reported that the YAD had carried out more than 50 various activities, across different categories relating to Buddhist education - weekly book club, English Dharma service, Dharma instrument classes; community service - food bank volunteering, coastal and beach cleanup, winter clothing drive, Earth Day event; sports - badminton, bouldering, hiking; social events - Thanksgiving party, Chinese New Year party, and Mid-Autumn Festival reunion.
On the same note, Selene also pointed out that the YAD young adults had been actively participation in the training of White Elephant cadres, International BLIA Youth conferences, a short-term monastic retreat, and even kicked off the “7 Day Eco-Challenge - Environmental and Spiritual Preservation” for the North American YADs. All in all, these activities promotes the localization of Buddhism, spreading the wisdom and joy of Dharma to all - locals or non-locals alike.
As part of future events planning, the SFYAD officers proposed a number of activities and ideas - such as AMA (Ask Me Anything) Q&A session with the Venerable, vegetarian cooking class, career series talks, organizing drum troupe, 1-day meditation retreats, Karma kitchen/lunch circle; where members were asked to cast their votes on events they would like to see taking place in the coming year.
During the closing speech, Venerable Miao Zhong emphasized the importance of self-cultivation, as she explained the effect of “mind-action” on our lives - one way to overcome this is through meditative concentration. On the final thought, Venerable Miao Zhong encouraged everyone to practice Buddhism through the 3 Acts of Goodness “Do Good Deeds, Speak Good Words, Think Good Thoughts”. With that, the Annual General Meeting ended successfully with the members singing the BLIA Anthem.
Event Summary 2019