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Vancouver and Calgary Celebrate Lunar New Year

By Siu-wan Ng (Vancouver) and Shirley Kwan (Calgary)

Vancouver group photoVancouver group photo (Photographed by Po-wah Ng)

On January 26, Vancouver Area 7 hosted the 2020 Lunar New Year Gongyo Meeting at the Vancouver SGI Canada Culture Centre. This was our second kick-off toward the Year of Advancement and Capable People since we celebrated with the other Areas on January 1 as well. The meeting was conducted in both Cantonese and Mandarin as Area 7 consists of mostly Chinese speakers. As in past years, this meeting helps build new friendships and renew our connections with each other. 

Each participant received a program that included President Ikeda’s New Year message in Chinese so everyone had a copy of it to take home. 

As one of our traditions each district delivered their New Year greetings through presentations that brought lots of laughter and vitality due to their creativity. These included songs, skits mixed with experiences of faith, folk dance and comedy. We were especially happy to see many young people take part in our celebration.  

Vancouver district presentationVancouver district presentation (Photographed by Po-wah Ng)

In the Q&A session, members could win a calendar of President Ikeda's daily guidance, while refreshing our understanding of Buddhism and SGI.  

Since our meeting coincided with  the 45th anniversary of the founding of the SGI (January 26) we learned about the spirit behind it and determined to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Daisaku Ikeda becoming president on May 3, with more introductions of new friends to our family of harmony.  

In her encouragement, SGI Canada Women's Senior Adviser Yuriko Skillan reminded us of our mentor's concern for the happiness of Chinese-speaking members, which we do remember and appreciate very much. As we reaffirm our faith with new determination to advance in 2020, his words impart courage, joy and hope to all of us: "Advance, calling forth new capable Bodhisattvas of the Earth and encouraging and fostering them!" 

A similar Lunar New Year meeting was held in Calgary for the Chinese speaking community.

CalgaryCalgary (Photographed by Henry Cheng)

Shirley Kwan said, “While lots of global issues are happening around the world lately, it is very important to expand the network of those who are committed to doing their human revolution (changing the world by changing ourselves). As the word ‘2020’ translates as ‘love you, love you’ in Mandarin, love is sharing. Sharing our practice with others was the main focus of our Chinese New Year meeting in Calgary. Our meeting successfully touched everyone’s heart with lots of energy.”