New Year Festival of Light and Peace

Fo Guang Shan Hsi Lai Temple 2023 Peace Lantern Festival will be held from January 22 to February 5 (the 1st to 15th day of the first lunar month). Venerable Master Hsing Yun's New Year blessing – May Benevolence and Harmony Bring Peaceful Wellbeing; Let Abundance and Joy Yield Auspiciousness in Our Lives – will be the main theme to wish everyone well during this 15-day lantern festival. At the beginning of the New Year, we invite you and your family to come to Hsi Lai Temple for blessings and to bring peace and happiness home!

On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, Venerable Master Hsing Yun instructed us, “In 2023, the Year of the Rabbit, treat people with compassion, and all good things will come to perfection." Although the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters have not yet dissipated, we can rely on the mastery of right understanding and right view to fill the world with care and harmony. The dark days will eventually be dispelled by us while a safe and warm Year of the Rabbit is welcoming us.

After going through natural calamities, man-made disasters, and the threat of the pandemic in 2022, we need more guidance down the road to enhance our blessings and wisdom, so that we can move forward steadily into the new year. "Peace Lantern" means peace and auspiciousness. It holds the meaning of dispelling darkness and bestowing light. Just like the Buddha’s light shines universally, the world will be full of warmth, happiness, light, and harmony.