致謝詞

Mr Chancellor, Distinguished Guests of HKU, good evening to you all.

Eighty-four years ago, I was born into a very poor rural family in Yangzhou, China. Seventy-two years ago, I took the decision to renounce what material possessions I had in a very poor temple in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing. Sixty years ago, I arrived in Taiwan by chance along with a special rescue team. Having lived a monastic life that was largely confined to the monastery, I was still determined to serve the community and society.

Throughout the 60 years that I have been propagating and promoting Buddhism in Taiwan, I have particularly focused on the Three Acts of Goodness Programme. This was to encourage members of society to discipline themselves in word, in thought and in deed. And the Three Acts of Goodness consist of saying good words, thinking good thoughts and doing good things.

The results of my endeavours were not the most important thing to me, but I believe that with my hard work, the Three Acts of Goodness are now widely promoted all over the world.

My next endeavour is to work hard to promote what we called the Four Harmonies. First of all, family harmony achieved through obedience. Second, interpersonal harmony achieved through respect. Third, social harmony achieved through cooperation. And finally, world harmony achieved through peace. I feel that one of the most popular trends in the world today are democracy and freedom. However, even if we are blessed with democracy and freedom, if we cannot feel peace of mind and enjoy stability, then even democracy and freedom will become meaningless to us.

I feel that while it is important for every member of the world to enjoy democracy and freedom, it is also important for every member to be blessed with peace of mind, stability and joy.

On behalf of the honorary graduates, I feel very blessed and grateful to the University of Hong Kong for recognising all of our efforts and contributions - to this world and society, and for the better well-being of humanity. With its history of almost 100 years, the University of Hong Kong is one of the best universities in the world. Therefore, I would like to extend my best wishes for the University to continue to shine on humanity and to bring a ray of hope and joy to this world.

Once again, my grateful thanks to Mr Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong and all our distinguished guests today. Thank you very much.

Presented by Hsing Yun and transcribed by the University of Hong Kong.