Day of reflection, compassion, unity
The ceremony, a tradition observed annually on the second Sunday of May, was instituted by Tzu Chi founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen. This year's gathering took place at the Tzu Chi Kepong Chapter, drawing participants from all walks of life in a vibrant and peaceful celebration.
The morning session featured solemn chanting, symbolic rituals and a live broadcast from Tzu Chi headquarters in Hualien, Taiwan. With multiple sessions scheduled throughout the day, organisers anticipated total attendance to surpass 10,000 participants.
Philanthropist and Berjaya Corporation founder and adviser Tan Sri Vincent Tan was among the prominent figures in attendance. He expressed deep admiration for the volunteers' discipline and commitment. A long-time patron of Tzu Chi Malaysia, Tan has played an instrumental role in promoting its values of compassion, discipline, and community service while also supporting the foundation's charitable missions and helping expand its humanitarian efforts both across Malaysia and internationally.
'This event is incredibly well-organised, and everything is done by volunteers, no event agency, no PR team.
'Even the drone shot of the Tzu Chi logo formation shows their incredible coordination and discipline.'
Tan also praised the foundation's extensive charitable work across the globe.
'I've never seen a Buddhist organisation carry out so much charity in such a structured way. Master Cheng Yen never left Taiwan, yet she has created a movement present in over 100 countries. To me, she is a living goddess.'
Top Glove Corporation founder Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai echoed the sentiment of collective goodness:
'It's Buddha Day, Mother's Day and Tzu Chi Day. We come together to do good things. When you spend time doing good, you won't have time for wrongdoing.'
Lim also urged attendees to embrace healthier and more compassionate lifestyles.
'I wish everyone a healthy body, a healthy mind and financial well-being,' he said, highlighting the benefits of a vegetarian diet.
'Tan Sri Vincent Tan shared earlier that after going vegetarian due to a heart issue 10 years ago, his health has improved tremendously. That's very inspiring.'
Also in attendance was Selangor executive councillor Ng Sze Han, who praised the event for promoting unity and compassion.
'Today is a meaningful celebration of Buddha's birth, Tzu Chi Day and Mother's Day – all reminding us of the importance of togetherness,' he said.
Visiting Tzu Chi Kepong for the first time, Ng described the experience as both impressive and uplifting.
He also extended an invitation to the public to join the Selangor state-level Wesak Day celebration on Saturday, May 17 at 9am at Maha Karuna Vihara in Elmina.
As part of this year's festivities, a month-long 'Vesak passport' programme is taking place across 20 Buddhist temples throughout the Klang Valley.
'Anyone can collect a booklet from these temples and receive a stamp at each one,' Ng explained.
'After visiting at least 10, they'll be eligible for a special lucky draw.'
He said that the initiative is designed to encourage both locals and tourists to explore and appreciate the spiritual and architectural beauty of the region's temples.
'We hope this inspires more people to discover the cultural richness of Buddhism in our community,' he added.
Other dignitaries were Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia Deputy Representative James Buu, Kazakhstan Ambassador Bulat Sugurbayev, Fiji High Commissioner Ratu Etueni Qiolele Caucau, Papua New Guinea Minister Counsellor Noel Leana and Russian Federation Agriculture Ministry Counsellor Vladislav Chernov.
Also present were Archbishop Julian Leow, Tan Sri Teo Chiang Kok and Tan Sri Chua Ma Yu, which reflected the broad interfaith and international support for Tzu Chi's humanitarian vision.
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The Star
6 days ago
- The Star
Engineering an answer for human-elephant conflict
IN the early hours of May 11 this year, Malaysians woke up to heartbreaking news that a young elephant calf had been fatally struck by a lorry along the East-West Highway near Gerik, Perak. That Mother's Day was marked by collective grief, as eyewitness accounts and viral videos of the incident flooded social media. The footage depicted the harrowing scene of the calf's mother desperately trying to revive her offspring – moving the lorry to free her trapped calf – and then maintaining a prolonged vigil by the roadside before she was sedated and safely escorted away. The tragic incident sparked widespread public outcry, highlighting the escalating conflict between humans and displaced wildlife and renewed calls for effective solutions to protect both. Human-elephant conflict (HEC) has been escalating as forested areas are cleared for development, disrupting the elephants' natural migratory routes. 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The Star
09-08-2025
- The Star
Climate change forces denizens of ancient Himalayan village to relocate
The Himalayan village of Samjung did not die in a day. Perched in a wind-carved valley in Nepal's Upper Mustang, more than 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) above sea level, the Buddhist village lived by slow, deliberate rhythms – herding yaks and sheep and harvesting barley under sheer ochre cliffs honeycombed with "sky caves' – 2,000-year-old chambers used for ancestral burials, meditation and shelter. Then the water dried up. Snow-capped mountains turned brown and barren as, year after year, snowfall declined. Springs and canals vanished and when it did rain, the water came all at once, flooding fields and melting away the mud homes. Families left one by one, leaving the skeletal remains of a community transformed by climate change: crumbling mud homes, cracked terraces and unkempt shrines. Villagers take a break while working in a field at the newly relocated settlement. The Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountain regions – stretching from Afghanistan to Myanmar – hold more ice than anywhere else outside the Arctic and Antarctic. Their glaciers feed major rivers that support 240 million people in the mountains – and 1.65 billion more downstream. Such high-altitude areas are warming faster than lowlands. Glaciers are retreating and permafrost areas are thawing as snowfall becomes scarcer and more erratic, according to the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development or ICMOD. Kunga Gurung is among many in the high Himalayas already living through the irreversible effects of climate change. "We moved because there was no water. We need water to drink and to farm. But there is none there. Three streams, and all three dried up,' said Gurung, 54. A herd of sheep passes through an alley as they are taken for grazing near the hills. Climate change is quietly reshaping where people can live and work by disrupting farming, water access and weather patterns, said Neil Adger, a professor of human geography at the University of Exeter. In places like Mustang, that's making life harder, even if people don't always say climate change is why they moved. "On the everyday basis, the changing weather patterns... it's actually affecting the ability of people to live in particular places,' Adger said. Forced to move Around the globe, extreme weather due to climate change is forcing communities to move, whether it's powerful tropical storms in The Philippines and Honduras, drought in Somalia or forest fires in California. The abandoned village of Samjung, with ancient caves carved in the cliffs in the background. In the world's highest mountains, Samjung isn't the only community to have to start over, said Amina Maharjan, a migration specialist at ICMOD. Some villages move only short distances, but inevitably the key driver is lack of water. "The water scarcity is getting chronic,' she said. Retreating glaciers – rivers of ice shrinking back as the world warms – are the most tangible and direct evidence of climate change. Up to 80% of the glacier volume in the Hindu Kush and Himalayas could vanish in this century if greenhouse gas emissions aren't drastically cut, a 2023 report warned. A woman washes her hands in a river at the new area. It hasn't snowed in Upper Mustang for nearly three years, a dire blow for those living and farming in high-altitude villages. Snowfall traditionally sets the seasonal calendar, determining when crops of barley, buckwheat, and potatoes are planted and affecting the health of grazing livestock. "It is critically important," Maharjan said. For Samjung, the drought and mounting losses began around the turn of the century. Traditional mud homes built for a dry, cold mountain climate fell apart as monsoon rains grew more intense – a shift scientists link to climate change. The region's steep slopes and narrow valleys funnel water into flash floods that destroyed homes and farmland, triggering a wave of migration that began a decade ago. Villagers walk towards a field to plant apple trees in the new home. Access and support Moving a village – even one with fewer than 100 residents like Samjung – was no simple endeavour. They needed reliable access to water and nearby communities for support during disasters. Relocating closer to winding mountain roads would allow villagers to market their crops and benefit from growing tourism. Eventually, the king of Mustang, who still owns large tracts of land in the area nearly two decades after Nepal abolished its monarchy, provided suitable land for a new village. Pemba Gurung, 18, and her sister Toshi Lama Gurung, 22, don't remember much about the move from their old village. But they remember how hard it was to start over. A dried-up water tap is seen in the abandoned village of Samjung. Families spent years gathering materials to build new mud homes with bright tin roofs on the banks of the glacial Kali Gandaki river, nearly 15 kilometres away. They constructed shelters for livestock and canals to bring water to their homes. Only then could they move. Some villagers still herd sheep and yak, but life is a bit different in New Samjung, which is close to Lo Manthang, a medieval walled city cut off from the world until 1992, when foreigners were first allowed to visit. It's a hub for pilgrims and tourists who want to trek in the high mountains and explore its ancient Buddhist culture, so some villagers work in tourism. The sisters Pemba and Toshi are grateful not to have to spend hours fetching water every day. But they miss their old home. "It is the place of our origin. We wish to go back. But I don't think it will ever be possible,' said Toshi. – By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL and NIRANJAN SHRESTHA/AP
The Star
04-08-2025
- The Star
Unearthing Hiroshima's forgotten dead
Silent mission: Kayo taking a photo of Ninoshima Island from a ferry approaching the island. — Reuters Dozens of times a year, Rebun Kayo takes a ferry to a small island across from the port of Hiroshima in search of the remains of those killed by the atomic bomb 80 years ago. For the 47-year-old researcher, unearthing even the tiniest fragments on Ninoshima Island is a sobering reminder that the war is a reality that persists – buried, forgotten and unresolved. 'When we die, we are interred in places like temples or churches and bid farewell in a ceremony. That's the dignified way of being sent off,' said Kayo, a researcher at Hiroshima University's Center for Peace who spends his own time and money on the solo excavations. After the United States dropped the atomic bomb over Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, instantly killing about 78,000 people and injuring far more, Ninoshima, about 4km from the hypocentre, became a field hospital. Within weeks, some 10,000 victims, both dead and alive, were ferried across the water. Tireless work: Kayo chatting with a local resident while digging a hole at a site on Ninoshima Island. — Reuters Many perished soon after, and when cremations could not keep up, people were buried in mass graves. While many remains were unearthed in the decades following the war, witness accounts suggested there were more burial grounds. The son of a resident informed Kayo about one area on the island's northwestern coast in 2014 and from there, he saved up funds and began digging four years later. In searing heat last month, Kayo cut through overgrown brush to return to the spot where he had left off three weeks before. After an hour and a half of digging, he carefully picked out two thumbnail-sized bone fragments from the dirt – additions to the roughly 100 he has unearthed so far. Showing the bone fragments which he found. — Reuters Every discovery brings home to him the cruelty of war. The pain was never as raw as when Kayo found pieces of a young child's jaw and tooth earlier this year, he said. 'That hit me really hard,' he said. 'That child was killed by the bomb, knowing nothing about the world... I couldn't come to terms with it for a while, and that feeling still lingers.' One day, he plans to take all the fragments to a Buddhist temple, where they can be enshrined. Offering a prayer to the remains he has found. — Reuters Kayo's drive for repeating the gruelling task year after year is partly personal. Born in Okinawa, where some of the bloodiest battles during World War II were fought, Kayo himself has three relatives whose remains were never found. Volunteers still descend on Okinawa from all over Japan for excavations, and because the poison ivy in the forests there is prohibitive for him, Kayo returns the favour on Ninoshima instead. Kayo and local resident Yutaka Masumoto planting flowers at a site where the remains of atomic bomb victims were recovered in 2004, and which now serves as a flower park promoting peace. — Reuters As long as traces of the dead keep turning up, the war's proximity is palpable for Kayo. 'People today who don't know about the war focus only on the recovery, and they move the conversation forward while forgetting about these people here. 'And in the end, you'll have people saying, 'even if you drop an atomic bomb, you can recover'... There will always be people who try to justify it in a way that suits them.' — Reuters
