2025-09-28 — Miami Chapter Celebrates Mid-Autumn Festival, Spreading Humanistic Buddhism’s Spirit of Compassion and Care.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a cherished celebration in Chinese culture, symbolizing reunion, harmony, and sharing. On September 28, the Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) Miami Chapter hosted a festive event titled “Poetic Affection, Compassionate Mid-Autumn”. Nearly seventy Fo Guang members and friends gathered to celebrate this heartwarming occasion, surrounded by the beauty of poetry and music.

A special highlight of this year’s celebration was the participation of members from the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, marking the first time they joined the event. Their presence reflected the harmony between the joy of festivity and the compassion of Buddhism. Through cultural exchange and artistic sharing, the celebration embodied both diversity and inclusivity, while also realizing Fo Guang Shan’s Humanistic Buddhist ideals of “promoting the Dharma through culture and benefiting society through charity.”

The event began with Vice President Schiller sharing the meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival, using the full moon as a metaphor for Buddha-nature. He encouraged everyone to cherish their karmic connections, dispel afflictions, and let their inner light shine brightly, offering prayers for family harmony, social stability, and world peace.

Next, Lay Dharma Lecturer Hao Le recited “Wish” by Chiang Hsun, expressing heartfelt aspirations for life, love, and fulfillment. The Youth Group followed with a touching performance of “An Eternal Star,” a tribute in memory of Venerable Master Hsing Yun, filled with deep emotion and gratitude.

The program was vibrant and diverse:

• The piano performances by five young children flowed like clear running water, graceful and pure.

• The cello’s deep, mellow tones evoked the peaceful moonlight in the night sky, bringing calm and serenity.

• The charity group’s ethereal hand drum performance filled the hall with resonant, meditative sounds that cleansed the spirit.Finally, the audience joined together in a grand chorus of “The Great Dharma Comes from the West” (《大法西來》), bringing the celebration to a solemn and joyous conclusion.

The thoughtful arrangements by the organizers allowed members of the Lighthouse for the Blind to fully participate and feel the warmth of inclusion. They expressed that sharing the Mid-Autumn Festival with the Fo Guang community not only allowed them to “hear” the beauty of art but also to “feel” the compassion and friendship of Humanistic Buddhism.

In her closing remarks, President Yenhua Deng emphasized that the “reunion” symbolized by the Mid-Autumn Festival represents not only family togetherness but also social unity and mutual support. Inviting members of the blind association was a way to embody the Humanistic Buddhist spirit of compassion, joy, giving, and equanimity, and to demonstrate that “where there is love among people, there is warmth in society.”

The celebration concluded with everyone gathering in the Five Contemplations Hall to enjoy mooncakes, cakes, and fruit together. Though the full moon had not yet risen, the Fo Guang members’ compassionate hearts and cultural spirit already shone like bright moonlight, illuminating lives and warming the community.