April 29th, 2017, the Fourth Day of the Fourth Month in Lunar Calendar, is the birthday of Manjusri Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of Great Wisdom. The Buddhist Association of Canada Cham Shan Temple organized a series of activities to celebrate Manjusri Bodhisattva’s Birthday, teach Buddhist doctrine, and pray for world peace and blessings to all sentient beings.

In celebration of Manjusri Bodhisattva’s birthday, President of The Buddhist Association of Canada and Abbot of Cham Shan Temple, Ven. Dayi Shi initiated a Short-term Pravrajana (leaving home) program for ordinary people to experience monastic life in Cham Shan Temple for five days, explore their interests in Buddhism, develop their understanding of Buddhadharma, and deeply reflect the meaning of life and self.

On February 14, 2016, Cham Shan Temple officially launched a charity program on WeChat app, calling for help and support to the Wutai-Shan-Buddhist-Garden-in-Canada Project, which is under development in Cavan-Monaghan, Ontario. By asking people to do one charity per day, this program has received donations of over 400,000 Renminbi (about $80,000 CAD) within a year.

An offline version of “one-charity-per-day” program was delivered on January 5, 2017 in the form of piggy banks. People voluntarily take home a piggy bank from Cham Shan Temple, and put spare money into the bank everyday. On the day of Manjusri Bodhisattva’s birthday, everybody brings their piggy banks to Cham Shan Temple for collection. Wutai Shan is the shrine of Manjusri Bodhisattva. All the donations made through this “one-charity-per-day” program, no matter online or offline, will be exclusively used for the constructions of Wutai Shan Buddhist Garden in Canada, which will produce numerous merits and blessings.