A Memorable Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration with Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan), Part 7 of 8

Next, Taoyuan Center will perform three sets of martial arts for us. Chinese kung fu. First up is “Iron Nail Liao,” younger brother of Liao Tian-Ding. The second is Big Knife Wang Ba, younger brother of Big Knife Wang Wu. “Making up silly names.” This one is Dong Fang Bu Bai, or the Invincible East. “It may look simple, but they have practiced for a long time. You must have learned for a few years. Right?”

In martial arts circles, there’ll always be someone who is better than you. These three are not yet spectacular. We’ve invited a swordswoman, Chiu Chin, from Hsinchu. Our swordswoman from the martial arts circles is called Chiu Chin, meaning she gets nervous in autumn (pun).

Coming up next is a performance by our young initiates from Tainan. They’re going to sing for us “Smilingly Embracing the Homeland in Our Dreams.” “(Embrace our homeland, we build our dreams together. Watch the cool breeze blowing through the curtains. Clouds are your clothes and flowers are your face. Every cloud and petal hold my dreams. How long the world shall last? How deep our love can be? Our love is like thousands of entangled threads. Things pass by so quickly. All longings end in disillusion, all callings beckon only the wind, all reminiscences end in sorrow, all waits dissolve into dreams.)” Don’t take them lightly. At their age, it’s great that they can stand on stage and sing the entire song. “Good. Not bad! Wonderful!”

We’ve come to our last program of the day. The Tainan Choir will perform the theme song of the Moon Festival, “Missing the Other Shore.” We started with a chorus, signaling all creatures will be one in the future. Now we’ll also end with a chorus, bringing the day to a perfect and satisfactory closure, like the full moon today. OK. Let’s give the Tainan Choir a warm round of applause. The first song is “Missing the Other Shore.” “(The Pure Ocean, great and powerful, has come from Heaven. It flows far from its source, meandering over long distances far and wide across the land. Its water nourishes my soul and nurtures my life. The running water takes me Home. As the beautiful waves roll forward, I go to the Home of my soul where I have longed for.)”