A ceremony commemorating the newly-renovated and expanded
Louguantai Temple was held Tuesday morning in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, with hundreds of
participants gathered to honor Taoism, its founder Laozi and to
pray for world peace.
71-year-old Ren Farong, chairman of the China Taoism
Association, manifested his twin joys for the ongoing International Forum on Daodejing and
the renovation of Louguantai Temple, the birthplace of the
Daodejing and the holy place from which Laozi himself
preached.
He personally thanked Lee Shau Kee, the Hong Kong billionaire,
whose large donations made the temple renovation possible.
Hundreds of participants, including 300 delegates from 17
countries and regions, attended the ceremony, applauded the
speeches, bore respectful witness to the Taoist rituals and bowed
three times to Laozi's statue extending their deepest respects
before praying for world peace.?
The International Forum on Daodejing, at least the Xi'an section
thereof, proceeded without a hitch over the last two days with
close to 30 leading Taoists and experts giving presentations.?
Topics covered many areas ranging from environment protection,
health, education to proper uses of the wisdom enshrined in the
Taoist classic.
The forum also received 274 essays and papers, numbering over a
million words, on the Daodejing and related subjects. The
organizers have already prepared a three-tome volume for the
series, to be accompanied with a DVD documentary.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Zhang Rui, April 24, 2007)
