Photo credit Noel Alumit
Ten UWest students and alumni and three CST students were recently ordained as Buddhist Lay Ministers by the International Center of Chinese Buddhist Culture and Education in Monterey Park, California. Six women and seven men were ordained. The event was held on Saturday, August 8, an auspicious date in Buddhism.
Three abbots were present to ordain the group, including one who flew in from China and another from the Philippines for the ceremony: Venerable Masters Ben Xing, Chao Ding, and Chuan Yin. The ceremony was organized and run by UWest alumni (MDiv) Venerable Guan Zhen, with the assistance of UWest student (PhD) Venerable Kiet Vo and UWest alumni (MDiv) Aroon Seeda. The Hua Shia Buddhist Association hosted the event at their beautiful temple. The newly ordained ministers come from many Buddhist traditions and backgrounds and many are already working as Buddhist chaplains at hospitals, universities, hospices, and other institutions around Los Angeles and beyond.
University of the West is located at 1409 S. Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead. For more information, call (626) 571-8811 or visit www.uwest.edu.
