North Central College Students Visited Our Library (May 7, 2006)

On Sunday, May 7th, Professor Brian Hoffert brought more than ten students from the Religious Studies class at North Central College in Naperville to our library for the second time. Prof. Hoffert, who obtained his Ph. D. degree from Harvard University, also studied Chinese at the Chinese Language Center of National Taiwan Normal University. He speaks fluent mandarin, which makes it feel like talking with him is like talking with a family member — warm and comfortable. Last May, Prof. Hoffert brought his students to attend our Sunday morning Buddha-name chanting practice. It was a pleasure to see him bring new students to visit our library again.

Before their arrival, Director Li-Su Tan and Co-Director Bert Tan not only prepared the new chanting gowns but also the pre-marked English chanting handbooks for our guests, so they could follow the chanting procedure easier. The chanting practice took one hour and a half, which included the praising song, recitation of the Amitabha Sutra, walking meditation, sitting meditation, and kneeling and bowing to the Buddhas. With the beautiful sound of the instrument, our guests followed the pace with us to pay their respect to the Buddha and successfully completed the chanting practice.

After the practice, we had a nice vegetarian lunch together. Prof. Hoffert said in last year's student reports and discussions, his students obtained a very valuable experience from attending our chanting session that could not be obtained in the classroom. We were very pleased that we could provided the opportunity and to share the benefit with them.