Luk Wu Project

Background

In November 2019, the monastic sangha was very joyful to receive a small house from three venerable nuns at Luk Wu area on Lantau Island. The house is surrounded by mountains, trees, birds, and open sky, offering a unique place to heal and transform our body and mind. With our presence at Luk Wu Village — an old Buddhist village with more than 100 years of history — we can together cultivate mindful, peaceful, and joyful energies and connect monastics of different traditions practicing in the village. The house will serve as our new home, in addition to the Lotus Pond Temple for the nuns and Bamboo Forest Temple for the monks in Ngong Ping. It offers us more space for Sangha practice and mini-retreat for lay friends. See picture of the house enclosed within the boundary below. It is 4km from Ngong Ping.

Bird’s-eye view of Luk Wu	Luk Wu location

However, the house we received was built in the 1950s, so an extensive renovation is needed to ensure the safety and wellness of the visitors and create suitable living conditions for retreatants. This requires a complete revamp of the water and power supply systems and relocation of kitchen and toilets. Meanwhile, the addition of a new meditation hall is exceptionally challenging as it requires total removal and restoration of the aged ceiling seriously damaged by termites and water leaks. Adding to the complexity and building and maintenance costs to the project is our commitment to preserving the Buddhist heritage of the building. We will retain the traditional tile-roof design of the house, rarely seen and precious nowadays, while meticulously repairing the corroded historic structure made of locally-carved sandstone.

Estimated Amount for Renovation

We received a lot of love from many friends and volunteers in supporting this meaningful project. However, the sangha and volunteers cannot execute engineering works that only professional contractors can accomplish, and cannot produce items that can only be procured from manufacturers/suppliers. Due to the substantial costs, in order to make our dream come true, there is a need for us to launch the second phase of fundraising. This is our cost estimate on the project.

Items that Require Donation	Qty	Each Costs (HK$)	Total (HK$)
1. Bespoke Sculpture Statues	3	$100,000	$300,000
2. Shrine and Decors	4	$40,000	$160,000
3. Bricks, Walls & Roofs	20	$30,000	$600,000
4. Furniture and Appliances	10	$20,000	$200,000
5. Kitchenware and Fit-out	20	$10,000	$200,000
6. Teaching Equipment	20	$5,000	$100,000
7. Misc. Items & Facilities	20	$2,000	$40,000

This is a total of HK$1,600,000.

How to Support

Our Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh always encourages us to build sangha, to spread the joy of Dharma.The monastics, therefore, are humbly asking for your support for the project to benefit all future Buddhas.There are two ways to support:

1. Join the monastics’ “Do it by Ourselves” campaign to practice mindful working on painting and flooring, outdoor landscaping, etc. To sign up, please contact Sr.Tu Nghiem.

2. We need to raise HK$2.3 million for the renovation. You can offer a donation via the following ways:

   Faster Payment System (FPS)
   FPS Identifier	8104739 (“The Plum Village Foundation (Hong Kong) Limited” will be shown with the identifier input)
   Bank Transfer
   Name of Bank	The Bank of East Asia, Limited
   Account Name	The Plum Village Foundation (Hong Kong) Limited
   Account #	015-191-404000216
   For TT transfer	Swift Code: BEASHKHH
   Bank Address	The Bank of East Asia, Limited 10 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong
   Cheque (via Mail)
   Payable to	The Plum Village Foundation (Hong Kong) Limited
   Mailing Address	Sr. Tu Nghiem Lotus Pond Temple, Ngong Ping Village, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

Please put your name and state that it is for “Reconstructing the Amitabha Buddha Temple” as the reference or message to payee for the transaction, and send to Sr. Tu Nghiem or WhatsApp to our volunteer Mr. Michael Kong.

Donations of HK$100 or above are tax-deductible with an official receipt. If receipt is needed, please state that in the email/message together with your name and mailing address.