Dear Sangha members,
Greetings from the monks and nuns of Plum Village HK & AIAB. 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.
The bird eye’s view | 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, requiring a complete re-do 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.
We encourage you to donate or support this project.
May you be peaceful and happy,
The monks and nuns of Plum Village Hong Kong & AIAB
September 29th, 2020