Humanistic
Activities

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A Family Choir: Humanistic Activities on the Gold Coast

In recent years the people singing at the Gold Coast's three annual gatherings have not only been volunteers. Families we support are invited too, and everyone sings Tzu Chi songs together like one large, warm household choir. In the singing and the blessings they keep each other company - the people who receive care and the people who give it, sitting in the same row.

Humanistic activities on the Gold Coast: three events a year, for 18 years

Since 2008, Tzu Chi volunteers on the Gold Coast have held three major annual events: the Lunar New Year Blessing Ceremony, the Buddha Bathing Ceremony and the Auspicious Month Blessing Ceremony in the seventh lunar month. Through them, volunteers share the teachings of Master Cheng Yen and Tzu Chi's humanistic values, and build lasting ties across the wider Queensland community.

Lunar New Year: Distribution of Blessing and Wisdom Red Packets

At the Lunar New Year Blessing Ceremony, volunteers and community members gather with grateful hearts to welcome the new year. Dragon and lion dances are usually performed, and volunteers introduce the Wisdom and Blessings Red Packets, which stand for blessing and wisdom.

The red packets come from Dharma Master Cheng Yen, founder of the Tzu Chi Foundation, who directs all royalties from her publications back into society; the funds are made into red packets shared with the public, as an encouragement to cultivate blessings and grow in wisdom in the year ahead. What is inside a red packet is not money but a story anyone can be told.

Buddha Day: three occasions in one

The Buddha Bathing Ceremony, held each May, marks the birth of the Buddha and brings together Buddha Day, Mother's Day and Tzu Chi Day in a single observance. Tzu Chi communities around the world hold the ceremony on the same day. The ritual is a reminder to clear the dust from one's own heart and to recognise a debt to the Buddha, to one's parents and to all living beings. On 11 May 2025, the Gold Coast ceremony also marked Tzu Chi's 59th anniversary.

The seventh month: replacing dread with filial gratitude

In the seventh lunar month, Tzu Chi promotes the idea of an Auspicious Month, reframing the traditional fear attached to the "Ghost Month". Master Cheng Yen teaches that the seventh lunar month is a month of joy and auspiciousness, and a season for honouring one's parents.

On the Gold Coast this began with the first blessing ceremony on 16 August 2008 and has continued for 18 years. In 2022 it was combined with the Gathering Heart and Love appeal, and in 2024 a gratitude and blessing ceremony drew the community together to pray for those suffering elsewhere.

Keeping goodwill in the community

The three events arrive on schedule every year and change very little, and that is the point. In a multicultural community they offer a fixed moment that people can anticipate, take part in and bring a friend to. That is how Tzu Chi's humanistic care continues to take root on the Gold Coast.