The fireman Voluteeners came to visit Temple in Gelfingen, Switzerland

IBPS Switzerland
February 19, 2025

On February 16th, IBPS Switzerland held its annual Lamp Lighting Ceremony 2025, bringing together over 30 devotees for a heartwarming gathering. The ceremony was led by Venerable Miaoyan, who recited the “Universal Gate chapter of the Lotus Sutra”, after which each devotee offered lamps and worshipped Buddha.

At noon, the fire brigade team in Hitzkirch came to visit and had lunch with us. The reason for their visit to the temple was that IBPS Switzerland organized a parent-child fall camp last year and the fire brigade team gave the participants a half-day lesson, an overview of their daily tasks and how they put out the fires, etc. As a token of our gratitude, Venerable Miao Yen invited them to lunch.

We also spoke to them about our tentative plans for this year. Venerable Miaoyen mentioned that this year she would like to not only offer parent-child youth camps, but also provide our single or elderly people with foreknowledge on how to help themselves in case of an emergency, such as falling or feeling unwell.

Immediately, Michael Weibel, the commander of the fire department team offered that if we really wanted to do this, they would provide a first aid course for us.

Later, for these guests are working on a voluntary basis in the fire brigade and with the consent of them, Venerable Miao Yen led all of us enter the main shrine, and reading " A Prayer for the Lamp Offering Ceremony" written by the Great Master Xsing Yun, dedicating the merits to all devotees.

Since these guests are volunteers of the fire department and with their consent, Venerable Miao Yen later led us all into the main shrine and read "A Prayer for World Peace" by Great Master Xsing Yun and dedicated the merits to all the devotees. Then we recited the "Six-Syllabic Mantra Avalokitesvera" and under the guidance of Venerable Miao Yen, the guests offered the lamps to pay homage to the Triple Gems Buddhas.

To closed the event, Michael W. Also thanks us for our warm welcoming to his team and said looking forward to working with us again in the future.

photo/IBPS Switzerland