Photo Courtesy: Hua Zang Si (Abbess Ruzun Ruohui presided over the Bathing the Buddha ceremony at Hua Zang Si Temple.)
Communities across California came together this May to celebrate the birthday of Shakyamuni Buddha, a Buddhist observance increasingly embraced in the United States. A public Bathing the Buddha ceremony was held at Hua Zang Si Temple in San Francisco on May 24, welcoming visitors from diverse backgrounds and faith traditions. Guided by Ruzun Ruohui, Abbess of Hua Zang Si and Hongfa Temple, the ceremony invited the public to experience the Buddhist tradition rooted in reflection, kindness, and goodwill.
Temple bells and steady drumbeats signaled the start of the ceremony as monastics chanted the Bathing the Buddha Praise and the Heart Sutra. At Hua Zang Si Temple, the Bathing the Buddha Ceremony unfolded with solemnity. The Main Hall had been meticulously prepared, with offerings arranged in harmonious order before the Buddha. Ritual instruments and resonant chanting deepened the sense of devotion. Participants then stepped forward in an orderly line to bathe the infant Buddha statue, gently pouring fragrant water over the statue with a pure and reverent mind, an act of renewal that encourages practitioners to release agitation and cultivate compassion.
Photo Courtesy: Hua Zang Si (Abbess Ruzun Ruohui poured fragrant water over the infant Buddha Gautama statue with a ritual ladle.)
For many, the ritual carried deeply personal meaning. Everett Docherty from Chico, California, said he strongly encouraged others to attend Dharma Assemblies at Hua Zang Si. Peter Sullivan, a longtime San Francisco resident, shared that the chanting and atmosphere brought him a sense of peace and uplift. He expressed sincere gratitude for the warmth and hospitality extended by the temple’s monastics and volunteers, noting that their kindness made him feel genuinely welcomed and cared for.
According to the 2026 Global Internal Displacement Report, more than 82 million people were displaced by conflicts in 2025. Against this backdrop of global turmoil, the prayers offered during the ceremony were dedicated not only to personal well-being but also to peace, safety, and relief for all who suffer.
Photo Courtesy: Hua Zang Si (Participants bathed the infant Buddha statue in an orderly procession.)
Organizers emphasized that Buddha’s Birthday is both a cultural celebration and a call to bring compassion into everyday life, welcoming people of all walks of life to explore Buddhist traditions. Temple representatives further encouraged participants to carry the purity and compassion cultivated through the Bathing the Buddha ritual into their daily conduct, allowing wholesome thoughts to inspire wholesome actions. They encouraged practitioners to uphold the authentic Dharma taught by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III and Shakyamuni Buddha to benefit all beings. The ceremony serves as a reminder that in honoring the Buddha’s boundless grace, one should remain steadfast in Buddha’s teachings, spread the true Dharma, and cultivate oneself for the benefit of both self and others.
Buddha’s Birthday Ceremony at Hua Zang Si Highlights a Shared Hope for Peace and Renewal
H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III Wan Ko Yeshe Norbu Holiest Tathagata has come to this world again. Everyone knows that there is no other holy person in this world whose noble moral character and Five Vidyas wisdom can compare with those of His Holiness. Holy states that people often regard as extraordinary constantly occur when one is at the side of H.H. Wan Ko Yeshe Norbu Holiest Tathagata. We attendants have seen so many holy states over the long course of time we have been attending upon His Holiness that we often become accustomed to seeing these holy states. We even have felt somewhat numb or indifferent to such states. However, I would now like to narrate two events. I am not narrating these events because they are related to me but because they are directly related to the good fortune of all living beings in this earthly realm.
The first event occurred after about 4:00 in the afternoon on July 30, 1999. H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III had decided to leave China because the karmic conditions had changed. However, this decision could not be made public. Thus, I alone accompanied H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III as His Holiness stood on the granite steps outside the South Block of the Meijing Tower located in the Luohu District of Shenzhen City. We were waiting for the driver to arrive in order to take H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III to the airport. Suddenly, something caused my body to shake for a moment. The thirty-story Meijing Tower that was behind me also began to shake. I heard the sound of the shaking glass that covered the streetlights. Those thick and heavy light-poles were solidly embedded in the granite foundation. That sound lasted a few dozen seconds. I immediately realized that the earth was quaking, but I did not say anything because I felt very heavy-hearted at the time.
After a little while, H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III asked me, “Did the earth just quake?” I tersely responded with the single word, “Yes.” The face of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III was expressionless. His Holiness knew very well that the building would not collapse due to the earthquake since it was this great karmic event in Buddhism that caused the earth to quake.
The sutras state that the earth quakes when a Buddha comes into the world and when a Buddha passes away. However, at the time, I did not realize the important meaning that earthquake portended. Only later did I understand: Those living beings in the west will have the good fortune to learn the true Buddha-dharma!
The second event was very fortuitous. It happened on the same day I first met H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III Wan Ko Yeshe Norbu Holiest Tathagata. A large dharma assembly that would last many consecutive days started on that day. H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III was going to expound the meaning of the works A Monk Expounds the Absolute Truth to a Layperson and This Is My View. That discourse was to be given for the benefit of living beings, no matter what their innate capacities or karmic conditions were. Before the Dharma Assembly began, the then elderly Huibang Huang recounted for everyone what he experienced that day when H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III empowered (blessed) him.
The elderly Huibang Huang was a famous and highly virtuous person in China. At the time, he was the vice-chairman of the Jiangxi Province Buddhism Association and was called “Jiangxi Rinpoche.” He had devoted himself to Buddhism since his early years when he encountered the Buddha-dharma while studying abroad in Japan. For more than seventy years, he had maintained a vegetarian diet and had incessantly studied the sutras. The devotion and tenacity with which he pursued the Buddha-dharma over his entire life is inspiring. At the advanced age of almost ninety, he still went to Tibet alone to seek the dharma, carrying with him Buddhist sutras. H.H. Wish Fulfilling Jewel Dharma King Jigme Phuntsok was deeply moved by this and told him, “Your good roots are extremely deep. You should go to H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III Wan Ko Yeshe Norbu Holiest Tathagata to learn higher Buddha-dharma.” He also privately told Huibang Huang where H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III was. The elderly Huibang Huang recounted for everyone the following. On that day, he ate the food of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III had invoked the Buddhas and Boddhisattvas to bestow for him. H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III also told him that his wish would be fulfilled, that he would be allowed to see a Buddha. Right when he was about to see a Buddha, the elderly Huibang Huang suddenly said that he would rather see a dharma protecting deity. H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III then casually called forth such a deity. In an instant, a dharma protecting deity suddenly appeared out of nowhere right in front of Huibang Huang. That deity was as massive as an iron pagoda and was wearing a black helmet and black armor covering its entire body. It roared thunderously. There was no time for Huibang Huang to respond, so he simply fell to the ground. (There is a tape recording of the elderly Huibang Huang recounting this event.)
Everyone should think about this. Who else could casually call forth a dharma protecting deity, and that dharma protecting deity will thereby instantly appear? Of course, only a Buddha has such powerful virtue!
The two events that I have stated above are true. If I spoke falsely and deceived everyone, I will receive all evil karmic retribution. On the contrary, since everything that I stated is true, may all things go smoothly for me; may all living beings hear the true Buddha-dharma of H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III Wan Ko Yeshe Norbu Holiest Tathagata; may the good fortune and wisdom of all living beings grow; and may all living beings attain liberation from the cycle of reincarnation!
Buddha’s disciple Long Zhi Tanpe Nyima November 15, 2007
(This is a complete translation of the Chinese text that follows originally written and signed by Long Zhi Tanpe Nyima.)
頂禮 H.H.第三世多杰羌佛-- 正法 