Peace and Harmony Around the World in the Year of the Dragon

Lantern Festival Celebration: Saturday, February 24, 2024

In this Lunar New Year season, Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism wishes for peace and harmony in entire world. The lively, colourful celebrations of Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival represent the rich culture of Taoism, teaching that peace and safety come when all is in balance, in individuals, in families, in the community and in the world.

Visiting the temple is a chance to enjoy the beauty of the New Year lanterns and picturesque scenery, to take photos to share the peaceful and lively feeling with loved ones. At the same time, it is an opportunity to learn from the rich culture that teaches us how to find peace and harmony even when we are surrounded by turbulence.

Taoism teaches us that nature is constantly changing. It shows us how to be sensitive to the cycles of transformation in the world and in ourselves so that we can be in harmony with them, rather than struggling against them. When we discover balance and harmony, we can easily find health, vitality, energy and opportunity.

Many New Year traditions related to the cycles of change help us to find balance. For example, each of the Twelve Animals has its own character and brings its own opportunities and challenges. Sometimes we will find the path ahead of us to be smooth, and sometimes face obstacles and difficulties. According to Taoist tradition, this is a natural part of life for us to accept. The ongoing cycles of nature, including Yin and Yang, the Twelve Animals, and the Five Elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, all relate to us individually depending on our endowments and the circumstances of our birth.

We all have areas that are weak and others that are dominant, which can lead us to lose our internal balance. Taoism teaches us how to strengthen and moderate where needed, and ultimately restore balance and harmony.  We can then find true, deep health within, and understand how this balance also applies outside ourselves. This way, we can see more clearly how to promote harmony in the world around us.

The Lantern Festival, which takes place 15 days after the New Year, on the first full moon, is the culmination of this season of joy and togetherness. For this festival, we choose the blessing that represents our most heartfelt wish for the year ahead. This way, we encourage ourselves to cultivate harmony and vitality for ourselves and all those we hold dear.

Most importantly, the deepest wish of the Lantern Festival is that everyone in the world enjoy peace and safety. By celebrating this festival at this auspicious time of the New Year, we hope our shared voice and common intention will help bring this vision to reality.