More than 5000 people – and a couple of Chinese Dragons – flooded through the gates of Australia’s first Buddhist tertiary institution at Berkeley on Sunday.
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A host of dignitaries, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, marked the official opening of the $50million stage one of the Nan Tien Institute.
But it was Venerable Master Hsing Yun, the founder of Fo Guang Shan Buddhist order and the Nan Tien Temple that most of the crowd had gathered to see.
The 87-year-old, who has been in poor health, made a rare public appearance in the hot weather at the opening and was welcomed enthusiastically by his many devotees who made the trip to the region for the ceremony.
Mr Yun is known as an important figure in Mahayana Buddhism in Chinese communities worldwide and reportedly has 15million followers in 173 countries.
Mr Yun told the audience about his discussions with BHP representatives at a conference in Taiwan in the early 1990s that sparked his interest in the Illawarra.
This eventually led to construction of the Nan Tien Temple at Berkeley which opened in 1995.
Nan Tien means ‘‘paradise of the south’’.
Mr Yun said Australia was a beautiful country, rich in multiculturalism.
‘‘You have embraced us with the most welcome ways,’’ he said.
‘‘Throughout my comings and goings to this country in the last 25 years I have come to realise Australia is more than just the paradise of the south, it is paradise of the whole world.’’
Mr Abbott said he had waited a long time to get to paradise ‘‘and it was a pleasure to have finally arrived’’.
Wollongong lord mayor Gordon Bradbery said Wollongong was fast regaining its status as ‘‘paradise of the south’’ and the Nan Tien Temple represented an incremental increase in Wollongong’s capacity to be a beautiful and engaging part of the world.
‘‘It’s also a chance to celebrate what you can do with a rubbish tip, which has been transformed into something beautiful and magnificent,’’ Cr Bradbery said.
‘‘The landfill site was sold to the Nan Tien Temple for $1 and I think we got good value.’’
Building a campus:
- Cost of site – $1
- Cost to clean up and convert site – $10 million
- 4000 drawings before construction begins
- 200 employees on site and off
- 169 unique concrete pads
- The biggest piece is 13metres tall and weighs 155 tonnes
- Six shipping containers full of glass
- 2.5km of LED lighting