Albert Lin, The Merit Times staff writer
April 24, 2023

The "20th Anniversary of the California State Capital World Peace Rose Gardens" was held on April 15th, 2023. Venerable Ru Xian of Fo Guang Shan Bodhi Temple was invited to attend the event on behalf of the Buddhist groups, and was accompanied by 10 guests including Vice President of Buddha's Light International Association (BLIA) Sacramento Du Mei Huai, Secretary-General Kuang Ying Fang, Priscilla Ly, the supervisor of the BLIA Yad Sacramento and other managers of BLIA.

The "California State Capital World Peace Rose Gardens" was a cross-religious event aimed at bringing together people of different ages, faiths, and cultures to celebrate and highlight the commitment of this event to peace.

The "California State Capital World Peace Rose Gardens" originated in 1984, when founders David Villalobos and his wife Sylvia Villalobos built the first "World Peace Rose Garden" - the California Shrine - on 10 acres of land where Gandhi's ashes resting. The event team was visionary and combined David's love, expertise, and commercial background in roses, as well as Villalobos's passion and organizational skills in learning, culture, and appreciation of interfaith. Since its establishment, the organization has built "World Peace Rose Gardens" not only in California, but also in Mexico, India, China, Japan, Europe, and Africa, and providing over 52,000 hours of volunteer service.

As the only representative of the Buddhist groups, Venerable Ru Xian introduced the purposes of Fo Guang Shan and the BLIA, as well as the concepts of "Humanistic Buddhism" and "Three Acts of Goodness and Four Givings" to the organizers and attendees of the celebration event. She also invited people from different religious backgrounds to visit Fo Guang Shan and the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum for pilgrimage.
Fo Guang members and other religious groups promote peace. photo／The Life News Agency

This year's celebration attracted nearly a thousand people of different ethnicities. During the speeches, Vice President Diana Martinez and former President Edgar Trujillo expressed that this was the first large-scale event after the end of the pandemic, they were very pleased to see everyone coming and hope all of them could cooperate to promote world peace. Congresswoman Doris Matsui urged the "California State Capital World Peace Rose Gardens" and various religious groups to organize events that could attract young people and promote peace and understanding among all countries, cultures, and religions.

At the end of the event, leaders from different religious groups presented flowers to the "Vase of Unity" of the International World Peace Rose Garden (IWPRG), releasing peace doves for world peace. Guests also cheered and scattered rose petals, praying for world peace.
Guests cheered and scattered rose petals, praying for world peace. photo／The Life News Agency