Albert Lin, The Merit Times staff writer
April 28, 2023

The Buddha's Light International Association (BLIA) Stockholm, Sweden, adhering to Venerable Master Hsing Yun's philosophy of "Four Givings - giving confidence, joy, hope, and convenience", decided to donate six of Venerable Master Hsing Yun's works to Arena Academy Stockholm High School, including the Swedish edition of "Buddha-Dharma: Pure and Simple" and "The Fundamental Concepts of Humanistic Buddhism". The donated books were presented by the president of the second chapter of BLIA Stockholm, Liu Zonglong, and accepted by high school principal Daniel Stridsman.

At the book donation ceremony, Daniel Stridsman stated that he will add these books to the library's collection for students to read freely, allowing these valuable books to fully serve their purpose. He also noted that Swedish school libraries generally lack Swedish edition of Buddhist books, with some schools having none at all. Therefore, he was very grateful for the book donation from Fo Guang Shan (FGS) and supports the book donation activities promoted by BLIA.

Liu Zonglong mentioned that Venerable Master Hsing Yun authored more than 300 books and those works have been translated into more than 20 languages including English, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Korean, Thai, and Portuguese, and released worldwide. He also mentioned that Venerable Master Hsing Yun actively cultivates talents, especially the foreign language abilities of young students, to promote Humanistic Buddhism to the five continents of the world, implement the "localization" of Buddhism, and develop different characteristics based on different cultural ideas and customs.

At the end of the book donation ceremony, Daniel Stridsman once again expressed his gratitude to Venerable Master Hsing Yun and FGS. 

Arena Academy Stockholm High School is located in the Vasastan area in the center of Stockholm and is a bilingual school with excellent teachers, which is very famous in the Nordic region. Daniel Stridsman hoped the books donated by FGS will purify people's minds and create a pure land for Humanistic Buddhism.