社评1122 国际区的精神文化园地

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国际区的精神文化园地

週日参加了中台禪寺普德精捨二十週年庆祈福法会, 在庄严明亮之道场中聆听了住持上见下曇法师主法观音祈福大法会。 行菩萨道承继临济祖师暨惟觉安公老和尚无上心法， 向在塲数百位信眾弘掦禪宗心法 ，大家都无比动容， 尤其尤是美南新闻之工作伙伴，我们曾在此度过十七年之寒冬艰辛岁月 ，此时此刻更是令我顿生感激之情 ，心中掀起无限之激盪。

早在八0年代 德州经济一片萧条 ，银行倒闭百业不振， 油价掉至每桶十三元， 当时我们参加了由前驻休斯敦外交代表郭明德学长创建之第一家华资银行德州第一银行在休斯敦百利大道上开张了， 当时之大环境十方恶劣， 有天我们去了郭学长家探望， 郭大嫂精緻之台菜加上美酒使我们流连忘返， 同时向他请教今后业务之发展 ，郭学长毫不犹豫地鼓励我们要坚持下去 ，并且他认為媒体是社会公器， 领引社区之重要指标， 决不可退缩， 诚然这番言谈 ，改变了我们对未来之信心。

八零年代初 ，我们在万难中寻得一块半亩土地即是目前精舍之地址开始了另一塲事业之攻艰战， 我和妻子领导之团队全力投入 ，印报厂开始日夜滚动， 我们就如一支没有退路的军队 ，必须勇敢前进。

二十年后的今天， 我们再度回到这块充满回忆刻苦铭心之战塲， 变為处学佛、 静坐、 参禪净化、心灵安身立命之道塲， 我们也见证了国际区今日车水马龙之盛况。

歷史之巨轮不断往前挺进， 我们在美洲大陆创立了文化媒体的传奇 ，是共同之光荣。

                                    International District’s Spiritual Landmark

In 1987, the founder, Wei June An, an old monk, in response to the prayers of the public, located the Chung Tai Temple in Houston’s International District. Pude Jingshe is the first branch of the Zhongtai Zen Temple in the southern United States.

In 2002, the Zhangtai Zen Temple was completed and opened. This is not only the continuation of the lineage of Zen Buddhism, but also an important center of Buddhism in the United States.

When we were celebrating the ITC 20th-year anniversary last Sunday, Master Jiantan gave us a spiritual blessing of Buddhism. Everyone was extremely moved, especially for me as the old worker of the Southern Chinese News. We spent 17 years of hard winters here to fight for our survival in the media business.

In the early 1980’s, the Texas economy was depressed. Banks had closed down and hundreds of industries were sluggish. Oil prices went down to $13.00 dollars per barrel. At that time we participated in the first Chinese bank founded by Mr. M. T. Kuo. He was a retired diplomat and happens to be one of my alumni from the Taiwan Ching Hi University. We had dinner at his house and I asked him about our newspaper business. Mr. Kuo didn’t hesitate to encourage us to expand our business. He thought the media was a very important indicator of our community. Finally, we found a half acre of land on Bellaire Blvd. near Cook Road. It took us almost two years, but we finally built a two- story building with a printing press and the press began to roll day and night. We were like in an army with no way out. We were there until 2001 when we sold the building to the temple and it became the spiritual center of our community. Today, twenty years later, we are back to this press room full of memories.

The giant wheel of history keeps moving forward. We are so proud of our decision to create a legacy of culture and media in the community.