In Response to the Terror Attack
DDMBA Extending Helping Hands in New York

9/28/2001  

(Excerpt from report by Jeffrey Kung in New York)

Members of the Chan Meditation Center, either at the center or at home, were awfully shocked when they saw images on the TV screen with thousands of people rushing out of the collapsing gigantic buildings not far from the Center at Queens.

Immediately after they realized what happened, volunteers of the Center started calling frequent comers to the center who worked or lived in Manhattan. This effort lasted for three days until everyone on the list was contacted and their well beings were assured.

Days following the terror attack, Chan Meditation Center and branches of the Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association all over North America organized relief efforts and held prayer sessions to pray for peace for the deceased and blessing for the survived. The Chan Meditation Center held prayer sessions on the evening of the 11th and Sunday the 16th. The Sunday prayer session was attended by more than two hundred people. Many of them generously donated money to help those affected by the attack.

Venerable Guo Yuan, Abbot of the Chan Meditation Center and Secretary of the American Buddhist Confederation, called an urgency meeting of the New York area Buddhist groups on September 16, organizing combined prayers and memorial services and inviting Buddhist groups from all ethnic backgrounds to participate.

The New Jersey Chapter of Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association held a signature collecting campaign to show supports for the rescue workers and firefighters in New York. A 21 feet long banner was filled with signatures and words of encouragement, and was delivered to the Rescue and Relief Center at the Twin Tower site.

The Dharma Drum Mountain Buddhist Association headquarter in New York organized a response team to purchase and deliver special items needed by the Rescue Center. The team received helps from local Chapters in Florida, Rochester NY, California, Michigan, and Virginia, even as far as the DDM headquarter in Taiwan.