More than 800 volumes of books were donated

Donated books carefully packed in boxes

Venerable Wenhai of Yunlin Library organizing donated books

On the morning of 20 March, 2014, a book donation ceremony took place in the Yunlin Library of Lingyin Temple. The ceremony was organised for the donation of over 350 books (more than 800 volumes in total) from Lingyin Temple to Hangzhou Southern Suburb Prison. The donated books included Frequently Asked Questions about Buddhism,The Art of Alm-Giving, and The Life of Sakyamuni, among others.

Venerable Wenhai, who is in charge of Yunlin Library, spoke about the reason of this donation. According to him, it has been a long-term wish of Lingyin Temple to make books which contain life wisdom and Chinese cultural traditions accessible to those in need. It is the hope of Lingyin Temple that more people will benefit from reading, which can guide people onto right paths in difficult times, and help people find strength and shelter in their worldly life. By lucky coincidence, Lingyin Staff read an article on Hangzhou Daily about the need of book-crossing resources in Hangzhou Southern Suburb Prison, and got into contact with the prison through the kind help of Hangzhou Daily journalist Pan Zhuoying.

Mr Lu Tianshi, who spoke on behalf of the Education Section of Hangzhou Southern Suburb Prison, acknowledged the positive influence of reading on people’s morality and personality. The Prison ha been promoting a reading-friendly culture among the inmates in the past few years to increase their interest on reading. Due to the inaccessible nature of the prison, however, it had been difficult for the prison to manage and expand its limited book resources, which were no longer able to meet the intellectual demands and spiritual needs of the prisoners. The large donation of books from Lingyin Temple was thus a timely help which the Prison will be very grateful for. It was hoped that these books, with the great wisdom and essence of traditional Chinese culture they contain, would provide precious lessons on social rules and morality, and remind the prisoners to abide by the law and become decent citizens in the future.

This stock of donated books, more than 350 and over 800 volumes in total, cover many disciplines such as literature, history, philosophy and Buddhism. They will be passed around in the reading rooms in all 12 sections of Hangzhou Southern Suburb Prison as spiritual purifiers of the inmates, and their mental assistants during their rehabilitation in the prison and their future return to the society.