Interfaith Harmony
- Why Focus
As the organizer and sponsor of the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, Frankie is also a promoter and practitioner of interfaith harmony activities. The theme for the 2023 World Interfaith Harmony Week is to working together to achieve peace, gender equality, mental health and wellbeing, and environmental preservation Promoting cultural peace and non-violence is becoming increasingly important.
For the past 20 years, the Frankie Lowe Foundation has supported and assisted in the construction of tea houses and the renovation and operation of restaurants in six temples in China and the UK.
- Our Goal
The purpose is to help religious places embrace public participation in a more open manner, and through food, leisure, meditation, and other means, to provide guidance and direction for the physical and mental well-being of the public while breaking down the formalities of religion.
- United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week
Furthermore, guided by the theme of the United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, the foundation has been in contact with schools that have already offered religious studies courses to jointly plan the integration of traditional religious courses with new elements of interfaith harmony, aiming to cultivate a new understanding of global harmony in the younger generation and expand the influence of harmony education principles. Dr. Judy Kuriansky of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has provided us with direct communication and kind support. We have maintained long-term cooperative relationships with these organizations and temples.
- Our Work
The Tea House at Suzhou Xiyuan Temple, Xiyuan Temple Vegetarian Restaurant, the Frankie Lowe Foundation participates in providing management and services, completing the donation of furniture and lighting fixtures in the form of merit-making, and all profits from the vegetarian restaurant are donated to the temple. We integrate traditional customs, cultural activities, etc., into dining, meditation, and leisure, in a more open form to welcome public participation.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, eating a bowl of vegetarian noodles from the temple is an old tradition for the people of Suzhou. By preserving tradition and innovating in inheritance, this is what we have achieved in the new year at Xiyuan Temple Vegetarian Restaurant.
We also held a lively and peaceful Spring Festival gathering at Suzhou Xiyuan Temple, with many friends coming from afar to join us.
During the traditional Dragon Boat Festival, we invited Suzhou’s elderly residents to hand-wrap zongzi at Xiyuan Temple every day. During the zongzi wrapping sessions, the elderly residents recited Buddhist scriptures lightly while deftly busy with their fingers, conveying blessings through the food.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, we helped Xiyuan Temple make handmade mooncakes, bringing delicious food and love to every household in Suzhou.
We also participated in designing and producing special vegetarian meals at Xiyuan Temple, conveying fresh and delicious vegetarian food in a peaceful environment.
On days like the birthday of Guanyin, we helped recruit volunteers to work together! Guanyin noodles, vegetarian buns, handmade mooncakes, may more people enjoy healthy and delicious vegetarian food.
The special Eight Treasure Rice at Xiyuan Temple is made after the beginning of winter every year, with all manual steps and high demand. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Buddhists cook porridge for offering to the Buddha, known as Laba porridge, made of eight fresh grains and fruits harvested that year, praying for a year of abundance and auspiciousness. We assist Xiyuan Temple in cooking Laba porridge on Laba Festival and provide it to the dining guests.
Additionally, Xiyuan Temple Vegetarian Restaurant participated as a representative in the first Jiangsu Buddhist Vegetarian Culture Expo, accumulating a lot of vegetarian cultural experience.
