The greeting “Happy New Year” originates from wishing each other an auspicious and prosperous year ahead. Phrases such as “may you prosper”, “all the best in your future endeavors”, “happy new year”, as well as “good health and long life” are popular greetings during the Spring Festival; these phrases represent people’s aspiration for a good start to the New Year.


In addition to friends and relatives greeting each other with these New Year greetings, it is customary for the younger generation to greet their elders as well as for subordinates to greet their superiors.

DDM World Center for Buddhist Education in Jin-Shan, Taiwan is organizing a series of activities for the coming Spring Festival; one of these activities is a meet-up session with the Abbot President and members of the Sangha at the Grand Buddha Hall. During this session, devotees may exchange well wishes and receive blessings from the Abbot President as well as members of the Sangha. In addition to praying for wisdom and compassion, the Abbot President will also be giving a new year Dharma talk through which devotees could utilize to achieve inner and outer peace. As such, families could celebrate this Chinese New Year with the joy of the Dharma.

Text: Patricia Yang (楊淑婷)
Translation: Chang, Cheng-Yu (張振郁)
Editor: Leefah Thong(Malaysia)