On the afternoon of December 19th, the monastic community made a meaningful visit to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Before departing, Master Xian Gui led a preparatory meeting and showed a short film about Van Gogh’s life and artistic achievements to provide a deeper understanding of the paintings. The masters shared their expectations for the museum visit and discussed methods to maintain mindfulness while traveling. 

Master Xian Gui encouraged everyone to integrate into the local culture during their time spreading the Dharma in the Netherlands and to accumulate cultural knowledge. She emphasized that Van Gogh, as an important figure in the history of world art, imbued his paintings with Buddhist meanings. By appreciating these masterpieces, we have the opportunity to deeply understand Van Gogh as a great artist, understand how he viewed things and his methods of artistic presentation, and draw inspiration from them. While appreciating the paintings, we cultivate more observation, helping us to better understand ourselves and others around us by observing and experiencing the colorful world of dependent origination. Such Buddhist insights will better prepare us for spreading the Dharma. After the preparatory meeting, everyone set off on the journey with great anticipation.