As more lay Buddhists started to join the cleaning activity soon after, a group called Green Journey Club has been formally established under Lien Hoa Pagoda.

From 2018, Green Journey Club launched cleaning activities in more village alleys and roads, irrespective of rainy or sunny weather. Staring at 5 am every Saturday and Sunday, Seniour Venerable Thích Duy Trấn and lay Buddhists of the pagoda have done the cleaning all roads and pathways in the residential areas. In addition to cleaning activities in the surface, members of the Green Journey Club have done the classification of waste collected and clearance of rubbish in the local sewage system.

Seniour Venerable Thích Duy Trấn shared that cleaning areas have been increasingly expanded, and apart from fixed roads and alleys, the club would send members to find out polluted spots on every Friday so that the club would do the cleaning and clearance in the next two days.

 Classification of organic and plastic waste before discharge.

Lien Hoa Pagoda is also the first Buddhist temple encouraging lay Buddhists not to use votive papers and limit the lightening of candles and lamps in worshipping activities, and instead save money for charities in the last 23 years. As a consequence, the pagoda space is always filled with fresh air and green leaves.

Seniour Venerable Thích Duy Trấn also informed that, for the last 23 years, Lien Hoa Pagoda has saved about 30 billion VND for providing supports to disadvantaged locals, offering assistance for building houses and digging wells for the poor, presenting scholarships to pupils and students of poor families in remote areas with good school results, and offering accommodations to hundreds of students and their relatives from the Central and West regions during universities’ entrance exams.

PTT