A floral pink scarf, a light pink coat, a hot pink bag, an azalea colored hairpin … On December 15, 2019 (Saturday), the wisdom office of the Buddhist Women’s Development Institute was all pink. The participants were given a “pink” props dress code and each of them entered showing off their apparel. This year in particular, the gathering was in the form of a so-called “potluck party” where everyone brings food that they want to share with others, and everyone’s hands were definitely heavy with food.
After a brief look at Shako’s 2018 activities, there was a short explanation of the Sakyadhita Australia Conference, which will be held in June 2019. This event is expected to be more expensive than any other time as it will be the first time having the Sakyadhita conference in a Western country, but interest is high as this is an opportunity to see Buddhism spread in a new way.
This Shabam-Shabam was organized as a Blue-White battle (group competition), with all participants directly taking part in the event. As the blue team consisted of four sunims (nuns) and four laypeople, while the white team consisted of one sunim and 10 laypeople, it seemed obvious which team would be victorious at first glance; however, the blue team won after combining the scores of the three games. This team was equipped with concentration, spontaneity, and intelligence.
All participants received Shako self-produced bookmarks inscribed with good messages for practitioners who believe in and follow the Buddha’s teachings to keep in mind throughout 2019. The messages on the bookmarks were extracted from the Kakao Talk group chat room where Hyoseok Sunim has been posting the messages every morning since 2015.
Then, the event’s finale, the “best dresser vote,” began. This is a time to vote for this year’s most stylishly dressed person following the dress code, “pink.” This year’s best dresser was Cho Eunsu, who was chosen as the best dresser for her pale pink skirt suit.
More than ever before, the 5th Shabam-Shabam had more preparation committee members planning and hosting the event together, so everyone had a more fruitful time. We concluded this pleasant time with the hopes that in 2019, too, Shako will be more energetic, and be a time to work together and be united and welcome new people.
