calligraphy. Education: The temple offers regular courses in English, Mandarin and Cantonese on Buddhism and meditation. It also offers a wide variety of special interest classes in music, cooking, art, crafts, exercise and more. It also provides extensive youth and children's programs. There is also a large library with both English and Chinese resources. Charity: The temple raises funds and provides volunteers for many worthwhile causes in the local community, as well as supporting worldwide initiatives coordinated by the global Fo Guang Shan organization. Thousands of donors and volunteers give generously of their time and money every year to provide assistance where it is most needed. Practice: The temple is a spiritual centre, providing devotees with a facility for meditation and holding weekly Buddhist chanting services, regular ceremonies, meditation retreats and other special events. The temple maintains a number of resident monastics who provide constant teaching, guidance and coordination to lay members. History All Fo Guang Shan temples, including Toronto, are operated by both monastic and lay members working together. Fo Guang Shan monastics are members of the International Buddhist Progress Society (IBPS), while laypeople are members of the Buddha's Light International Association (BLIA). In July 1991, FGS Founder Venerable Master Hsing Yun visited Toronto to inaugurate the Toronto Chapter of the BLIA. During his visit, the Toronto devotees also requested a continuing monastic presence through the creation of an International Buddhist Progress Society (IBPS) centre where Dharma classes, chanting sessions and family-oriented activities could be organized. Master Hsing Yun agreed and assigned a monastic to be the Abbess of the new centre. The new dharma centre was originally located in North York. It quickly became an important resource in Eastern Toronto and beyond, holding Dharma classes in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English. Seeing this rapid expansion, Venerable Master Hsing Yun decided to purchase a piece of land in Mississauga in 1992 to build the FGS Temple of Toronto, a 50,000 square foot facility to meet the needs of the local Chinese population and propagate the Dharma to the local community. The inexhaustible efforts of volunteers, donors, devotees, and monastics continued for the next several years. Construction was completed at the end of 1996 and the temple officially opened on August 10, 1997. The finished building included the main shrine, a traditional meditation hall, a cultural museum, a modern conference room, a bookstore, a library, and a tea house. The facility