NEWS FEATURE: Mentors in a ‘TAG’ Workshop at Bacolod Yuan Thong Temple

November 28, 2022

Close to 90 public school teachers and school heads gathered at the Bacolod Yuan Thong Temple along Burgos Street to imbibe the Venerable Master Hsing Yun, founder of the Fo Guang Shan Monastic Order, teaching on the Three Acts of Goodness last November 26, 2022.*

Close to 90 public school teachers and school heads gathered together last November 26, 2022, at the Bacolod Yuan Thong Temple along Burgos Street to imbibe the simple but revolutionary Buddhist adage hailed as the “Three Acts of Goodness” (TAG) in a one-day workshop.

Gathered in a TAG Teachers’ Workshop at the Fo Guang Shan-Bacolod Yuan Thong Temple were seven principals and teachers from Education and Training Center Schools (ETCS), Corazon L. Montelibano Elementary School, Sum-ag Elementary School, Vista Alegre Elementary and High School, Nessia Elementary School, F.R. Flores Elementary School and as far as elementary and high school teachers of Sagay City and the Bantayan National High School.

Facilitated by pioneer expert in “Whole Brain Self Mastery”, author, professional trainer and transformational leadership and management course developer, Dr. Cecilia Manikan, Bacolod City teachers were joined by said teachers from Bacolod City, Sagay City and from as far as Bantayan Island who vowed to integrate this life- changing and societal transformative teaching dubbed as “TAG” or the Three Acts of Goodness which is simply, to “Do Good Deeds, Speak Good Words and Think Good Thoughts”.

The TAG Movement was introduced in 1998 by the Venerable Master Hsing Yun, founder of the Taiwan-based Fo Guang Shan monastic order, in a Welcoming Prayer Ceremony for the Buddha Tooth Relic in the National Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.

At this ceremony, the Venerable Master led a crowd of 100,000 in taking pledge to practice the Three Acts of Goodness, “hoping that by doing good deeds, one can resolve to serve others, by speaking good words, one can commend others with compassion, and by thinking good thoughts, one can always regard others with great consideration and concern.”

One of the main participants of the November 26, 2022 TAG Teachers’ Workshop was Dr. Josette Balandra, Sagay City Schools’ Division Office TAG Focal Person and Innovator, highlighted Sagay City’s implementation of the TAG in partnership with the Fo Guang Shan Foundation since 2017.

The partnership implemented in Sagay City, according to Dr. Balandra, was dubbed “PanaTAG: A Movement for Learning Environment Improvement”; PanaTAG means “Partnership Institutionalization and the Three Acts of Goodness”, the practice and the cultivation of the Venerable Master Hsing Yun’s. “Doing Good Deeds, Speaking Good Words, and Thinking Good Thoughts.”

Dr. Balandra explained, the partnership is in response to the dire need of schools for WASH facilities and the prevalence of the social problem of bullying, adding, “It is a movement to hone learners into holistic and noble Filipino youth through the implementation of the school-based value-driven programs, projects, to mold their characters and improve their well-being by doing good deeds, speaking good words, and thinking good thoughts.

Master Miao Jing, Head Abbess of the Fo Guang Shan Mabuhay Temple. the main branch temple of the Taiwan-based Fo Guang Shan Monastic Order.*

The partnership with the Fo Guang Shan TAG Program in the Philippines and as implemented in the Sagay City Schools’ Division Office, likewise explained by Dr. Balandra, is the provision of seed money in addressing the challenges faced by the schools, cultivate talent through education and to benefit society through charitable programs.

“Small acts with great impact, sounds like it is a dream or started as a dream but now it is blooming and flourishes, and I am so grateful to our benefactors. Thank you to the Venerable Master Hsing Yun for spreading this TAG program to all Filipinos,” Dr. Balandra said.* (Gil Alfredo B. Severino)