This was me on the local news back in 1997 talking about the growing popularity of Buddhism. I have another video about this at, "25 Years of Buddhism in English at IBS Temple in Richmond" https://www.bitchute.com/video/3wSzrP1lhHMn/

I was the Public Relations Official at the International Buddhist Society in Richmond, BC, at: https://buddhisttemple.ca/ . When the temple was founded in 1981 they only provided teachings in Chinese. I was hired in May 1997 and I took the initiative to suggest to the temple director, Julia Wang, that I start teaching weekly classes in English. Julia was far sighted and a very kind employer and this became a success, with three class a week. After being the founder of their English language regular teachings, I was dismissed from my full time job there on Dec. 10th, 1997. I was dismissed by Julia Wang's husband Albert Wan, who was in Hong Kong for months before I even first met him. The reason they quickly fired me is because I said that I was feeling the presence of four devas in the main hall, after closing time. I was in a reverie, standing on a platform which is meant for kneeling. The head nun, the abbess scolded me in Chinese but I didn't know what she was saying. I turned and looked at her with a blank smile, then turned back, facing the Buddhas. That was as far as my "disrespect" went. The feeling faded and I went home, going to the bus stop, as normal.

The next day it was business as usual and I spoke with Albert and Julia and apologized for my higher realm behaviour and they both understood that I was bi-polar. Before lunch I was working upstairs in the main hall when I was called to a meeting downstairs in the office. Julia looked very heavyhearted as Albert explained that I was being fired because the nun felt scared by my behaviour the day before. I explained that I wasn't scary right then, as the nun was sitting right in front of me at that meeting so his assessment was too extreme and I didn't agree with it. He got me to sign a document and they gave me two weeks pay as a severance. Julia's parting words were, "Maybe you can go back to selling mutual funds, Brian". The end.

The English language Buddhism and Meditation classes I proudly founded have continued for 26 years, to this day and they still have that same title on their website. Albert Wan ordained as a monk in 1999 and he is the main teacher there now, with the name Venerable Guan Cheng, the abbot. The temple was always like a family run business and I helped their teenage daughter with her English homework. Julia Wang sadly died of cancer years ago.

In conversations with Ven. Guan Cheng I discussed the fact that I founded their English language teachings and he replied, "You can believe that if you want". There has been a concerted effort to erase me from their temple history. They hired another Canadian lay Buddhist teacher who was a dynamic and sincere teacher who became popular. The two of us met when we both gave a joint teaching at the Unity Church in Vancouver, in 2013, organized by Linda Christensen Ph.D, who instructs at Douglas College. She has brought classes to the temple for 25 years. That's how we met and became friends. My replacement said to me, "I heard that there was someone before me". He was later fired from his job too.

Special thanks to Diane Chase for helping to convert the videotape into mp4 format.

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