Some of the Buddhists who attended the prayer meeting yesterday at the Baoguang Temple. Huang Zhiling

Xiao Xiaoping, a 40-year-old restaurateur from this city's Xindu district, seldom gets up early, as she works late in her restaurant near the Baoguang Temple.

But yesterday, she arose at 7 am, so she could take part in a prayer meeting at the 1,300-year-old temple, organized by the Buddhist Association of China to raise funds for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

"I have never been to a region that has been hit by an earthquake, but I cried when I saw the suffering of the people in Sichuan on TV.

"I'm not a Buddhist, but I'll join in the prayers and donate some money," Xiao said.

She later donated 3,000 yuan ($430).

The ceremony, which began at 9:15 am, attracted more than 1,000 Buddhist monks from the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong, as well as celebrities and members of the public.

Undeterred by the rain that began to fall about 10 minutes after they began, the monks and devotees prayed for 30 minutes for the souls of the dead, for the injured to recover, and for the restoration of people's homes.

"Compared with the suffering of people in earthquake-hit regions, the rain is nothing," Wan Bo, a 67-year-old farmer from Xindu, and one of the 200 secular Buddhists who took part in the event, said.

Zuo Tianxiong, 39, a salesman and lay Buddhist leader, said there are about 500 lay Buddhists in Xindu.

"Almost all of them wanted to take part in the prayer chanting, but because of limited space, not all of them could come. However, between them, they donated about 130,000 yuan to the quake fund," he said.

According to Buddhist Association of China, yesterday's event raised more than 20 million yuan. Its chairman, Abbot Yi Cheng, made a personal donation of 500,000 yuan.

Qi Xiaofei, deputy director of the State Administration of Religious Affairs, who attended the event, said: "The ceremony represents Buddhists' leniency and care for people in need."

Since the earthquake hit on May 12, Buddhists from China and around the world have donated more than 200 million yuan, he said.

(China Daily May 30, 2008)