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從十月八日星期五至十月十日星期日，「法界佛教總會」由恆實法師率領，恆持、恆良等八位女眾法師及來自美加分支道場的居士組成卅人的代表團，參加於洛杉磯舉行的第四屆素食年會與健康生活博覽會；三百餘人出席此會議活動。
實法師為講員之一並參與最後座談會的回答。法總在會場有展覽攤位，分送宣傳單、書籍，其中有一本最新出版的精美小書──《慈心》；或直接由「法總」人員介紹佛教，特別是對「法總」的介紹。因為有豐富可口的素食，吸引了最多人潮。法總展覽攤位非常成功。雖然我們的工作人員起早辛苦準備，以便即時供應，結果獲得人人的稱讚，大家都歡喜踴躍！
因為在會議中，我們是最大的組織，籌辦會提供了一個房間給我們用；在裡面我們更可分享心得與經驗。我們也將它變成一個臨時禪堂，教很多來賓打坐和佛法。
也有其他印度、錫克教徒來訪，他們也是素食者。這些組織與法總代表團為整個大會增加一種精神深度，與會者感受良深。
講員都是傑出知名的心理學家、醫生、研究員和個人，如醫學博士約翰·邁道高、醫學博士考德韋爾、註冊營養師薇珊度、邁可‧傑可布遜博士、柯林·侃貝爾博士、達葛‧萊塞耳博士和註冊營養師布蘭達·戴維絲，他們畢生致力於研究食品營養。歐遜‧羅賓士（新世紀飲食作者約翰羅賓士之子）也是講員之一。他們提供最新的健康飲食資訊，而他們本人的健康外貌是素食最佳的證明。此外他們也致力於提倡純素──無蛋、奶類或其製品、蜂蜜或任何來自動物之物。他們報告最近的幾項研究指出飲食奶類或其它乳製品導致許多嚴重疾病，如癌症、心臟病、骨質疏鬆、關節炎、或阿滋海默症。在會場還有幾位素食廚師的現場烹飪示範，大眾品嚐得高興，卻因為有太多蔥蒜，並不適合我們。
向很多人介紹了佛教和豐富的素食知識，代表團團員興高采烈地滿載寶貴的資訊返回道場或家庭去分享。
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From Friday, October 8th through Sunday, October 10th, a delegation of about thirty Dharma Realm Buddhist Association (DRBA) members attended the Fourth Annual VegSource Conference, and Healthy Lifestyle Expo, in Los Angeles, CA. The delegation was led by DM Heng Sure and eight nuns, and it included members from most of the branches in US and Canada. Around 300 people participated in the Conference.
DM Heng Sure was an invited speaker as well as participant in the discussion panel that concluded this event. In addition, we had our own booth at the exhibition where participants could get information from brochures, books (and a gift of a lovely new book called Kindness), or directly from our members, about Buddhism and particularly about DRBA. The booth was a great success, and one of the reason was the delicious and abundant food that was offered to the visitors. The cooks got up very early and worked very hard to have the food ready on time, but they felt it was worth the effort due to the great response from everyone.
Since we were the largest group at the Conference, the organizers offered us a room where we could meet for logistics, but even more important, to share our impressions and experiences. We also used the room as an improvised Chan Hall, and offered instructions to many participants interested in meditation and Buddhism.
We were also visited by friends from other faiths (Hindus, Brahma Kumaris, and Sikhs) who are also vegetarians. Together with our delegation, they offered a spiritual dimension to the whole Conference that people found very inspiring.
The speakers were outstanding and well-known psychologists, doctors, researchers, and individuals that have dedicated their lives to work on nutritional themes. Among them were: John McDougall MD, Caldwell Esselstyn MD, Vesanto Melina RD, Michael Jacobson PhD, T. Colin Campbell PhD, Doug Lisle PhD, and Brenda Davis RD. Ocean Robbins, the son of the famous John Robbins (author of Diet for a New America), was also among the speakers. They provided the latest information on health issues related to diet, though their own healthy appearance was the best proof of the benefits of being vegetarian. Moreover, they also advocated for a vegan diet (no eggs, milk or dairy products, honey, or anything from animals). Several of the most recent studies they presented related the intake of milk and dairy products to many serious sicknesses such as cancer, heart attack, osteoporosis, arthritis, or Alzheimer’s disease. There were also real cooking demonstrations by several vegetarian chefs that delighted everybody, though they contained too much garlic and onion for most of us.
The delegation departed in high spirit, loaded with very valuable information to share in their respective temples and homes, and happy for having introduced Buddhism and its rich lore on vegetarianism to many people.
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