The Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation wants to create one of the biggest smiley faces of all time. Big as a giant smiling Buddha.

The event is the brainchild of Gary Ho, the 59-year-old multimillionaire property developer who serves as chief executive officer of the large Canadian arm of the Tzu Chi organization.

Ho said the group's founder in Taiwan -- Master Cheng Yen, a Buddhist nun -- had urged Canadian Tsu Chi members to do something to mark the group's 40th anniversary.

"So we thought: What can we present to Vancouver? What do we get from serving the community? And then I thought we gain a smile. We gain harmony."