More Vesak Reflections

1) Sadhu to Francis for his most recent blog entry. He has spoken almost exactly how I feel, so there is no need to repeat in my own blog.

2) To smallbro tree, i cant access your blog anymore. Probably my IE has conflicts to the real player or whatever music player u have in ur blog, that it causes my windows to shut down whenever i enter ur page. Too bad, jus msn and keep me updated of urself in the future :)

3) To caicai, peifen and organisers of PKS Vesak Celebration. Thank you for giving me this chance to offer my volunteer service. Its indeed a fun and meaningful Vesak for me working as a tour guide. Its a rare chance that I can share my limited Dharma knowledge with the public. While most of the time in campus we have to get our peers interested in the Dharma, last evening, many curious and inquisitive public members came to me themselves to ask me abt the Dharma. Some of the ppl that have left me indelible impressions include:

1) A young boy, not more than 10 yr old, asking me several buddhism qns including " what is a buddha relic".

2) A grandma with his grandson, who thanked me so many times along the way during the tour

3) A family of 4, with the wife/mother showing extreme great interest in every single word i said. It has served as a good incentive and encouragement for me to keep my job going.

4) An Israel couple who were very curious on buddhism, asking qns like what is namo ben shi, shi jia mo ni fo.

5) A guy in his late 20s, who asked pretty funny questions like whats the material of the buddha statue, and why was Prince Sidhartta pointing up to the sky, and wasnt him being arrogant etc

6) And a few others who ask questions on offering of flowers, incense etc cos they couldnt hear properly during the presentations

I think the activity that interest the ppl most was the prostrations by diff traditions of buddhism. I am glad most of the ppl were willing to do the prostrations after my demonstrations. Sadhu...

Its indeed a meaningful event this yr done by the Youth Ministry. At least ppl who came to the Vesak Celebration did not go home 'empty handed', but brought back with them some new knowledge in buddhism.


Oh well, went with sumantri to SL this evening. He complained that he couldnt feel the Vesak Celebrative Joy and mood in Singapore, be it at PKS last nite or at Suntec over the weekends. I have to agree with him, but we did feel the Vesak Joy at SL jus now. Its something more 'genuine', less commercialised and meaningful to the both of us. We met qinsong and ananda who were on their way there too.

After which, I went back to Raffles Hotel where my dad left his car. I walked past chijmes, and it reminded me of the christmas eve date i had with the 2nd gal of my life. It wasnt a pleasant memory, but it reminded me that i have fallen and managed to recover repeatedly. I feel blissful :D