The Frog in the Well

The Hu Fa Camp was nice. The place was nice, the people were nice, the ambience was nice, the environment was nice. Everything for the past 3 days was nice.

Very often, we thought we have already known enough of the basic buddhism stuffs. We think that we are already 'equipped well enough' to move on to some serious practisings. We may also feel that nothing beats the importance of attending meditation retreats. Other activities in life appear mundane and retundant in our lives.

However, we failed to realise that there are still aplenty of nitty gritty elements in life that we may not have come across and neglected, but are essential in supporting our cultivation. Attending the Hu Fa Camp sees myself as the tiny frog in the well. I got a clearer picture on where I stand. I realised how little I have contributed to the community before crying out loud about renounciation.

The Hu Fa Camp was definitely not a perfect camp, but it comprised many sharing sessions from ppl who are just like us, living in the same part of the world (ie Malaysia & Singapore), facing the same conditions and environment, possessing almost similar attitude and mindsets towards spirituality, and lastly, facing almost the same problems towards spiritual cultivation.

Ven Kai Zhao mentioned to us that everyone who was 'here' have almost the same paramis and karma. In other words, why are we born here, appear at the same place, learn the same thing and attend the same Dharma sessions, shows that we are mostly 'sama sama'. We should not harbour the unwholesome thoughts that we have less paramis than others to cultivate and practise. Neither should we think we are different or 'better off' than others.

I was reminded of a much respected spiritual friend from NUSBS, who surpised me that his priority in life is NOT religion, but acheiving a good career. About a year back, he challenged me on these qns: Have you ever wondered why you are born in Singapore and not other countries? Ever thought of how you can make good use of your billinguialism to contribute to the buddhist community? He has since dropped his idea of joining the sangha by the age of 30. Instead, he has planned to earn big bucks and donate them to support buddhism.

Afterall, without enough service merits for support, its hard to acheive cultivational merits (and vice versa). Another told me that you meditate everyday diligently for hours and for years, but you wun be able to achieve much wisdom - There are 10 paramis to work on.