He the one who cooks curry

I am very fortunate enough to have met many teachers and venerables ever since I was introduced to Buddhism some 4.5 yrs ago. While most of them have given me much invaluable teachings, I sincerely regard only 3 of them as my 'true' teachers. I dun mean the others are not as good, but these 3 teachers have given much more significant impacts in my life learning journey.

Ven Yuan Fan can be considered my very first root teacher. He gives me the impression of a typical successful organisation CEO, full of wisdom, knowledge and management skills. His accomplishments can be witnessed by many, with his success of forming the biggest sangha group in singapore and having invited to Finland by Nokia to bring meditation to its staffs. Its from him that I seriously get to learn abt meditation, and his excellent teachings and explanations on linking meditation to the 5 Skandhas and 3 characteristics of existence. But most do not get the chance to get close to him to learn more.

Sayalya Dipanakara is the next teacher that has given me a tremendous motivational uplift in embracing the Dharma. As experienced by many others, she is superb in motivating and inspiring people to practise diligently, which always come alongside with her great compassion, gentle gestures and sharing of personal experiences that touch the life of many. Without her, I probably wouldnt appreciate the Dharma this much and cant imagine where I would be now. While I have no doubt in her words and am extremely fortunate to have many chances to get close to her, a noticeable distance seems to be present between my present situation / lifestyle / conditions and what she preaches.

Kai Zhao Shifu is my third guru. It would be unfair if I would to describe him as a combination of Ven Yuan Fan and Sayalay, as everyone shld be unique in his own ways. But indeed, there are many wonderful qualities from both Ven and Sayalay that you can find in Shifu. While Shifu is very motivating and pushes us hard in cultivating diligently, he is also able to understand the mindset and lifestyle of a typical lay person VERY WELL. This is precisely why I find little or no conflict while putting what he taught us into practice.

I hope I have not sound too judgemental or disrespectful. But this is exactly what Kai Zhao shifu made us do during the Hu Fa Camp, to share to everyone our first impression he has given us and how we think of him now. I shared to everyone that the first thing I see in Shifu was his very very big pair of spectacles. He later joked that ppl from HongKong asked him if he was going for Scuba Diving. Some also called him the Bee. There were several others who shared that shifu has this wonderful wisdom of understanding our (lay ppl) mindsets and needs.

While there are critics that some Theravadan teachers are too conventional and conservative in their teachings such that it doesn suit the needs of the modern world, there are also complaints on some Mahayanan schools that they have moderated too much of the Buddha's teachings such that the original essence is being eroded or lost. Perhaps Ven KaiZhao is really doing a good job in striking a balance and is able to propagate the Dharma effectively to ppl living in this part of the world.

I shall end my entry with something funny from Kaizhao Shifu. Shifu was explaning to us why the needs of customs and practices like offering food and water to venerables, when they can do it or even cook by themselves. He explained that as part of the Sangha, his duty is to propagate the Dharma. If he were to always cook curry in front of the students, the students wud not be reminded of the Dharma upon seeing him the next time, but instead, call him as "Na Ge Zhu Ka Li de" (that one that cooks curry).