I am very honoured to be able to serve Ven Kai Zhao as his chauffeur today. During one of the stops, Shifu bought a set of statues featuring Buddha and his 5 disciples collecting alms. To show his gratitude to the boss of this shop, Shifu shared with him some Dharma.

Shifu told us that the main purpose of Buddha statue is not for the pleasing of the eye. Rather, its for us to learn the Dharma. Shifu also told the boss that if the statues were to land up at a wealthy man's house, probably only his family and his visitors will be able to appreciate the statues. However if the statues were to be placed in a monastry, every worshippers will be able to benefit from the statues. Instantly, i see the twist in 'fate' of this set of statues. From residing in a quiet corner of a very ulu shop at Holland Rd, the statues will soon serve their purpose in the large monastery. Sadhu to the boss & the person who carved out these statues!

Once again, Shifu reminded us in the Dharma talk that instead of spending more time to study and watch within ourselves, we are constantly seeking external sources to nurse our sufferings and fufil our own desires. This teaching was not new to me, but it has nv struck me tt much unti Shifu repeatedly told us recently. We are also reminded that learning Dharma is supposed to help us reduce our sufferings. If we were to get ourselves upset or disappointed for failing to meet our expectations in the Dharma practices, then we have defeated our purpose of learning the Dharma altogether.

I am very happy today cos i woke up in the morning to see a msg from a friend, J, who wanted to find out more abt Buddhism and meditation. J was my snr in CACS (the other ECA i joined other than NUSBS) who knew i was into buddhism. I duno where i can intro her on meditation, but i intend to share with her some Dharma books which are always readily available in my Partner!

On the other hand, I am getting rather disappointed with a fren, who has complained to me that how weak the Singapore Buddhist community is. He felt that the spiritual support is not enough, and he does not feel motivated to learn buddhism, because nobody tells him which are the good temples, who are the good teachers and when are the buddhist activities. I have tried SMS and calling him to attend Ven KZ's talks for at least 3 saturdays, but he always find excuses not to turn up. Well, I guess there s really a limit that we can do. The rest is really up to individual. Taking care of myself in my spiritual cultivation is my top priority now.

Oh Yes.. congrats to Teddy for his oustanding academic performance. He was explaining to us his project at the NTU -watever-fair today. Heehee...