Welcoming Address by Dr Chua Yang Liang, 19 April 2008

“Good evening Member of Parliament Mr Kumar and distinguished representatives from the Bishan – Toa Payoh North CCC, Bishan CCC and Thomson CCC, friends and families of our fellow members. Welcome to the 2552nd Vesak Celebration. It’s our second consecutive year on this site and we are delighted to be able to share this goodwill to all the residents and our community supporters.

Our annual Thousand Buddhas event with prayers for world peace and harmony will come to a close this evening. The vegetarian gala that you are partaking is just another modest way of sharing this blessing with you. While we enjoy the food tonight, let us also remember the plight of the victims in China and Myanmar. We have a collection box so for those who wish to contribute to the relief effort, please proceed to the reception table near the entry pavilion. This collection will be presented to one of the official designated collection agencies in Singapore as a gesture of Moh Hong Buddhist Society support of their relief effort.

Our society has always, and will continue to, support our community. We would like to take this opportunity tonight to present three cheques to our distinguished guests as our modest contribution in support of their community activities and bursaries.

[Cheque Presentation]
- From Bishan East CCC, may we have the representative - Mr Cheong Chee Onn
- From Bishan-Toa Payoh North CCC, Mr Roy Cheng
- And finally, Mr Chow Tak Neo from Thomson CCC.

Tonight, our Master will be reminding us of the impermanence of life and exemplifies through her meditation that enlightenment is a path for all who seek with one heart.

The gates on both sides will once again be opened at 8.30pm after our Master has begun her meditation. We welcome everyone to enter and pay homage to the Buddha and our Master - Buddha Yasathara. It is our small gesture to remind everyone that the gates to enlightenment are open to all who seek.

With this, I leave you to rejoice but with mindfulness and compassion. Ohm! Ohm. Ohm….

Announcements

Meditative posture-lotus position

Good evening, ladies and gentlement, may we have your complete attention please. May we all rise, put our palms together or by our side, and observe complete silence as our Master - Buddha Yasathara begins her meditation.

While she meditates, let us take this opportunity to come together with one heart and pray through Buddha Yasathara to lighten the pain and suffering of all the quake and typhoon victims and families in China and Myanmar and let not such events happen again.

Please be seated.

Opening of Gates for tribute/homage to the triple gems

The gates are open and we invite all of you to pay homage to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha

Master’s 2008 Message

On Vesak …

Master speaks: “Vesak celebration is over a very short period. But the preparation is long and physically taxing for all our volunteers and members. While we work towards another celebratory week, let us remember to cooperate and should any conflicts, misgivings or unhappiness arise, let’s park them aside and resolve them later.”

She went on to describe how we should devote our heart and mind. “We should devote whole-heartedly as individuals and as one people with one heart and observe this day that marks the birth, enlightenment and paranirvana of the Buddha.”

As she speaks to the volunteers, she reminds all: “Coming together in the Shrine, be it to seek healing or volunteering your time, it is similar to being on a boat.”

The basic principles of good behavior as we work together in the team include:

• Cooperate and work together as a team
• Harbour no jealousy nor pettiness of others because of their roles or responsibilities
• Harbour no ill will towards others
• Equality of all. Each of us perform what we are each best suited to do. There is no special preference, no ranking of tasks as high or low level
• Remember, we are here to devote our time to the Buddha and not to any individual

On Practicing Life ….

On common life misconceptions, she advises: “When we come to the temple, we are there to pay homage and devote our time to the Buddha. We are not there visiting relatives or friends. Yet it is not uncommon to have occasional miscommunications and conflicts among people. Should these instances occur during the time you are at the Shrine, one should not vent one’s anger on the Buddha. The Buddha did not invite you to come; we are there on our own accord. We cannot vent our anger and affect our devotion to the Buddha and affect our practice. We should not possess ego, nor seek privileges. We should devote to the Buddha with no expectations of rewards.”

On the “One Heart” theme …

On the One Heart theme, she explains by first asking “what do you do when you pay respect to the Buddha? What is on your mind? What is on your mind when you buy a fruit to make an offering to the Buddha?”

She explains: “One should not have any doubts, no multiple hearts/minds, we must simply be devoted and focused as we pay homage to the Buddha. When we make an offering to the Buddha, we shouldn’t be expecting some sort of return or rewards. That is “one heart”, the focused one heart.”

She further illustrates: “It is not uncommon to hear individuals after years of devotion, question why they still suffer. It’s doubtfulness. One must have faith, complete faith in the Buddha and his teachings. The Buddha instructions should be followed with complete faith.”

“We doll ourselves to look best when visiting the Shrine, but is our heart just as beautiful? We should not just prettify the body but the mind and the heart as well.”

“Everyone has a role to play in and out of the Shrine, but in the end, we come together in the Shrine and share the same objective “that of calming our mind, learning to walk the path, and understanding the Buddha’s teachings”.”

Everyone who helped get this underway, or who donated… thank you so much.

Just to let you all know that in the few hours we had the donation box out, we raised $3010. A cheque has been given to the Red Cross Disaster Relief fund to help with their important work.

Now that everyone’s slept for a week, reacquainted themselves with family pets and rediscovered what a drag it is to actually cook for themselves (ok, that might all be a case of projection… it might just be me)… a request!

There’s about to be a meeting of the various Vesak section heads to review the event and make notes for tweaks and changes for next year. Obviously no-one is everywhere and sees everything during the celebration, and your input is valued.

What went right for you, what went wrong? What worked for you, what didn’t? Did you go to grab a pair of scissors only to realise they weren’t where you thought they should be, or were you busting to go to the loo only to realise the queue snaked down the pathway?

Ok… that was projection too… it was probably just me.

Seriously, your feedback IS important, and all comments/issues/questions, good or bad, will be looked at.

Everyone should get a word in, and here’s how to do it!

To get you started, here’s mine… I’d like to see a suggestion box on the site next year, so we can jot down our thoughts on the spot, while they’re in our head.

OK… your turn.

Just hit the COMMENTS link at the end of this post (it’ll say “No Comments” if you’re the first, or tell you how many comments there are if you’re not) and have your say. With a bit of twiddling around, you can probably put in a nickname if you want to remain anonymous. Alternatively, drop me a mail here and I’ll pass your comments forward for you (if you want me to hide your email address just let me know and I will).

What did you think of it this year? How can we improve next year?

Veggie lovers please scroll down… this is mainly a reminder for the carnivores/omnivores amongst us, but there’s some news for everyone at the bottom.

Meat-eaters, Please Note…

Don’t forget… if you’re joining the procession on Friday (16th), you’ll need to be vegetarian from 11pm on Tuesday (13th). If you’re joining the procession on Saturday then it’s the same time on Wednesday for you.If you’re not joining the oil lamp processions, you might still need to note that to walk the lotus path you need to be vegetarian from 11pm the day before.

Everyone Else… 

One other thing to note about the oil lamp procession… participants (including those who aren’t taking part themselves but have asked family members to do so on their behalf) should not attend any funeral events or auspicious events (like wedding dinners, birthday celebrations etc) for 12 days after.And now that I’m done with the stern warnings… I can do the fun part and announce something new this year! Keep a lookout for the Oil Lamp Procession booklets at the site. It’s the first of a series and the team have done a fantastic job of explaining and translating the symbols, chants and meanings. There’s lots of interesting stuff in it, so grab a copy to take home and keep.