Conversations

Three friends – Ah Moe, Lar Lee and Kir Lee – were at their usual mamak stall at the corner. The usual evening bantering took a slightly more serious turn when Lar Lee raised the topic of approaching Vesak...

Lar Lee: Oh, how time flies! Vesak is approaching. Aloka Foundation is seeking volunteers for their stall outside the Buddhist Maha Vihara on Vesak eve and Vesak day.I want to participate in their all-night chanting at Aloka House on the eve and how am I going to volunteer my services at their stall on Vesak day?

Kir Lee: Aiyah, what’s the problem. You make it like a b-i-g problem! Simple. What is Vesak? The thrice-blessed day, right? So, what to do you in this thrice blessed day? Spend your time in practice lah! Why waste time doing unbeneficial things like selling things at the stall?

Reflect on the birth of the Buddha, which is the culmination of many virtues he had perfected from life to life. Didn’t Bhante (Mahinda) tell us that whilst remembering the birth of the Buddha, we must also recall how he perfected the virtues of generosity, morality, renunciation, wisdom, effort, patience, truthfulness, resolution, compassion, loving kindness and equamity...

Lar Lee: But, but...

Kir Lee: What but, but! Reflect on the Buddha and his Enlightenment. Didn’t you read Bhante’s article on the Significance of Vesak? Bhante reminded us the Buddha’s unique and most profound knowledge and insight which arose in him on the night of his enlightenment that led to Him showing us the way...

Lar Lee: I know, but being of service at the stall...

Kir Lee: Let me finish. Reflecting on his attainment of Parinibbana. Don’t you recall the Buddha’s last message. Bhante always recite it in Pali, vayadhamma... i can remember but it means Transient are all component things. Work out your deliverance with heedfulness. Ah, ah... shouldn’t we then spend Vesak in honour of the Buddha to strive on with diligence?

Lar Lee: I agree with you. But you don’t allow me to talk. Now have you finished? Can I talk now?

Ah Moe: Kir Lee, you have said so much. Let Lar Lee speak his mind.

Lar Lee: Thousands flock to the Buddhist Maha Vihara on the eve as well as on Vesak each year. They may be just ‘once-a-year Buddhist’, as what some of us might want to refer to them. But let us look at their intentions. Isn’t it in reverence...to pay homage...to seek blessing?

Shouldn’t we then rejoice with this demonstration of faith and devotion? Shouldn’t we be of service to them and pave the way for them to further strengthen their faith and confidence? You may view it differently but joss stick clearance, crowd control etc etc etc are noble and meritorious efforts – service for the happiness of the many.

Isn’t service listed by the Buddha as one of the ten meritorious deeds? Isn’t service a form of dana, which in turn is one of the ten paramis or perfections?

On top of that, what Aloka Foundation is doing at its stall has more spiritual significance than just selling of tickets for light offering. It is promoting the offering of lights at the Buddha’s holy places which will be Kushinara, Sravasti and Lumbini in conjunction with its Novitiate Programme at the end of this year. It is creating the opportunity for those who will not be going to these holy sites to at least offer lights.

By being a volunteer at the stall to promote this, we will be paving the way for others to connect with the Buddha, illuminating the darkness of our ignorance as a result of our delusions. Isn’t this a noble effort and exemplary service?

And my dear friend, aren’t all these practice. Practice is not just chanting and meditating. Please do not get me wrong. I am not belittling chanting and meditation practice on Vesak. I am weighing it against the practice of service, dana, metta, karuna, mudita, upekkha and many more virtues.

So Kir Lee don’t have this blinkered view.

Kir Lee: How can you say that of me!

Ah Moe: Hold it the two of you. I have been listening to both of you. You have put forward strong points in your view of how Vesak should be celebrated. I agree with both of you. There’s no right or wrong in what both of you have said. Is a zebra black with white stripes or white with black stripes? Is the cup half empty or half full?

What both you have put forth underlines that Vesak should be celebrated as an opportunity to draw inspiration and to reaffirm our commitment to the Buddha, as the fully enlightened teacher; the Dhamma, as the sublime teachings that has liberated many and has potential to liberate many more; and the Sangha, the noble disciples that have kept the dispensation of the Buddha still available today.

It is a day of devotion, a day of inspiration, a day of celebration of what the Buddha has prized us with a gift that excels all gifts.

I’ll be celebrating it by joining in the metta bhavana in Aloka House on the eve and stay for the first hour of the all-night chanting. On Vesak Day, I’ll volunteer to be of service at the Aloka Foundation stall and help in promoting the light offering.

I get to be devotional in practice and also inspirational in practice. And I suggest that both of you join me.

With open mouths, Both Lar Lee and Kir Lee looked at Ah Moe. The wisdom... lighting up the darkness instead of complaining of the darkness.

Lar Lee & Kir Lee: Wah Ah Moe, you terror lah!

ALERT in the Last Message of the Buddha

Rescue efforts after Qinghai earthquake

Survivor of Haiti earthquake

Iceland fiery volcano


Qinghai. Perth. Iceland. Chile. Haiti. Names that equate to untold suffering.

The spate of earthquakes and natural disasters of late are just too close for comfort.

What are we to do? How are we to prepare for the unexpected?

Aloka Foundation's Dhamma Devotion Day or 3D, on Saturday, 24 April 2010 at Aloka House @ Dana 1 will devote to spiritual preparedness.


Aptly titled ALERT in the Last Message of the Buddha, this 3D session will feature a never-shown-before recording of Bhante Mahinda on the Buddha's last message and its context of spiritual preparedness.

Come and listen and be guided by Bhante on how to be ALERT spiritually as well as in the context of Aloka Emergency Readiness Team, how to be prepared physically and psychologically.

This is monthly gathering of all Friends of Aloka to engage in communal Dhamma practice and sharing will start at 3.30 pm. Bhante's recording will be followed by group discussion. The session will end with metta bhavana to dedicate merits to the victims and survivors of the earthquakes.

Do register by providing the Aloka Foundation office at 03.7842.7001 your name, email address & contact.

BEYOND CAPACITY

Registration for Bhante Mahinda's Public Talk titled Beyond Self has touched 1,000! The Imperial Ballroom in One World Hotel is now filled to the brim and no more registration will be accepted.

Sadhu! We rejoice with the good response.

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS!

The response to Bhante Mahinda's public talk "Beyond Self" on March 12 is hot!

600 seats of the 1,000-capacity Imperial Ballroom in One World Hotel, Bandar Utama, have already been filled up! And the organiser, Innovate Solutions Sdn Bhd, is still counting.

The online registration has been outstanding just from awareness created from email blast alone. It was even before the printed posters have been distributed to temples and centres for display.

Expectations are that there will be a surge following the quarter-page advertisement in the Star on March 3 and subsequent write up in the Metro Section on March 5.

Please hurry to register if you have not done so! Confirmation of seat is via seat number given immediately receipt of online registration.

Since the email blast, the Aloka Foundation office has been flooded with enquiries as why online registration... why Friday... why hotel...

Through the kind auspices of sponsor and organiser, Innovate Solutions, this is the first time that a Dhamma talk by Bhante Mahinda is held at a hotel venue with such a large seating capacity. It is the intention of the sponsor and organiser for many to be able to listen to Bhante in what it considers a "rare and much awaited talk"

Friday? It is a celebration of Bhante's 61st birthday. For this occasion, Bhante has aptly chosen to teach "Beyond Self".

As we all know, peace and happiness can be so fleeting. One moment we are happy, the next, sad. And often, we blame it on a myriad of external factors. Undoubtedly, it is only through an understanding of the true nature of self that one will realise that it is the importance attached to self that peace and happiness elude us.

The idea of 'self' -- i, my, me, mine -- is the greatest stumbling block to lasting peace and happiness. Bhante Mahinda will provide an insight of going beyond self to overcome this and in the process, find the pure and unconditional love, paving the way for the true meaning and purpose of life to unfold!

If this has stirred your interest in the talk, log on to http://dhammatalk.org.my for more information and register online.

Heart of Service

Bear in mind and heart that you are here to bring joy, peace and happiness to people in their hearts.

Sister Sumitra got to the heart of the matter of service in this profound sentence when she guided the Aloka Foundation Project Team leaders and members in a One Heart, One Mind Dhamma-in-Service Workshop in Alokarama in December.

She underlined the need to reach into the hearts -- that of those whom we serve as well as our very own.

"Practise to open your hearts so that those you serve can feel the love that you have. When they feel this, they will want to come to the Dhamma. They will want to find out why you are full of energy to give them love and to serve them. That is how you impart the truth to them," she added.

Thus serving with love is essentially one's practice and training. Sister Sumitra advised that one should not "make personal" this service by holding the view that one is serving Bhante Mahinda or Aloka Foundation.

"You're serving Buddha-Dhamma. You are serving all sentient beings," she said, adding that in this reflection, service does not become personal and constricted.

"It's deep in your heart that you have chosen to walk the path of practising the Dhamma and realising the truth. Giving a helping hand to others in the process becomes very much part and parcel of this."

However, she cautioned that this path of service is not easy. It's fraught with difficulties. Apparent will be praise and blame, two of the eight worldly conditions that the Buddha has reminded us of.

In such situations, focus our minds and have the right understanding to make things work better.

But of primary importance is that while serving, we need to find time for ourselves and our practice. Sister Sumitra said only through practice, will we realise the Dhamma. It will gives us a better understanding and appreciation of the sublime qualities of the Buddha and the myriad difficulties that the Buddha went through from life to life.

This, essentially, will give us the confidence and inspiration to practice and serve.

SMALL BUT BIG INSPIRATION

Why would a boy not yet ten make a choice to leave the comfort of his home and spend weeks in a near spartan living conditions in India for three successive years?

Accommodation has been very bare rooms with just nailed together wooden beds and thin mattresses. Water is cold. If there water heater, it does not often work. The pipes too do not work well. Electricity supply is erratic with power outages common day and night.

The air is always filled with dust and the streets, everywhere is dirty.

Food is simple. No fancy fare. Days on end, it can be cauliflower and cabbage. And it is also just two meals a day, no dinner.

Strict discipline and regiment have also be followed, like waking up as early as 5 am and being out and about by 5.45 am for daily morning chanting.

Any boy that age would not want to make such a sacrifice of his school holidays which would mean endless hours of fun, playing online games, watching movies or TV etc etc etc. But not Samita Lee Kah Peng (left in top picture with Ven Sumedha, the High Priest of Mulaghanda Kuty Vihara and fellow samanera Vajira Nanda).

It is astounding that he chose this, not for one year but so far three in a row! Why is he a picture of contentment and happiness without TV, Internet and the luxuries and comfort of modern living?

I don't have the answer and my guess is that Samita doesn't exactly know either. He just likes it. He will probably know later in age when the purpose of life unfolds for him.

Samita first made his choice in 2007 when he was seven to join the Aloka Novitiate in Lumbini as a pilgrim. I learnt that he wanted to celebrate his birthday at the place where the Buddha was born.

Accompanied by his mother, Samita was just an observer of the goings-on at the Novitiate programme. This cute little boy was resplendent and princely looking in his special white attire on his birthday. He was personally coached by Bhante Mahinda on how to make birthday wishes as well as taught to recite in Pali and English, the first three highest blessings of the Mangala Sutta.

Samita must have been inspiration on his return home that year. The following year, he came to the Aloka Novitiate in Bodhgaya not just with his mother but also grand parents. In his princely white, he participated in the programme, observing the Eight Precepts.

He made up his mind in Bodhgaya that he would be in Sarnath the following year and he would be a samanera, this time observing the Ten Precepts.

This year, Samita went to Sarnath not just with his mother and grand parents but also his father and aunt in tow. Father Lee Siew Kee joined as a samanera while the rest of the family members were pilgrims.

Samita wowed many by keeping to the discipline and regiment -- donning the robes, being mindful as much as he could in his actions and also delivering a speech at the closing ceremony where he recited what he had learnt in Pali for all three Novitiate programmes.

Small as he may be, but he is indeed big in inspiration!