Learning all the time

A typical day of breakfast with bread... But not so typical coz we get questions most of the time. JV was asking, "What is C-L-A-S-S-I-C?“ Obviously she was reading from the Gardenia bread packaging... We were surprise though....coz the word was all in TIMES NEW ROMAN and Italic.
-- That's read as CLASSIC. :)

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Having dinner with Nai Nai at Behind 50.
There she started to read from the art piece on the wall again.
"Mummy, is that read as RONI?"
"Oh yes,you are absolutely right! How do you know that?"
"I just spelt it lor."

Talking about Reading.....& Spelling. Did anyone mention that it has to happen in classroom?

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”Mummy, i want that paper that comes with the blessing before meal words."
--- searching, searching, searching...
"There you go."
--- writing, writing, writing....
JV was busy making her own notes...transferring and copying these words to her favorite book that Jie Jie has given to her as her birthday present:
"Earth who gave to us this food,
Sun who make it ripe and good.
Dear sun, dear earth, by you we live.
To you our loving thanks we give."

Happily she showed to everyone on her great work.
She said "I have not been writing for some time. I miss writing."
But i would like to say, "Well, you really dont have to write when your little muscle is not ready you know." :)

Talking about writing....who says it has to be in the mundane A for Apple, B for Boy, or even “My father drives car to work."

Writing....involves feelings and emotions....

监牢式的洋楼

载着柔帆去接姐姐放学。
较平时塞车，就绕道而行，不巧还是塞车，车子停在路上时，柔帆问，“妈咪，这个是不是监牢？”
“不是，这是别人的家。”
“喔。”
-- 哈哈！什么时候洋楼呵，角头间呵，看来多豪华舒服呢，建起了高高的围墙时，再加上一圈圈的防贼铁网，连单纯的孩子都看到像是监牢。
这监牢式的洋楼，就锁着孤独的灵魂吧。

Cooking the traditional and happy way

Wonderful cooking at our little balcony today.
With the help of DH, the girls light up the charcoal. Beaming with joy they watched the fire slowly spread out and start to heat up the left over corn from last night. Then fried some left over mushrooms, fried 3 kampung eggs, BBQ the bread and eat them all with lettuce and organic tomato.
What a wonderful experience!

Batik Session at USM Muzium

Another wonderful experience that i personally longed for it.
I never felt like an artist. So grateful to Cik Fizah and those fasci.... :)
This local culture from the Malay is like a form of meditation that require calm mind and great concentration. Hubby mentioned it is certainly even not that easy for those who painted from scratch.
I wanted to do more in future. :)

Dumpling Festival

Wan Chan and 2 daughters, Seok Lee and son, Fong Ling and 2 kids, Kwi Chuan and 3 kids,Swee Kian and 3 kids, Jeetran, Angie and 2 kids, came over for the Dumpling Festival --- a belated one coz we were all having our holiday during the actual day.
Was a rather small gathering this time....compared to the previous Chinese New Year festival.

Dumpling was made 1 day prior to the festival celebration. So today we only need to heat up.
Nature table decorated by Fong Ling which displayed all the 香包that was taught by FOng Ling to all the mothers. Mothers taught at home to their kids. This looks so impressive


Flagged off with Zhong Qiu 中秋 poem recitation. Each family took 1 and recited them.
Thanks to Fong Ling, I now understand better why we need to use 香包and also 艾草。(艾草was plucked from neighbour at last minute)
Followed by story telling of Master Qu Yuan by Seok Lee and pupper play by Swee Kian.


Dragon boat race was put up --- thanks to Jeetran and Fong Ling's boat that we were able to have a dragon boat race. Kids were divided into 2 groups. It's a relay race. Drummers for each group identified ---- though not properly assigned. haha!
Was a bit of mess though.... but guess they get all the fun in the water too anyway.
Race ended early as the Management Office get complaints from some 'over sensitive' residents....must be complaining on the sound of my overblown whistle --- they said they cant sleep. :( Anyway, leave this aside, we still get lots of fun out of it.

Washed and changed....then feed the tummy with dumpling and fruits.

端午节

吃着昨天和家婆裹的粽子，想着多年以后，我会记得的是和老人家在​这日子的互动， 而非纯粹吃老人家裹的粽子，就好象我告诉家婆，从中学时期，就和​妈妈一起裹粽子一样，要吃就要裹，但同时也是表示说，“孝”--​不是停留在“我记得某某人煮过，我喜欢。”， 而是“我记得我们这样子的互动过，在筹备中我们分享过，我学习过​，然后传统的精神就这么流传下来。”感恩！：）

天空。baby。口水

柔帆再次发挥想象力：
柔帆：妈咪，天空呵，是baby来的。
。。。。
因为呵，雨是他的口水。
^.^

Pre Wesak Day

Wanted to use beewax to make Prince Siddharta who recited the words "天上天下，唯我独尊。”upon birth.
Jo Ee said she want to make Buddha's disciple who lost his eyesight, ie. Anuruddha.
She remembered one of Buddha's 10 great disciples after reading the Buddha's story.
How wonderful!
I also made a red lotus for the little Buddha and the great disciple.
She made another cute little rabbit too.
See it watching at the side of the pond. :)
Jo Von placed some flowers on the water.
Yiyi had given the girls a piece of dry bodhi leave, so I let it stood in great honor behind the little Buddha.
Here is how our nature table now:


Upon completion, the girls had a fun time bathing the little Buddha and recited the words "礼佛足，接花香，祝福,吉祥，" A verse we all learned last week during Tzu Chi ceremony.

p/s: When i asked Jo Von to take this photo for me to upload, she was trying to teach me some new buttons and its usage from the camera. She discovered that the camera screen can be scrolled up and down using touch screen function. What a cheeky girl!

My parents- my first teachers.

What is the greatest legacy that my parents had both left for me?
This is what i have been thinking these days...
We were not rich back then, in fact, most of the time we were financially challenged.
And that's why mom had to sew, babysit and all of us(i mean mom, sis, bro, myself and granny ah ma) had involved in packing condoms, tie rackets string,cutting electrical components,filling up abacus....just to mention a few.

But truly what legacy they had left for us? What kind of attribute that I would like my children to know that i have picked up from MY PARENTS WHO WERE MY FIRST TEACHER? i think these need to be pondered about especially on this auspicious 4th month of the year and 15th day....A.k.a. Wesak Day.

1. Mom taught me what LEARNING is about: never give up learning, even at old age.
- She learned a lot, from sewing, chanting, reading newspaper from the internet at the age of 60, learning chanting from Youtube to baking all kinds of items without measurement and recipes on hand! phew!
- It is certainly not about the goodness and the ability that she can cook....I mean anyone can cook...just need some practise and passion.
But it is more about the INNER ABILITY that i see..... that i learnt anyone can do anything he/she wants as long as there is a will. Yes, mom possess that kind of WILL POWER....which i think i have either inherited or somehow it was nurtured in me.
- The fact that mom have very little grey hair doesnt mean that she is not old, but it also tells me that of all the old ladies who matter their looks more, they aged faster! Mom cares very little on her appearance and yet she aged the least! I will always cherish her hair which till today still as black as the ebony and yet she has never been ATTACHED to this thought of aging. Yes, DETACHMENT 放下is the profound wisdom that is passed on. 放下多自在呵！

2. Dad taught me about the value of MATERIAL: We have never admired anything of anybody else. And we give nothing on luxury a moment of attention. Who cares? The value to MATERIAL is equal to NOTHING......when he recited, "When wealth is lost nothing is lost, when health is lost something is lost, when character is lost everything is lost". He taught us about proverbs and I still remembered myself copying them and collecting them all from the old newspaper of NST. And i still do like to hear those good words from wise people. What goodness! :)
- Similarly, all material gifts to him are meaningless. That always brought me another GIFT, i.e.: That very best GIFT is already with myself --- the BUDDHAHOOD....just like everybody else! :)

3. Dad also taught me about HUMOUR: To be able to laugh at myself and to be able to see myself laughing at my past, present and future. Isnt this wonderful? The day he gave up smoking habit after 30 years of clinging to it, he taught me again about WILL POWER.

4. Granny Ah Ma used to say never to waste food and all rice and food were supposed to be finished. Well said, well done, well followed! And now i see the results(isnt this about the Law of Karma?) --- that now, bro, sis and I have never wasted the food and we are constantly having FREE food from friends and even strangers! How grateful we are! But i do see friends who wasted food and i do see at some point of their lives, they are suffering at their own cost, such as having dyslexia child(i hope they are not interrelated but i cant stop making it a point to ponder about).
- Ultimately, Ah Ma was the one who was the BODDHIGAYA菩萨 who taught me who Buddha, Dharma and Sangha was. When I was 11, i borrowed a book on Buddha's story and placed it beside the table fan in our room. Everyone was in the dining hall on that hot afternoon. Ah Ma went to the toilet and suddenly she had an inner calling which she said it was like the Buddha's calling that told her to open the room's door. There and then she changed her direction and turn the door knob. Fire was fuming out from the table fan! Short circuit had caused it to happen. Imagine the ceiling and the wooden tatami were also covered in thick black cloud. To add on, sis was still sleeping in the room unknowingly! Ah Ma extremely high pic voice awakened sis and she ran out. If not for the inner calling of Ah Ma, she would have been a roasted pig! And to my surprise, the Buddha's book which was placed by the side of the table fan, survived to minor burnt only! A book, made of simple paper, not fire proof though, had only one corner burnt to black! What could be the power? ---- if not for the great blessings that we all have possessed! That 'tragedy' was like a awaken call. Ah Ma prayed even harder every day --- till the day she died.
Her death, coupled with her sickness, was a lesson for me to cherish.
The 2 months that we all rotated at her bed in hospital to care and wash her wound and pee, and to tell her that everything was well and she has done the best, was a life moment for all of us to learn what BORN,OLD,SICK and DEATH 生老病死 is.
What a great blessing for her to be around to teach us!


What we have tried in our best to repay our parents effort:
1. Getting Mom to learn the Dharma at the time when she needed the most.
- This has to be credited to sis. She was the one who brought her to the temple the most. Mom initially learnt about Tibetan Buddhism and then later the Mahayana and also Theravada. Whichever it is, the crux of the learning is --- FINDING HAPPINESS and PUT MEANING IN LIFE. At golden age, i am glad she picked up the Dharma and is finding lots of interest in the profound Dharma. She once mentioned there are so much wisdom in the Dharma and she wanted to learn more.
As a daughter, i really feel at peace. Coz NO ONE, can be by the side of an aging parent ALL THE TIME. Having peace of mind is the best way of taking care of oneself. Wouldnt it be great we EMPOWER our parents to be THEMSELVES and to let them find their own way of HAPPINESS? Instead of clinging to TV, children, gossips, etc etc.

2. We take good care of ourselves.
- As a parent now i understand how i feel pain if my kids are hurt.
Similarly, i know mom will always get worried if i were to fall sick or having a sickness. But with all the knowledge and wisdom we have gained, we are able to take care of ourselves happily and peacefully. This is the best way to let our parents know that EVERYTHING IS WELL AND FINE. Not only well and fine by words, but inertly, we are well and fine...i mean OUR MINDS are well taken care of. :)

3. Being not used to express myself, Venerable Kai Zhao was the first teacher who taught me to send a thank you and sorry card to my parents when I was attending a Metta meditation retreat camp at the year 1997. If not for this start, I would have unknowingly think the best gifts to parents were:
- bring them to good place to eat
- provide them with money
So great to know that every day is like Mother's day and Father's Day?
I am now chanting and sending blessing to mom and dad during our before sleep blessing.
For the morning short chanting, I would also send all the blessings to my parents, and even parents of my pass lives. Distance and time are not a restriction anymore and I also feel there is peace in them and in myself.

For all these attributes and legacy that these beautiful people has passed on to us, I thank you and May my mother and father and ah ma be blessed with peace and happiness. May they be blessed with courage, wisdom, confidence, and great health.

May my parents of my pass lives be blessed with peace and happiness. May they find courage, wisdom and confidence in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu!

我最快乐的一天

孩子都喜欢这么讲，“今天是我最快乐的一天。”
比如那天，竺妤说，“今天是我最快乐的一天，因为家瑜来找我玩，今天也有Spagetti吃。”
--- 家瑜打电话来，说要过来玩，这两个生日相差一天的好朋友，似乎就是那么有默契。
--- 至于意大利面哦，当然啦，今天的意大利面酱，是累积了3个礼拜的婉菁的有机番茄，才有的，煮起来都特别有味道。

也比如今天，柔帆说，“今天是我最快乐的一天，因为婉真阿姨带我和erica去画画比赛。”
--- 当然这两个瓜是因为喜欢在一起做着一样的事情。

今天，也是，我有生命中有意义的一天。和家婆一起去听“生命的价值”座谈会。有开尊师父和吴学勤医生主讲。
-- 我的省思：“人身真的难得，佛法也难闻，人身我已得，佛法我已闻，很多活我都说了，就常常少数对不起，要多做忏悔了。”