YAG CIP Session: Amanda's experience

As promised, here's Amanda and her thoughts :)

On the 2nd February, a group of us volunteered to go do some House Maintenance CIP . We were split into groups of 11-12 to go to two different houses to help the beneficiaries to tidy up  their house & do a little bit of spring cleaning as they might not be able to do it themselves due to health issues.

My group went to a house at Telok Blangah Drive. Where Mdm P, the beneficiary, is staying together with her daughter. Mdm P has various health conditions like not being able to see properly, having mental health and physical issues. She has a son who works and is uninvolved in the household chore maintenance, a daughter who is intellectually challenged and has limited ability to take care of the household chore, a late husband who suffered from stroke (Beneficiary has to take care of his daily living such as bathing and cooking for the family).

When we first entered the house, we all thought that it was already pretty clean. Most of the work left for us to do is probably just to clean up the slightly dusty racks and wash up some parts of the house such as toilet, kitchen and the room.

I volunteered, together with dawn, one of our group mate, to clean up the toilet. it was done rather quickly as it was already pretty clean to start with. After which, we went around helping the rest with whatever that was left to do. From cleaning the Toyogo drawers to mopping the floor to arranging the stuffs back to its original places.

A few of us noticed, that Mdm P have been sleeping on her late husband's hospital bed which is left at her place. We all thought that that might be a cause why she might not have let go of the past, living in sorrow. Some of us also noticed her sitting just outside the room, staring into the hospital bed from outside. We were deeply saddened by the sight of it.

At first when we first entered the place, we were all too focused on doing our jobs, the atmosphere was still really tight. Till Roy, one of our group mate, decided to crack some jokes with his friend. Laughter filled the place, and we see how it was spreading everywhere, even to Mdm P. She eventually started opening up and chatted with us. She even got her daughter to head downstairs to get some drinks for us. Her daughter was really helpful too. When she came home halfway thru our work, she immediately find a rag, & started helping us with the cleaning. She didn’t wanna stop cleaning. Even when the stuffs are already cleaned, she would still clean it again and again, to make sure that it is really clean.

Just before we left, we took a group photo. When we asked if Mdm P is comfortable to be in the photo or would she prefer not to, she replied brightly, in mandarin, "Yes, of course i want to! Why wouldn’t i want to take a picture with all of you?" It was heartwarming to see how our little actions could make them smile. Their smiles, of course, made us all felt that all those hard work are worth. A quote I came up with right after we left that apartment that day "A good deed a day, keeps those bad frowns away." I'm glad I was part of the reason behind their smiles, I'm glad my actions helped a family live in a better conditioned house and i'm happy that at the end of the day, everyone learnt how we should appreciate what we already have cause there are people out there living a life that's much worse of than our's.

YAG CIP Session: Dawn's experience

On 2nd February, while Wufeng and Tessa shared with the youths about anger management, some of the other members of our youth group volunteered with Shan You Counselling Center in a home care maintenance programme.

Here's Dawn, sharing with us her experience during the session.

On the 2nd of February, a bunch of compassionate and enthusiastic youths from the Singapore Buddhist Mission (youth) joined a project called the ‘Home Care Maintenance Project’ to provide help to beneficiaries of Shan You. They helped by repairing appliances, helping them to clean their house, etc. We were told that the beneficiary of whom I had helped had wished to have her house cleaned before Chinese New Year, giving her a new start, and I am really happy to be provided this chance to help her out and am honored to be part of the team.

We gathered at the Kallang Mrt Station early in the morning at 9.30am, prepared with mops and cloths, ready to get into action. After getting a debrief on our to dos and not to dos, we were divided into two teams for two different houses. Being well-equipped, we were ready to face any challenges met. Arriving at my destination after a short 15-20 minutes drive, we made our way to the house of our beneficiary, going through complicated structured buildings and narrow corridors. In the house, there was only a small living room, a narrow hallway leading to a small room, and a kitchen in the further back of the house.

Although the condition of the house was not as bad as I had thought it would be as it was actually neater than in my imagination, there were still many cleaning up to do. Boxes were stacked up in front of the partially closed windows in the living room, making the room look dull with no sunlight shining in. The lower part of the shelf that the television was sitting on was untidily packed with a mass number of cds.

The wires connecting the television to the power plug were also left messily. Along the hallway were two stackable and portable drawers, along with a 700 x 800 table arranged by the wall. An old-looking big shelf was left at the corner of the small bedroom; in the centre of the bedroom was what shocked me the most. A hospital bed was there, in replace of a bed. I suppose our beneficiary, Mdm X, slept there while her 34 years old but mentally challenged daughter slept outside. In the kitchen, there were no shelves on the walls, but only a short refrigerator with simple necessaries on top like the salt and sugar.

We were greeted by Mdm X very politely when we entered and I could see that she was grateful to have someone to help her tidy up the house, due to her legs hurting and the limited amount of housework her daughter can do. After the assignations of jobs were made, we all started to work. Some took things out from drawers to clean them, letting them be free of dust while some arranged the messily stacked cds and boxes. For me, I was to clean the toilet with Amanda, a friend from SBM.

Pails were pushed to the corner of the toilet, making the space appear small and untidy. Clearing out the things in the toilet made it easy for us to clean, pouring soap and then scrubbing the floor, toilet bowl and the wall were all we needed to do. 30 mins later or so, we were sure that the whole toilet was definitely cleaner than before. Satisfied, we headed out to help the others. While clearing the things in the drawers. I even found magazines that were ‘ancient’- since 1997!

Finishing up at about 3.30pm, I noticed the now tidily arranged house and felt fulfilled. I may all be tired physically, but surely not mentally! I’m sure that Mdm X has felt our positive energy and believe that she herself could get a new start in this new year. i am also happy to help Mdm X as well as grateful that i was given this chance to help others and learn from this project – to appreciate what i have and be thankful for it.

Yours,
Dawn Wang Yinji

P.S. Keep a lookout for Amanda's reflections coming up next! :)

YAG Dharma Sharing: "2 Wings of a Bird"

Let Alvin share his thoughts with you on the sharing that took place on 26th January with the young adults :)

It wasn't the easiest of topics to discuss about to begin with. As Venerable Bodhi led us in a refreshing 15 minute meditation session, the workers in our group found time to bring their minds and bodies to a respite mode, with the never-ending workload coming along some of us. At the same time, youths who preferred to understand a more in-depth view of what wisdom and compassion is, and how these two elements actually correlate, were in for a time of discovery.

The first few parts we engaged on were about how compassion is defined in logical dictionary terms, putting a combination of 'co' and 'passion' together to signify the meaning of care and the love to care for another. Then came how, in Buddha's time, Tissa and Angulimala's stories brought about true compassion.

Eugene, who was there, pondered upon the idea of giving money to an old lady selling tissue paper packets, yet careful about the way in which the syndicates might take advantage of people's pure compassion. Venerable Bodhi pointed out that we are always walking on a fine line between understanding the symptoms to syndicate-controlled aunties and uncles, and the genuine elders who really need our help.

Unconventional and Conventional Wisdom became the next hot topic of discussion, where we discuss the importance between having intelligence and having wisdom, and again the similarities were far too great for us to clearly put a distinction between those.

My personal takeaway from the session was valuable, as I learnt to understand the mechanism of having the intellect with prior knowledge and experiences in my life, coupled up with society's rules that would not be upended on ethics and morality, and then that forms the level of wisdom by which humans act on a daily basis.

Wisdom can be cultivated by the following:
Wisdom through Learning (Reading Newspapers / TVs / Forums) – context
Wisdom through Contemplation (Reflect) – on daily life and actions.
Wisdom through Practice (Cultivate) - actively putting principles to good use

And the simplest of tasks to put urself in the mind of loving kindness meditation in order for u to develop metta for all sentient beings,that would be the keys to the door of further compassion for beings all around you, as well as incidents that take place.

I do wonder, however, when Dalai Lama says that in order to breed the wings of a bird as your characteristics properly, one must be able to create the atmosphere for the wings to grow, for compassion and wisdom to have a platform to develop and to act upon, thus friendliness amongst associates within ur society is tantamount to how much you understand your own two wings, and how much you can spread it out and reach out to others. What if, the others do not reciprocate to ur atmospheric intentions? Will you then be left fending for yourself in this cold-hearted surrounding? Or should that even be your focus?

That's why I am always in this religion, the investigation never ends. And I'm glad, i'm not alone trying to figure out about life.
The 15-20 kalyana mitras on that day, we investigated together, and thanks to Wei Guang's preparation, we were able to have such a meaningful discussion that can spread beyond just pure logical and even, socio-emotional comprehension.

Join us, and maybe you can find out even more how your wings can grow.

Cheers,
Alvin - On a daily monologue

Youth Dharma Sharing: "I am not angry!"

Here's Sabrina to show us what she learnt on 2nd February :)

In this week’s sharing session conducted by Wufeng and Tessa, the objective was to help us manage our anger.

Wufeng started the ball rolling by asking everyone to introduce themselves. After the introduction, we went more into details on the anger management. Wufeng gave everyone some time to reflect on the time when they were angry over a certain issue. Some people shared their views and experiences on handling their anger.

Wufeng and Tessa said that when someone is angry, there will be a problem as well as a solution. If there is no solution, it will not be a problem. We should not be angry over the problem. We can try to control our anger and think about the consequences to our actions. Our actions may hurt others unintentionally.

We can use different methods to calm ourselves down for example, listening to music. We should not vent our anger as well as rage at others. Anger management is one of the important keys to a successful life. In order to curb our anger, we can follow the Noble Eightfold path which will allow us to live a virtue and happy life. To know more about it, come for the weekly sharing!

‘Control your anger, lead a more successful life today!’

Youth Dharma Sharing: "You are the ___ of my eyes"

Curious about what we learnt on 26th January's sharing session? Let Nian Xin share her thoughts with you :)

This week's sharing was titled "You are the ___ of my eyes" and it was conducted by our dear Tessa and Wu Feng!

Well basically, there's only one main activity during the session. To start off with the activity, we were all split into two separate groups facing each other and hence, the person standing opposite of you (in the other team) would be your partner for the game. Next, members of a group would be blindfolded and the only person that one could actually rely on was their partner. The rules of the game was simple: All you had to do was listen to what your partner says and do what was asked in within a time limit of 10 minutes. I was in the first group to be blindfolded and honestly, I had no idea what was going on. This is the time where you have no choice but to put all your trust into your partner. So during the activity, we were made to pick up certain items like cushions and cones, and placed them in a specific area.

It's actually not an easy task because you have no sense of direction and your partner's voice could be easily lost in the midst of the chaos. I felt like I've been transported into the world of a visually impaired person and it made me scared. I'm pretty sure everyone else probably shared a similar experience too! When the time was up, the blindfolds were removed and all we saw was that the items were placed in a certain shape. So we were totally clueless about what was expected to be done! Wu Feng then briefly explained what was happening and afterwards, it was the other group's turn to put on the blindfolds and did the same thing.

Through this activity, many of us felt the sincerity coming from our partners as they gave instructions and constantly talking to us, which helped to lessen our fears and made us became more aware of our surroundings. Like what Wu Feng shared, sincerity can also be seen when a person uses different approaches to get things done. As you can see by now, the big golden word for this week's sharing would be SINCERITY. :)

Now that we've learnt how to create happiness for ourselves, it is time to spread the joy around and share the love! Regardless of what race or religion one belongs to, everyone should be entitled to happiness. The act of bringing happiness to people comes from the bottom of your heart, something that is innate in you. When you spread happiness, the recipient would truly felt the sincerity and pass this loving kindness to others. Slowly, it will spread to everyone and eventually coming back to you. Let me give you an example, there was this boy who went ice skating with my friend and he isn't a very good skater because he was still a beginner. But what touched my friend was his unwavering help to others. Whenever he saw someone in the skating rink who looked like they were having some form of trouble, he would genuinely asked if they needed any help and that was coming from a person who fell at least five times while trying to skate. Isn't it heartwarming? This simple gesture alone could really light up the person's day. Therefore, we all should try to be like this boy who is just so sweet and helpful and sincere to everyone he meets. But first, we have to be appreciative to what others had done for you and examples can be seen regularly in our daily lives. Like for an instance, giving praises and thanks. Not only you are being appreciative, but also bringing a smile to one's face.

Ernest shared with us that his dad would occasionally cook for the family to eat and during the meal, he told his dad, "Wow. The food that you've prepared are really yummy and delicious, Dad." Asians, like us, are more conservative and finds it hard to express our feelings and love towards one another. Although it might be quite a challenge or a mushy thing to say 'I love you', but we can try to give praises instead. Reciprocate with sincerity and one will feel that all the hard work and efforts are worth it.

Be true to your heart and everyone around you.

I'm sure you will lead a happier and a more meaningful life in the days ahead. :)