Spent an amazing weekend at the Intervasity camp last week :D 24th Sept to 25th Sept. A day worth remembering for me and all participants and committees that make this camp possible.
I am so fortunate to be appointed as the facilitator for this historical moment. Before the commencement of the camp, I had the lingering uneasiness wondering how I could benefit the campers. After all I believe these campers are far more knowledgeable than me in Buddhism. Especially after I have been slacking so much for so long.
The auspicious day arrives and we are ready to welcome the campers :D NTU and NUS was very well organised and even chartered a bus to bring them to FGS. Not a bit sluggishness i felt from all campers and only the eagerness of trying to find out what happens next.
Being the facilitators were definitely and interesting role. On one hand, I have to be friendly and engage the campers to let them feel at home. And on the other hand, I have to be mindful of my bodily actions and speech, trying to be appropriate for the camp. I thought such was a good practice as we should always be mindful in whatever we do.
I am very touched by the contributions of the camp committee as well as the great Venerables. Most of the Venerables just arrive in SG for barely a few days but the materials they shared were so enlightening and organised.
过堂吃饭 was nothing new to us FGS folks but I like the way how the campers get themselves immerse in the session. Minimal noise I could hear and everyone just conduct themselves so properly. I remembered to take the first 3 mouthful of plain rice :D During the lecture on “Buddhist Ettiquette", we are not reminded not to drag the chairs but I don't see anyone dragging. On some occasions, I did try to use my 5 senses to taste the food and the feeling was just great.
I am not satisfied with my meditation as I am nodding away fighting Zzz monster at times. Usually seating a whole hour is nothing but now every minute is a struggle. Another great session is the sharing and discussion of different roles of the MC. Nicely conducted and members of my group on "Secretary and Welfare was very spontaneous. Many problems were addressed which never across my mind. Very valuable feedbacks by all especially Ven Miao Jie. All this knowledge is even applicable in my working life.
Tea Zen is interesting as always but I think a step was conducted wrongly. We have to serve our neighbours with the cup that we drank. But not to worry as I disinfected it with hot water :D So smart of me. And I just manage to finish the whole flask of hot water.
Movie sharing was one of the highlights of the first day. We watched the movie Fluke. This make me miss Girl Girl :( Anyway its on cause and effect. The most important message I took home is not to fill our life with anger. Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes some reason are rather easy to apprehend but most often than not, we need to experience certain lessons in life before we could transcend our old limitation of wisdom to see how things flow and come to be. I shall share more in another post.
The first day end with a short but enlightening debrief by the Venerables. This session sinks deep into my mind. I am so touched by how much the Venerables care for the campers making sure they enjoyed the camp as well as making it a beneficial camp for the campers. The contributions by the Venerables were really selfless. They even make the point to change the chants to be conducted in English. Chanting in English for the Theravadan rituals were nothing new. But translating Mahayana chants into English is a very pioneering endeavor for international buddhism I suppose. Really hope to see more of such developments :D English is an international language and thus riding on English is the best way to spread Buddhism.
I really love the second day. A lot more fellowship and my group Samma Ajiva finally manage to mingle better with each other. Even little casual discussions and chat gives out nice positive energy that makes the conversation engaging. Really got to thank my group mates of Samma Ajiva. I suppose during the Buddha's time, such chats must be more common, where people of different faith or same faith comes together to fellowship and discuss the meanings of life.
Discussions and chats are good tools to learn the Dharma. It allow ideas to be exchange and definitely acts as a nice recap to our knowledge. One point that attracts me to Buddhism is no questions are too "rude" or ask :D
Another highlight is on the Sutra sharing "Eight Realisations of Great Beings" I think it could definitely be used as daily advise for our everyday chores. If I am a boss, I will make sure posters of the Sutra are sticked on the walls, benefiting all possible sentient beings that cross path in life with me.
The discussion panel were enlightening and I thought its nice to have representative of the various Buddhist Society up on the panel. Symbolically, it represents unity, highlighting the importance of the problems encountered in Buddhist Society which are very relevant to them, and conferring strength to the leaders that will be the execution power to drive Buddhism in the tertiary academic arena.
After the discussion forum, we had our photo-taking session. The photos capture this moment of history in SG buddhism as well as a moment in all of us in our journey to pursue the Dharma.
The makan session at night were great too. The campers were invited for the steamboat prepared by our FGS volunteers and the food is fantastic. I like the "fish ball". Tried to "intrude" into the table of SIMBB for further fellowship :P Any kind of topics are interesting to discuss over food !! Xin Zhao broke his record by finishing two bowls in less than 20 mins. Never know the throat can be flexed :S Angela was trying to compete with him, ends up going crazy over the "princess and eunuch" nonsensical chat with Charlie :S The Sadhu version of YumSeng are fun !! Haha.
This camp to me is very fulfilling indeed. Good reflections were done and the way forward are discussed. What remains are to use what we have learnt on our different roles in Dharma propagation. This idea should not just remain in our roles as committee of various Buddhist groups but allow Buddhism to be in way of life and let Dharma propagation be our life goal.
