City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

Finally back to civilization after spending 1 entire week in the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas up in Ukiah. So here's the daily schedule that I followed:
0400 - 0500: Morning Ceremony
0700 - 0930: Universal Door Chapter （普門品）
1030 - 1100: Lunch Ceremony
1300 - 1700: Universal Door Chapter
1830 - 1930: Evening ceremony
1930 - 2030: Lecture
2030 - 2130: Great Transference

23 Mar 08 (Day 1)


Had lunch with Andrew, Nakula, Michael, Ken & another friend under a tree. Pretty cool way to start off. Back to nature. Following that, finally got to meet Eric at Jun Kang restaurant. A vegetarian restaurant that is run solely by volunteers. So helped served food there for a while before running off to bring a bunch a kids to play tennis and soccer. Hyun, Eric, Charly, Jackie, Tommy. High powered elementary sch kids!

Charly and Tommy are 2 kids that I met in Belgium 4 years back when they were both 8 and 3 years old. Back then, they only spoke French, Luxembourgish & surprisingly, Chao Zou Hua (Teochew), so I used the latter to communicate with them. Now they're 12 and 7 and speaks fluent English too! Time flies. And they remembered me coz of my tail. After the games, they brought me to their place and showed me all their self made toys. Reminds me of my kampung days. Lolz... Charly also taught me how to eat a certain flower that grows wild in the back forest. So cool! So there's the picture of him passing me a bunch of flowers that he picked. During lecture at night, helped Charly with his math and he said "I wish u were my brother" and I told him "U're like a brother to me" and he gave me this really wide smile... so nice...

24 Mar 08 (Day 2)

Whole body was aching all over from yesterday's sports. I'm getting old, and had to drag myself out for morning ceremony... Went to help Charly move rooms after 普門品. During circumbulating Buddha hall, saw Victor having a long face on, so i smiled and he had no choice but smiled back saying later that he doesn't know why but whenever I smile he just can't resist but return it back. Thats the beauty of a smile isn't it, it gets return back and its free! =)

25 Mar 08 (Day 3)


Went to trek the back mountain with Charly, Tommy, Andy & Duong today. Infantry training all over. Crossing rivers, climbing slopes, running through poison oaks. Pretty fun. Got to see wild turkeys too, and sneaked up really close to the donkey.


Went back to the house after our adventures to watch "Star Wars IV" and the we had a great dinner! Got to eat the miner's lettuce that Aunt Vivi picked from the back mountain, and some other wild shrubs too. Before dinner, Tommy also signaled for me to come closer saying he has a secret to tell me. And when I got close he just gave me this big hug. And i asked "is that the secret?" And he said "oh... and the secret is... I love u jonathan..." so sweet.. hahz. During great transference, Tommy, Charly & Andy were with me, and they were like laughing all the way, and happiness is infectious - made many others including the nuns smile. I think ceremonies sometimes should be like that... cheerful!

26 Mar 08 (Day 4)

Brought the kids to the health club for a swim today. Some of the older people there were annoyed at the noise they were making, but most of them came up to me to say that its such a great thing that I'm doing by bringing them to the pool and that I should bring them more often. Brings life to the place. During lunch, Charly spotted a strand of white hair on me, and I said "yah... I'm growing old..." and he said "Nooo!...don't grow old!" Then both brothers said that if I leave this world, they want to go to the pureland together with me too (the buddhist heaven). Some strong affinities there. Went back to the health club after to play basketball, squash & more swimming. During dinner, Tommy was trying to cut a peach and hurt his finger in the process. Found out later that he was cutting it for me.. So sweet...

27 Mar 08 (Day 5)


Charly went for some excursion today and so I thought I was gonna have the day free, but ends up, got asked by Victor to accompany him. Lolz... so helped him at Jun Kang restaurant and then went to his place to watch movies with his sister Jessica.

28 Mar 08 (Day 6)

Ceremonies as usual, then went to the women's quarters to help Charly & Andy's moms move some beds and clean up the place as there was gonna be some guest coming. Following that, got dragged by the kids to go play Wizardology with them. A board game. Dinner time, the moms had to go out for a while so i baby sitted the kids - Charly, Tommy, Andy & Michael. Was totally drained by evening ceremony. But sat through lecture which was about dreams and the shurangama. Charly had to go back as his mom was tired, but surprisingly, during Great Transference, he shows up at the Buddha hall just to accompany me and later walks me back to my room before cycling back in the darkness to the back woods where he lives. Really touched by that...

29 Mar 08 (Day 7)


Last day in Cttb, Charly basically followed me the whole day, so I brought him to the store and bought him a gift and showed him some old photos of Master Hsuan Hua. He also did a painting for me, but it was still wet, so I told him I'll take it the next time i come up. We also requested for 5 colored strings from the nuns who'll pass it to him until i go up again. Finally left around 6 something after saying all the goodbyes and Charly said he'll be crying till I go up agian. Lolz... Finally arrived at Berkeley monastery at 8 something where the Spring conference was going on and finally got to meet "sister" & "brother" - Julia & Andrew! Lolz... and since the last time i saw Andrew last week, he's grown taller again. Its so scary... he just keeps growing... spent the night at their place and Andrew cooks some of the best instant noodles! Lolz... Finally went to bed past midnight.