Monash Universty

Oh my god, guess what? I was looking through my mail today and I got the Big Envelope from Monash University! I got offered a place in Monash University to do my Masters! Wow... how... should I? Australia?



At night, my dad got me vip seat tickets to the Singapore annual Chingay parade! I think the word Chingay is a hokkien word representing 春節 or something like that. I was sitting in the same row as the President, Prime minister and the other ministers of Singapore! It was a night of colors and music. A street masquerade displaying the various cultural groups in Singapore. We had floats from Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, America, India, Malaysia, Phillipines, China and other local societies and schools participating.



The final performance was of a man being set on fire on the center stage. Live execution in front of everyone man! Lolz. After he was totally burnt to the ground, the drum rolled and he suddenly appeared once again on the highest point of the building and flew down to the ground. Spectacular!

Nothing

我一直走在荒野里，尋找哪是家
宇宙一直在盤旋著，我該往哪走
I keep walking in the wilderness, wondering where is home...
The universe keeps turning round, where do I belong?
~jozhade

3rd, 4th and 5th day of CNY, I basically did nothing. Stayed at home, finished my book and then basically rotted. I tried looking for part time jobs, but they all required at least 1 month commitment, and I'm gonna be flying in 2 weeks. Tried getting into my Anime habits, but they don't interest me at the moment. Tried some computer games, didn't last more than a day. I need to get book 2 of 獵命師傳奇！And probably some income! Lolz

初一，初二

First and second day of new year has been fun. Lots of goodies as always, and lots of food that I don't even dare to check the weighing machine now.

Day 1 - My relatives all came to my house for vegetarian lunch, and the event was started off by loud celebrations by our lion dance troupe. Following that we went over to my grandfather's place to give our new year wishes. Then I went to my maternal grandmother's side where I got to meet all my uncles who are just 1 or 2 years older than me. In our younger days, we didn't use to have much to talk to each other, but now, its like the meeting of good friends again. It was really fun hanging out there. 1st and 7th grand auntie were there as well. And 7th grand auntie asked if I wanted to go to Tibet with her in May... hmmmz... tempting... another destination to my world expeditions? Lolz. Went over to my god mum's place last to give my wishes before finally returning home.



Day 2 - Woke up really early to go over to my grandfather's place to help out. There was a "presenting of robes" ceremony to some 16 monks. My grandfather holds this every year to transfer merit to our ancestors. I stayed back to help clean up till about 3pm. Finally got to take a picture with both my grandparents as well! Pity my camera phone's quality ain't that good. After fetching my grandma home, went to Gerald's place to offer wishes and stayed on for a game of blackjack. Guess i'm really not the gambling kind. By sitting there, i gave luck to everyone except myself. So everyone was so happy that i was there especially his mom, lolz. Oh wells, although I didn't win, at least everyone is happy at the end of the day. Thats the biggest win =)

Happy Lunar New Year!

New Year's Eve, I had lunch at home, then went over to my maternal grandma's house for second lunch. Then I went home and completed the translation of the first chapter Shr Fu's Yao Xing Fu! Finally! Lolz. Following that, went to my god-mum's house for reunion dinner and got to meet all my god-siblings and god-cousins! Lolz. Was supposed to be at my family's reunion dinner as well but there's no vegetarian food there, so I skipped out on it.



Headed over to Bright Hill Monastery for yet another reunion dinner. Was invited by 耀空師. Hung out at his dorm till midnight where 耀空師 shared with me his reasons for leaving the home life. It was a story that was both funny and sad at the same time. Then we headed down at midnight for the ceremony which includes ringing the big bell, then reciting the Shurangama, great compassion and the ten small mantras, and then praises to Maitreya Bodhisattva followed by universal bowing. I stayed till 1:30am before leaving. Surprisingly, there were still many people when I left. I guess its a great start to the new year! Counting down in the monastery! Heeheez... Happy Lunar New Year Everyone! =)

Reunion Dinner

Went for a Calligraphy workshop at Vivo, then went to the book store and I found the book I was looking for - 獵命師傳奇. Was recommended by Joe Zhu to read it. Surprised that Singapore sells it as it is written in 繁體字. So I bought the 1st of 14 books. Guess I'll take it one book at a time


Headed over to my army company's CNY reunion dinner after. Organized by my sergeants. I must say they did a very good job, catering not only to our muslim friends, but even to me, the vegetarian. It was nice to catch up with everyone again. Following that, I went home for reunion dinner 2, this time with my family. Its the CNY season again, which means: eat, eat, eat and grow fat...

Lament of the Wovles

This morning, I was was woken up at 6am by a long howl through the night. It was from my sister's Siberian husky. I listen to it and understood the feelings that he was trying to convey. Unable to put it into words, but i knew it was a lament. I checked out a website as to the reasons for howling and this was what it said:

" The noisy puppy at night is simply lonely. He needs to be near his "pack," which is you in this case. He needs reassurance that you are "permanent." It important to establish yourself as the head of the pack, or alpha, very early. By establishing yourself as the leader of the pack early, your dog will learn to respect you and look to you for guidance and will know where the boundaries for acceptable behavior lie"

I guess after reading Twilight, it has made it so much more easier to understand this "pack" ideology. Oh wellz, perhaps i'll try being the Alpha for a while... So I got up and brought snowy for a jog. More like a run instead, and brushed his hair and all. Then came back for a shower before heading out to meet Jeffrey for breakfast at Chinatown. Then we headed to Bukit Gombak to pass some things to Wendy's parents but they were not in. Fortunately I bumped into her brother in the streets. How convenient. Heez. Then we went to Choa Chu Kang to hang out. Then to Bukit Batok to meet up with Geraldine for a lunch/dinner kind of thing. Just hung out till about 7pm before heading home. At night, I accompanied my grandmother to watch a taiwanese drama about Taiwan's folklore and myths. It was all in taiwanese so I had to explain the story to my grandmother. It was fun. I had a full but wonderful day. =)

True Age Test

So my son keith took the True Age Test on facebook and found out that he was actually 6 years old. So I laughed at him and called him a kiddo and went to take the test myself and guess what I got? My results revealed: "Jonathan Choo is really 0 years old!" =.=....

Fine! I'm childish! So? Keeps me young! Lolz... Oh wellz, time passes quickly when you're unaware. I was still thinking it was wednesday when my grandma had to remind me that it was already thursday and CNY eve is this sunday. Guess she's more ahead with the times that I was. I'm still living in yesterday or perhaps even yesteryear. No wonder I got zero years old...

Took me a while before I remembered where did yesterday go. I went to check out the new neighbourhood swimming pool by sengkang. Pretty cool place, they even have slides! But of course, I didn't want to reveal my "real" age there, so I just did some laps and then came back and finally started on Breaking Dawn! And I finished it this afternoon. Lolz. Now I'm once again out of good books to read. Got my haircut last night as well and lent my neighbour my sister's cake mixer this morning, and she returned it together with a freshly baked caked. It always pays to share =). That's about it I guess. Nothing fancy I guess... juz livin da' life

Back to Singapore

So I left for Singapore, and at SF airport, guess what I saw? There was an encased book of Harry Potter's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard!" Is this the really really expensive one that has only 7 copies in the world? Argh... I want to read it! Transiting at Japan, the underpass looks as if I was in a space ship. And surprisingly there was no one there. Guess the economy must be really bad. And I got my younger sis a box of maid cookies! It looks so cute. Lolz. And I also increased my blog's font size by a lil. Hope this makes it easier to read. Or does it make no difference? Lolz

Arrived in Singapore in the early morning. Jet lagged, couldn't really sleep. Finally fell asleep at 3pm only to be woken up at 5pm by a call from 耀空師. He had some dharma brothers coming from Taiwan and was wondering if I could pick them up. I got changed and left for the temple, then the airport. Picked up 耀空師, 耀喜師，耀和師 and 藏觀師. At the airport, I also met a whole group of people from the Taoist federation. Some of whom went to Taiwan with me. Seems almost as if there's an interfaith event at the airport! Lolz. I got lost along the way back due to new highways built in Singapore that I was unaware of. Shows how long I've been gone. Finally arrived at the temple around 10. 耀空師 insisted that I stayed for some tea and a bowl of noodles at least for all my trouble, and before I said anything, he was already cooking. When I finished the noodles, the security had already locked the temple gates and left! So in the end, 耀空師 perpared a bed for me and I ended up sleeping in the monk's domitory.


And 耀和師 gave me a bracelet of beads made from Myanmar Jade! So I guess losing my plastic jade beads in Sf paved the way for real jade beads from Myanmar. I guess the saying of 旧的不去，新的不來 holds pretty true. So there is no need to attach to anything. And while I was about travelling, the birds planted a curry leaf plant in my garden for me! Its grown pretty big now. So Tammy! you gotta come to Singapore if you want Singapore curry! Lolz

來來去去，去去來來
旧的不去，新的不來
有來有去， 萬物常變
無來，無去，無代職

Coming and going, going and coming.
If the old does not go, the new does not come.
With coming, with going, the myriad things constantly change.
No coming, no going, nothing is really happening.
~jozhade

Winter Chan

為了生死而受苦
七天七夜禪堂住
回光反照觀自心
如在汒海撈銀針
無明妄想如灰塵
蓋住菩提真本性
只有慈悲善知識
為開解脫煩惱程

To understand birth and death, I endured suffering.
Seven days and seven nights, in the Chan hall I stayed.
Turning the light withing to reflect on my own mind,
It was like searching for a silver needle in the great sea.
Ignorance and false thoughts are like dust,
Covering Bodhi's original nature.
Only with the help of a compassionate good knowing one,
The path to leave suffering was opened to me.
~jozhade



With the Chan hall's temperature hovering around freezing point, and the long meditation hours from 4am till 10pm, staring at blank walls, I thought my first Winter Chan experience was going to be a nightmare. But I was wrong. Of course, the pain in my legs were still ever present, but still, it turned out to be the best meditation session that I have had all these years. Special thanks to my personal set of suns! Who always provided me with brilliant sunshine in my life - the students from the Boy's School! And most importantly, to my teacher, Master Hua, who was always there for me.



10 jan (Day 0) - Arrived in cttb with Andrew. Jim was the 1st to see me and the moment he called out "Jonathan!!!" all the other heads from the boy's dorm started popping out of the door and soon a hug line formed... Lolz... They always remind me of characters from some cartoon. It was a day for settling in and catching up and surprisingly, Mr. K allowed me to spend the night in the boy's dorm! I planned my schedule for the week and decided that I was gonna miss the 4am and 5am sits, but in exchange, i shall attend all the other sits in the day and will not fall asleep during any of them.



11 jan (Day 1) - After breakfast at 6:15am, I began my 1st sit at 0730 hrs. The day went by pretty fast and my meditations were filled with random thoughts and of course... twilight. In between breaks, I hung out with the students. Soon a circle gathered around where I stood, and Alex Lee who just came back to the dorm joined in the chat. Took him about 3 mins after chatting with everyone before he exclaimed "Wait! Jonathan! Oh my god!" Lolz


12 jan (Day 2) - Morning meditation was filled with Abba songs. =.=. Blame "Mama mia." Afternoon meditation was just painful. Pain in legs, pain in head, and all I thought of was about my life - the good, the bad, the ugly. Night meditation, guess what, I thought of chocolate cookies! And when I went to hang out with the students later, Sunny and Jim both gave me a chocolate cookie each! Talk about manifestation of thoughts!



13 jan (Day 3) - The pain intensified and my mind suddenly ran out of thoughts to think of. That feeling of blankness was even more torturous than the pain in the legs. Many people said that the 3rd day is always the worst. Then things get better after.

14 jan (Day 4) - The morning sits went by fast. I thought I was getting a hang of it. Then came afternoon which was simply torturous. I thought to myself where was the "things get better" part of it? By dinner time, I was at the brink of giving up when I saw a book left on the Annex's table by someone. Flipping through it, I saw a interview done with Ajahn Jumnian! The monk I met in Berkeley Monastery a year ago! After reading this, I remembered a mantra he thought me back then, and used it during my next sit, holding the full lotus posture. As the minutes went by, the pain grew more and more intense. I held on to the mantra and fought with the pain. Suddenly the pain begin to subside a little and just at that moment, the bell rang. The sit was over, and I had passed through the 50 minutes pain gate.

During the night lecture, I was asked to be the interpreter. My first time. Really wished I could have done better as it was a really interesting story. Dharma Master Yan Lun from Shaolin monastery was relating his experience of the Chan session - how he was inspired, how he struggled with the full lotus, how he was challenged by the death god, and how he overcame it.

15 jan (Day 5) - Inspired by Dharma Master Yan lun's story, I decided to hold the full lotus posture for all my sits as well. I succeeded in all except the last one which was a 1.5 hour sit. The day went by fast, but every sit was a full encounter with the pain of the legs and mind. It never went to sleep like in my meditations of the past. I was asked to be the interpreter for the lecture again today.

16 jan (Day 6) - Continued sitting in full lotus for all 3 sits in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. By the 3rd sit, I felt intense heat surrounding my whole body and the heat rose into my head. I felt as if my head was going to explode and at that point, I gave up and released my legs. During my sit, several questions also came into my mind. I was asking, why do we have to sit in full lotus? It is so painful that I can't even concentrate on anything else. Should I continue to endure the pain or just go into half lotus and concentrate on meditating? I felt drained as i walked out of the Chan hall and Ben was saying that's weird, people usu get re-charged.

That night, during lecture, I was the interpreter again and I was shocked when we were listening to tapes of Shr Fu's lectures. His words were the exact answer to the questions in my head, and the exact answers to my experience. It felt almost as if he had heard the thoughts in my head and was answering to them.

I was asked to say a few words the assembly to close the lecture session since it was going to be my last night and so I just talked about my experience on the 4th day, reading Ajhan Jumnian's book, and listening to Rev. Yan Lun's story, how it gave me the encouragement to sit through all the 50 min sits in full lotus when I had actually wanted to only do it once. And that closed the lecture for that day.

We went on to our last sit and having new encouragement now. I began my sit with added fervor. I held my full lotus posture and told myself that no matter what happens, I will not release it. The pain came back in about 20 min. The heat came as well, but I never got back the stabbing pain in the head. By the one hour point, I was beginning to be in extreme pain and my body started to shake tremendously. But I kept to my resolve. I endured and finally, the bell rang. I have passed the 1.5 hour full lotus timing.

I walked Syd to his dad's car, then went to look for Andrew. I had so much energy in me that when I ran pass Annex 2, all the boys thought they saw something flying pass their window and came out to check. Lolz. So I chatted with them for a while before heading to Andrew and Sunny's annex. And Alex tricked me into eating a thick paste of milk tea! By the time I came out, the lights were already out and it was pitch dark. So Andrew walked me all the way back to my Annex before returning to his room.


17 jan (Day 7) - I went for the 3 morning sits, then in the afternoon, was asked to drive the boys out to their basketball game at the nearby Native Indian Reservation. So cool, my 1st time stepping into one. Though it was not what I thought it would look like. I was thinking - La Push. from Twilight. Lolz. The rest of the day, I just hung out with the boys till dinner time when I had to leave. Its always so heart breaking to see their sad faces. But I have a plane to catch, and my family is waiting for me in Singapore. So today I left the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas not knowing when I will be back again. But this place will always always hold a special place in my heart.