9 August 2019
Happy Birthday, Singapore!
You are the gateway to all things good. 
Thank you for your generosity to me & all sentient beings. Please forgive us, little island, if we’ve taken your gifts for granted.
May you have many more 54 years to celebrate my dear Singapore, as our people remain wise, kind and united.
4-8-2019
Around February this year I placed some chiku seeds in different pots by the window of my home. The chiku fruit was from a tree planted by my dad when he was hale and hearty.
Weeks past, some seeds turned moldy and had to be discarded.
Recently, in the midst of my fading enthusiasm, one of the seeds sprouted!
Today my dad would have been 81 years old.
This morning my brother & I dropped by the columbarium to place a marigold by his picture and by the picture of his father, who passed on when my dad was less than one year old. We placed one marigold for our dad’s single mother too.
Happy Birthday, Dad! Thank you for being the best father you knew how to be despite being fatherless yourself.♥️
31 July 2019 (eve of 7th Lunar Month)
A six legged insect with an iridescent sheen was spotted clinging on the glass of the sliding window in my teaching room.
We were talking about ghosts and spirits.
Me : “Wow! What a beautiful creature! It must have come to show that everything I’ve told you is true!”
Boy: “Is it dangerous?”
Me: “I don’t know. But we can open the window and let it go.”
The window was slide open and the colourful being exited our room joyfully.
Me: “Just because we’re scared of something doesn’t mean it has to die, you know? We can always set it free.”
The boy looked with his mouth agape, at the spot where the winged Rainbow Messenger had been. He was probably glad that I didn’t ask him to smack it down with a book or something.
1 Aug 2019
May the new moon bring renewal, clarity and courage to all sentient beings at each of the 7 stages of their lives.
May we give without expectations, and share without anxieties, as the practice of mandala offering to the moon has shown me.
Over the years of dedicating mandalas on new moon and full moon, I’ve learnt not to be distracted by the logistics of purchasing new materials or “creating” new mandala patterns.
I try to wait on the moon and trust that all things and ideas will be provided for.
Yesterday a boy on his way to lunch pluck two lime fruits and tossed them towards my work room.
Two days ago, the Indian florist gave me two bunches of fragrant leaves.
Even the copper plate holding this mandala was given to me.
And this is how today’s mandala came to be. And all I did was to be grateful and remember the Moon.
19 July 2019
First Tutee turned 8 last Saturday.
He didn’t ask for a cake or a party. He seemed just happy turning 8 & spoke endlessly about it as if becoming 8 years old is some magical achievement in itself.
The week before his birthday I lit a light after our Sunday tuition to celebrate his birth.
“That’s Tok Jai and I!” he exclaimed at the light holder made of an elephant adult cuddling a calf. “Tok Jai” is his term of respect for his Grand Uncle, Jailani.
He was a bit puzzled when I invited him to sing, “Happy Birthday to Me,” for himself first.
I explained to him that before others can sing for us, we must first learn to sing for ourselves & know why we are celebrating.
He happily sang for himself with me joining in midway while his Tok Jai filmed the historic moment. When I invited him to make his birthday wishes, he did so earnestly.
On his birthday morning, Tok Jai took First Tutee to the mosque to make a donation to give thanks for his life and that may his life be of help to others.
Before this birthday, First Tutee has also been making donations at the mosque in memory of the cats he knows.
In the evening First Tutee visited the Night Safari Park for the first time since he was born. As the birthday boy, he was given free entry to go visit the nocturnal animals!
His Grand Uncle had also invited their family helper, First Tutee’s classmate and his Maths Tutor to the birthday celebration.
During the walkabout at the Night Safari, First Tutee back tracked 3 times at different points to hug his Grand Uncle who was strolling behind them.
The Grand Uncle’s heart must have filled with grateful tears as the little boy wrapped his arms around him & repeatedly said, “Thank you, Tok Jai, for taking me here.”
I think besides turning 8, First Tutee is also becoming the man that his Grand Uncle hopes he was born to be – strong, kind and humble.
19 July 2019
“Olivia, Don’t touch it. It’ll scratch!” the father who had walked ahead of his daughter warned from a short distance.
The daughter was about 8 or 9 years old. Dressed in school PE gear and holding a water bottle, she looked lovingly at her object of affection, a plump one-eyed community cat lounging on a stone ledge in Holland Village.
The father tried to look stern as his daughter looked pleadingly at him for permission to touch the portly feline.
“I said no, means no!” The father raised his voice a bit as his child‘s palm lingered stubbornly over the sleeping cat, who seemed oblivious to the parent-child drama he had caused just by being spotted.
The father then took out his cell phone and told his daughter to look in his direction. He snapped a few shots of his precious little girl hovering over the white & grey cat.
But the daughter was not satisfied with just having pictures of her standing with a cat. Her childlike heart burst with an edenic yearning to make contact with the animal. So her hand hovered within biting range over the cat’s head as she stood her ground and continued to smile at her daddy.
Suddenly, the cat flopped on his back and wriggled a little, exposing his fluffy white belly to the sky.
Joyful giggles erupted at the furry display of flexibility. The girl then brought her fingers down to brush the cat’s head lightly, not once, but twice!
“Daddy, I touched the cat!” Olivia’s voice exploded with triumphant glee, as her father tried very hard not to smile back.
17 July 2019
Me: Today’s full moon. So I don’t want you to say any rubbish. Words uttered on full moon has multiplier effects.
Boy: Okay. Yeah, the moon was already very bright last night!
Me: Oh yes? You notice the moon too?
Boy: Yes, it’s beautiful!
Me: You know that when you’re feeling sad or angry, you can look up at the moon or stand in the moonlight to calm down. There’s no need to argue or fight all the time.
Boy: Yes, I like to try that when the time is right for me.
May all aspirations of wisdom and compassion flood the world like the unstoppable light of the full moon tonight, & flower in good time.
6 July 2019
One day an elderly client came to the car workshop to pick up his Mercedes Benz from my brother.
Benz owner then took a drive together with the mechanic to become better acquainted with the car’s personality.
As my brother was describing some of the finer details of the car during the ride, the old man suddenly asked if he was related to a person called “Ah Ong.”
He had been watching my brother, and found his mannerisms reminding him of an old friend whom he hadn’t seen for years.
“Ah Ong” happens to be the name by which my late father was frequently addressed by relatives and friends.
It turned out that the old man knew our dad.
My brother then told him that “Ah Ong” had passed on a few years ago.
When the car ride ended, the elderly Benz driver said to my brother, “Your father bought me lunch when I had nothing. Everyone is scared of poor people, except your old man. If you’re ever in need of food, just call me. I’ll buy you all the meals you need.”
My brother thanked him for remembering our dad and agreed to keep in touch.
My dad wouldn’t have expected or known that the ONE lunch he had bought for someone facing hard times years ago, would end up contributing to the future livelihood of my brother and turn into promises of food relief should the need ever arise.
3 July 2019
My first English word was “cow”. I remembered the elation I felt when I could spell and pronounce it.
As a child, I remembered fear leaving when I could understand what the doctor and nurses were saying about me.
As an adult, I remembered love rising when I could accept words that hurt me.
May the new moon shine her light on us and grant us a healthy relationship with words.
May the words we acquire turn confusion into clarity, hurt into love and ignorance into wisdom, for our own benefit and for the benefit of all sentient beings.
13 June 2019
It was late afternoon after we checked into Number Nine B&B in Jincheng, Kinmen.
As we were taking pictures of our surroundings a man on a motor bike slowed down and asked if we wanted bread.
He ran a nearby bakery with his wife. The B&B units around us in Houpu were his regular customers and he had just completed his distribution rounds with a bag of fresh left-overs.
As we had missed lunch & were hungry from all that travelling I was fairly focused on getting ourselves a dinner where I could have some rice. Freshly baked bread was the last thing on my mind.
But the Baker was very proud of his bread.
As we looked on, he continued in his childlike chatter, to offer information on his bread and his life.
When I listened more carefully, I realised his stories were about working and caring for his elderly mother. But the way he narrated his difficulties & disappointments with such gaiety intrigued me greatly. His tone didn’t seem to match his content.
I was even more amused when he pointed to a posh looking apartment behind us and said without a trace of envy but with a bright smile, “那栋房子很贵。我们买不起囖!”
(transl: that apartment is very expensive. We cannot afford it.”)
When we finally decided to buy his bread and asked how much they cost, the tall man with a shaven head & special story telling techniques announced with heartfelt glee, “不用钱的啊！是要给你们的!”
(transl: no money required. I’m giving them to you.)
He would later ride back to his shop, rummage through his cupboard and return with our very first souvenirs, to welcome us to Kinmen.
In the Baker’s non-grudging attitude towards suffering and scarcity, he shows me that abundance is not about having a life of ease & plenty, but it is about approaching all difficulties with an attitude of ease.
Meeting him on my first trip to Kinmen feels as though Avalokithesvara, the Buddha of Heavenly Ease was already there waiting for me.
And my daily remembrance of the Lord’s Prayer, beseeching Him to give me my daily bread, takes on a greater potency as the life of this Bread Man has shown me.
Lisa Ong 