Lam Rim class, MKC, Ladrang and Fireflies !

I woke up quite early this morning to go to Lam Rim class with Mama and Auntie Susan.

My favorite part of today's Lam Rim class was when Teacher Ngeow was talking about who are fans of Setrap ( the Dharma Protector of Gaden Monastery and Kechara House). I said I was a fan of Tsongkhapa (Tsongkhapa is a three-in-one Buddha because it has the wisdom of Manjushri( the Buddha of wisdom), the compassion of Chenrezig ( the Buddha of compassion ) and the power of Vajrapani ( the Buddha who can protect you from evil force and so forth). Where was I? Oh, yes. After that, Teacher Ngeow asked what kind of shoes does Setrap wear. Later, the answer turned out to be leather ( but later Mama mentioned that it was actually tiger skin). Teacher Ngeow made a wonderful reference to a story about a man who actually wanted to place leather all over the world so that no one's feet will be hurt whilst walking on the rough ground but later he decided to leather his own feet then he will not feel the pain from the rough ground. The moral : When we want to change the world , WE MUST CHANGE OURSELVES FIRST.

After that, I had a nice Japanese lunch that consists of Teriyaki Chicken, rice, miso soup, soft shell crab and many other stuff.

After lunch, I went to Manjushri Kids class ( MKC) . We finished watching the video about animal liberation ( setting free animals ) . I think that by setting free all the animals will be saving them from slaughter. Teacher Gim Lee said that when we do it, others will follow, then all the animals will be saved. When she said that, I actually thought that maybe that's how the story of the man who wanted to leather the whole world but then decided to leather his feet, thus creating "shoes", and now, everyone has already "placed leather on their feet" The moral : When we change ourselves, WE WILL CHANGE OTHERS TOO.

After MKC, we ( Mama, Auntie Susan and I ) , went to the new Tsem Ladrang for H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. The house was so cool. We also managed to see Rinpoche's room where I will not be able to go into after the renovations are finished.

After reaching home, we rested for awhile. After that, we ( Mama, Auntie Susan, Auntie Hanah, Uncle Tom and I) took off to go to a very far place to see fireflies. The place was a swamp. Mama, Auntie Susan and I sat on the same Sampan ( a Malay word for a rowboat) to see the fireflies. At first, I was scared as it was total darkness and I thought that there were crocodiles in the swamp because my friend said that there were a lot of crocs there.

Just at that point, I conquered many fears, First, my fear of being on a boat, Second, my fear of crocs, Third, my fear of darkness.

Later, we went for dinner at a seafood restaurant where there were a lot of bugs. Some of the bugs went into the food and drinks. A lot of the bugs went on me!

After a long trip back to home, I finally reached home at started writing today's blog.

Hope you like it :)