My topic of inquiry for the fellow students of 8th graduation class of
It emotional because, in half a century of life, filled with love, anger, sadness and happiness, how many names can we still remember? How many faces can we still recall? In the ephemeral and changing impermanent world, 50 years in the context of a short lifespan, can be seen as a long river.
At the anniversary celebration hall, meeting friends and classmates who I have not seen for 50 years, is a happy event. It invoked “we thought we would never see one another again” happiness in us (indeed, some of our classmates have already passed away). We are very grateful to the organizing committee who brought us this historic event, creating for us this opportunity to meet.
Recently in the 2nd edition of the alumni newsletter, I read about the thankgiving story of schoolmate Kwang Yen. The noble bare-foot monk helped her sickness and yet never asked anything for himself, is deeply touching.
Gratitude, expressing from the bottom of our hearts what we most sincerely cherish and respect as well as our blessings; Gratitude, makes our spirit graceful; Gratitude, is friendship and brotherhood.
I encourage everyone to live with the attitude of gratitude. Deal with your family, life partner, siblings, relatives and friends with heartfelt gratitude. It is a privilege to have them in your life. Buddhists said ten years of cultivation brings shared journeys; hundreds years, shared lives as spouse; and thousands years, blood relationships. Therefore we should cherish the relationships that fate brought us. Live with each other with the attitude that start from tolerance, temperance, forgiveness… … to letting go, acceptance and contentment, (see notes below) otherwise know as the attitude of gratitude.
Due to the lack of gratitude, families strife leads to the loss of harmony and tenderness; couples became estranged or divorced; siblings cannot get along and became strangers to each other; relatives and friends turned into bitter enemies and hurt one another…
Gratitude – nurture and inform our lives. In expressing gratitude with our daily words and actions, we elevate our inner spirit.
When you awake in the morning, and find that you can move, walk, take care of yourself… be happy. That attitude is nurturing, it is also of gratitude.
Let us cultivate that attitude!
Klang, 2 September 2009
Notes (Only a short description for mutual exploration)
Tolerance: Tolerate even in difficult situations, learn to accept defeat, accept being number two, and you will be rewarded well. As the saying goes – holding back momentary leads to long term peacefulness.
Temperance: In any matters which you are not happy with, do not anger, blame or betray.
Forgiveness: Don’t be harsh and petty. Go easy on others when they made mistakes. Some said, forgiving others is an act of self-love.
Letting go: Once it is settled, let it be. A heart without lingering resentments is the freest.
Acceptance: For events that have happened and things that you can’t change, accept them.
Contentment: Cherish the moment. In all matters, step back to reconsider, happiness will follow.
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