Screenshots

Chief is gone, independent from this worldly world. His words and deeds shall stay eternal.

Picture courtesy Buddhist Maha Vihara

I am decanting some of his wisdom to share in our moments fo reflections.

At the Eulogy on Sunday, President of the Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia; Ir.Ang Choo Hong, recited an occassion where Chief picked up a shoe a Malay lady had dropped while she was ascending on the escalator. Chief asked her not to worry as he would give the shoe to her when reached the end of the escalator. The lady was touched as she said she wouldn't have expected a monk to pick up her shoe.

Chief told her, smilingly, that: "I picked up the shoe for you not because I am a monk. I picked it up because I am also a human being."

There is another one which I told my wife and she's equally touched. It's contained in a DVD documentary directed by Oon Yeoh and produced by True Sense Production, titled: Chief: The Life and Work of K Sri Dhammananda.

In the 90's, Chief was in Sydney to perform his heart bypass procedure. On the eve of the operation, a female hospital staff came to him with a bible, telling him it's time to take the holy communion as the operation was a major one. Chief, who was in his hospital uniform, obliged. The lady read a passage from the bible and prayed for him. Chief ended it with Amen.

Days later, a group of Malaysian students who studied at the New South Wales University heard of Chief's operation and went to visit him at the hospital. They paid him respect the Buddhist way by kneeling down, clasping palms on the bosoms. Chief was still in his hospital patient's uniform,and there was no clue to give away who he was. The lady who performed him the communion was watching, and was confused with what she saw. After realising that she had performed the communion on the Chief Monk of Malaysia and Singapore, she went to Chief to apologise.

Chief asked her: "Why do you want to apologise? You have done a good service, good intention, I really appreciate the prayer that you have done for me."

Quoting the experience, Chief said that is the attitude of Buddhism.

Chun has specially cut a Quicktime version of the segment (2.8Mb) which you can download from Screenshots. It's not about religion, but plain human esteem and human values.

You may get the DVD at the Buddhist Maha Vihara or email BuddhistChannel.tv.

* * *

Over the last few days, I have received numerous emails from devotees afar who couldn't come to KL to attend Chief's funeral, seeking my permission to use the photos in Screenshots for their blogs. Some also wanted to use the photos for their slideshows at the puja for the Chief in the coming weeks.

I am humbled that if may fine my photos useful, and please go ahead to use them without having to seek prior consent. This is one way of remembering Chief's services to the country and mankind that everyone do whenever opportunity arises.

There are aspects of the funeral which I didn't manage to capture in images. You may like to look at some other resources that our firends have compiled:
- www.oonyeoh.com
- Bugs Tan's PhotoBucket
- BuddhistChannel.tv