New York Day of Diligence 纽约一日精进

23 Mar 08, we have a Day of Diligence. However, the location is not in Boston, but a 3.5 hours car ride in New York, Flushing. I had to wake up at 4 am in the morning and took the chance to call back home, which is 4 pm Singapore time. I got a free ride from Jiuan SX and Judy SJ, who are driving down; Vict SB and the rest drove down in another car. Frankly I was not very sleepy and did not sleep the entire ride down to New York.

零八年三月二十三日，纽约一日精进。顾名思义，地点是从波士顿三个半小时车乘的纽约，Flushing。当天，凌晨四点起身，用这难得早起的日子打电话回家，新加坡时间刚好是下午四点。之后，我坐建发师兄和小芳师姐的顺风车，其他师姑坐诗白师伯开的另一辆车。因为不是很困，我并没有睡，而是陪建发师兄一路下纽约。

Now, all I remembered about what happened in New York are, we watched a couple of videos about Master teachings, learned how to pray and bow in the correct Buddhist manner, had a fantastic lunch, tea and packed dinner, listened to several SGs and SBs who shared their experience in international relief with everybody and a SB who shared with us the importance of learning Master teaching by reading Master's diary.

我所记得发生在纽约静思堂的是，观看了两三部上人的开示与慈济的缘起、学会了诸礼佛行仪如问讯，顶礼和绕佛、用了丰富的午膳，点心和药石饭盒、听了不少师姑与师伯分享他们的国际赈灾经验以及一位师伯与大家分享读上人《衲履足迹》的重要性。

I had a good and not so good experience at New York. Before coming to the Day of Diligence, I had an issue. I was wondering how to get my mind and heart to settle down since I was getting rather restless, even when I was doing quite a bit of Tzu Chi activities. What I realized from the whole session was, I need to follow closely Tzu Chi Ten Precepts. That is the best way to calm the heart. The not so good experience was, when we were having lunch at the main hall, the noise generated from eating is too loud, we need more improvement.

在纽约静思堂，我有一个好的和一个不那么好的经历。一日精进之前，我有一个困惑。我很想知道如何让心定下来。因为我虽然参与了不少慈济活动，但是还是感觉心烦气躁。一日精进之后，我了解严守慈济十戒，是静心的最好方式。不那么好的经历是，在礼堂用午膳时所产生的噪音十分的响亮。以次来看，我们还需要多多改善。

But the thing that strikes me the most was, when I reached my dorm in the evening, a friend at the front desk asked me what I learned during the New York trip, I was at a loss of words. I told him that I learned mostly Buddhism (which is not very true). When I went upstairs and saw another friend who asked me the same question. This time I think very hard and managed to share with her what I learned about Tzu Chi relief in Bolivia, which were shared during the New York trip as well as during Master daily Puti teaching.

另一件深刻的体悟是，当晚返回宿舍时，在前台值班的朋友问我一日精进学了什么，我竟一时无言以对。我只好告诉他，我学到了大多是佛教的礼仪（不是十分真实）。后来上楼，另一位朋友也问我同样的问题。这时，我努力思考，想起了少许精进以及上人《菩提心要》的影像，便于她分享慈济在玻利维亚的赈灾活动。


This incident really let me know that I have a long way to go. I need to put in a lot more effort to understand Master's teaching in order to share them with others.

这件小事让我了解我精进的道路还有很长的一段路要走。我需要多加努力，更加了解上人的法髓，以更好地与大家共享。