How I learnt about Buddhism

I was born in a family where my parents worship Tua Peh Kong (a dewa) and practise ancestor worship. As a boy, I prayed to the dewa and my ancestors with joss-sticks as my parents did and I had the least idea what Buddhism was all about.

When I was in secondary school, I started to take correspondence course in Christianity and nearly became a Christian if not for my parents' insistence that I left the religion because my pastor told me that I had to gave up praying to my ancestors. That ended my connection with Christianity.

It was in Sungai Petani that I shared a house with Tan Dek, an officer of the Ministry of Agriculture. He is a staunch Buddhist and through him, I began to get acquainted with Buddhism. I read a lot of pamphlets and booklets which he gave me about various aspects of Buddhism. After that I began to take a correspondence course in Buddhism in English as most of the terms in Chinese were incomprehensible to me.

My preoccupation now is listening to dharma talks by monks through DVD's and VCD's. I can understand Buddhism better through the mouths of these monks who relate Buddhism with life. Looking at their serene faces give me a sense of inner peace.

I try my best to walk the Buddha's path by practising the teachings of the Buddha which can be summarised as 'Do all the good and avoid all the evil deeds'.