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◎Wendi Chan
Starting from when I was a child, I had to go to a monastery every Saturday with my mother.
There, I learned about a very spiritual place - CTTB, where everyone cultivates and every
student is studious and angelic. I constantly heard compliments about this place, and my
curiosity was aroused. Home was a horrible environment, and so I used the stress of
living there as a reason to come to CTTB, the farthest place away from my parents. They'd
heard that CTTB was a wonderful place, but they gave me the green light reluctantly.
Being used to city life, I thought CTTB would be very restricted, because I'd heard about some of the rules before I came. I thought it
would be like a modern prison. I was wrong. This place is like a prison, but it definitely isn't modern. My parents always talked about
how hard their lives were when they were young and technology didn't exist. I said I understood them, but I actually never did
until I came to CTTB.
Making the decision to come to here changed my life. I never expected myself to be in a
unisex school. The reason that convinced me was the lack of distractions caused by the
other gender. Being in an all-girls school taught me many values that I would never have
learnt if I'd stayed in a co-ed school. In DVGS, I met many different kinds of people
from all around the world. Life is very different when a lot of international people
live together under one roof. The obligation to follow the fixed schedule of his place
guided me along, as I came here with horrible time management. Though I still have bad time
management, the schedule makes my life a lot neater.
When many girls live together in a dorm, the unexpected happens. Not everyone gets along,
and we have to deal with problems ourselves. This is something that we all have to live
with and learn from. When people of different backgrounds and different cultures work
together, conflicts inevitably result. These conflicts construct a better me. I have to
crawl up a tall ladder to get over all the friction I'm experiencing, but at the end of
my hard work, I've polished myself to a shine. These lessons cannot be found anywhere – not
in public schools, and definitely not at home. At home, one is protected from the pain of the
outside world.
Working in the Dining Hall and doing all sorts of community service (such as recycling and
washing the kitchen) are things that I would never do if it wasn't for this place, which
has allowed me to try out many new activities.
Thinking about it, CTTB, a place for cultivation, created opportunities for me to
get dirty, work in the farm, and usher for events like Honoring Elders Day, Buddha's
Birthday, Shi Fu's Nirvana Day and such. These are activities that I don't usually have a
chance to even get close to. I cannot say that I am a volunteer in CTTB because I'm obliged
to be part of most of these activities, but it's the activities that we volunteer in that
allow us to stand out. Living a city life, I wouldn't even volunteer. Here, I learned that
volunteering means to help without expecting anything in return, to contribute to the
society solely from the bottom of one's heart.
Where would anyone get to see a community where everyone is so close to each other like
a family? Where would you find a community where so many people willingly volunteer on a
daily basis? Where would anyone see such big pots and so much food cooked daily? Where
would anyone see peacocks crying out loud daily at random times and running around
freely in any neighborhood? This place is like no other. We work in our own community, not
depending on anyone else. People who live in CTTB often think: if I don't do it, who will?
Whereas in any city, the citizens depend on street cleaners to keep the environment clean.
Seeing trash on the ground, no one would even bother to pick it up; but here, everyone does
their part to keep the grounds clean.
With the daily ceremonies, I've learnt to reflect on myself. Before, I never stopped to
wonder I was behaving the way I should. Here, I've learned that everything I do affects the
people around me, and I often stop and reflect on my actions. In doing so, I see how I've
changed through the years. Coming to this place definitely made a great impact in my
life. I've done so many things I never thought I would. Being mesmerized by city life, I only
saw the superficial part of life. I never saw life raw.
In CTTB, life is raw; every day, I experience hardships through the labor and interactions
with people. Life is not perfect, but it is a long road that everyone has to walk on,
overcoming all the obstacles that come along the way. Being in CTTB gave me the chance to
experience the difficult part of life; it allowed me to realize that life doesn't always
run the way we want it to, even though our fates lie in our hands.
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