Duration | 2:03
Lotus Sutra Adaptation: Overcoming All Uncertainties with a Determined Mind
During the nine months of preparation for the global sutra adaptation of the Lotus Sutra, the planning and performance teaching team in Singapore faced various uncertainties. There were still some last-minute changes one month before the actual day of the sutra adaptation, but everyone stood firm to their resolution and helped each other to complete the sutra adaptation. Due to the repeated practising and rehearsals in the past few months, the Dharma teachings have subtly permeated the hearts of the participants.
The global sutra adaptation of the Lotus Sutra is now in its counting-down stage, with more than 700 volunteers in Singapore ready to go.
Sutra adaptation performance volunteer teacher：Two, three, kneel. Stretch to the front.
As the sutra adaptation will be performed simultaneously with those in Kaohsiung Arena in Taiwan, communication is a challenge.
Sutra adaptation performance planning team member, Goh Soo Wai: The formation and the number of people have been changed at least five times. The biggest challenge happened a month ago when Taiwan changed the date of the session. There were two to three meetings at that time. Everyone wanted to make the session on Friday night a success, so they gathered volunteers from all four zones, making it the session with the most participants.
Three weeks before the official performance, the original repertoire was replaced and participants had to relearn the steps. However, everyone remained calm in the face of such abrupt change.
Sutra adaptation performance planning team member, Goh Soo Wai: No one wanted to cancel it. Everyone is keen to perform. We want to make it happen for them, that's why we added another song. Everyone managed to memorise the hand gestures very fast in just three weeks.
Sutra adaptation performance volunteer teacher, Tey Ju Nie: What I thought of the most at that moment was not my own afflictions but how to calm the volunteers in the community. Dharma practice is not limited to learning the sign language and reciting scriptures, but also in handling the uncertainties in the process.
Tzu Chi volunteer, Goh Eng Siew: My favourite phrase which I find it most useful is “let go of all that are hard to let go”. We might feel that we have given up a lot, but the abnegation that Buddha talked about, the state of being able to fully let go is what we get to ponder through sutra adaptation.
It is an extraordinary opportunity to perform sutra adaptation simultaneously with volunteers in Taiwan and the five continents. The most precious of all is the purification of the mind and making the Dharma assembly a success with Samadhi and gratitude.
