Floating On

Tell us a fun fact about yourself.
I love the Botanic Gardens—I receive callings from the birds there.

Interesting, tell us more!
It’s a divine thing, and is something that I strongly believe in. We live our life as human beings for just one reason—to love and help one another as best as we can. It’s easy to say, but very hard to do. I sometimes can’t do it, especially when I feel impatient when someone takes their own sweet time walking in front of me. But I have to train myself and tell myself that it’s not my problem, it’s theirs.

We come with nothing, and though we profit in between, we go with nothing eventually.

So what is it that guides your path in this life?
Religions are man-made, so I don’t believe in any of them. If you do, that’s okay, but I think belief is a very strong word—it means that you know for a fact that a person was there, or that something did happen, but a lot of us don’t actually know. We’re just guessing and saying that we believe.

But I do believe that there’s a sun that will rise tomorrow, and that the moon will shine this evening for sure. These are things that I believe because I see and experience them. What’s the use of praying at a temple or church or synagogue if you don’t have a pure heart? If you have a pure heart, you can pray anywhere.

Focus and be conscious of what you do and become. If you see someone, don’t judge them as a bad person too quickly, because maybe you are the bad person, so always check yourself before presenting anything to other people.

We totally respect that. As an art teacher, does this guide the kind of lessons that you teach?
Well, my drawings are all rather dark, and my body is filled with art like that, but I teach preschoolers, so I like to impart a lot of happy stuff to them.

Did you design your own tattoos?
They’re my ideas, but my friend tattoos them. He’s Cantonese, just like me. I’m actually from Hong Kong but I’ve been here for many, many years. I even joined the Singapore Army and became a citizen here.

A fellow Singaporean! What else do you enjoy in life?
I like exploring different kids of music. I think Bob Marley is a person that spreads love, so I really like his teachings. And also master Bruce Lee.

You know, you cannot change the world if you cannot first change yourself. A lot of people think that they’re just a speck, but it’s not true. We do so many different things each day, and each one makes a difference to the world, even if it’s just picking up litter—the road can’t speak, otherwise it would thank you. I hope that more people will understand this theory eventually.

It seems everything in life leads back to your guiding principals—when or how did you gain this enlightenment?
It just happened. This kind of teaching, there’s no calling, really. If your heart isn’t pure, this teaching won’t come. If you’re always thinking of entertainment, fashion, going out, and doing things that you don’t need to do, it won’t make you happy. It will just cloud your mind.

I used to be the PR manager of Zouk, so I came from nightlife, but now, my head is almost clear. That kind of lifestyle isn’t suitable in the long-run. Now, I’m married, and my wife and I are quite estranged so we don’t really talk much, but we have a daughter and have to take care of her. So maybe she is my calling, you know? I had to wake up and change my life for her, and now she’s Secondary 3.

Every day that you’re alive, try to thank the sun and everything you know, that you’re able to breathe another day. I’m thankful for the small things. I don’t need big things to be thankful. If you want to have big meals and live like a king, you’ll have to pay the karma eventually. You might get gout or all those strange diseases coming up.

So I say, if you can go vegetarian, then go vegetarian, but if you can’t, then eat some meat, but at least 70% of your food should be wet. Don’t eat dry, fried food, or sodas and all that. Beer is actually good if you have one can a day.