Nalandian officers happily getting into the act, dressed in their 'Sunday gardening best'!

On Sunday 14 September, devotees gathered in strength at Nalanda Centre for our annual ‘Community Gardening Day’.  Every year close to ‘Malaysia Day’, Nalandians and the surrounding community would work together to clean and green the Sri Serdang neighbourhood. This is one of our efforts to commemorate the country’s founding day – by taking care of cleanliness in our vicinity, and to plant suitable local trees and shrubs to create a better environment for everyone.

The day began at 9am with chanting and a brief but insightful Dhamma teaching by Bro. Tan, who spoke about the similarities between cultivating plants and cultivating one’s character – both of which need careful tending in order to develop healthily.

‘Gardener-in-chief’ Bro. Vincent Lee briefing everyone on the tasks of the day.

‘Gardener-in-chief’ Bro. Vincent Lee then gave everyone a briefing on the tasks to be performed, followed by the formation of 5 work groups.  However, nature had other plans that day as it started to rain heavily at 10am!  The downpour did not dampen the ‘gotong-royong’ spirit though.  Instead, everyone just shifted their attention indoors, and we had almost sixty people cleaning out Nalanda Centre thoroughly.  This place had not been so clean for months!

(From the left frame) Bro. Jason Lim, Bro. Disheng, and Bro. Andrew Tan.

When the rain eventually stopped after lunch, devotees tried to catch up with time with some outdoor gardening especially around Nalanda House.  It was truly a wet but wonderful communal gardening day as everyone got close to nature, and to each other as one community.  Thanks to all fantastic volunteers for helping out enthusiastically last Sunday! Sadhu anumodana.

We thank all volunteers for your enthusiastic spirit and a meaningful day of community service!