Debby Ang (傳恩),
Coordinator , Secretarial Section

Debby describes how she discovered Ocean Sky: “One time in 2010, my sister Beryl and I were on our way to the Beijing Tong Ren Tang (北京同仁堂) building and saw this Buddhist monastery across the street. Beryl suggested we go take a look. We ended up staying the whole day. It was really serendipitous.”

Long before she stepped into Ocean Sky, Debby has been a practicing Buddhist and a vegetarian for 23 years. Starting in 2011, Debby and Beryl regularly attended meditation classes while also volunteering as acolytes. Because of their fine penmanship and attention to details, the two sisters were soon recruited to write entries in tablets, the sheer number of which sometimes couldn’t be finished till the wee hours of the morning for days on end.

As the secretarial coordinator, Debby is a hard worker and does not pick her chores. She comes to the monastery almost everyday, and works into the night, oftentimes staying overnight. When asked if she gets exhausted with so many things on her plate, Debby said she is happy to serve and is filled with Dharma joy. Indeed, we see her still smiling, even after a long day at the computer doing meticulous encoding work.

Due to her diligence, Debby was soon ready for the Lay Bodhisattva Precepts which she took in Chung Tai in 2011, together with seven other practitioners. She describes her divine experience vividly: “When the moment came to offer myself with utmost sincerity to Buddha, I did not even feel the slightest twinge from the burning incense. At that moment, I just experienced sheer Dharma joy from the purest feeling which came over me.”

Debby has since gotten rid of many attachments. She said: “I now constantly remind myself to treat the precepts as my teacher, and use them as regulators in my daily life.” Truly, Debby is one best example on how to practice the bodhisattva way.