"When facing difficulties, look into the mirror. There lie the cause and the solution." - Taoist quote

I've decided to start blogging and to share my opinions, views and tidbits of life with everyone. Actually, today (Friday), i was forced to sail (initially i had a training session ashore) because there was a senior officer, LTC Karuna, who wanted to sail onboard. He and his team wanted to find out on how to improve the training for OUTs (Officer Under Training, something like housemanship for doctors, apprentice, on job training) like me. Basically, he observed what I did (or did not do) during the sailing (which was a precious training opportunity), and interviewed me on how best to improve the training. Especially in the leadership aspect.

Well, most of the stuff he brought up was very cheem. But one important point was highlighted. While there was so much that he and his team could do (oh. forgot to mention, LTC Karuna is head of a branch/section called Leadership Development), the onus of learning and training is in the OUTs themselves. The onus of getting feedback for improvement lies with oneself. How true this is!

Hence, the title of my blog. Mao's Mirror. My mirror! It is not about letting see how my life is, but more importantly, for me to look at myself in retrospect! This is appropriately summarized in the quote at the beginning of this entry. And yet, this is the point that most of us often overlook. However, LTC Karuna commented that, the fact that "one should change oneself first" is the one fact which is common in most self-help literature.

In addition, this is closely related to the concept of cause-and-effect in Buddhism. In Buddhism, we learn about the idea of inherent and external causes. Nicheren Daishonin (or is it someone else) illustrates this idea as follows:

"Imagine a cup of water with sediments at the bottom. When we shake the cup, the water becomes murky. We ask ourselves, why is the water murky. More often than not, we say that it is because we shook the bottle. However, there is another cause - which are the sediments that was in the cup."

Here, the action of shaking the bottle is the external cause, and the sediments at the bottom is the inherent cause is the sediments. It seems that we have a tendency to overlook inherent causes and focus our attention to prevent external causes. When in fact, addressing the inherent causes provides a lasting solution. If we had cleared the cup of the sediments, then any shaking will not make the water murky.

Therefore, here is my effort to clear the murky waters surrounding me of sediments. Hopefully, through these reflections, I am able to stand up to face my weaknesses and defeat them. Indeed, face the cause and implement the solution. Han Mao, you must JIAYOU!!