Former gang member Tay Teck Seng got connected with Tzu Chi Singapore while helping to tend to the greenery around its premises. Photo by Chan May Ching
Tzu Chi volunteer, Tay Teck Seng, bears a round, clean shaven face with an equally round and shiny scalp, which makes his thick eyebrows even more prominent on his face. Slightly over 1.5m tall, with a ready smile for everyone and a kind countenance, Tay quietly made his presence felt around Tzu Chi’s Jing Si Hall eleven years ago in 2006.
Back in that year, he had spied the Chinese characters “靜思堂” (Jing Si Hall) between two high-rise condominium blocks that are located opposite the Hall’s building, from the vantage point of the balcony of his son’s apartment. He found the words “Jing Si” rather interesting, but had no idea what the organisation was all about. It was only later when he learned that his wife’s uncle was working as the night-time security guard of Jing Si Hall that he walked into the premises out of curiosity.
From then onwards, he started making frequent visits to Jing Si Hal to chat with the uncle, and even helped him with gardening tasks, such as watering the plants and pruning the leaves. The surrounding greenery allowed him opportunities to unleash his gardening skills.
When he knew that Tzu Chi was actively promoting environmental protection, he began to collect recyclable items from the void decks of condominium and HDB blocks. He would inspect and repair various items, such as fans and table lamps, so as to give the items a new lease of life.
Later, as his wife’s uncle was reaching retirement age, he worried about the well-being of the shrubs and trees in the absence of someone caring for them, and earnestly exhorted Tay to take care of the plants on his behalf. Tay took on the task without hesitation. He laboured quietly, until he was discovered after a long period of time, by a Tzu Chi volunteer.
“Brother, are you a grass cutter?”
Lim Chwee Lian, a Tzu Chi commissioner and volunteer leader, saw Tay working under the hot sun one day, and invited him inside the Jing Si Hall to have a rest and a drink. Through their conversation, she found out that he had never entered Jing Si Hall by himself.
“I am a rough person who speaks loudly, and have a bad temper. When I see the polite and quiet demeanor of everyone (Tzu Chi volunteers) here, I dare not enter,” said Tay.
Lim gave him a short tour around the Hall and introduced Tzu Chi to him, thus starting his affinity with Tzu Chi.
Tay Teck Seng dearly loves and cherishes the greenery surrounding the Jing Si Hall and works hard at tending them, deriving much joy from his work. Photo by Lim Chwee Lian
Striving for Survival Away From Home
Tay Teck Seng was born in 1949 in Kinmen, Taiwan, and the Tay clan was a prominent family locally. In that same year, the communists took over rule of Mainland China, forcing the defeated Kuomingtang party members to flee to Taiwan. Tay recalled: “At the time, Kinmen was engaged in a war. The communists bombed Kinmen almost daily, causing rampant panic among its people, and life was really hard then.”
When he was only 8 years old, Tay’s parents decided to uproot the whole family with their five children and move southward to Singapore. Singapore in the 1950s was still a British colony. There was widespread poverty and the majority of the people had little or no education.
After Tay Teck Seng and his family landed in Singapore, they made several moves within Singapore, before finally settling in Bukit Ho Swee. Bukit Ho Swee at that time was a slum area comprising simple and crude attap houses, and most of the residents there were low income families. It was an often chaotic area where triads ran rampant, with frequent gang clashes and fierce fighting.
As such, the youthful Tay Teck Seng grew up in such a complicated environment. Unlike many of his impoverished peers, he was still able to go to school and receive a primary school education. However, he had to wake up at 4am every day, to collect snacks at the neighbourhood market and go to the housing estate in Tiong Bahru to sell the snacks from door-to-door, as a means to supplement the family’s meagre income.
Not long after, a huge fire broke out in Bukit Ho Swee, and their home was also destroyed in the fire. In the midst of the chaos, Tay only managed to salvage his savings bank and his mother’s sewing machine, while everything else was reduced to ashes. In the aftermath of the great fire, he and his family were temporarily homeless, and his education was interrupted. Subsequently, he decided to stop school altogether.
During those tumultuous times, gang activity was rampant. There was a Teochew gang in Teochew Street, while in Chinatown along Toufu Street, there was a Cantonese gang, and Amoy Street was ruled by the Hokkien gang.
Tay, who had stopped schooling in his youth, was influenced to join a gang as well. He often took the lead in negotiating with other gangs, and fights often broke out between gangs after only one disagreement. While engaging in fights, he had been injured by broken glass, and these violent encounters have left many epic scars on his body.
“Although we fought frequently, we never engaged in serious crimes like peddling drugs or robberies. But sometimes we would eat at a stall without paying for our food!” he said with a laugh.
Gaining Fame and Fortune at the Expense of Health
After leaving school at the age of 13, Tay first worked as a waiter for a noodle stall, before leaving two years after to become an apprentice in a popular Teochew restaurant. As he was industrious and hungry for knowledge, he was slowly promoted to be a kitchen helper, before becoming the chef.
After many years of training, he accumulated great skills in the culinary craft, and decided to set up his own stir fry stall in a hawker centre. He took charge of the kitchen, while his wife, Zhang Yu Ying, took care of serving the customers. His primary forte was in preparing seafood dishes, and soon his business started booming. Many customers patronized his stall because of his increasing fame as a great chef. Thus, he attained considerable fame and fortune for himself.
In order to cater for the growing number of customers, Tay Teck Seng spent countless hours in front of a blazing hot stove, and he had to withstand the intense heat for ten or more hours each day. As it was hard-earned money, he compensated himself with lavish meals and extravagant drinking bouts. Besides consuming delicacies, he also downed many bottles of beer or spirits every day, to the point of being intoxicated. The long-term effects of these bad habits started to appear as symptoms in his body, triggering alarm bells with regards to his health. At the same time, he and his wife started having frequent fights and drifted apart from each other as a result.
“He is an impatient man,” said Zhang Yu Ying.
Looking back on those years of intense struggles, Zhang lamented: “In our quarrels, we exchanged harsh words, and sometimes even engaged in physical fights.”
In 2004, Tay started experiencing dizzy spells, and couldn’t balance himself even while standing. As the situation deteriorated, he sought treatment in a hospital, where he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis and had to be put on medication. He had no choice but to cut down on his drinking, but still couldn’t abstain totally. In the following two years, his condition deteriorated, which led him to make the decision to end his business and retire early.
In 2008, he underwent surgery to remove part of his damaged liver, and his doctor even predicted that he had only three years to live. Not Long after the surgery, he did not heed the doctor’s advice to rest and recuperate. After his wounds had healed, he returned to Jing Si Hall to tend to the plants. In 2010, he discovered that his liver had turned cancerous and had to undergo curative surgery to remove parts of his liver. Presently, he is only left with a palm-sized liver.
In 2013, Tzu Chi Singapore staged the “Dharma as Water” stage adaptation, which was based on the Chinese Buddhist text, Water Repentance, composed by Dharma Master Wu Da in the Tang dynasty of China. Tay was one of the participants of the stage adaptation. The Water Repentance verses seemed to pierce his anguished soul like water through rocks, and he often left the rehearsals deeply touched, with tears soaking his face.
“Dharma Master Wu Da had a human-faced sore on his knee due to the wrongs he did. I am really repentant of my past deeds, and now know that my illness is a karmic retribution,” he said.
The painful memories of his past filled him with remorse. With a heart set on repentance, he made a firm decision to turn vegetarian.
Although he had undergone two major surgeries within five years, Tay had proven the doctor’s morbid “prophecy” to be untrue, and even found it incredible himself. In that year, besides participating in the rehearsals, he continued to take medications, go for medical check-ups and do volunteer work. In 2016, he safely survived the eighth year since his grim prognosis.
Tay Teck Seng seizes the opportunity to do what he enjoys doing and lives each day with fulfilment. Photo by Lim Chwee Lian
In 2016, after the malignant tumor in Tay’s liver grew in size, the doctor implanted an instrument into his liver, hoping to control his condition, and even pre-empted him of the need to undergo a liver transplant.
“Over the past few years, more than half of my savings have been spent on doctors,” he said.
Tay couldn’t agree with the doctor’s suggestion of a liver transplant. The reason being, he had witnessed how his own 95-year-old mother degenerated into a vegetative state after a stroke three years ago, and had to depend on tube feeding to stay alive, thereby losing her freedom and quality of life as a living person.
“Presently, with daily medications, I am still able to come out and do many things. If I undergo a liver transplant, I’m worried about the possible side effects (and that my condition may turn for the worse).”
At 68 years old, he feels that he is no longer young, and should seize hold of the present and make every day count, as life will be more meaningful this way.
His wife also opposed the idea of a liver transplant. “His health condition, stamina, and complexion are very good, and he is able to walk, eat, and sleep. This is his greatest blessing. If he goes for the liver transplant, not only will it be costly, but the outcome is also unpredictable.”
Zhang is highly in favour of her husband’s active involvement in Jing Si Hall’s activities, and felt that it was a fulfilling and good pursuit for him.
Invaluable Experience at the Jing Si Abode
As a result of coming to Jing Si Hall daily, whether it is helping in the kitchen or doing recycling or logistical work, Tay Teck Seng always avails himself. He has even begun attending volunteers’ training. In 2016, he joined senior volunteers Tan Siew Chin and Ng Teck Guan on a trip to Tzu Chi Taiwan’s HQ, Jing Si Abode in Hualien, for volunteer work.
“I really enjoyed the life at the Abode. I went out daily to dig out stones, and they even called me a ‘Strong Man’. During my triad days, everyone addressed me as ‘Big Brother’, whereas presently in Tzu Chi, I have learned to humble myself,” shared Tay.
He was really glad that he had encountered Tzu Chi. “I want to learn how to help others; it shouldn’t be too late (to do so now),” he added.
“At first he was not concerned about his appearance, and didn’t listen to advice from others. But during the period of stay at the Abode, he could be seen putting on a neat appearance. He also decided to enroll in the volunteers’ training programme, and said that he wants to come back to obtain volunteer certification,” said Tan Siew Chin, who is also his community cluster volunteer leader.
Volunteer Ong Kim Gek, who lives in the same town as Tay Teck Seng, often invites him to attend volunteer gatherings, and is on familiar terms with him. She said, “When we first met, he spoke with a loud voice, and was highly opinionated. But now, he has learned to give in to others, and knows when an apology is needed. His voice has also softened considerably.”
Tay regards Jing Si Hall as his second home, and often volunteers to wash the external walls, entrance and so on. Before the annual bowing pilgrimage activity, he would even clean the carpark and clear the gravels on the road, so that no pilgrim’s feet would get cut by accident.
There was one occasion, he accidentally fell down after crawling into the drain to clear the mud, and ended up with a bleeding wound on his head. He didn’t mind the injury, but a volunteer on duty insisted on sending him to a hospital. It was after an X-Ray, that it was discovered, he had a minor intracranial hemorrhage and broke a few teeth. Fortunately, there was no serious injury. After the incident, he showed his mended teeth, flashing his usual simple and honest smile.
Tay had once pursued the wrong path due to the challenging circumstances in his younger days, and had developed many bad habits. Presently, in the midst of tug-of-war between life and death as well as good and evil, he feels blessed to have encountered Tzu Chi. Under the positive influence of Tzu Chi volunteers, he learns diligently and takes the opportunity to do what is necessary.
Tzu Chi volunteer, Chong Ah Yok, a retired head nurse, who took him to the hospital after he had the fall, praised him and said, “I’ve seen many people lose their will and turn depressed after an illness. Many are frightened by the disease. But Brother Tay is a role model of active service, who lives in peace in spite of his struggles with illness.”
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