Lee Hsien Loong's eulogy to LKY, on meditation

(Please forgive the quality and background noise; I screen-recorded this part of the speech from Channel Newsasia's Youtube screening of Lee Kuan Yew's funeral.)

Transcript taken from Channel Newsasia.


"After my first wife Ming Yang died, my parents suggested that I tried meditation. They gave me some books to read, but I did not make much progress. I think my father had tried it too, also not too successfully. When his teacher told him to relax, still his mind and let go, he replied: “But what will happen to Singapore if I let go?” 

 When I had lymphoma, he suggested that I try meditation more seriously. He thought it would help me to fight the cancer. He found me a teacher and spoke to him personally. With a good teacher to guide me, I made better progress. 

 In old age, after my mother died, my father started meditating again, with help from Ng Kok Song, whom he knew from GIC. Kok Song brought a friend to see my father, a Benedictine monk who did Christian meditation. My father was not a Christian, but he was happy to learn from a Benedictine monk. He even called me to suggest that I meet the monk, which I did. He probably felt I needed to resume meditation too. 

And to give you some context, this was a few months after the 2011 General Election. I was nearing 60 by then, and he was nearly 90. But to him I was still his son to be worried over, and to me he was still a father to love and appreciate, just like when I was small. 

 So this morning, before the ceremony began at Parliament House, we had a few minutes. I sat beside him, and I meditated."

(pause. Lee Hsien Loong takes a drink of water. Members of the audience dry their eyes.)