Nestor nestor nesTor. It was a truly incredible day for me and I guess the same for the entire of SWE too. I have heard so much about him, and yes, I finally met him.

After my school band rehearsal, I rushed over to our HQ at Tampines, there was going to a jazz masterclass. There are not many jazz flautist mind you, and I am not going to give this up for anything. Anyway, due me being tied up at my school band, I was late for an hour. When I reach there, lucky for me, they had just started, but I missed the gongyo part.

The masterclass was unlike what I had imagined it to be. It was not so much of technical stuffs and all that, instead he talked to us about music. Its 1am in the morning so I guess I just zoom in on one part. Hui Ling had asked about becoming a musician. Nestor without much thought, responded with a "NO". This can be quite a shock for some, but he then explain that having a career in music would be tough. There is the three intents which he formulated. First intent, You are playing because you love music so much that You must play it, then the second is that you wish for fame, money, to play on a stage, and the third would be that you feel that you have a special talent in this area, and you would like to hone it and share with others.

In reality, all these would be hard to satisfied. Being a musician would often mean having an unstable income, as jobs opportunities flutuates and even if there is one, it might not be paid satisfactorily. There are so many stories of music majors who after graduating, took up a career in a totally different disciplinary, and those who stay on, often have to take up many jobs just to make ends meet. Also having in the music industry, its a pool of people who are waiting to fulfill their creative urges and all of them have really wonderful ideas, so there always come to point where ideas crash, there is always a probability that the talent that you possess is not stretched to its limit or that you are simply not recognised. All these would lead to a point, where there is simply not just pure music in the world, but only business of music. You realised that all you want to do is just to play music, but life is not that simple.

Nestor told us a story, about Robert Dick if I am not wrong. At the time when he was still a student, he was studying under the principal flautist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It was a point when he was choosing a new school to advance his studies. He was accepted to both schools, I can't remember both, anyway, one was offering a broad studies besides music, they are required to take humanities, like literature, history, geography etc. While the other one is a music conservatory. And so he was encouraged to go for the former one. Not because his teacher wanted him to have another discipline of studies in case he did not succeed in music and can get another job, but rather, to strengthen his chance of surviving and succeeding in music in future. Music is really life, especially in this era, where change is so apparent. The best musicians would be the most flexible and most abled in adapting to his environment. Most of the time, musician would have known a wide variety of skills, maketing, advertising, human relations, time management, financing... Also, it is important what your music is saying, what message is being conveyed, is there a purpose?

Before the actual concert in the evening, we did a half hour gongyo and when up to perform. He was really a very good player, both confident and also charismatic. I would just leave an excerpt from a guidance by president Ikeda at the 46th Soka Gakkai Headquaters Leaders Meeting.

"The mentor- disciple relationship is the essence of Buddhism. Dedicated to upholding the correct teaching, the mentor battles the three powerful enemies and, amid various obstacles, strives to widely propagate the Mystic Law without begrudging his life, just as the Lotus Sutra teaches. It is the mission of the disciples, therefore, to rigorously protect their mentor and to confront and defeat opponents on their mentor's behalf. It is also important that the disciples propagate Buddhism in the same spirit as their mentor. This is the meaning of the oneness of mentor and disciple. In the light of Buddhism, those who faithfully follow the path of mentor and disciple throughout their lives will flourish- as will the lives of their descendents into the endless future."

"The foundation of Soka education rests on the steadfast path of mentor and disciple. It is nourished by the beautiful lifeblood of mentor and disciple. This was the answer I arrived at after visiting Soka University and the Soka School system in Japan to find out how they were able to produce such wonderful students."
- Fujian teachers University Vice president Zheng Tishu