SEVERAL times, the monk choked back tears as he recounted his life story and the uphill task of bringing up his 'baby', Ren Ci Hospital.

It took him six years to convince his mother to let him become a monk, said Ming Yi on Tuesday.

As a young monk, he had to make ends meet by conducting funeral rites. something he disliked doing.

Then, as he was trying to fulfill a mentor's last wish for a hospital for the destitutes run by Buddhists, he had to deal with naysayers who thought the idea was too far-fetched.

'I am a Buddhist monk. The worse it is, the more I have to go into it,' said the former chief of Ren Ci Hospital.

Ming Yi, 47, was taking the stand for the first time on Tuesday in his trial for making an unauthorised $50,000 loan to his former personal aide.

Testifying in English, he spoke at length about how he came to wear the saffron robes and his journey from a novice monk to his involvement in the Singapore Buddhist Federation and the abbott of Foo Hai Ch'an monastery.

His move to fulfill the late Venerable Siong Khye's wish for a hospital started modestly enough, with a day care centre for the elderly in Yuhua.

Then came a suggestion from the ward's MP, Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, that he take over a wing in the then-Woodbridge hospital for the destitute and mentally sick.

On his first visit, he was appalled to see mostly senile patients tied to their beds and yelling at the top of their voices.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Straits Times.