Wise sharing...Happiness

Happiness is within oneself. Seeking it outside is like a fish in water. It is there and yet you do not see.

Happiness bought with money is only temporary.

Some time we do not feel happy but still we can give happiness to others.

How can you be happy when you keep thinking you are unhappy?

Simple thing makes simple people happy.

Happiness is not money but without money you can be unhappy.

If you built your happiness on others sorrows, how long can your happiness last?

We always say we want to be happy but when we are blessed with happiness, we do not know how to keep it.

You think happiness is fame and fortune but when you have fame and fortune, you will still feel unhappy because you want more.

Some think that Happiness is Love...it is not.

Happiness cannot be given, you owned it and you decide whether you want to let it surfaced.

Fools go around begging people to give them happiness. How can someone give you something that is inside you?

To me...

Happiness is sleep to 10am in the morning and not to worry about getting up to go to work.
Happiness is to curl up on a sofa with a cup of coffee and reading a book.
Happiness is humming a tune while trimming my plants.
Happiness is meeting friends and enjoying a meal together.
Happiness is being with myself.

I was at Pattaya in Thailand. After arriving it was 5pm in the evening. I took a stroll along the beach and realized that there was no one else there but me alone. I sat down and look out at the sea. I thought I saw a few sailboats racing around but they were no where to be seen. When I focus on the serenity around me and the peaceful sea, suddenly I was hit with a weird feeling. It was very deep, a little frightening but slowly this feeling turned into bliss. I realized that I just experienced SOLITUDE. I had the beach and the whole wide sea in front of me to myself. I am alone and yet I am not lonely. I was smiling and I am not aware of it. Friends said I have happiness written all over my face. They were curious what happened. I realized I can only show them happiness expressed on my face but I am not able to explain. Will they know when I tell them about SOLITUDE and BLISS? SOLITUDE is a very powerful feeling and BLISS starts from deep inside you. You have to experience it to know. So with these two feelings, HAPPINESS surfaced. Such feelings lasted for a long , long...time.

So HAPPINESS comes when you least expected it to.

Pain...

A few years had passed but I did not forget the pain a friend had experienced. She is no longer around. I know she did not want to leave. She was only 35.






Pain...
was the day we broke up
It was the day I knew I had cancer
and
I was waiting for death
You were like cancer cells
spreading all over me
In every cells and every part of me

Pain...
was nothing that you can imagine
that I had to leave you
and
I am unwilling to do so
can you imagine every cells
experienced pain
when I thought of you ?

Pain...
every second, every minute
I reminded myself
that whatever there was between us
was over
the immense pain made me wish
that I had the courage to
expire immediately

Pain...
because I did not want to be
a burden to you
and
I can only drugged myself with
liquor to numb myself
temporarily
but
only temporally

Pain...
was to leave you with pain
Many years after
when you remember me
Will you still feel the
heart stinging pain?
Maybe
because I am someone of the past

Pain...
to me was 'I only live Once'
and
'I only love once'
Like a rainbow
it was over in seconds
with pain spreading all
over my body like
cancer cells....

There was no past
no present
and no future....

Good-bye!

First diaster of 2010

As we moved into 2010, I said earlier that I am afraid that Mother Nature will be expressing more of her anger. In recent years we saw Tsunami that hit Asia, Cyclone that hit Myanmar, Earthquake that hit Sizchuan and now Earthquake that hit Haiti.

Reports said that a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti took an estimated 200,000 lives. Again an unexpected event shook the world. This earthquake took away so many precious lives and love ones from the surface of the earth, leaving so many homeless and heartbroken.

While countries stepped up to the calls for assistance with monies and assistance, there are those that work tirelessly to recover as many lives as they can. While the seconds and minutes tickle away, chances of recovering the people caught beneath all the rambles get lesser and lesser. I salute the people, organizations and medical people that work at the fastest and best speed to save as many lives as possible. I saw with heart warming joy when the rescue team pulled out a little child. I read with pain that because of the earthquake, the hospital is down with electricity. I sigh because people became frantic and irrational when rushing for food and water. There are more casualties. Looters took opportunities of the diaster and started looting when the military and police are busy saving lives. I cannot imagine people's hearts are so selfish that they took such ruthless way to get rich.

As I watched the news update, it brought tears to my eyes. People need help and so many places were affected and everything is in a mess, how to help all at once. No matter how desperate, help can only be available with limited hands.

We are so helpless against Mother Nature. When she wields her anger, wind howls, sea roars,earth cracked and people die. Only the recent years that all these are becoming more apparent. Has all these got something to do with all the harm we did to Mother Nature? Mother Nature is changing herself. The landscape is changing, weather changes, plants changed, animals extinct and some funny animals will appear (as it did after Tsunami because some new seas creatures and fishes surfaced), people are changing too. I read with much regret that some big power do not care much about the calls for Green.

Buddha taught impermanence. If the world need to change, it will. If the world need to clean up, she will. It is just something which is gradually happening. I am no psychic. Look around us. Sadden by the event, I can only direct my prayers to those unfortunate that they rest in peace. To those alive, may they have the strengthen to go on living, and now living with meaning and love.

I got an email from Blogger Unite however there are no collection of funds by any organization here in Singapore for Haiti. I wanted to donate to Doctors without Boarder but they do not accept direct donations from Singapore. I will have to assist in some other way.

Ohm Mani Padme Hum

Life journey...

Where did I come from?
Who am i?
How is it that there is me?
What make the start of me?

Since I first became
I started a journey
I traveled far and wide
I experienced good and bad
I wondered in the Realms of
God and Man
Hungry ghost and animals
And did I roast in Hell?

To have this precious perfect body
Complete with full faculties
Living in the time and the land
Where a Buddha had arrived
To drink his nectar of Teachings
To know HIM, listen to HIM
Ponder on HIS words,
Bathe in HIS compassion

I have myself to thank
With HIS guidance
I know where I want to go
My final destination
But
Not my final resting place
When HE relentlessly give us a GPS
There are the Bodhisattva who
Work tirelessly, unselfishly showing
Us the WAY

I have wondered in Samsara
And dust and dirt
have thicken my mirror
I no longer remember how I look like
But my ears are not deaf
Therefore
now I take a piece of cloth
Diligently rubbing the mirror
Knowing one day I will
See the real ME

From now to than
I will still stray when
Encountering Samsaric landscapes
They are alluring,
hypnotically beautiful
But they are not real
I may wondered off

BUT I must not lose my VIEW,
my GPS and my Bodhicitta
or else I will lost my way
Oh! Lotus Borned,
show me the way
Oh! the Compassionate Ones
Pull me back when I strayed

Until I reach my final destination
May my wondering in Samsara be
In the Human Realm
Born into Good family
and in a blessed land where
Buddha’s Dharma is easily available
True Buddha ‘s Sangha is easily available
Place of Practice is easily available

I wish and pray, not just for myself
But for all Sentient, Infinite beings too
That we reach the shore of liberation
And suffer no more

Namo Buddhaya

...Lian/ 2010

Words of the Teachers...

I am reading a book "The Words of my Perfect Teacher" from Patrul Rinpoche. This book is important to practicing student as we always forget how be a student. We always have our own perception as to what we understand and it may not be right. Many twist the Teacher's teachings to their own advantage. Therefore I want to share some excerpts as a reminder to myself.

1) Five Wrong Ways of Remembering
Avoid remembering the words but forgetting the meaning.
Or remembering the meaning but forgetting the words.
Avoid remembering both but with no understanding.
Remembering them out of order, or remembering them incorrectly.

2) The Six Stains
Pride, lack of faith and lack of effort;
Outward distraction, inward tension and discouragement.

3) Triple Gems
Teacher is the Buddha, the Teacher is the Dharma,
The Teacher is also the Sangha.
The Teacher is the one who accomplishes everything.
The Teacher is Glorious Vajradhara.

4) Listening to Teachings
Take the lowest seat.
Cultivate the dignified bearing of thorough discipline.
With your eyes brimming with Joy.
Drink in the (Teacher) words like nectar.
And be completely concentrated.

5) The Teacher
In the beginning, skillfully examine the Teacher;
In the middle, skillfully follow him;
In the end, skillfully emulate his realization and action.
A disciple who does that is on the authentic path.

6) Death & Karma
When the moment comes to leave, O King
Neither possessions, friends nor family can follow.
But wherever beings come from, wherever they go
Their actions follows them like their own shadow.

These are some of the wisdom to contemplate on. To know more, probably have to read the whole book.

Beginning of the year 2010

I have been wondering what to post for the start of a decade. I am very laid back now that I have resigned from my job. Not that I am rich, I do need to survive but again enough is enough.

I was talking to some friends and we agreed that an ending of a decade will surely brings about unfortunate happenings. Many people felt that crossing a decade is like a 'walk-over', simple as that. For all that, they did not realized that it needs merits to be able to walk-over. Many did not 'walk-over', their lives ended in 2009.

2009 is an eventful year. The unexpected happened. The Earthquake in Sichuan carved-in swallowed thousands of families, homes and love ones...buried alive. Is there an incident like this one before? And again because of this incident, you saw the 'humane' side of people, people have not lost the pure side of themselves totally...they still have it and that is COMPASSION. You saw people helping children which is not their own but lost their own children in the disaster. You saw teachers, rushing children to safety and lost their own lives, you saw parent scarifying their own lives by using their bodies to shelter their child from falling stones and collapsing ground, you saw the World responds to this...is there a different in skin colors?, in religion?, in countries? NO, because all our blood are red and it is warm.

In India, we saw the Mumbai shooting. Again we saw the 'humane' side of people. Hotel staff trying to save the lives of their guests hide them but they themselves lost their lives. These are the heroes, not the people who are out to take people lives. I really do not know what is it that these Mad people wanted out of the World. Justice? Fairness? Religion? How can all these evil acts win anyone over to their sides? How can we trust ourselves to a group of mad people who used cruelty. The World is such a big place, Gaia had her own cleaning system. Those who killed others will be killed. Killing innocent people can go to Heaven? That must be a pretty chaotic Heaven. I don't want to be there.

We saw the passing of Michael Jackson. Unfortunate but real. Many of us grow up with his music. His dances and songs bring comfort to million, it even gives livelihood to many. His love and support for the unfortunate and nature, can all these be fake? People are cruel and selfish. When he is down, who is besides him? Where is his family? Where are his friends? What do people want from him....MONEY! When he passed on, everyone come together to pay their respect...to me it is pretty fake. Said all the nice things about him...to be frank, I watch the whole telecast with disgust. People calling him a fake, pick all the faults they can find in him, call him all kind of names...so who is fake? The saga will not end here. I pity his children. I think MJ cares most is his children, they are his comfort in time of adversities. It is a pity but MJ is no longer around to protect them from this fake World.

The crushed of the financial market caused so many people to be out of jobs. Who suffers? The people at the top? NO, of course the lower level staff. If anyone is to be axed, it had to be the staff, the people on top will not axed themselves. I think my parents will never imagine that the World can go bankrupt. How did it happened? People spent money before they can even make them...all the old schools of 'spend within your means' are shear old-fashioned. Now people are in debt, banks continue to create more opportunities for people to own credit cards and more borrowing, more debts. Spending is the only way to revoke the economy, but no job how to spend?

2010 is the start again of a new decade. What is in stored? The World is what we make it to be and we will see more mad people going around taking innocent lives and we will see more disasters, Global warming? some think it is too far away for now and others think that it is the job of some others. By end of 2010, we will see our scores. Meantime I will continue to pray, and many others too are praying for World peace and the safety of all Beings.

Have a Safe 2010.