A book....?

Life is like a book, you decide on the character.
All stories will come to an end.
You choose the ending...a good one or a bad one...
and it all depend how you live it out.

The next chapter of your Life is another newly written book.
You will not be the same character you were in the last.
How simple or how complicate...you want the story to be?
You weaved the ups and downs

It must be about love, desires and all worldly things
that make the character in the book exciting to read.
What if the story is devoid of hate, anger and ignorance?
The plot is no longer worth writing.
Thus the book ends here!

Don't forget that a good character will have a good ending
and
a bad one have bad ending..
but are you sure it will be that way?

In reality that is not so because the hands of Karma decides it all.

The pretty, the ugly, the so-so
The healthy, the sick
The rich, the poor and the millionaires
The successful, the failure
what do you have to say?
So it was you, at the point of time
give rise to the character and the
life it will lead

So, choose wisely
Act carefully
and
weave the character correctly!

Prayers of Medicine Buddha with 1000 Lamp offerings

Kindly send me the following information by leaving me a message in my comment box if you need prayers to be done for yourself and that of your loved ones. I will fill in the card (see attached) and place it in the prayer bowl. These cards are special made and they are biodegradable. You can send in as many names and no matter where you are, just do so by letting us know. What I need from you:

Name : The full name of the person
Age:____ Country : _____ State:______
Your wish for this person :

If you need to know WHY we are doing this, please read below. NO MONEY is needed. Noted the cut off date is 1st November 2011 by mid-night Singapore time.

***************
Upcoming Event: Prayers of Medicine Buddha with 1000 Lamp offerings by HE Kathog Rigzin Chenpo Rinpoche @ Chagzog Tamcho Centre on 13 Nov 2011.

We are extremely blessed to have the presence and kindness of H.E. Kathog Rigzin Chenpo Rinpoche, who will lead us, joined by many Buddhist communities around the world, in the Medicine Buddha puja and the 1000 lamp offerings.

Medicine Buddha is the manifestation of the healing energy of all enlightened beings. Prayers made to Medicine Buddha, the Supreme Healer (tib: Sangay Menla), will be blessed with healing powers of outer and inner sickness of oneself and others due to the 12 great aspirations strongly made by Medicine Buddha, at the time of his Bodhisattva-hood, out of his compassion. It is not only an effective method of supporting oneself and others to increase the healing powers in physical sickness , but also for overcoming the inner sickness of our defilement such as attachment, hatred, and ignorance. Thus, meditating or praying to the Medicine Buddha would purify oneself and others negative karma as well as accumulate vast store of merits. That would wonderfully manifest a temporary result of having pure and soothing outer ambiance. Most importantly; it will yield the supreme fruition of enlightenment of recognizing the true nature of our innate mind and the outer phenomena, ultimately.

In pursuit of true happiness, many realize that we and our beloved ones are constantly being exposed to many seemingly insurmountable ordeals such as terminal illness, natural catastrophe, economic turmoil, etc. which could cause immense physical and mental suffering. These torments not only cause pain which lead to health deterioration but also great distress to one’s mind. In actual fact, in these time of degeneration, misguided pursuit of happiness without knowing the right path to accumulate merits and purify one‘s negative karma is the root cause of these sufferings.

Through the understanding of “True Happiness”, one can develop genuine love, compassion, and joy. When the loving kindness and compassion are truly developed deep within our hearts, we would inevitably, not only care for ourselves but care for others with unconditional love. Loving kindness and compassion are the remedies of overcoming our sufferings. With that in mind, we would like to encourage all practitioners, devotees and readers to participate, radiate and reach out your loving kindness and compassion to fill up every space and corner of this world. Let’s us mingle our hearts with the great enlightened mind of the Medicine Buddha, the essence of love and compassion.

Be it of needing prayers for yourself, your beloved ones, friends, or simply motivated to dedicate to the well-being of all sentient beings and world-peace, we will most heartily welcome all and our centre is always open for your visit and enquires. You can participate by filling your loved ones’ names and their wishes in our specially designed wishing cards. We will gather all the wishing cards around the world and place them right before the Mandala of Medicine Buddha during our prayers’ event, so as to receive the great blessings from Medicine Buddha.

Phra Maha Chedi Tripod Trimongkol

I search Goggle for a little bit more information to this beautiful temple of worship but found nothing written about it. We call it the Stainless Steel Stupa. It is situated in the outskirt of Hatyai, Thailand. This is a retreat Center and the Abbot in charge is Luangpo Aik. The architectural design and structure is unusual. We have not seen anything like this.

Upon arriving, the stainless steel structures caught our eyes. Although the sky darken and threatening to rain, however the little sunlight cast upon the steel caused it to sparkle. There is an air of calmness and serenity about the place.

The based of the Stupa has round entrances and each entrance is a room. Buddha statues were placed here. From the entrance, we stepped into the heart of the structure and we saw stainless steel lotuses holding robe offerings made to the Buddha. Walking around, I saw a spiral stainless steel stairway and I made my way upward. It opened up to this amazing and breathtaking structures of stainless steel designs, alms bowls and the ringing of the wind chimes were so meditative. Winds were rushing in and out of the steel bars. Stepping into this gave me a sense of inner bliss. We caught sight of some unusual insects and one had a face when its wings closed up.

I only have some pictures to share. If anyone reading here know more about this Temple, please drop me an email. I love to hear from you.

What to say...??

It has been a long time I last posted. Actually I was wondering what to post. We always have an opinion to everything and anything. We must add our vocal to express our knowledge, our dissatisfaction, our joy, our sadness, our happiness and unhappiness. Really...do we have so much to say?

When I realized what I said was an arising of a cause which a condition ripen for such words, it started the ball rolling. What follows in words is either kindness or harshness and surely come with an effect...good or bad. If it is followed by action I will harvest the fruit.

Dependent Origination arises every second in our thoughts. How to stop this? How aware are we to this little insignificant cause which can roller coaster to bigger issues? NO, most of us are not alert and focus enough to see it arising, let alone curb it as it buds. I do know this and yet I fall prey to all these conditions that give rise to further pleasant and unpleasant experiences. I now prayed for positive actions and not otherwise.

A cause rises out of defilement - it has something to do with ignorance which has craving in it. Because we are not able to stop it, it takes shapes according to our feeling. Therefore ignorance brings craving and follow with love or hatred. The continuous arsing of Dependent Origination, beings are being reborn again and again. Birth is suffering, so is old age, sickness and death.

I am not being pessimistic but I am beginning to really 'see' death. Not others but mine. I wonder what can I bring with me? Can I bring money, power, beauty, authority...I realized NO! One dead man is the same as another dead man - no richness or poor, no commoner or authority. Once we turned into bones or ashes...where are we? Are we the bone or are we the ashes?

There is one thing I am sure we will bring with us - the type of person we are when we are alive. Don't forget this body is on loan to you. You can use this BODY to do good or BAD. You can lie and pretend for all to see how good you are BUT you cannot lie to your consciousness. So when the final day comes...you either die peaceful or fretful. You either die in old age or have life force terminated when you are not ready to go. We all fear death because we know we are not a good person. Even a moderate person who is either good or bad fear death. We feared because we do not know what's on the other side. Well what you are this life is what you have lived in your past life BUT you can prepare for a better life next by living the correct way now.

As I began to understand the Buddha's teaching, I realized the UNIVERSAL TRUTH is something that is there. It is the LAW of the UNIVERSE, no one can change it. Goodness will begets goodness. It is not so difficult to be kind...smiling at another person is also an act of kindness. A kind word will help someone along the way...it does not cost you money to do it.

As I watched the riot in UK, I am sadden by the activities of the youth who took part. What's wrong with the youth today? Why must someone do harm to others and it is not even beneficial to oneself.

Where is the compassion? What type of youth did parents raised? In general youth around the world are behaving the same way. There will be those that defy the law and even end up in jail.

Cry me a river........

Dragon in the Sky

I was away for holidays in Thailand, Hatyai last week. I took many pictures during the trip but this one was amazing.

Yes, a cloud formation of a CHINESE DRAGON above the temple stupa. It is so clear...you can see the two round eye balls, the feeler, the legs and claws. I did not darken the clouds around it...it came out exactly as it is.

No, I am not misleading anyone. I am not suggesting anything except that I am amazed at what nature can do.

This is a beautiful picture for sure...that DRAGON!

To Western countries, the myths and stories mostly see this creature as evil and the way it is projected with the spike wings, angry look and fire breathing. It is a creature of the dark.

However to the Eastern people, especially Chinese...dragons are auspicious. They are out of this World. In the Chinese Horoscope, among the 12 animals signs, one of them is a dragon. There are many stories about Chinese dragons. I am sure you can find them in the Internet, so go net them if you are interested to know more.

Sharing this amazing DRAGON IN THE SKY......

Do you believe...?

Recently I read in the newspaper of a man who died mysteriously. Before his death he has been complaining about stomach pain. The doctors in the hospital checked and found nothing. However the medicine did not helped so he continued to suffer pain to this unfounded reason. Unfortunately he died. After his death, they found a 30cm ringworm in his mouth?!!! What is this? How did the worm appeared in his mouth?

Actually in this world there are many unexplained happenings. We believe in science but there are things that cannot be scientifically proved. It is up to one to believe. After the man passed away, his good friend said he knew now "what it was".

Whether in the East or the West, we know that there are people practicing all kinds of mysterious ways that caused harm to others. Most of the time it is due to someone having grudges over another. They will go to these shamans to cast a spell. The lesser spells are to cause one to be sick, the heavier ones are to take the lives of someone. There are people who cast spell on women and vice verse where women did the same to men out of possessiveness which they wrongly mistook for love. There are people who are out of jealously harmed another by making them feel pain all over the bodies and no doctors checked could find anything wrong with them.

I heard stories from friends. Story #1 - Man A reported sick and checked into the hospital. Doctors did all the scanning, test. scope on Man A but found nothing wrong with him. They gave him medicine but the man checked into the hospital again with sever pain in his abdomen. He died in pain. An autopsy was done on him to find out the cause. When they where performing the cut...they found a big snake and all other organs were absent. If there was a snake, why did it not shown up on the scan, scope and x-ray?

Man B with the same condition checked into another hospital. They checked him because the man said he heard frogs croaking inside him. It sounded absurd but because he was going through so much pain, they did all the scan, scope, ex-ray on various organs in the body but found nothing. He died. Upon autopsy, the frightening happened. Frogs where jumping out from the cut but when they touched the floor, they turned into patches of bloods. It smashed all over the floor and was so gruesome.

I do not know how true are the above stories but I believe that there are X-files that contained unexplained happenings which were not make known to the public. What is the point of frightening everyone and when public react and there is no answer, it will spread panic. So no one is talking about such thing but in South East Asia such are not uncommon.

I pray for the safety of everyone that you do not encounter such dilemma.

Election 2011

The dust is settling down after last night watershed fights at all the electoral divisions except one. I did not write anything before the day and now just to drop a few lines to record the day. From now to the next 5 years we will see what will happen. It will set pace and stage for the next round of election. By than who will rule will be very obvious.

The people of Singapore took to express their dissatisfaction this round, very strongly by giving 1 GRC and 1 SMC to the opposition. Although the win was a walk-over but the percentage was not exciting. It was sad that BG George Yeo lost out Aljunied. He is one of my favorite minister and will still be. Too bad Aljunied did not see it. Good luck to the opposition and all eyes will be on you. Making a lot of noise is one thing, to deliver will be the utmost.

It was unfortunate that Uncle Chaim lost out in PP. If Uncle Chaim did not abandoned PP, his party will still have one place? However I think he is cultivating a bigger area...a GRC. He is so sure that his wife will win? People move in and out an estate to other places. The sure win yesterday will not be a sure win today and vice verse for all other estates as well.

Our All Time favorite is LSL and it is jubilant to see him win AMK GRC. We still have hope in him so Singapore will not hand over the country to the oppositions. We cannot deny the track records the winning party had done all these years, thank you. However I hope the winning party sees clearly this time what is the message that the people is giving out. Singapore is changing...what do the people want? After watching some of the speeches on TV and media, is there a split internally within the winning party. We know that you cannot break a bunch of sticks when they are united, but not so sure if they are split into a smaller bundles. Visions must be communicated to the mass clearly and not losing sight of the big pictures with side ones. Anyway it is a testing ground to give in to some unpopular decisions and saw the results. The standard of living is really high. I wonder a jobless girl like me, still trying to find a job, surviving on the little saving I had and for how long?

There are a few unpopular ministers and their winning margins spoke loud and clear. Housing - is a big issue. I am not surprised with the just 10,000 votes winning, wake up man. It is not how great you are when parked with a winning party. Insensitivity also dragged down the party's reputations and votes. Next is Health...what is this $8 for a bypass? We have to buy insurance for such big operation as we cannot afford it and here is a minister who can afford and paid $8.00? How did this come about? And why asked people to die in JB? Did he really said this or is it rumors?

Anyway life goes on. The winner will surely sit down and ask what went wrong? The oppositions - looked like most of them got their monies back. Anyway I don't know why the winning opposition is called Tin-Can. To me tin can only makes lots of noise. Give them a chance...

What goes up will come down...and...what is down will go up. It is the LAW of the universe. Whether the people of a country enjoys prosperity, peace and safety...it is joined KARMA. Karma does not belongs to the Buddhist...it is a universal law BUT only the Buddha brought it up.

Good luck to myself and all Singaporean. Congratulations PAP!!!

Epiphyllum oxypetalum...a midnight bloom

Recently my garden is blessed with the blooming of Epiphyllum Oxypetalum. I love the plant and have anticipated its blooming for a long long time.Unlike other plants whose blooms will last a few days, this one will show itself for a short span of a few hours after midnight and than it will starts to fade when morning comes. So if you want to catch the special moment, you will have to stay up after midnight to celebrate its opening.

In this part of the world, we called the bloom 'Qiong Hua' or 'Keng Fa'. The fragrant of the flowers are sweet and pleasant to the nose. Scent filled the air and it made me very happy to see its opened white long petals, exposing the pollens and the heart. The white petals were so white that it looked like white feathers. The local people will let the flower dropped off and dries it and use it to make soup with pork ribs. It said that it cures diabetic. These are only local believe which I have no scientific proof for it.

Quote "Epiphyllum Oxypetalum is a night blooming succulent cactus of the type called an epiphyte. Oxypetalum is also called Dutchman S Pipe".

Sharing here are photographs that I took. All three bulbs in my garden bloomed one after another and it was said that it will bring good luck and abundance to the Owner of the plant.

All ....But for a good LAUGH!

This is a joke someone sent me. Don't jump to conclusion until you read the end and have a good laugh!

OLD people have problems that you haven't even considered yet!

An 85-year-old man was requested by his Doctor for a sperm count as part of his physical exam. The doctor gave the man a jar and said, 'Take this jar home and bring back a semen sample tomorrow.'

The next day the 85-year-old man reappeared at the doctor's office and gave him the jar, which was as clean and empty as on the previous day.

The doctor asked what happened and the man explained, 'Well, doc, it's like this -- first I tried with my right hand, but nothing. Then I tried with my left hand, but still nothing.

'Then I asked my wife for help. She tried with her right hand, then with her left, still nothing. She tried with her mouth, first with the teeth in, then with her teeth out, still nothing.

'We even called up Arleen, the lady next door and she tried too, first with both hands, then an armpit, and she even tried squeezing' it between her knees, but still nothing.

The doctor was shocked! 'You asked your neighbor?'

The old man replied, 'Yep, none of us could get the jar open'

My Thoughts - 2011

1) I Love My Parents...they are Irreplaceable!

2) To Deal...with...honesty to oneself and others.

3) The world revolves around me and I revolve around them...

4) To live sincerely...and die peacefully.

5) The statement of 'What you see is what you get' is no longer true.

6) People say and do things with an Agenda and you can't be too careful.

7) Is your life in daylight reality and your dream unreal? THINK...again. You perform all activities when you are 'awake ' and 'dream' alike...so you actually 'wake-up' in both states...so how can one be real and the other unreal?

8) Does one needs to be a fanatic in religious believes? The term 'fanatic' = a person motivated by irrational enthusiasm. How can anything irrational be taken as Truth?

9) Buddha taught the 'Middle Path'. Anything that is pulled to an extreme and lulled to an extreme will not produced ideal result.

10) Did you see or recall any of the great religious Leaders - Buddha, Christ and others an extremists?

11) What chances human has against Nature?

12) Silence is Golden...unless you are dead.

13) Human unkindness is performing thoughtless actions that hurt others indirectly.

14) Money is not everything BUT without money, who is going to pity you?

15) You can live poor BUY you cannot live without dignity.

16) How many people can put others happiness in front of them without personal agenda.

17) Sometime when I try to explain myself, I realized the more I explain the more ridiculous it becomes.

18) I hope to live life simply or live a simple live?

19) We are attending lessons every day but we never learn.

20) It is very difficult to be oneself. I am influenced by people around me. If I am myself, people will say I am anti social.

21) It is sad to know that one's freedom is in the hands of another.

22) What will you do if you know that tomorrow the world is coming to an end?

23) When you are alone, you are true; when you are with another, you try to be true; when you are with more people, you put the truth behind you.

Woes of a Nation - Japan March 2011

As we watched in horror, pictures after pictures, reports after reports on the television filled our eyes and ears with shocked. This time it is Japan. Most of the people living near the sea probably have lost their lives. We saw big sea vessels coming inland carried by the 10m strong water. Yes, it swept everything in its way. How fast again can human react to act of nature?

I did not know what happened as I was in a library deep in my revision for the coming examination. It is a temporary cut off from the real world and woes behold, when I stepped out.

Many years, when I was a kid, Mum used to say that Japan will one day disappeared overnight. After watching reports that Japan is actually sitting along the ridge of live volcanoes undersea, we may have some ground to ponder upon. I was in Japan and had experienced the minor swaying which I was not expecting. However to the Japanese, it is part and parcel of their lives. No one can be more prepared when the earthquake triggered a tsunami.

I was speechless as I watch. Although we are from different country and far from Japan but we are one people...we are Global Citizen. With disasters happening around all our neighbors, words of comfort is no longer necessary. The pained is feeling the pain; the lost is lost forever; the missing is yet to be found and will it be found; the bits will have to be picked up; the road is tough and the tough got to push against the odd...

Life is so fragile..my Guru keeps reminding us. How long will we live? You said 60s, some said 70s and some said 80s. No one wants to die and especially in such unpredictable way when you have wishes and dreams unfulfilled. In actual fact, we live by every breath we take. Once the breath is not coming, we are goners.

I pray for all the people in Japan - may those who are alive live well and in safety, the unfortunate ones, may they rest in peace. Japan at crisis need to be united and strong. Kudos to all those who lend a hand to help Japan, be it its own people, tourists, countries around the world - physically or in prayers too be well and happy. Deepest Condolences to the Japanese people.

I am glad and grateful that my blogging friend Cindy is safely back home in Malaysia. My friend's brother and sister-in-law with their 2 boys were in Tokyo when it happened and they just touched down Singapore with the first flight out of Japan. To my friend Tazuko, whose parents and relatives are in Japan be safe and the son and family of Aunt Lian is safe too.

Japan is plagued with earthquake, tsunami and now the nuclear plants leaked...is going through a difficult time. May we joined together in prayers that these disasters will be over soon and Japanese picked up and be strong.

The World is changing. I feel that the World is cleaning up and slowly will see all these as we draw closer to 2012. 2012 may not see the end of the World but we will see the World in a different light.

My prayer : Ohm Mani Padme Hum

what a terror....

I wonder how many Singaporean are aware that terrorism is actually at home? Are they concerned about their safety? Did you ever think for a minute that your good neighbor , your friend, someone you know..... Think if you walk on the street with someone walking next to you who carries a bomb in his bag and if it explodes than...do you just say 'I am suey lah!'.

With incidents worldwide...the biggest being the World Trade Center 911 incident but again it was so far away from home. We sympathized with the victims and families and that is all. The pain is there but the pain is not ours.

Why do some in Singapore wants to do harm to this little island they call Home? We have to thank Mat Selamat for hitting the nail home. Again how many Mat Selamat are out there waiting for their opportunity to harm US? When it really happened, it is too late to cry or regret. Singaporean are so fortunate, complacent and dependent on the Government. To date our country is superb in their vigilance but there are people out there who are weak at will. They can sell themselves if someone gives them monies.

We all did wonder how did Mat Selamat escaped from such tight security? Although the government warned against housing him but they are against the notion of family. Even with such stringent punishment, can you say you turn your family away in such situation? The family may not be a terrorist but they are human and they have compassion. They know housing this person will put them in trouble and yet they did. Can we blame them? You can't...it is human. If it happens to someone in your family, you will do same...so don't blame.

Not blaming does not mean 'tidak apa'. Not blaming those whose emotions are invested and not see the bigger picture But it surely shows that if Mat Selamat is convicted and sentenced...what will the emotion of his family be? Will they multiply? This is home ground.

Looking at the world around us now...it is surely chaotic. All the unrest in the West, in the East...to the North and to the South. It is people throwing government and they no longer want to be suppressed. It is not only the people, Nature is also wagging wars at human!

Beginning of the Metal Rabbit 2011, the worst hit is Australia. Imagine Brisbane going underwater not to mention people loosing their homes and lives. Now the earthquake that shook New Zealand and left many dead. So it is not where you live, it is when is the time one will die and where. Many of those dead are foreign students.

So up in China, down in Australia/ NewZealand, east in Korea/ Taiwan/ Thailand/ Cambodia and west with Libya being the latest.

As human heart/desire goes from goodness to anger, when the heart feels the perception unfairness, when the heart feels why should I care for others when my happiness is at stake, when the heart feels why must I be suppressed to poverty...it rebels! Feelings are contagious and it can influence. Again there are those that play with the weakness of human beings, brain washing them to sell their life for a cause....are unethical but as long as it serves their purpose.

I can never understand that any religion, if it is a TRUE religion will want to take life or lives for the benefit on one cause. It is a human one is dealing with, it has its own thoughts and believes and can never be forced to do anything. When you scolded someone, if that someone do not retaliate does not mean that someone agrees with your doing. No two persons are the same and how can you force someone into your own mind...for a matter of fact, why don't you turn around and think like me? So you won't and than why should I?

There is justice in this World. When it comes to such a time that people cannot control themselves, Karma will.

LUNAR NEW YEAR GREETINGS....

HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR 2011
GREETINGS
TO ALL
MY READERS.....