Danger of Devoting to an Individual....

In today's society, we tend to chase or follow trends. It started from people we idolized, to movie stars, to singers, to public figures, to politicians and even religious leaders or people who is capable of using their personalities to make us believe and follow him.

It is dangerous to idolize and worship these people because they are public figures. To make sure they get big followings and some for monies, most of the time it is more than meet the eye. You do not know what is behind the scene and the hidden agendas.

The recent high profile case of City Harvest Church is an example. The amount of monies that people donated to the Church is misused by the Leader. To date from all the news I read, he is not even bashful, humble or apologetic.  A person can only be salvage if a person knows shame, admit that he is tempted by opportunities and am remorseful. However this person said God apologized to him, that all these bad happenings have fallen on him. If the amount of monies in millions are taken for the sake of supporting some humanitarian acts, I am sure even if he is in the wrong, we all will said that he overlooked the governance . The part that hurts is the monies is taken for invested interest.  Chinese has a saying "Going up the mountain frequently will surely meet the Tiger". Chinese also has another saying "Die also don't want to step into the Courtroom Door". Cheating has a way of exposing itself. Cheated so much that it is hard to cover the trails, the deeper the court dig, the stench is getting worst. Anyway I am not here to criticize, I am just stating the facts. Of course there are die hard.

Back to my own religion - advice that we do not idolized. We do not idolized the Buddha, our Teacher. We venerate Him as the Teacher that shows us the Path to Realization. No Masters, Monks, Lama, Rinpoches is greater than BUDDHA. Buddha is the Teacher of all these highly realized Buddhist Masters, Monks, Lamas and Rinpoches and of course US, the devotees. There are of course people who wants to make fast bucks, pretend to be one and collect pledges from unsuspecting devotees. Like I said before, it is very easy to raise monies in the name of Spiritual Divinities.

Buddhists are taught not to idol worship but there are still people who do not know the Dharma and stepped into pit holes. It is very important to understand Buddha's teaching but many have not understand the basic teachings and analyzed it.

I respect my Guru with clasped palms. I asked my Guru once that I heard he is a reincarnated famous Lama and he said it is not important. I asked him to give me some background to who he was in the past and what was his achievements, and he did not. He said that there are so many such people out there who said that they are the reincarnate of so and so high practitioners/ lama/Rinpoche - and are we able to confirm it our self? The only way out of sufferings is to practice for our own Realization following the teachings of Buddha. All these gurus are trained disciples and before enlightenment are still human. Being human, we err!

I know many of us wants to collect as many merits as possible.  Are doing for the good of others Or we want to make a name for our self? What is the motivation behind the donations of tens to hundred thousands of $$$? Therefore Watch your motivation that the good you do is not stained by selfishness.

In Emptiness teaching, there is no Offerer, no Object of Offering and No Receiver - can we accept that? For the time being, I cannot. I am still very gross and make lazy effort to refine myself. It is a slow process. At least I know my defilement. I know my Three Doors are stained and I am trying to clean it up. I know to all the goodness I have done, some of them are stained with Pride. I wanted to be Accepted, Acknowledged and Recognized and I want people to follow me and also listen to me. Is this not Attachment? As long as I am in the vicinity of the 8 Conditional Winds and am shaken by it, I have to work very very hard to achieve understanding of Realization.

My Deepest Veneration to the Triple Gems. My Deepest Veneration to my Guru Sakyamuni Buddha and Buddhas of the Three Times. My Deepest Veneration to all my Gurus of Past, Present and Future who show me the Path to Enlightenment. My Deepest Veneration to all Bodhisattvas and Protectors.

May all Beings be free from Sufferings, the Cause of Sufferings and may they not be separated from Bliss and may they see the Path.

_()_ _()_ _()_

Modesty....

WoW! I really take my hat off these women. I suppose the World advanced to such a state that people think they do not need to dress appropriately in public.

Look at these pictures, they are so skimpily dressed. I will not even wear this at home, and ever such in public. What is there to show? You have figure? You are young? You have a bigger breast? Or the bra is too tight to keep it in place?

I bet you these are not Singaporean. If they are than they are "one screw loose". They are oblivious to people around them. They do not know how to respect others and I am embarrassed. You can say that I care more about the values that will be imparted to young people. Such views if wrongly imparted will turn the young into a shameless society if they think that dressing such is OK. I am not a prude!!! I think as a woman we must know how to respect ourselves. There are plenty of clothes around. If you can afford buy branded, if you can't buy simple. It is not the $$$ in the clothes you wear but the way you wear it.

I believe in dressing appropriately at appropriate places. Gym attire should be wore in the Gym, pajamas are for bedrooms, lingerie are internal and can be wore in the bed rooms as well. Nowadays, the swim wears are the skimpiest ever. Who created Fashion and Trend? They throw modesty out of the windows.

Some of the singers are thinking they can attract crowds by doing so. Of course people love to watch their MTVs. They dress as little as they can, come up with all kind of make-up or no make-up like a dead has arise. They dance and grit on the stage and dirty dance with themselves and male dancers. They have all the cheap thrills by rubbing against each other and of course their so call Fans are having cheap thrills as well. They lead a Culture and these people have NO social responsibilities.

GOSH! the World is going backwards. There will come a day we walk around like early man - DRESS LESS!! It is already happening. I really believe that what goes up must come down and what happened than will come back as a fashion now. It is the Law of Gravity.

So WOMEN, if you chose to dress like this, you are inviting to be abused. If your modesty are being abused, you ASK FOR IT. If you are sexually abused, I supposed your dressing said you enjoy it and that is why the animals are at you. If you are killed in the process....I am so sorry. I am a Buddhist and I should have compassion. Writing here as a warning is compassion because Buddhist believe that what you Sow is what you will REAP.

To the people creating FASHION, they only need to make themselves known and of course make money. To those who are blind, they follow without thinking. People think the lesser cloth on the body mean they are SEXY. It is not a good word, not complimentary like ''you got brain". SEXY means arousing or tending to arouse sexual desire or interest!!!

Clothes are created to make the body looked beautiful. Different type of clothes are for different functions and places. There are of course people who think clothes limit their movements.

As a woman, I feel shamed that another woman do not know how to respect herself which also reflected badly on other women too.

There are so many rape cases, rape and killed cases, men who molest and outraged women's modesty and all imaginable and unimaginable happened. It is these under-dressed people, social media and all the bloody/ sex movies implanted all the wrong concepts, thoughts and ideas.

Of course you can say it is your choice.

Letting Go....

I realized long ago that ‘suffering’ is a lonely process. No one can share and no one can take it away. It is a lonely path, you have to keep 'phyco-ing' yourself…and find ways and means to walk out of this ‘wall’ that encased you. For of all of us, I believe in some way or another experienced this along our life. Most came out fine, some did not come out at all…they lost themselves in their own World. They ‘shut’ out and people called them crazy or mad.

To all my readers, please GIVE yourself a chance. Come out, walk out and remember that there are people who cares. If you are caught in the web, when you find yourself helpless and when you are frightened..there are helplines…
 
I saw pain, I saw struggles, and one encouraged oneself to come to term with the lost relationship. IT IS BRAVE! It is the greatness of a woman’s love, one deserves better. Acknowledge the pain..accept the process of recovery. The road is not going to be smooth sailing..but the rainbow is ahead!
 
...A LOVE NAMED “LETTING GO”- this is the title I gave to this piece.

There is a kind of love,
hanging on teardrops,
sadly beautiful.

There is a kind of love,
deeply pained the heart,
but you see a smile on the face.

There is a kind of love,
that lives on forever
but I am no longer a part of it.

Once I innocently believe that
no matter how long in Time
how far into Space
Love will not change

Love does not need a reason!
But now I saw my loved one brushes pass me
Holding another’s hand
Tears continue to flow in my heart!

Love cannot become a burden
I chose to let you go
Even though I am bleeding profusely inside
Because I love you so much
I do not want to see you sandwiched in between
My wish is very simple
that you go on in Life happily

Everything has come to a standstill
but pain did not stop
You will only know if you have truly LOVE,
and our happiness is now only memories.

No amount of Love can make you change your mind ..
I once wished that I walked this Life to the end with you,
Just holding your hand.
Now I can only be comforted
That I am once part of this 'Wish'

Loving someone is not to be his BURDEN
Having Love in the heart makes Life beautiful.

Our meeting is Destiny
Knowing you is Affinity
Loving you is Fate

The condition of Love arises and now it is over.
The ability to ‘Let Go’…is true love!

There is a Love, named “LETTING GO”

LETTING HIM .. .IS LETTING ONESELF GO! IT IS GIVING ONESELF A CHANCE TO GO ON....IN LIFE.

...true to the song from ABBA - The Winner Takes It All

Graciousness....

 

What is graciousness? It is a personality? NO,  you either have it or don't. Many people do not know what is graciousness and how to be gracious. So what does this word covers?

 

To me, this word means kindness, compassion, graceful, pleasing and courteous. It also mean good taste, tactful and acceptable.

 

For example someone said "Lian, you are looking good"....for a gracious person, she will reply "Oh, thank you for your kind words"; and there are pretentious people who will say "No lah, you must have seen wrongly." For whatever the reason, why one cannot graciously accept the compliment?

 

Graciousness have kindness, compassion and empathy in it. Because in Singapore, life is on a platter for most "middle and upper class people". These people lived in good resident, elite environment, have fleets of cars, good jobs but many are lacking graciousness.

 

Recently there was a case that a maid was abused by her employer for not listening to her but went to attend to the employer's child who was crying. I cannot see anything wrong with the maid but she was kicked, pinched, pour hot water, slapped etc. What justified such attacked when the employer is educated and hold a top position? Local Chinese has a saying "Educated but filled with shit in the brain".

 

There was one maid who was tasked to take care of the employer child and this child throw tantrum. The maid is trying to pacify the kid but the continuous crying of the child got the employer so worked up that she pulled the maid ears, slapped her, kicked her, burn her with an iron, tore her hair. I was wondering, it is the employer duty to bring up her own kid but here because she got a maid she felt that it is the duty of the maid. So much for an affluent society who breeds "educated rubbish human" who knows no kindness and empathy. They do not deserved a maid.

 

It is sad to see these maids coming from poorer countries who are here to make a living. They do not want to be a maid if possible but life is such that they have no choice. These maids are here to tender to your home, your kids and all the household chores that you hate to do and she deserves better than to be ill-treated. Talking about human rights!

 

The next group of people are foreign labours, people coming here to take all the dirty jobs that Singaporean are too high class and too educated to do. They are also being abused. Fortunately Singapore government took care of their board and at least they don't sleep on roadsides, slumps, back lanes or a cramped up small little room that are occupied by 10 of them. They have no proper place to wash up, cook and rest.

 

It pains my heart to see other human being treated worst than a dog. No wonder they said "Leading a Dog life". Do not underestimate dogs, they live better than me too.

 

Therefore if one is not gracious and have empathy, sooner or later all the dirty actions will be brought to light and exposed to public. It goes to show how bad a person can be. If one has no graciousness towards stranger, than do not take them into the family. If one brings in the maid, one brings in another family member. Feelings are reciprocal, if you are nice and train the maid, she will do what you want the way you want it.

 

I have a friend who have 3 maids in the house. They eat what the employer eat. She bought clothes for them, buy them gifts and gifts for their family and she gives them extra pocket monies during festivals. Her maids are well-behaved. They cook and wash for the family. They also help to look after the old folks at home and of course her pet dogs too.

 

Therefore graciousness is cultivated.

 

When you have brains and look do not mean you are graceful and gracious. When you have monies do not mean that you are gracious as well. The I and MINE ego is larger than life. You can see loads of such people when you drive on the road, when you are at supermarket, when you are waiting for buses, when talking, when you travel overseas. There are such people all over the World but I am seeing the ''micro'' which is Singapore.

 

I for one got lots to learn from these. Just hope that I will grow old gracefully.

Happy 48th Birthday....SINGAPORE....

Once again it is the time of the year where we, as Singaporean celebrates our National Day. I looked forward to this day and so do many Singaporean. There are various activities organized and some are already finished, on going but the much looked forward to is the 9 August 2013 Parade.

This year the Theme is "Many stories....one SINGAPORE". From the time of Independence in 1965 to date, I am sure there are many stories to tell. I am looking forward to the show by MediaCorp "Mata Mata" in Malay and translated means "Police, Police", Those were the days where police wore Bermudas, high stocks, and blue/grey top, black shoes. The weapons they carried other than gun was a baton and a whistle. They looked very smart back than.

The National theme song every year was different. This is also the song that I looked forward to yearly and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. I think the overwhelming feeling is gratitude. As a Nation grow, it underwent many uncertainties, racial issues, political neighbors and how to make the country safe and create gainful employment for her citizen. Today, I like to once again say "Thank you Mr Lee Kuan Yew and all the Ministers that brought us to what we are today". It is a merit and the credits cannot be denied because it is the truth.

Sharing with all my friends visiting here and from various countries, Singapore is my Country, My Home and without this I have no identity. Hurray Singapore....!!!

Majullah Singapura!!!