My Four Boyfriends...

I have four boyfriends with me all the time and I love all four of them. However as in human weaknesses, of course there is a degree of affection.

I love my 4th boyfriend the most. I showered him with the most expensive and branded clothes and accessories and feed him with the best and finest food ever. I splurged on him.

As for my 3rd boyfriend, I showed him off to everyone I met. I make sure that everyone knows of his good look and I keep making sure he has the best treatment to keep him looking young with good complexion and health. However, I always fear that he will leave me.

My 2nd boyfriend is my best friend. I tell him everything and confide in him when I am in problem or when I am sad. He is always so patient with me and stays with me and sees me through all my tough times.

#1 is always the dependable one. He is a loyal partner. He always keeps to virtuous actions and maintains my wealth. I love him least. I seldom took notice of him being around only until I am not well or when I am fearful and need spiritual comfort..

One day I realized that I am going to die. With much attachment I asked my 4th boyfriend whether he will follow me. He said “No way” and walked away.

I turned to my 3rd boyfriend and asked the same questions. “NO! Life is so good here. Why should I die with you? I will marry someone else and continue my good life.”

When my 2nd boyfriend came to see me, I told him I am dying and he has always been supportive and my confidante and will he dies with me? He said “No, but at most I can walk you to your grave”.

This time #1 heard all the conversations and he quietly said “Don’t be afraid, I will follow you and be with you and never leave you wherever you are”. Someone I have neglected and never take notice of, someone whom I have not given any attention is willing to die with me. I regretted I have not given much attention to him but he has been silently accumulating my virtues and wealth. I know that I am not alone and he will always be with me, ever.

In actual fact we truly have 4 boyfriends…

The 4th boyfriend is actually our Body. We always lavished on our Body and give it its best. The sad thing is Body will leave when we die.

My 3rd boyfriend is all my Possessions i.e Status and Wealth. I am so afraid I lose them but I am not able to take him with me, he will go to others’ arms.

My 2nd boyfriend is my Family and Friends. No matter how close we are, they will never want to die with me, at most send me to my grave.

My 1st boyfriend is my Spiritual endeavors. He is the least I pay attention to. When I spent so much time on Body, accumulating Possessions and running around Family and Friends, I have no time for Spiritual.

However Spiritual never leaves me. It stays and accumulates every little merit I did. With these, Spiritual follows me until I attained Realization for the benefits of all Beings. It is my final manifestation of Realty and Non-Duality.

So you have to take good care of all 4 of them. They need to sync to Spiritual. Know your priority and never lost track. Keep your focus on the final goal and good luck.

Collections of Wise Sayings by Buddha...

This post is consist selective Buddha's Wisdom for your contemplation. Amid all the calamities happening around the World, may these wise sayings bring you Inner Peace.

• Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

• It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell

• It is better to travel well than to arrive

• Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without

• The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.

• The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

• Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. 

• Happiness never decreases by being shared

• We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world

• What we think, we become

• Hatred does not cease through hatred at any time. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law.

• Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.

• In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

• Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.

• To understand everything is to forgive everything

• You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger

• No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path

• Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others

Countries in the World...

 

A little bit about geography here as I was curious about visitors from various countries to my blog. Actual fact my Blog is not open or make popular by my postings. I write just about anything I fancied or I want to express my feelings or opinion. However by checking I realized 145 countries have actually dropped by here, some repeatedly. Thank you all for your support!

Do you know how many countries are there in the World? Well my poster said it = 196 countries. Put aside those recognized by United Nation or by United States of America which is 193 countries and 195 countries respectively...geographically I take it as 196 countries.

However you may want to find out actually there are countries that are micro size. Some are just the size of a shopping mall. So interesting right?  

You may want to know that the largest country on Earth is Russia and the tiny one is Vatican City whose size is about that of a golf course. Of course other smaller countries are Monaco, Nauru, Tuvalu and San Marino, just to name a few.

91 Birthdays of our Founding Father - Mr Lee Kuan Yew

On 16th September 2014, Singapore celebrated the 91st Birthday of Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

We are grateful for this great Bodhisattva, Mr LKY (most address him such).  I never forget the words of my late Mum that we owe it to Mr LKY to be where we are today. There is another thing she said..."always hang the National Flag on National Day" which we have been doing yearly, as long as we have a place to hang it, until we expire. I knew what Mum meant where most people don't...there is no Home with a broken Country and corrupted people who govern it.

This little island, you can hardly find it on the Map of the World. Today, people who want to find Singapore will zoom in on this place called Singapore which they heard about, and find us. Countries know us and all these are possible because of Mr LKY. Making the Country known is bringing us our bread and butter too.

Many people did not see Mr LKY as a man that have done so much for us. Many people saw him as PAP. This great man just happened to be the member of PAP. Call a Rose by any other name and it is still smelling sweet.

There are people who said it, many more thought about it and many many more who expressed it in writings, in arts in songs...Happy Birthday, Sir. Happy Birthday and thank you for giving us a safe Home. Please stay healthy for all who love you.

All said but could not find words to truly express our gratitude. See you around, Sir !!!!

Sweet Potatoes…

Sweet potatoes is definitely not a rich man’s food. It is consider desserts and there are many yummy desserts make of this. Many find it too sweet and it fills up your hunger very fast so for those wanting to slim effectively try this tuber. 

There are yellow sweet potatoes and purple sweet potatoes which are both fantastic. In Singapore we can find those from Vietnam and Indonesia, the more expensive ones from Japan. Initially I do not really enjoy this tuber. I supposed it is acquired and I prefer yam to sweet potatoes.

One day I instinctively bought sweet potatoes and throw it into a toaster. The sweet aroma filled my nostril and the yellow meat was so inviting, I started to consume it. At the same time I was suffering from this nagging pain on my knees and knee joints from over exercises and age of course. I never expected anything from this tuber except its fiber but over night, the pain on my knees are gone. Viola! So it is good for attacking inflammatory as well.

I have been sharing some of these vegetables and fruits and what they did to me, not from internet but by experiencing it myself. I am not a nutrient expert nor a food critics but I like to share the goodness from my own eating. So try this tuber if you have not started loving it. It is something that even Diabetic can eat and recommended by Doctors. (Trust Diabetics know that although fruits are good and healthy but there is sugar in some fruits that they must avoid but not this super sweet tuber.)

There are many ways to eat it. The most straight forward way is

1) To steam it or 
 2) You skin it and cut it into small pieces and boil it with coconut milk (you need not add sugar) 
3) Mashed it and roll it over grind coconut bits. 
4) Mashed it and bake a pie with it. 
5) Mashed and roll it into bit size balls and deep-fry but since we are looking at healthy eating, I am not for this although it is yummy. 
6) If you are camping, or doing a BBQ, you can wrapped them in aluminum foils and throw them into the fire and let it cook. This tuber does not need fussy cooking and is easy and handy to eat. Just unwrapped the foil and peel off the skin. 

It is ignorant just eating a sweet potato as a sweet potato and not knowing the goodness it brings. So here is to list some…. (quotes from the experts)

1) Carotenoids: plant compounds that squelch cell damage caused by everyday living
2) Vitamin E: an antioxidant that may protect against heart disease. 
3) Potassium: a mineral necessary for muscle contraction, nerve transmission, bone health, water balance, and normal blood pressure. (It got more than bananas, believe it or not.)
4) Copper: it assists in the production of collagen, which is responsible for keeping muscles healthy and skin taut. 
5) Quercetin: research shows this potent phyto nutrient may help you breathe easier by warding off allergies, hay fever, and asthma.
6) High fiber content – well it definitely has more than any other types of potatoes 
7) Vitamin B6 – which is crucial to  keep our blood vessels/ arteries from hardening 
8) Super rich in Vitamin A, an antioxidant which keeps away many types of Cancers. It keeps skin healthy and it is nutrients to the Eyes (this is important because it helps vision loss as well as protect muscle degeneration). 
9) It contains Manganese which helps to balance blood sugar 
10) It also contain Vitamin C and Vitamin E. We know that these two are also powerful antioxidants which helps to prevent diseases and aging. 

So much for Sweet Potatoes…wonderful tuber…staple food to some…good for Diabetic…and powerful antioxidant…keeping us healthy and long life. 

Start eating…
 

Meatless Cause...

I joined Jangchub Shing (TV Show in UK) in their Cause of promoting Meatless Monday. I hope all who stumbled on my blog support this Cause. It is only once a week on Monday and you can increase the days if you wish to do so. There is also a group called "Meatless Monday" which you may choose. You can choose either and support them on Facebook.

Recently my instinct is to go off meat for a month. The reasons for doing so (putting compassion aside) is the smell of these poultry and seafood. I was wondering why all these years I never smell these stench and they stink, why now? It is the smell of death. The stench of dead poultry and seafood frozen for our consumption puts me off. Many like eating fresh fishes, lobsters, crabs, octopus and because they are not human so its is OK to kill them? Others goes for exotic food like life monkey brain, life snake bile, life crocs' heads, life deers antlers and the blood and leave the deer bleeding to death. They think it is aphrodisiac, how can it be when it is so cruelly taken.

A report said that there was this Chef who is getting ready snake soup for clients. He chopped off the head of a cobra but unfortuantely the snake head, I don't know how, bit him. The Chef died of poison. He killed the snake and immediately the snake killed him. I called this Karma.

All animals, plants, trees, rocks, minerals, river, sea, stream, marine lives, the air and all in this World system is a blessing from Mother Earth. It is a gift but we have been taking selfishly, shamelessly and harming the environment. We contaminate everything we touch, even the air.

All these are because we craved for comfort, we craved for our mouth, we craved for our feel, we craved for our eyes and we craved for our body etc. Even if we do not need it, we still want to take. We forget that there is one thing we cannot own...AGE!

So Mother Earth is reacting to this. There are sickness and now ELBOLA, let alone Cancer, Aids and many funny sicknesses. The animals are reacting, from mad cow to mad chicken, to pigeon and more to come. We all have a part in these.

There are groups of people trying their best to protect the Environment however their effort is not enough. You can play your part to be a little more aware of your surroundings. Learn to appreciate what Mother Earth is giving us and after all we live here. Don't take everything, only the needed. I am not asking you to be totally off meat, or off the things that you like but take only what you need. Chinese has a proverb that say "All sicknesses starts from the Mouth".

We worked so hard to accumulate our Wealth but we lost it all by paying for all the medical fees, or to war or to Nature. The Law of Karma of what goes around comes around is never wrong. I invite you to join Us/ Me on this worthy Cause.

May you be blessed with all your Undertakings by spreading a little kindness and compassion along the Way. _(())_

Wisdom...

I have been contemplating on this for a while now. It is about compassion and killing

Putting aside Buddha's stories which have similar happenings but this is what I experienced myself.

One night I was having dinner with a group of friends in a private room. There is this full glass wall to ground window which we can look into a garden. As the sun sets, it got darker outside and the warm light in our room attracted some insects and reptiles. 

As we were waiting for our food and everyone were excited exchanging greetings, someone suddenly said "oh dear! look at that lizard, it is going to eat the moth!". All of us ran over to the glass window and with all the knockings tried to shoo the lizard off. Our compassion at work so the reaction is natural. When all the shooing were going on, I was watching and it suddenly occurred to me... 

".... the lizard was trying to take a meal, the moth was there and so became the bait. We were all trying to save the moth....what about the hungry lizard? Isn't the lizard also worthy of our compassion? What is the lizard going to eat? If the lizard did not eat the moth, the lizard will eat some other insects, so where is our compassion for the other insects?" 

 Do you have an answer?

This World is a cycle. Things happened for a reason. It is the natural eco system that World depends upon. We are part of this cycle because we are in the same realm as all other animals, insects and others. The only different is we are in different forms. Everything depend on each other to recycle. One is gone another will appear and it goes on. 

There is another story that goes like this... 

A boatman pushed the boat out to the river. In the course of the pushing, the boat slides over mud. On the boat there was a Monk and many other lay people. One man walked up to the Monk and asked "Shifu (meaning venerable master), did this boatman committed sin while pushing the boat out from shore to the river. In this pushing the boat slides over mud killing many creatures living in the mud?" Shifu looked at the person who asked the question and said "you are the one that have committed the sin, not the boatman". The person was shocked! The Monk further explained "The boatman is doing his work and he has no intention to kill. If you did not get on the boat, the boatman need not move the boat and therefore no lives were killed. Killing is completed with intention and you think about these creatures being killed. No one on this boat thought about it". 

Therefore many happenings are Cause and Effect of our actions. Did you get it????