By Shi ChuanGuan, on 22nd October, 2010 There is an EIF dialogue session on Saturday, 23rd October 2010 and I was invited to participate. Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the dialogue, so I decided to pen down my thoughts in relation to the suggested discussion points and share them with the participants and on this blog.
Faith & Atonement
I'll go with the two definitions of atonement and move on from there:
1. Amends or reparations made for an injury or wrong; 2. Reconciliations or an instance of reconciliation between God and humanity.
When I first read it, I zoomed into the part of reconciliation between God and humanity. Throughout history, humans have worshipped and prayed to multitudes of God(s). However, Buddhist do not have a belief in creator God(s). Hence, there is no concept to receive reconciliation between God and humanity. Some may posit that Buddhists merely replace "God" with "Buddha" and draw arbitrary delineations to differentiate themselves. Consequently, some think that Buddhists worship Buddha and seek forgiveness from him, in order to not incur his wrath. In fact, it cannot be further from the truth.
We may perhaps first examine how wrong or injury can occur. It can occur if . . . → Read More: Righting a Wrong: Faith & Atonement
By Shi ChuanGuan, on 14th October, 2010
By Shi ChuanGuan, on 8th October, 2010
Someone recently asked me about divinity lots found in KMSPKS:
Dear Venerable, I have a question about the divine sticks (qiu qian) at the old hall at Kong Meng San. Devotees will beg for divine advice from the three Buddhas and a piece of paper can be collected outside. Who are we communicating with? The message could sometimes be very clear, but some people will say that it is not Buddhism and mere superstition. I remember a story about Lord Buddha putting His bowl on the river; if the river flows upstream, he will strive to gain Enlightenment. So is this divine advice real? How do we make it real?
Here's my short reply:
There is this belief that the Bodhisattvas or Dharma guardian help give guidance on worldly matters. Having some help in this way can be similar to asking an experienced friend or mentor for guidance, it can certainly be helpful.
Having said that, the Dharma (teachings) ultimately help us transcend the worldly gains and loss, such that we can still be happy amidst life's greatest difficulties or trivial nuances.
Sui hontu! ^_^
. . . → Read More: Divinity lots or ‘Fortune’ lots 簽
By Wakeupnow, on 1st July, 2009 We have moved!
The weekly Group Practice will be held at Buddhist Librar:
Weekly Group Practice Venue: Buddhist Library, 2-4 Geylang Lor 24A Date: Every Wednesday Time: 7:30pm ~ 9:30pm
Programme:
Puja – Chanting (~15mins) Meditation (15mins) Dharma talk & discussion (1hour) Q&A (20mins) Closing Puja – Dedication
By Wakeupnow, on 12th May, 2009 For a while now, whenever I am invited for a meal at my parents’ place, I would play a little game with my niece and nephews. I would give them a cookie or bread or something, but before I give them, I would hover infront of their mouth and count to them “One, … Two, … Three … ” before they get their treat.
My point to my sisters (mothers of my experiments) is that kids these days are too conditioned towards instant gratification. My count down approach is what I think would train them to learn to wait. Interestingly, my niece J would wait patiently, even when I sometimes delay the count down with 2.5, 2.75 etc … she (four years old now) would giggle and know that I am playing with her. My nephew R started off being rather haughty, refusing to open his mouth when I start the countdown. Granted, he is 1+ years younger than J, so perhaps he is slowly developing patience. Furthermore, the mental development of boys and girls are known to start at different ages.
Today, I read an interesting article about just that.
Don’t! – The secret of self-control. . . . → Read More: One, … Two, … Three …. Yum! or learning to wait
By Wakeupnow, on 31st March, 2009 
Life sized statue of the Buddha from the Tang Dynasty period (618-906 AD)
應以何身得度者，即現何身而為說法 does not translate to “Teach the Dharma in the local language”. The Chinese text would translate loosely to “Depending on the need of the audience, (one) shall manifest in whatever form/appearance to teach the (Buddha) Dharma”. This is the crux of the teachings in “妙法蓮花經 觀世音菩薩 普門品” Saddharma-puṇḍarīka sūtra, chapter on Samantamukhaparivarto nāmāvalokiteṡvara-vikurvaṇa-nirdeṡa.
Confused yet? Ya, thought so. For those of us who are do not read sanskrit or Chinese, the above lines might as well have been written in greek or an alien language, which brings me to the earlier statement, that one shall manifest in whatever form/appearance to teach the Dharma, depending on the need of the audience. That should include adopting whatever language is appropriate for conveying the message. The language is but a medium, a tool while style and prose just an expression of that medium. The intended message is what is important. And because of that, language, style and prose should be chosen to encourage communication. . . . → Read More: 應以何身得度者，即現何身而為說法 Teach the Dharma in the local language
By Wakeupnow, on 3rd March, 2009 How To: Pureland Practice (100 ~ 200) By Wakeupnow, on 3rd March, 2009
Preface
In this HowTo series, we explore the Pureland Practice. The contents herein is set at level 100 ~ 200, meaning it’s targeted at introductory to beginners’ level.
100 – Introductory 200 – Beginner 300 – Intermediate 400 – Advanced
This article was first drafted in 2007 and intended for publication on this blog. It was later revised and published in the December issue of Vaidurya 2008. It is now published here for public reading.
Introduction
Pureland Buddhism is ubiquitous in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Throughout most, if not all, Chinese temples and monasteries in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hongkong, China, worldwide, pureland practise is more well known than perhaps meditation practises like anapanasati (breathing meditation) and satipatthana (Four foundations of mindfulness). In certain cases, a Buddhist may even know only to chant “Amituofo” and nothing about the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path. Sometimes this is due to the literacy level in the audience and other times, due to the level of the sangha community. Try explaining the Four Noble Truth and Eightfold path to an 80 year old granny who can barely understand you or try getting . . . → Read More: How To: Pureland Practice (100 ~ 200)
By Wakeupnow, on 23rd February, 2009 http://confusion.tweakblogs.net/blog/1418/why-functional-programming-doesnt-catch-on.html
The above is an interesting article about functional programming and why it fail to catch on.
Every introduction to a programming language shows you the recursive method to calculate Fibonacci numbers. It’s abstract, many people do not relate to it very well, but it’s only a single example. However, the documentation for FP languages seem to consist solely of these kinds of highly mathematically inspired examples. No ‘Address’ class to be found there. Hasn’t anyone written a functional equivalent of the Pet Store application to demonstrate the power of FP for the regular work that most of us do?
This is sometimes the challenge I hear from people, that they find it too theoretical to apply certain religious concepts (be it Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam or the religion you dig!) in their every day life. While some faith’s tenets and ideals are meant to be other-worldly, Buddhist teachings are meant for daily applications.
When we attend Dharma classes, we need to relate it to our daily experiences and reflect upon how our life can be further improved. Is there anything we could have done or said differently? . . . → Read More: Getting real
By Wakeupnow, on 19th January, 2009 Hi all,
Here’s the web site for the Singapore Buddhist Federation http://www.buddhist.org.sg/sbf/
A snippet here:
English Dharma Course (Info on Chinese Dharma Course is available at the site above)
Objective: To develop participants’ understanding in basic Buddhist teachings for life enrichment.
Contents: Lectures and panel discussions on the life of Buddha, a brief history Buddhism, Buddhist teachings, application of Buddhist teaching in daily life.
Entry Qualifications: Age above 16 and fluent in written and spoken English. Duration of Course: 3 years with 2 semesters per year. Date: Every Friday from 6th of March 2009 Time:8.00pm – 9.30pm Venue:Singapore Buddhist Federation 59 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398583 Tel: 6744 4635 Fax: 6747 3618
Registration Fee: Adult $50; Student $25 Certificate of Completion: Certificate of completion of the course will be issued to each participant who has satisfied the set criteria Registration: 1. Photocopy of NRIC or Passport; 2. One recent passport sizes photo. 3. Registration at: Buddhist Federation,59 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398583 Tel: 6744 4635 Fax: 6747 3618 Off hours: 0900 am to 5.00 pm Mon to Fri; 0900 am to 100 pm Sat
* Registration form is available for download at the above site.
By Wakeupnow, on 1st January, 2009
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@ PMT *NEW*
Heart Sutra Workshop
More info
@ BL
Tue Morn Translation
Tue Nite Meditation
Sun Puja-talk-Bodhikids
Wed, Fri - Consultation
Thu SIMBB Dharma classes @ PMT
Sun Monthly talks @ SBM
@ Metta
Sun Nite 佛法概論
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