By Wakeupnow, on 31st January, 2007 ok, so my retreat is dwindling to an end, and I’ll be back in Singapore next week, but I thought I’ll just post a note so that the electronic weeds don’t cover up this blog! 
Oh and guess what, it’s 2007! Yes I know, January is almost over, but that’s what happens when you go into a retreat (of sorts) … you loose track of time! 
So anyone with audacious New Year’s resolution to share? For those who missed out making a New Year resolution, you have a second chance next month with the Chinese New Year.
By Wakeupnow, on 19th December, 2006 Of late, I’ve been thinking about something. “Did the Buddha do charity?”
Of course the mere inclusion of Buddha in such a question would invoke hordes of Buddha-fans who might flame this entry as its preposterous to even conceive such a question, much less ask one, and to post it online at that. Purists would start asking questions like “Define ‘Charity’” or “When we say ‘Did’, are we referring to the Buddha in his final life, as a monastic, as a prince or are we referring to his numerous past life?” … or perhaps my personal favorite would be “What do you mean by Buddha? Are we referring to the historical Buddha or the very concept of Buddha-Nature” … etc etc.
While it may really seem like they are splitting hairs, those questions are very real and helps define the extent of our question. It can also shed light on the current status of Buddhism and perhaps whether there are alternatives to our current way of applying Buddhism to modern society.
. . . → Read More: Did the Buddha do charity?
By Wakeupnow, on 14th December, 2006 The other day, I received an email informing me of the recurring charges for this site. I was somewhat bemused and thought that this was a mistake. You see, the hosting for this site is charged annually. And these matters were handled by my kappiya (steward) so I thought that this was yet another rip-off by some obscure hosting site. Indignantly, I accepted that if the account was not duely cancelled, then the charges would be honored but to prevent future charges, I sent a request for account cancellation, not forgetting to just rant as a surprise that the account was still active eventhough I’ve not used it for awhile. I promptly received a cancellation confirmation email with a footnote that as per service policy, accounts not cancelled will be automatically charged with recurring bills. Fine and good. I’m all for policies and was not the least trying to get a waiver or anything. I thought that was the end of this episode, but boy, was I wrong.
. . . → Read More: I still have attachments …
By Wakeupnow, on 14th December, 2006 When are we allowed to have expectations?
I know, I know. Some of you are probably thinking “But I thought having expectations leads to distraught and suffering?” Well, matter of fact, having expectations is part and parcel of everything. Because we expect to quench our thirst by drinking water, so we drink. And experience has shown that it did in the past not just for individuals but for almost all known cases. So we solve our thirst by this expectation and/or assumption, acquire water, drink it and ultimately quench our thirst. Will a day come when water won’t quench our thirst? Maybe, when the conditions are different, but in the mean time, drink … water, that is.
But that is not the point of this post. The point is this. Just as such simple expectation helps us along our simple basic needs of sustenance of our body, perhaps other forms of expectations are justified as well?
. . . → Read More: When are we allowed to have expectations?
By Wakeupnow, on 1st December, 2006 Now that I’ve migrated the news column in the main site with the news board in the forum, I was wondering if this blog could benefit from integration. Granted, the entries I write over here are largely unrelated to Digital Buddha Vacana so maybe it may still be a good thing to keep it separate.
Thoughts?
By Wakeupnow, on 21st October, 2006 This is just another placeholder for future entry … 
1st December, 2006
Some of the folks who come across my desk may wonder why a toothbrush is on my desk and not in the toilet where it belongs. Most people either miss it or are too polite to ask, so I shared with the Youth Ministry in Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery during their YMers retreat.
You see, sometimes in the day, I would find a piece of food stuck in my teeth, or find my teeth too grimy for myself, and no amount of rinsing or flossing ( … talking about flossing, they are there on my desk too! ) will cleanse it. I’m sure we have that once a while … or maybe we don’t notice.
. . . → Read More: Of Brushing or Cleansing our teeth?
By Wakeupnow, on 21st October, 2006 If there’s such a thing as writer’s block, this is it. I inserted this entry like weeks ago in the hope of pushing myself to pen down my thoughts about emptiness via the illustration of a bowl of delicious laksa, and yet as I sat here weeks later, there is just no impetus to write anything. hmmm ….
I think I’ll just write down what I explained during my workshop about the laksa, instead of making it into a proper article.
So back in August and October, I conducted two four-day workshops on the Heart Sutra. It was mooted by the Youth Ministry of Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery during one of the informal “Dharma discussions”. While the heart sutra is famous for its “form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is form” verse, apparently many books on this sutra were incorrect or misguided to say the least. Consequently, many people also had a somewhat tinted idea of what this sutra is about. Hence the Heart Sutra workshop.
. . . → Read More: A bowl of delicious laksa … 8′)
By Wakeupnow, on 13th September, 2006 So I’ve been asked many times, if drinking red wine counts towards flouting the fifth precept (See “Five Precepts” … to be added later), and time and again, I gave a resounding yes. Drinking wine, beer, alcohol, or taking any form of intoxicants dulls one’s mind, impairs judgements, if not now, then develops one’s inclination towards such mental states in the future, be it tomorrow, next week, year or life.
After the jump below, a real story of how one’s drinking totally messed up another’s life. Warning: The link contains graphic images that may be gory to some and are unsuitable to minors, adults with heart conditions, pregnant ladies etc. You’ve been warned.
By Wakeupnow, on 1st September, 2006 So the other day, I was having a casual ‘one to one’ session with someone and he mentioned that he aspires to be a Dharma teacher.
(continued … )
While it is heartening that he aspires to be a Dhamma teacher, it is important not to become one for the sake of being a Dhamma teacher. Or simply put, not to give Dhamma talks for the sake of giving Dhamma talks.
. . . → Read More: Don’t give Dhamma talks for the sake of giving Dhamma talks
By Wakeupnow, on 3rd August, 2006 Many years back, I learnt about how air-conditioning work. It basically works by transferring heat through conduction from the cooling fins to the air outside of the room/house/unit that it is supposed to cool.
Outside air < — Cooling fins <— metal tubes <— freon gas <— internal air (from room etc)
In the process, some heat is generated. This heat generated is due to inefficiency of the compressor, electronics etc found in air-conditioning units. This inefficiency is common in practically *all* electrical devices, where some electrical power is converted into actual intended work, while others are lost, either as heat, sound or kinetic energy or a combination of them all.
In a sense, air-conditioners do not create “coolness”. “Cold” cannot be created. Only heat can be created. Coldness appears to exist only in contrast to the lack or relative differences in heat. So while a heater generates heat, a cooler (eg air-con) do not actually create cold. It merely displaces it. Coldness itself is also empty of inherent characteristic. Further to that, heaters do not actually generate or create heat as well. They merely release the potential energy “trapped” or “stored” in the fuel, or convert energy from one . . . → Read More: Does air-conditioning work?
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