Author: Shi ZhiXing

Come to Spiritual Countdown 2007 – FaithAspirationPractice

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Announcement

May this msg find you well n happy. Good opportunity to meetup and spend a meaningful last few hours of 2007 together at the Spiritual Countdown 2007 – FaithAspirationPractice @ Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery on the 31 Dec.

Door Price S$15 (Inclusive of entry fee, evening temple tour and an exclusive spiritual journal!)

For more details: http://www.kmspks.org/youth/countdown.htm#

Do drop me note if i can help you with any ticket reservations 🙂

Hope to see you there!
Cell. Tono of NBAS: New Buddhists @ Singapore

Facebook event link

PS: Reposting for Cell on this blog. 🙂

To My Mom and Dad! … :)

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Today is not Mother’s day, nor is it Father’s day. It is also not my parent’s birthday. Least of all, it’s also not my birthday. Today, they accompanied me to run an errand to Funan. (Yes, sometimes monks also need stuffs … *grin*)

Here I am back in the monastery, after a meditation class/session with NUSBS in FuHai Monastery, reflecting about the day, thinking about how my parents accompanied me to run an errand to Funan at a short notice. Color me silly, but I found myself teary just reflecting over it.

I just sent them an sms and thought I would share with you all here:

Thanks Mom and Dad! For
accompanying me to Funan today at such a short notice. For giving me your time, incessant care and love since my birth! For giving me this precious human life! For bringing me into Buddhism and giving me away to the Buddha! Thank you! THANK YOU! Thank you! 🙂 🙂

Before this day ends and we rest for the day, do take the time to reflect over the day. Ponder on the kindness, love and care that our parents had showered us. Give thanks. Ponder on the kindness that our friends had given us. Give thanks. Ponder on the assistance that sentient beings have in one way or another assisted us through our day, our life. Give thanks.

Whether you are a Buddhist, a Christian, Hindu, Muslim or Taoist (or believe in any other wonderful faith that I’ve missed out), take the time to give thanks. It does not have to be a special day to give thanks. And yet, on the other hand, everyday is special enough to give thanks!

Give thanks to our parents and fellow sentient beings by

  1. Saying thank you to them
  2. Being considerate to them
  3. Helping them when they need help
  4. Giving way to them
  5. Refrain from harming them (like hunting, killing animals, insects etc)
  6. Respecting their right to their belongings
  7. Respecting their relationships
  8. Being truthful to them
  9. Maintaining clarity of mind by avoiding intoxicants such as drugs & alcohols
  10. And if you are really up to it, be mindful of your body, speech and mind. That way you can truly be helpful to them and not harm them!

Have a nice day … unless you have other plans! 🙂

Back from India … the Land that Buddha Walked on Moons Ago

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A few thousand moons ago, 30612+ moons ago, or 2551+ years ago, to be exact. … 🙂 That was how long ago when Buddha was in India, walking the land, going on alms, teaching the Dharma, meditating under trees, in the caves, counseling the monks, enlightening the seekers of Truth. And last two weeks, we went and spent some time at Bodhgaya under the novice retreat programme.

It was pretty amazing, to say the least, to see constant throngs of people coming to Maha Bodhi to pray, to chant, to prostrate, to meditate, to be where the Buddha attained enlightenment! … and of course, not forgetting to take some pictures for posterity.  What really touched me was to see people of various nationalities & religions, speaking different languages and dialects, inter-mingling there, like old friends coming back for a reunion!

The other interesting thing that struck me was how “un-strucked” I was  about India as a whole. It seemed almost just normal to see it the way it is/was, that I didn’t felt awed, surprised or shocked, as some would put it. It was my first trip to India, but in a strange way, I just felt ‘normal’ to see the dusty streets, the beggars, the monks chanting, the crowds lining the streets etc. Some people suggested that perhaps I just felt familiar because maybe I was born in India in the past. Maybe eh?

I’ll write more later on, when I sort my thoughts out. In a way, having modern travel, shortening the time to go to and return from India, kinda mess things up for me. Am I really back from India already? 😮

In the meantime, some of the retreat participants may have something to say about the trip. Just add to the comments and post away!

I’ll setup the photo album thingie in this few days so you can upload your photos. 🙂

With metta,

🙂

Heaps of Stuffs …

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You know, John C. Dvorak might be more Buddhistic than he knows himself …

https://www.foxnews.com/story/dvorak-help-me-deal-with-mounds-of-recently-useful-tech-junk.amp

The stuff belongs in the scrap heap, but we cannot force ourselves to toss it. And it builds and it builds. I have an entire room full of stuff like this. It’s embarrassing.

So how much of ‘scrap’ have we accumulated in the past year? Maybe it’s time to let go of them? Be it your old pc or gadget, your multiple handbags or shoes, your belts or ties, your views or stubbornness, isn’t it time to do some spring cleaning? … or winter cleaning for that matter?

Tell us … share your story about your ‘cleansing’. 🙂 … anonymously of course … 😉