Author: Shi ZhiXing

We Are Being Replaced … as We Speak!

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I mentioned in one of the talks that our physical bodies are replaced totally over a period of time. I got curious and went looking for a reference.

Here’s one:
http://www.contouring.com/chapter1.html

The physical body that each of us possess (or possesses us) is made up of roughly 50 trillion cells. About 30 billion of these are nerve cells. Every day millions of cells throughout our bodies are being replaced. This takes place through the normal process of attrition and
replacement. Indeed 98% of our body is replaced within one year. The remaining cells are replaced the following year. In fact, 10% of all cells in your body are replaced every 3 weeks, 25% of the cells are replaced every 5-6 weeks. The cells that make up our skin is totally new every thirty days. The cells that make up the soft muscle tissue of our internal organs is replaced in two to three months. The liver is replaced within six weeks, while the stomach lining takes as little as four days. Some cells, such as those closely involved in the process of digestion, are replaced as rapidly as every five minutes!
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Off on a Retreat …

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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 lose 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.

Did the Buddha Do Charity?

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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.

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I Still Have Attachments …

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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 even though 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.

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