Category: Buddhism

I Will Be Happy If … …

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“If someone will call me or text me at 12 for my birthday …
if someone will give me a present (that I want) …
if I get what I want ….
then I will have a happy birthday …
then I will be happy … ”

… such a person hands over their happiness to others like the remote controller of a air-con unit, allowing others to raise or lower our emotional “temperature” and happiness in our life.

Metta Round The World @ BL

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Dear Friends,

Back for awhile from a retreat, trust that you all are well!

The Buddhist Library is hosting the next session of Metta Round the World on 29th Oct 2012 and we hope that you can join us for a quiet peaceful evening of simple ‘love making’, or more traditionally known as developing and radiating metta (loving kindness) towards all sentient beings!

What is Metta Round The World?

Metta in the Pali language means love and kindness.  It manifest as a wish for others to be happy.
While it is easy to wish for our loved ones to be happy, it may not be so easy for some to wish for strangers to be happy.  Can we still say “May you be Well and Happy” towards our boss or customers who appear to be so unreasonable?  Regardless of our religion, beliefs or creed, can we look at foreigners and say “May you be Well and Happy?”

Fortunately, we can, even if it is sometimes trying or difficult.

In the Buddhist tradition, part of our spiritual practice is to cultivate Metta amongst other wholesome qualities.  Metta, or the capacity to love others and to wish for others happiness can be developed.  If developed over time, it gets internalised and become a natural part of how we see this world.  When fully developed, this love becomes boundless and is all encompassing.

Metta Round The World (MRTW) hopes to share this with everyone, to encourage everyone, regardless of one’s religion, beliefs or creed, to develop this boundless love.

I hope to see you all join us for this simple session at the Buddhist Library.

Please find the programme brief below.  I’ll be happy to answer your queries through this email thread or sms/whatsapp @ 91772284.

7pm Start of Session

  • Puja (Simple Chanting)
  • Metta & Mindfulness Meditation
  • Sharing on Metta
  • Sharing and Thoughts

9pm End of Session

2 LORONG 24A GEYLANG
Singapore 398526

~With Blessings from the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha~

Amazing What A Haircut Can Do For People!

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Amazing what a haircut can do for people!

 

More at this link http://imgur.com/a/fg5AG

While looks can sometimes taint people’s perception or impression of us, it is up to us to live our life wholesomely through kind speech, helpful behaviours and loving thoughts.
In the Buddha’s time, the brahmans would often send their best to challenge the Buddha and try to defeat him.  One of them was a brahman called Assalayana who was sent to try to dispute the Buddha’s statement that “All four castes are capable of purity” and not just the brahmans. [1]
The Buddha in this dialogue with Assalayana, shows clearly how a person is not pure by birth or by caste but by one’s own actions, speech and thoughts that one differs.
How we really live our life makes us a good or bad person, not our hairstyle, status, wealth or beliefs.
Footnote
It is amusing to hear some people assert that Buddha is a manifestation of the Hindu God or that Buddhism branched from Hinduism or from the Brahmans when we see numerous attempts by the brahmans to dispute or defeat the Buddha in his statement, and how the Buddha do not support the brahman’s vedic teachings or its caste system.
Reference