Category: Sharings

Fake Buddhist monks at New York

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Beware!  Fake Buddhist monks at New York are demanding money from tourists.

In Buddhism, monks and nuns do not go on the street begging for money.  When monastics go on alms round, they receive mainly food, but can receive basic requisites like robes, medicine as well.

They do not solicit for or beg for money, nor sell things.  If you encounter any of them, they are probably fake monks masquerading as real ones and taking advantage of the kindness of visitors and tourists.

Photo: Angel Chevrestt – New York Post

What can you do?

You do not have to feel oblige to give if you encounter them on the streets or in the malls.  In Singapore, you can call and report to the local police of their activities as it is illegal to solicit or beg in the street.

If you are interested to know more about Buddhism, you can go to your nearest temple or monastery to attend a chanting (puja) session, talk to a monk or nun today!

Reference

Fake Buddhist monks are the new squeegee men of New York
http://nypost.com/2015/06/14/fake-buddhist-monks-are-the-new-squeegee-men-of-new-york/

Stephen Hawking makes it clear: There is no God

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Stephen Hawking concludes that there is no God.
Some people feel uneasy about this, as it seem to challenge their belief system. Does the fact that Stephen Hawking is a scientist make such a statement even more of a challenge?

Photo from computerworld.com

In Buddhism, there is no belief in God, as in creator God(s) who is responsible for our existence. Some may feel that a world view without a God makes our life bleak and meaningless, or at the very least amoral. But we are very capable of good and morality with or without a belief in God.

What do you think?

Hawking said: “Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation.”

I’m not sure whether there was a specific moment in which science overtook the deistic explanation of existence. However, El Mundo pressed him on the suggestion in “A Brief History of Time” that a unifying theory of science would help mankind “know the mind of God.”

Hawking now explained: “What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God. Which there isn’t. I’m an atheist.”

 

http://www.cnet.com/news/stephen-hawking-makes-it-clear-there-is-no-god/

The Significance of Vesak

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Had an interfaith sharing with Nanyang Girl’s High 26 May 2015 last week. The students of class 111 did a video interview on the significance of Vesak day.

A celebration of the conquering of suffering, of our potential to be better, to be perfect, to be Buddha! ^_^

Happy Vesak!

 

Find out more on facebook
https://www.facebook.com/wakeupnow/posts/10153874250224008

8 Precepts Urban Retreat May 2015

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8 Precepts Urban Retreat

Join us for a weekend getaway from the hustle and bustle of city life and find inner peace through the practice of mindfulness.

  • 8 May (Fri)
    Check-in | 7.30pm | Stay-in participants only
  • 9 May(Sat) One Day Retreat
    Retreat begins | Stay-out participants are to report by 7.30am
  • 10 May (Sun)
    Check-out | 10am | Stay-in participants only.

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

For more information, please visit
http://www.kmspks.org/courses/rejuvenate-your-mind-and-body-4/

Dedication to all in Nepal

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Just did the weekly assembly puja with the secondary school students in KMS Dharma School and extended dedication to those who perished and in Nepal right now.

Prayers and dedications to them.
Please extend whatever help you can.

May all beings be free from fear, harm and danger. _/|\_

News on CNN

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/25/asia/nepal-earthquake-7-5-magnitude/

Kathmandu, Nepal (CNN)Rescue crews and residents in Nepal early Sunday began the desperate search for survivors after a magnitude-7.8 quake near the capital of Kathmandu a day earlier flattened homes, buildings and temples, causing widespread damage across the region and killing more than 1,800 people.

What Wisdom is Not

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Had an interesting chat today with  Elvin​ Seah after lunch. He mentioned that there was someone who claims to have wisdom so high that he can suppress 压 all the Buddhist monastics in Singapore.

Here are some thoughts.

Wisdom is not for suppressing others. It is for liberating oneself and others, from wrong views, from ignorance, from agitations in our mind, from grief, from pain, from worry, from fear, from suffering.

Whatever above said person has which is so high that he can suppress others, that cannot be wisdom.

阿弥陀佛。