Tag: Death

Margaret Thatcher Passes Away at 87

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Personally, I don’t know that much about who she is.  But in my memory, as a child, she was the only lady who would keep on appearing in the news.

The one name she would be known as is “鐵娘子” or “Iron-lady” leaves a deep impression in me.  Some may use it in jest or contempt, but to me, it speaks of inner strength, determination and courage in Margaret Thatcher.

Wherever she is now, may she find peace and happiness.
May she be Guided and Protected by the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha!

Sabbe Satta Sukhita hontu!

A Sharing on Death

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Below is a sharing to a fellow Buddhist on having thoughts of death.  Thought this may be useful to others.

 

Hi ___ , thanks for sharing your thoughts. Having such thoughts flash in our mind is not as uncommon as we may think. It is just that most people do not necessarily share
it or think that it is not auspicious. But I think otherwise.

Think about it this way. When we sit in a car, we wear the seat belt. When we board the plane, there is the safety video or demonstration before the plane take off. All these are reminders of death isn’t it?

Being reminded of death can prepare us to take positive steps towards preventing accidents that can be avoided. But knowing the risks itself gets us prepared so that when it does happen, we are not taken off guard.

Insurance policies and financial planning is about planning for the unexpected, one of which is death. While nobody wishes death to come when they are in their youth and enjoying their life, being prepared is good. That way, while we live our life positively and wholesomely, we know that should the inevitable strike, we’ve got ourselves mentally prepared.

When is it unhealthy to have thoughts of death? In my opinion, when our thoughts of death preoccupies our whole life that we live our life only to die or when our preoccupation with death actually hastens and lead to death. This would be an unhealthy preoccupation with death.

Appreciating that death is part of life, we learn not to cling unto life and have the wishful thinking that death do not come or at least not when we do not want it to. Instead, knowing that life is impermanent, we should cherish our life more and live it meaningfully, to its fullest potential so that we may benefit ourselves and others while learning to not be attached to each moment for we cannot hold onto any moment even if we want to.

 

Live our life to the fullest, for each moment is unique and is gone the moment you think about it!

 

With blessings,

The Power of Love and Compassion by a Buddhist Monk’s Prayer Jolts the Chinese

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We sometimes underestimate the power of Love and Compassion through our prayers.  A Buddhist monk touches the Chinese people as he held "the dead man’s hand, bowing and praying for his final peace".

http://www.latitudenews.com/story/buddhist-prayers-jolt-chinese/

There are many images that could compete for a “2011 photo of the year” award in China. But few would have bet that the picture of an unknown monk praying over a dead man would turn out to be among the most popular.

 

Memorise a sutra or mantra today!  When you meet someone who is down or in fear, a gentle recitation can go a long way to help.

As always, common sense apply. If the person need some water or food, give water and food for the body, and offer a prayer for the mind and heart.  

Steve Jobs – His Passing Way Has Put Him Into the Circle of “Over-Analysed Character”

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Steve Jobs

1955 – 2011

His passing away has thrusted him into the circle of “over-analysed characters”.

Most of us do not know him personally.  Neither did I.
Most of us cannot mind-read.  Neither can I.

We sometimes cannot even remember or understand our own words or actions in the past, yet we try to analyse, criticise or rationalise what someone we do not even know, did, said or think.

Some people say that he was a Buddhist, some say he wasn’t because he didn’t donate to charity and even barred charitable orgs from Apple Appstore.

Frankly, I don’t really care if he was a Buddhist or otherwise.  I benefited from coding on the Apple II/IIe PCs back in the 80s in the little computer ‘lab’ (more like storeroom stashed between two metal-workshops in my secondary school).  The numerous books on Graphical User Interface back then were for the Apple Macintosh platform, and so in a way, I drew inspiration from their design.

I never bought a single Apple product in my whole life, but I developed on the older Apple Ii/IIe PCs and the newer Apple iOS devices (iPhones, iPads, iTouch). As the founder of Apple and designer of many compelling products and gadgets, Steve Jobs was a technopreneur and visionaire, and I think he did both very well.

Do we need him to be a Buddhist or be charitable?  Why should he be?  Why should we need him to be?

It would be nice if he was a Buddhist, compassionate et al.  Heck, it would have been swell if he liked prata and thosai at that!  But I don’t know him enough to comment.

I think he did well.  He pursued his life’s passion, did good and enjoyed himself in the process, without hurting anyone (not that I know of).

 

But I still don’t understand why Apple must make it so convoluted to copy a string in their NSString class!  grrrr …

 

Let’s learn what we can from him and his work.  And leave it at that.

 

Reference

Picture from apple.com