The World Is … Is Not Coming to an End!

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We have spent 127 days of this year, with 238 days left. There were much excitement a few months ago about the Ending of the World in 2012, and with all the reports on earthquakes and other natural disasters, is the world coming to an end?

nWithin the past 50 years, there were numerous claims to cataclysmic end of the world. None has come true. I’ve got a strange hunch that this one will be no different.

In Buddhism, we also have predictions, a different kind that had more definite and significant impact on all human beings, all sentient beings.

Instead of predicting an end of the world, the Buddha predicted that as long as there is craving and attachment, there will be suffering, and that when there is an end of craving and attachment, there is an End of Suffering, an End of Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain, Despair and Distress.

That much, the Buddha predicted.

So which future are you going to fulfill?

 

Reference:

http://fora.tv/2010/04/24/David_Morrison_Surviving_2012_and_Other_Cosmic_Disasters#fullprogram

Cook Like a Chef!

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Just because you are not working in a restaurant, it does not mean you cannot cook like a chef!

EDIT:

So yesterday I was at a neighbourhood eatery with Charles.  I commented how the dish would be very different if they had sliced the cucumber thinly.  Then we half commented that it is not a restaurant after all.  I’m not sure if it is such a mindset or sloppiness that welded the chef’s knife yesterday, but It dawned on me that we can have such fixed mindsets at times.

We box ourselves up into fixed roles that we identify with and become limited by such identification.   The only thing that comes from this is that we restrict our own growth.

But we didn’t start off this way mostly.  Sometimes, it start off due to external factors.  When we were young, or when we first started work, bright-eyed, we may have tried to do things and try things like there are no boundaries to what we are capable of doing.  Then we hit our first brickwall.  Our
first “No”.  Our first “rejection”.  The first “do what you are SUPPOSED to do”.  There.  The first block of the impenetrable stronghold of I-Cannot-Do-It is laid.

Instead of trying our best, and besting even our best, we tell ourselves “I am just an ABC, so I can/should only do XYZ”. We do that for one day, for two days, for three. We do that to ourselves for one week, for two weeks for three. We do that to ourselves for one month, for two months, for three. We do that to ourselves for years on end. In the end, we fulfill our own prophecy, that we can only do XYZ.

At some point, we unknowingly tell others that as well, that they should just stick to known territories and not try anything beyond.  “Don’t rock the boat”, “Don’t spoil the market”, “The overgrowth gets trimmed”.  Or so they say.  So we may end up perpetuating the very negative limiting cycle that got us boxed in at the first place.  But it does not have to continue this way.

Every day is a new start.  Every moment, the old mind and body ceases and a new mind and body is born.  With each new arising, there is a possibility of change.

Ready?

I Take Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha

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Buddhist take refuge in the Triple Gem, that is, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.

The Buddha, referring to the historical Buddha who attained to Perfect Enlightenment, Nirvana, to Perfection through humanly possible effort.

The Dharma, the Teachings, the way that the Buddha show to us, through which we too can perfect ourselves.

The Sangha, the community of monks and nuns, who are striving, have strived and those who have attained this very Perfection, Nirvana.

Taking refuge in the Buddha, we aspire to attain the perfection he attained.
Taking refuge in the Dharma, we apply the Teachings of the Buddha in our lives to change our negative mental habits that brings rise to much stress and suffering.
Taking refuge in the Sangha, we take them as our inspiration and guide, while supporting them in what ways we can.

Buddhist take refuge in this THREE refuges, not two, not four or five.

Just as a pass along the lamp during a candle procession from one to another, this Precious Teachings, the Dharma, was passed down to us from the Buddha through the monks, nuns and lay people till today. Having benefitted from it, it is our duty to preserve this Dharma and hand it down to future generations for their welfare and benefit.

What have you done to share the Buddha’s teachings?

Series of Attacks on School Children in China

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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6400L320100501

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2010-04/30/content_9794835.htm

The series of attacks on school children in China is a sad reflection of humanity.

I’m a Buddhist monk, but I will say this to anyone reading this.  Whatever your belief is, put it to good use in your life so that you bring a net increase of happiness to yourself AND others.  If it is not helping, please, please, please look around for help.  Don’t punish vulnerable kids with your problems.

Seek help.  Today.  Please.

CONFIRMED: There Is Life in Outer Space!

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The Milky Way 360° panorama at Death Valley

It is confirmed!  There is life in outer space.  In the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, there lies approximately 200 billion to 400 billion stars.  This is considered a fraction compared to our own Andromeda Galaxy, which houses more than one trillion stars.

 

Amongst this 200~400 billion of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, there lies a solar system emitting regular pulsating radio waves.  Our probes have identified some of the stronger pulses due to radioactive emission from nuclear detonation that occurred in the past.

 

While contact with the lifeforms found in this solar system is still not established, one particular planet orbiting this system appear to be inhabited by numerous species of intelligent and semi-developed life-forms.  This third planet, currently named by its GUID (Galaxy Unique Identifier) MWG.Sol.3, formed approximately 4.54 billion years ago in the current cycle of the galaxy.  Lifeforms first appeared within a billion years of its formation and is expected to continue for another 5 billion years or so, before its eventual destruction due to the growth of its sun into a red giant.  When the sun runs out of hydrogen, it would turn onto helium to fuel its fussion furnace, swelling up many hundred times, engulfing most of the inner planets, including MWG.Sol.3 in its path.

 

The Confederation of Solar Systems are convening a summit to decide whether to establish First-Contact in accordance to Interstella-Contact ACT Protcol 2554.  The consideration would include whether such contact would bring about mutual benefit and whether there is anything worthwhile to learn from these Sentient beings from the Milky Way Galaxy.  A possible outcome is a short feasibility study of the native lifeforms for 400 centuries to determine suitability.  Thereafter, the findings may assist in arriving at a suitable recommendation on First-Contact.

 

Meanwhile, according to the latest report from the summit … …

 

The above is a possible report from some sentient lifeforms in a neighbouring (2.5 million light-years away!) galaxy about our galaxy, the Milky Waay.  While we search for lifeforms in outer space, it may be worthwhile to consider that we are in outer space, orbiting the sun at 29.78 km/s with an incidental speed of 552 km/s due to the relative speed of the Milky Way as a whole.  That being the case, if we find “ourselves”, what can we learn from ourselves?  What wisdom can we glean from this alien species on MWG.Sol.3, or Earth, the third planet of the solar system in the Milky Way Galaxy?

If we are the alien species that others find, what wisdom do we want to be known for?  For that matter, do we really have to go searching for some lifeforms out there, when we are also an “alien lifeforms” hurling through space, waiting to be discovered.  While we’ve spent trillions trying to conquer space and perhaps find lifeforms in outer space, have we conquered our inner space, our minds so that we are worthy alien lifeforms for others to find, to contact and to learn from?

So, dear alien reader, what wisdom do you have to share?

 

References:

Hint: Satire