Happy Chinese New Year!

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Happy Chinese New Year to all!

What are your ‘fortunes’ this year?

Will you have will-power to resist some of the little pleasures that you know is going to add inches to you?

Will the ‘Tiger year’ bring luck or a dash of anxiety this year?*

Can you make the right decision and choose between being ‘(self-)right(eous)’ and being ‘happy’?

Are the stars aligned, and the planets in tandem?*

Maybe this year, you can still be happy even if you do not get what you want.  Or can you?

Whatever will happen outside is dependent on many, too many factors and conditions.  Whatever happens in our mind depends on how we want to nuture and cultivate it.

So what are your ‘fortunes’ this year?  You decide.  That is all. ^_^

May you be guided and protected by the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Footnote:

* – I do not subscribe to the foretelling of fortune through horoscopes or astrology, although I recognise how the belief in them can influence our fortune through self-fulfilling prophesies.  See Macbeth for more literary exposition on it.

My Pet Theory about Time

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(Drafted on 17 January 2010.  Time flies!)

Ever heard about how time starts to go faster as we grow older?  I heard that when I was a kid and over the years, I begin to observe this phenomena myself.  As a kid, we could play for a really looong
time and find that it is only lunch time, and still have the whole afternoon to go.  Or in some cases, do some boring homework for a long time and still have even more to go.  We would check the time and it would only be 5mins into the homework session.

When we are in our teens, we start to experience our day go by a little faster.  Maybe it is because we cannot wait for the lessons to end or to get home to do what we want.  But by the time we go past our teens and reach our 20s, time continue to speed its way past.

This is my theory, a pet theory.  Time, is a product of our perception of our experiences as it happens.  But our experience and perception of time itself is coloured by our past experiences of time.  More accurately, it is compared unconsciously with our past experience of time.

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I Cannot Do It Yet So I Am Not Learning It

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Just the other day, I was talking to a Dharma class student  and he was telling me that things are stressful at work.  I mentioned to him about how our last Group Practise* session was on the quality of Patience, the Perfection of Patience or Forebearance, and that he should have attended.  His reply was that he did not attend it precisely because he cannot do it yet**!

I really do not know to laugh or to cry.  Why do people cling onto such an obstinate and obsolete view that you have to be good at something before you attend the Dharma classes or Group Practises.  This is ABSURD!!

This reminds me of the time when an aunty tells me that her son cannot become a monk because he still have defilements.  I’m like … thinking “Duh!  If he is perfectly free from defilements, he wouldn’t need to be a monk, now would he?”

It is an upside down view that people seem to have and does not help anyone here.  We should strive to be more energetic in our learnings and practices!

Take Away Piece

It is precisely because you do not know about something, that you go attend a class to learn it.

It is precisely because you have not mastered it that you go attend a regular Group Practise* in order to master and perfect it.

Tibits

若有人請我作自己未知之事，這名為學習。

If someone ask you do something you do not know, that is for you to learn.

若有人請我作自己已知之事，這名為練習。

If someone ask you to do something you already know, that is for you to practise.

若無人請我自己作已知之事，這名為溫習。

If noone ask you to do anything, and you do it, that is revision.

* Group Practise

Time for some blatant advertisement.  ^_^

Join us at SBF on the first three Wednesdays of every month for a quiet time to do some puja, meditation and listen to the sweet song of the Buddha’s teachings.  Then close the evening with Dharma discussion and merits dedication.  7:30pm ~ 9:00pm.

SBF  – Singapore Buddhist Federation is at 59 Geylang Lorong 24A.

Singapore Buddhist Federation English Dharma Course

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Singapore Buddhist Federation English Dharma Course

The Singapore Buddhist Federation 3-year English Dharma Course is now open for enrolment.
http://www.buddhist.org.sg/sbf/archives/3

Objective

To develop participants’ understanding in basic Buddhist teachings for life enrichment

Contents

Lectures and panel discussions on introduction to buddhism, the sutra on the eight realisations of great beings, development of buddhism, teachings common to the three vehicles, mahayana buddhism and brief introduction to abhidharma.

Prerequisite

Age above 17 and fluent in written and spoken English

Schedule

Every Friday from 5th March 2010 / 7.30pm to 9.30pm
3 years with 2 semesters per year

Venue

Singapore Buddhist Federation

Certificate of Completion

A Course Certificate of Completion will be awarded to each participant who has satisfied the course completion
criteria.

Registration

Registration Fee Per Semester
$50 (Adult)
$25 (Student & SBF Dharma Class Student Society member)

  1. Photocopy of NRIC or Passport
  2. One recent passport sized photo
  3. Registration at

Singapore Buddhist Federation
59, Lorong 24A, Geylang Singapore 398583
email: buddhist@singnet.com.sg
Tel: 67444635 Fax:67473618

Office Hours:

Monday to Friday: 9am to 5pm
Saturday: 9am to 1pm

Public transport:

Aljunied MRT Station
Bus – Along Geylang Road 2, 13, 21, 26, 40, 51, 67, 853 |  Along Guillemard Road 7, 70, 197

Remarks: Course material will only be given after enrolment.

Earthquake in Haiti

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Earthquake in Haiti

Tuesday afternoon, January 12th, the worst earthquake in 200 years – 7.0 in magnitude – struck less than ten miles from the Caribbean city of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The initial quake was later followed by twelve aftershocks greater than magnitude 5.0. Structures of all kinds were damaged or collapsed, from shantytown homes to national landmarks. It is still very early in the recovery effort, but millions are likely displaced, and thousands are feared dead as rescue teams from all over the world are now descending on Haiti to help where they are able. As this is a developing subject, I will be adding photos to this entry over the next few days, but at the moment, here is a collection of photos from Haiti over the past 24 hours. (48 photos total)

Let’s send metta, food, aid and support for our friends in Haiti!

May they be guided and protected by the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha!

I Don’t Know

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When we are asked for help to do something, sometimes we reply with a “I don’t know”. Why?

I’ve been observing this amongst people around me since young and I wonder why.

I’ve always been curious about how things around me work, and so whenever someone ask me for help which involves something I do not know about, I would reply that “I can try”. And more often than not, just making an attempt to try to help is comforting for people, much less when you do succeed. The upside is that you not only help someone, you also learn something new along the way.

Saying “I don’t know” is really not just a statement reflecting the present moment. To me, it is a reflection of how in the past I didn’t know and didn’t get to learn / try to learn / want to learn, hence I don’t know now. It can also be a reflection of how in the present, I don’t know, I am not getting to learn / I am not trying to learn / don’t want to learn and hence in future, I will continue not to know. Or even both.

My dear friend, we have so much potential in us. Please don’t let this potential fade into oblivion with the IDK (“I don’t know”) reply.

Starting today, try replying with a “I don’t know YET … but I can learn, I can try and I want to know!”

Can you do it?