Heart Sutra Workshop @ Singapore Buddhist Federation

 

觀世音菩薩

觀世音菩薩

What is the Heart Sutra?

The Heart Sutra is one of the most common sutra recited in temples and monasteries worldwide.  While being the shortest at 260 Chinese characters, it expounds deep and profound teachings of Emptiness as taught by the Buddha.

色不亦空、空不亦色。色即是空、空即是色。

What is Emptiness and how does it help us in our daily life today?  Come join us for the Heart Sutra workshop and learn more!

Workshop Programme (conducted in English)

  • Puja
  • Recitation of Heart Sutra
  • Teachings
  • Discussion
  • Meditation
  • Dedication of Merits

Date & Time:

4th December 2009 to 22nd January 2010 (8 sessions)
Every Friday, 7:30pm to 9:30pm

Venue:

SBF Level 6 Lecture Hall.

Attedance:

By registration ONLY.
Closing Date:  20th November 2009.

Fees:

Standard Rate – $50 per person
DCSS Members/NSF/Full-Time Students-$25 per person

All proceeds will go to Singapore Buddhist Federation .

Cheque Payment should be made payable to “Singapore Buddhist Federation” and mailed with the application form to Singapore Buddhist Federation.

Cash Payment should be submitted with the application form in person at Singapore Buddhist Federation.

Contact & Mailing Info:

Shu Zhen @ 67444635

Singapore Buddhist Federation
59 Lorong 24A Geylang, Singapore 398583

Office hours

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

HOME : A MOVIE HAPPENING

HOME : A MOVIE HAPPENING

DHL is pleased to invite you to a special screening of Home on Saturday, 21 November 2009, 9.00 am at Lido 3, Shaw Centre. Together with our partner, the Singapore Environmental Council (SEC), we hope to spread the word about this remarkable movie, as well as its important environmental message, to a wider audience.

With its stunning visuals and eye-opening narration by Glenn Close, Home, a film by famed photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, delivers the environmental message about the need to conserve our perishing planet, and restore its natural beauty with unmistakable clarity.

DHL is the world’s leading logistics company with 500,000 employees in almost every major community on planet earth. As such the company recognizes its special responsibility to the communities it operates in and to the minimization of its impact on the environment.

Your participation is important in raising awareness and inspiring individual efforts towards environmental conservations. Please contact the Singapore Environmental Council at 6337 6062 or joe@sec.org.sg to confirm your attendance or for more information.

HOME : A MOVIE HAPPENING

HOME : A MOVIE HAPPENING

The movie HOME directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and co-produced by Elzévir Films and EuropaCorp (Luc Besson’s company) and supported by PPR

Yann Arthus-Bertrand became famous through the “Earth from above,” a photographic portrait of aerial shots of our planet. Three million copies of his book have been sold and his free, open-air exhibitions have been seen by more than one hundred million people.

HOME carries on this tradition. This feature will be made up of aerial images which have been filmed in more than fifty countries around the world. A voice-off will offer constructive hindsight into the major environmental and social challenges facing our world.

The worldwide release of the movie will be organized by EuropaCorp on June 5th, 2009 – World Environment Day – in cinemas, on television, on DVD and on the Internet around the world. The aim of this simultaneous worldwide broadcasting is to enable as many people as possible to watch the movie together.

The objective of HOME is not to make a profit. Its only benefit will be to contribute towards increasing awareness of our responsibility towards the planet. Profits will be donated to Goodplanet.org.

HOME IS CARBON OFFSET
Greenhouse gas emissions which are caused by air-travel and hours of photography by helicopter will be offset by supporting clean development projects (biogas production project in the Hassan district in India, cf. appendix)
Log on to www.actioncarbone.org

Participate and act, “Watch this movie !”

A Mouse Merchant in Real Life or the Red Paper Clip Man

The Mouse Merchant [Diligence and Gratitude]

The Khuddaka Nikaya is the fifth of the Nikayas found in the Sutta Pitaka, and consist of a collection of short suttas.  Amongst them is the Jataka, which contain the birth stories told by the Buddha.  In one such sutta, CULLAKA-SEṬṬHI-JĀTAKA, the Mouse Merchant, the Buddha tells of a rags-to-riches story of a young man who takes on the advice of a King’s adviser he overheard, and becomes wealthy
through his hard work and determination.  The young man began with a dead mouse and in the end of the story, he returns the favour to the adviser out of gratitude by offering half his fortune to the adviser.  I’ll leave you to read the sutta with the link below. ^_<

Now, I’ve shared with many people those wonderful stories found in the suttas, and many often dismiss them as being more of a fairy tale or legend that having anything in parallel.  Well, a while back, I read of a man who had a similar experience of starting off with something small (a red paper clip) and ending with a tidy fortune (I’ll leave it to you to read about it as well).  Amazing?  Truly.  Just as amazing is the young man in the Mouse Merchant Jataka struck his fortune with something insignificant and small (a dead mouse), working his way up through his diligence and diligence.

The next time when you read one of the Jataka stories, remember, as amazing as they are, they can happen in real life, as the Mouse Merchant did, or should we say the Red Paper Clip Man? ^_^

Reference

Full Sutta, http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j1/j1007.htm
Birth Story part of the sutta, http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/bt1_04.htm

The amazing story on news sites and links
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2171378
http://news.cnet.com/Blogger-asks,-Wanna-trade-a-paper-clip-for-a-house/2100-1025_3-6061438.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_red_paperclip

The blog that started it all
http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_archive.html

A Moment of Sadness, a Moment of Silence

Dear friends,

Let us take a moment to remember those who suffered and perish in the recent spate of disasters.

Earthquake in Samoa, Indonesia, and Typhoon in Manila, Indonesia.

May they receive help swiftly and find peace and comfort where ever they are. May those who perished have good conditions to be reborn in the human realms where they can learn and practise the Buddha-Dharma and in due time attain Final Liberation, Nibbana.

With so much suffering around already, may the rest of the world find peace in their mind and lay their arms to rest. May they not incur any more suffering onto others through mindless wars.