Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Emotions do not originate with us. They come and go depending on situations,
circumstances, relationships, and events. Emotions are never created in isolation;
they always come about because of some interaction with the environments.
In the absence of circumstances or relationships, there is no emotion.
So, even though you may fly into a rage, it is not actually your anger.
It is anger that has settled on you for the moment.

Notice how your fear and anger have accumulated over the years. Although you
cannot remember it, there was a time in your life before you ever felt anger or fear,
a time of total peace and tranquility. Try to imagine what that experience of utter
bliss might have been like.

Focus on a time before fear or anger. Rewind that imaginary tape of your life
until the screen goes back, and feel the boundaries evaporate between yourself
and your surroundings. For the next minute, feel the total loss of all your
accumulated anger, fear and ego.

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dreamed of racing on 9:38 am

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Saturday, 17 November 2012

愛讓我們變得比單身愚笨
也讓我們擁有從未的完整
問也不問就越陷越深
如果不是那個吻 那年會更冷

相信變成了某種特殊天分
緣分只是自欺欺人的天真
想念總是在夜裡狂奔
特別想他著魔的眼神

好難得 你遇見了對的人
難得你很認真不想太多去奮不顧身
好難得 你愛上了對的人
可惜他不是你的可能

我們都曾以為愛就像清晨
原來最難挨過的竟是黃昏
我們都愛過某個詩人
可是詩人也是平凡人
好難得 你遇見了對的人
難得你很認真不想太多去奮不顧身
好難得 你愛上了對的人
可惜他不是你的可能

好難得 我們遇見了對的人
難得好幾輩子的好運才有機會完成
好難得 我們愛上了對的人
就算他不是到最後的人
也祝他更勇敢愛別人


好難得－丁噹　作詞：木蘭號 陳韋伶 / 陳沒　作曲：木蘭號 陳韋伶　专辑：好難得　发行：2012年5月18日



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dreamed of racing on 11:23 pm

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Friday, 16 November 2012

不能遗忘，说明从前的你很幸福，
可以遗忘，证明现在的你比以前幸福，

没有什么伤心是遗忘不了的，
令人难以释怀的是幸福~
伤害的存在，是因为你觉得，现在的你不够幸福...

by 慕康

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dreamed of racing on 10:44 am

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Friday, 9 November 2012

Anger always harms oneself immediately,
even if never expressed to harm others later.

- Stonepeace

On another occasion, Rahula followed his teacher, Sariputra,
on a trip to teach the Dharma. At noon, they begged for alms
in the vicinity of Rajagriha. They met a young hooligan, who
poured sand on purpose into Sariputra's alms-bowl, and hit
Rahula's head with a stick. Blood kept flowing out from the
injured part of Rahula's head.

Sariputra comforted Rahula, saying, "Rahula, as disciples of
the Buddha, we must cultivate the virtue of patience. We must
not be angry with evil people. On the other hand, we should
even pity them, because they do not know that every action
will produce results, so they commit evil actions."
[Ed: Which is why we should do our best to help them realise
their mistakes.]

After listening to Sariputra, Rahula was calm and unruffled.
Without uttering a word, he went to the riverbank by himself,
and washed away the blood on his head and face. Then, he
used his handkerchief to dress the wound. He then continued
to beg for alms from others, as if he had not been injured at all.


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dreamed of racing on 11:04 am

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Realisation: Are All Present Obstacles Due To Past Karma?

Having a good attitude matters more
than having good experiences,
as it also decides how well
bad experiences are experienced.

- Stonepeace

There is a common misconception that absolutely everything being
experienced is due to past karma's ripening. Such misunderstanding
is very spiritually disempowering, and even physically debilitating,
rendering nothing worth doing. It is almost the ultimate fatalistic
outlook on life – to blame one's predecessor in a past life for all
present unhappiness, as if absolving oneself of all responsibilities,
while assuming there is nothing to do but to live out all impending
suffering. Indeed, what we experience is karmic in effect. However,
at most, only about half of each experience is due to past karma.
The other half of what we experience is due to our choice of attitude,
that creates fresh karma now, that magnifies or mitigates effects of the
first half, thus altering the overall quality of the experience.

As an example, two kids who have scraped knees suffer pain due to
immediate past negative karma's ripening – from being unmindful while
playing. The first kid might cry and lament in a resigned way, thus
aggravating the physical pain mentally. The second kid however,
might take the pain in his stride and choose to be brave, tending to the
injury swiftly and properly, thus alleviating himself of needless physical
and mental anguish. It is true that both their experiences are karmic in
nature. The first kid tastes the bitter fruit of past karma while creating
unskilful instant new karma in the moment, whose prolonged painful
effect he experiences by being stubborn… despite good advice from
the second kid, who thus also creates wholesome karma – by offering
help out of compassion and wisdom.

While negative and positive karmic tendencies of, say, being fatalistic
or proactive, as exemplified by the two kids might be carried over to
this life, past life inclinations can always be changed within this life
through diligent deliberation. Tendencies, being mere habitual forces,
are never cast in stone, which is why the karma that (re)shapes destiny
is dynamic, pivoting not so much upon our past lives, but upon our
present attitude – which decides how to make the best of even the
worst obstacles. Our present experiences of unforeseeable setbacks
might result from past karma, but our present attitude always creates
fresh karma, that worsens or betters every situation. Even if likelihood
of failure is partially due to past lives' karma ripening, not attempting to
turn things around is always the actual failure.

Changing strong negative habits
is possible only by
creating strong positive habits.

- Stonepeace


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dreamed of racing on 10:58 am

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Thursday, 8 November 2012

this is a picture i taken this morning.. most of the day, i will see such old uncles
and aunties a.k.a garang guni carrying card boards and old stuff hoping to sell them
for some penny.. i do not know them.. some of them may have children who’re
looking after them, and just want to pass time and earn some money, but I
believe most are really struggling for a living.. I have seen old folks at coffee shop,
old folk area at the void deck chatting, playing chess,  some carrying their
grandchildren around, walk their dog or doing some gardening job around my town..

I remember not too long ago, while I was walking out of my office for lunch,
I encounter a young garang guni pushing a trolley full of used stuff in the middle
of the road.. as I was about to walk pass him, an old table fan from his trolley dropped
off onto the road.. it is a 4 lanes road thus can you imagine how dangerous it is to him
and other motorists.. so quickly, I ran to him, pick up the fan and help him push his
trolley onto the pavement.. I told him the danger he posed for himself and other road
users, and then do I realised that he is a PRC “FT”.. what I do not understand is why
do our govt allow such FT into Singapore? I am not discriminating against foreigner,
the poor or the uneducated, I just doubt the Singapore immigrant policy.. anyway,
after pushing his trolley onto the pavement, I help him to re-secured his stuff.. he didn’t
even know how to place his fan and stuff so that its more stable when pushing his trolley..

Speaking of govt policy, the immigrant policy is something the govt really have to
look into.. but I also understand the real reason behind for the influx of foreigners..
its obvious that the current generation of pap main focus is on economy.. thus the
huge influx of foreigners, not 1 but 2 casinos, marina bay sands (most expensive hotel
in the world), the billions dollars garden by the bay (most expensive garden in the word)
to attract tourists.. now focusing on economy is not a bad thing, but when a country
main focus is on economy at the expense of other issue and not striking a balance,
problems arise.. we have housing issues, which further delay marriage and worsen
the already low fertility rate.. our economy keep going up but due to “FT” competition,
our salary are not increasing much, raising the cost of living for the low and middle
income.. what really benefit are the big companies and of cause ultimately the govt,
which have almost every shares in every large organisation in Singapore.. it is very
obvious that almost everything the govt do now bring them huge profits which is why
we're the richest country now..

And then we have overcrowing and transport issue, the high coe cost, the ever increasing
erp charges which again end up in govt pocket.. while smrt skimped on its operation
maintenance which result in numerous breakdowns even till this day.. smrt are willing to
spend time and money looking into retailing in its station but not on maintenance..
and coincidentally, the previous ceo saw phaik hwa of smrt is a FT.. now why do we
put a public transport in the hand of a foreigner? Oh I forgotten to mentioned she is a
good friend to pm wife ho ching.. oh, they’re good friends since primary school, that’s
most probably how saw get the ceo position in the first place..

Many of my friends may think that I am always complaining.. haha, yes I do complain
about our transport system, housing, out govt and stuff.. but that doesn’t mean that I
do not appreciate and understand the good life in Singapore.. I do know that all of us
here in Singapore are pampered.. we do not have nature disasters, our crime rate is low,
jobless rate is low, and most of our services in Singapore is more efficient compare to
other countries.. but that doesn’t mean we don’t continue to strive for the better..
I definitely believe the govt can do better if they focus on other aspect and not primary
on economy.. we need a govt which can better the life of its citizen now and for the
future especially the not so well off.. although I do rant every now and then, but I am
not at all unhappy in my life really.. I’m just creating awareness in hoping that we can
influence the govt or change the society to be better.. but I feel that its time to stop..
so I will reduce my ranting from now on.. :p

the key issue now is low fertility.. bringing in more foreigners will only worsen the aging
population in years to come.. we’re bringing in adults and not babies.. isn’t we are just
worsening the greying population problem at the expense of better economy and maybe
more vote for pap.. with only 60% Singaporean voting for pap, pap need to get more
new citizen to vote for them.. the root problem is aging population which is not solve
at all.. most of us feel that money is part of the issue.. getting married is already a huge
expense, buying a flat and bringing up a child is another huge, and I mean really huge
burden to the low and middle income.. nowadays everything is costly.. but our govt think
otherwise because everything is affordable to them.. with their millions salary, they’d
long lost touch with normal peasant like us.. till now, they still do not know why or pretend
not to know why Singaporeans do not want to have baby.. lolz..

another big issue is the moral and personality of people.. we’ve been geared to earn
as much money as possible due to the society brought forward by the govt.. we’re been
programmed to be materialistic and selfish where we will only do something if it benefit us..
this result in the recent case of a “FT” who hit a 60 years old granny yet no one step
forward to help the poor old granny.. I really feel a need for a culture change, to step
toward a gracious society.. since we’re like a rojak now with all kind of foreigners..

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dreamed of racing on 4:28 pm

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Thursday, 1 November 2012

Buddhist ethics are based on Buddha's main teaching - the four noble truths
or four facts of life. Basically, life is tough; life is difficult. But there's a cause
for that, and if we want to get rid of difficulties in life, we need to eliminate
the cause.

So what Buddha taught in this context was that there are certain types of
behaviour that are going to cause us problems and unhappiness. If we want
to avoid suffering for ourselves, we need to refrain from those types of
behaviour. If we don't care about the amount of problems we create for
ourselves, fine. Go ahead and continue acting in that way. It's everybody's
choice.

Buddha didn't give any moral commandments like in the Bible. Buddha
never said, "You should do this and if you don't, you're bad." But rather,
Buddha said, "If you do this, you're going to make problems for yourself.
If you don't want those problems, stop doing it." If we continue doing what
will bring us problems, that doesn't make us a "bad person." If we don't
do it, if we refrain, it doesn't make us a "good person." If we continue
acting in a way that creates problems for ourselves, we're foolish and
it's sad. If we stop acting in that way, we're wise. That's all.

The main point to look at in Buddhist ethics concerning sexuality, then,
is the motivation for our sexual behavior. Sexual activity is not terribly
different, as an act, from eating, in the sense that it is a biological function
that comes from having this type of body. If we have this type of body,
it's going to get hungry. We have to feed it. Likewise, when we have this
type of body, there are going to be sexual hormones. There's going to be
a biological function regarding sex that we somehow have to deal with.
There's a big difference, however, between satisfying sexual hunger and
satisfying hunger for food. We can live without sex, but we can't live
without food.

Sexual activity, like eating, can be motivated by a disturbing emotion or
attitude, a constructive one, or a neutral one. Based on the motivation,
the act of having sex or eating likewise becomes destructive, constructive,
or neutral. For instance, if we eat out of tremendous greed and attachment -
just stuff ourselves like a pig - it's self-destructive. If we eat because we
need to be strong in order to take care of our families - in order to have
the strength and energy to work, and so on - that's a positive motivation;
the eating is constructive. If we eat just because it's time to eat and everybody
else is eating, it's ethically neutral.

The same thing is true with sex. If we have sex because we have tremendous
attachment and desire, or because of anger like when soldiers rape their
enemy's wives and daughters, it's destructive. If we're having sex in order
to show affection and help somebody - an appropriate person - with the
hope that this will make the person feel a little better, it's constructive. If we
have sex just because we can't fall asleep and it'll make us tired so that we
can fall asleep faster, then it's neutral.

The result of what we experience from the same act is different according
to the motivation. "Destructive" means that it's going to produce problems
for us in the future. For most people, the negative motivation for sex that
would make it destructive and cause problems for them in the future is usually
attachment and longing desire. What we need to work on, in the context of
renunciation, is not the sexual act itself, but rather this attachment and longing
desire.

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dreamed of racing on 4:06 pm

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