Something to remember on Wesak Day

Happy Wesak Day to all Buddhists. In today's post, I would like to remind readers of the teachings of Buddha so that we will emulate Him and be good citizens of the world.

Basically, Gautama Buddha who had attained enlightenment or buddhahood told the world the truth about our lives. According to the Buddha, humann beings suffer because of three things, namely avarice, hatred and delusion.

When we are greedy, we are satisfied with what we have and hence crave for more things. Sometimes we resort to stealing, cheating or murdering in order to get what we want. Such act will land us in trouble. We may be caught and put in jail to suffer. Being not contented with what we have already possessed makes us unhappy - an example of suffering.

Hating others will also make us unhappy. Such feeling may lead to insulting others by words, injuring others by weapons and ending the lives of others by some other means. Once again, we suffer because of this feeling or harbouring hatred towards others.

Delusion is the state of not fully understanding the true nature of things. We think that things around us are forever ours. This is not true. Even the water in the glass keeps changing in terms of the movement of molecules within. It becomes less and less as the molecules  gain more energy and change into vapour and escape into the air. Hence we feel very sad when someone dear to us passes away.

To overcome the three evils, we must practise dana or donating things to others to get rid of greed or avarice. If we are willing to part with our money or things so that they go to the needy, we are not greedy anymore. In fact doing dana will reap things many folds in return if it is practised with sincerity and without attachment whatsoever.

As for surmounting the hurdle of hatred, we should practise loving kindness and compasion towards others. According to Buddhism, beings around us might be our relatives sometime in the past when rebirths occur every now and then. Think of the one you hate as your mother, sister or aunt if the person is a female and think of him as your father, brother or uncle. The one you hate is your relative in the past and hence you should forgive him and love him or her stead.

Delusion can only be overcome if we understand the impermanence of things around us. There is nothing that last forever. Hence we should practise detachment. We must not cling to someone as if he or she will be forever ours. We have to say goodbye to our beloved when the time comes and we should attach too much to him or her so that the feeling of loss will bot be so great.

So much for some reminder of the teaching of the Buddha on Wesak Day today.

Yu Lan Shen Hui or Hungry Ghosts' Month

Today is the fifteenth day of Yu Lan Shen Hui dedicated to beings in the Ghosts' Realm. Every where you can see most of the Chinese buying cakes, fruits, 'buah rambai' (a type of fruit that comes in bunches) to be offered to the Hungry Ghosts when they pray.

According to Buddhism, there are six realms one has to go through if one has not attained nirvana. One of the realms is the hungry ghosts. It is believed that the seventh month of the lunar calendar is the month when hungry are released from the Ghosts' Realm. Hence their relatives who are still living will offer food for them, especially today although it lasts for a month.

It reminds the Buddhists that they should do good and practise Buddhism so that when they pass away they will be born as beings outside the samsara (Six Realms, which are human beings, dewas, azuras, animals, ghosts and hell) and stop the rebirth processes.

'Selamat Berbuka Puasa (Happy Breaking Fast) to all Muslims

The Muslims all over the world or rather in Malaysia will start fasting from today for a month. Being a Malaysian, I know too well the religious practice of the Malays all of whom are Muslims here. One of them is 'berpuasa' or fasting. They would start abstaining from food after 'makan sahur' (consuming food after midnight and before dawn prior to fasting). Then they will fast at 'imsak' or when the sun rises. For today, my Malay friend told me that the time for 'berbuka puasa' (breaking fast) was 7.38pm. I understand that  the time varies from day to day and from place to place.

Personally I feel that fasting is good for health because when the body is devoid of food, all the organs will start to work to make them function better.

I wish all Muslims happy breaking fast.

Happy Wesak Day

On this auspicious day, I would like to say 'Happy Wesak Day' to all Buddhists all over the world. It is a day the Buddhists will reflect on the teachings of Gautama Buddha.

Simply put, Buddhism is a way of life. The Buddhists will try to emulate what the Buddha does - be compassionate to all beings, animals included and practise loving kindness to everyone around them.

On this day too, many Buddhists will opt to release birds, tortoises and animals about to be slaughtered to practise 'saving lives' as a way to prolong lives for themselves as well as showing compassion to others. According to the working of karma, if one saves lives, his age will be prolonged.

I would like to repeat the basic teachings of Buddhism in this post. According to Gautama Buddha, human beings suffer because of three things - avarice (greed), hatred and delusion. Hence we should all try to eliminate all these three so that we will say 'goodbye' to suffering.

To part with avarice, we have to practise dana or donating things to the needy. We can donate a ringgit a day to a beggar if we can't afford to give more. Some people will cling to their money for dear life and they suffer because they are always worried that the money will be robbed by some bad guy. Are you going to take with you the money you own when you pass away? If it is no, then you should donate it to those who need it to survive or alleviate their suffering.

In order not to hate others, we have to treat others with love no matter how badly they treat us. I know this is not easy. However, if you think in terms of the karma theory then you will find it easy to do it. If someone always says bad words about him, do not hate him. On the contrary, forgive him because in your last life (the Buddhists believe in past lives) you must have done the same thing to him. Why harbour hatred towards others when you can radiate love to them?

As for delusion, we have to understand the true nature of things in this world. All things are impermanent. They do not stay the same forever. The car you bought yesterday will have wear and tear after a week. The water you put in a glass will become less after a few days even if you do not drink it. If we can understand the impermanence of things then we will not cling to things and loved ones so much. In this way we will have less suffering should the things we own get lost or destroyed and our loved ones leave us suddenly. In other words, we should practise detachment of things and loved ones.

I hope my simple explanation of the gist of Buddhism will help others to understand Buddhism better. For very detailed teachings, one has to consult a monk.

Once again, Happy Wesak Day.

Count up to 100 when you start to flare up

In Buddhism, one of the three things to be avoided is hatred. When someone harbours hatred towards a certain person, he will go all out to condemn him, scandalise him, scold him or even murder him. Hatred often gives rise to anger which is not only bad as it bears negative karma but only bad for health. The Chinese physician will tell you that anger will harm the liver.

Those who are always angry are paving their way to the hell realm. In such a realm, beings are always quarrelling, and stabbing each other with sharp objects. They are so used to hurting others that when they are reborn as human beings, the traits are always there. Such people will not give in and they are the 'kneah-su' (afraid of losing) lot.

If we do not want to go to the hell realm, abstain from getting angry. Count up to 100 when we start to flare up and after a lapse of doing nothing but counting mentally, maybe we can forget about wanting to get angry. Why not practising forgiving others? If someone annoys you, just treat him as one of those whom you annoyed in your last life who are here to give you back what you had given him then.

Let us forgive and forget when someone hurts you physically or verbally. As long as we can subdue our anger, we are getting ready to go to a better realm when we leave this world.

Practising our religion in our daily lives

You can practise your own religion in your daily life. For example, if you are a Buddhist, you can always practise Buddhism quietly. For instance, the chanting of the name of Amitabha Buddha can be done mentally while waiting for a bus. You can also do it verbally while doing your work such as sewing, planting trees and so on.

You need not tell people that you are a Buddhist. By your good behaviour and compassion shown to people around, you are walking the path of the Buddha.

It is Christmas again

Today is Christmas Day - a day to remember the birth of Jesus Christ.Those who embrace his teachings are known as Christians.

Jesus Christ teaches universal love to all of us. If we can practise loving everyone around us, then the whole world will be a better and enjoyable place to live in.

Happy Christmas to Christians all over the world.

Shifting of souls between two people

I just watched a comedy about shifting of souls between two people - a man and a girl after an accident involving their racing cars when they overturned. After this incident, the girl assumed the identity of the man in personalit and she walked like a man. On the other hand, the man who had the girl's soul behaved like a girl in demeanour. The man had a daughter and she did not know the shift and called his father whose soul now was that of the girl's. A lot of funny things happen to them after this identity mix-up.

The story ended with both man and girl getting married to have a happy ending.

The shifting of souls may not happen in real life. However, in Buddhism, one's soul will take different forms after death. For those who do good, they may go to the heavenly realms, and evil-does will end up as animals, hungry ghosts or hell-beings. Hence it is better for us to do good all the time so that we can be born in a better realm after death.

Happy Deepavali

Happy Deepavali to all Hindu friends. Today is the day of the Festival of Light. The day symbolises good over evil. It commemorates the blessed day on which the triumphant Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana. On this day also Sri Krishna killed the demon Narakasura.

I usually go to my neighbour's hour to greet his family a Happy Deepavali and I get to savour the delicious cakes, biscuits,muruku, and roti capati that goes with the mouth-watering curried chicken.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Today is the 1st of Shawal, the 10th month of the Muslim calendar. The Muslims have fasted for a month prior to this and today they are celebrating the new year which is known as Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

As I am writing this blog, I can smell the rendang coming from my neighbour who lives in the same floor with me in a condominium. Soon I will be invited to savour this food item which is peculiar on this festive. It will go with lemang, a glutinous rice dumpling cooked in bamboo stems.

I take this opportunity to wish all Muslim readers of this blog a very happy 'Hari Raya Aidilfitri'.

Thoughts on Wesak Day

Today is Wesak Day, a day to celebrate the birthday of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. On this day, let us ponder over what he tells us as an enlightened being.

According to the Budhha all suffering in this world can be traced to three things we cling to. They are greed, hatred and delusion.

We are not satisfied with what we have and strive to get more things or wealth. This is greed. When we fail to get what we want, we feel disappointed, sad and depressed. This lead to suffering.

Hatred is another feeling that we harbour towards others. When some one says something unpleasant to our ears, we tend to hate him. We shun seeing him and refuse to co-operate with him. Worse still, we will retaliate and try to cause harm to him. Such feeling that is with us makes us suffer.

As for delusion, it is about understanding the true nature of things. Human beings are often unaware of the impermanence of things around us. We cling to our loved ones, dreaming to be with him or her forever. This is impossible as we are mortal and one day we have to die due to old age or disease.

To counteract greed, we should practice dana. We should donate things to the needy. Helping others to overcome fear is a form of dana too. Willing to part with what we have is a good practice for getting rid of greed or avarice.

Practising loving kindness helps us keep hatred at a distance. We shoud try to love everyone as if he is our mother, father, sister, brother, husband or wife. With this mindset, no hatred will arise in our heart. For example, when someone says very bad things about you, you must treat the experience as getting back what you have given him in your past lives. In other words, you deserve to receive this treatment.

Getting rid of delusion needs a scientific mind. Science tells us that all things are made up of atoms which are in constant movement. In solids, they move very slowly. The move faster in liquids and they have the greatest speed of movent in a gas. It shows us that all things change every now and then. Water can become steam and steam can condense to become water. Ice is formed from water when it is subject to very low temperatures. Hence we should not attach to things owned. They will get spoilt one day. So are our loved ones. They may leave us one of these days. If we practise detachment, we will be able to overcome delusion.

Happy Wesak Day to all Buddhists worldwide.

The world is what you perceive

Nowadays, we tend to think that it is unsafe wherever you go because you may get robbed of your possession or you may be murdered. The world seems to be heading towards doomsday.

If all of us perceive goodness in everybody around us, the effect is marvellous. Everyone then will aspire to be a good being. Helping each other and doing service to others will be the norm of the day.

As good begets good is a karmic reaction, the world as what we perceive can be a reality.

Let us hope that with each passing day, the world will be a better place to live in.

Don't go fishing

One day, I gave out an assignment to my students entitled 'The advantages of fishing'. I list out for them the good points, namely training one to be patient, enabling one to have peace of mind and helping them to spend their free time reading while waiting for the fish to get hooked.

After some time, my conscience told me that I had to tell my students while they were writing the essay. I said, "Just write this essay but don't go fishing because the very act is killing lives. You are killing the fish you catch with your hook."

As my students come from different religious faith, I did not tell them that killing would land them into hell realm, according to the teaching of Buddha.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Gong Xi Fa Cai or Congratulate on making yourself rich wiil be said during Xin Nian or Chinese New Year. If you stress too much wealth, then you can say 'Xin Nian Kuai Le' or Happy Chinese New Year.

It is the wish of all people to get rich but some simply cannot make it. It has to do with karma. If you had donated generously in your past lives, the you should be rewarded with wealth, lots of it in this life. The miserly ones in their past lives have no hope of getting rich in this life. Such is the teaching of the Buddha.

Hence it is more proper to wish most people 'Xin Nian Kuai Le' as happiness is more important than wealth alone.

Retreating a step

Retreat one step and the sea is wide and the sky is empty. So says a Chinese saying. It simply means by giving in to someone's demand or admitting defeat, we still have many other things to gain.

Many instances of quarrel between two parties persist because either side refuses to give in. Each of them wants to be the winner. If both parties think of the above saying, one of them will let the other side win and the quarrel ends just like that.

In Buddhism one gains more merit in giving than receiving. If one is willing to render help to others, he will cultivate good karma. Letting others win does not render you a loser. In fact you gain in the sense that you help to settle one tight situation which will yield no result if nothing is done to untangle the mess.

Let us all retreat a step so that peace prevails in situations where one side must give in.

A tragic incident in Penang

It is sad to learn of the death of one teacher and five students during a dragon b0at practice in Penang. The 28-year-old teacher was on the boat although he was a non-swimmer. Being an advisor of the team, he wanted to see the condition of the place but it was a journey of no return.

The parents of the four 17-year-old students who drowned together with an 16-year-old Form Four student must be missing their dear ones. As one parent told the reporter, she had some knowledge of Buddhism and knew that life is uncertain, including the arrival of sudden death.
She took it as something destined.

According to Buddhism, all of us have to undergo all four stages of life, namely birth, old age, sickness and death. Whoever is born must die one day. Hence while we are still alive, we should contribute towards society and help others whenever necessary. When it is time to go, we will have no regrets.

The working of 'yan' let us meet again

I always believe in 'yan' or 'chance occurrence'. It is 'yan' that makes you the son or daughter of your parents. It is 'yan' that brings your mum and dad together as man and wife. So is yan's working when someone is your sibling. In fact, people around you are examples of the manifestation of 'yan'.

When I was teaching in Jerantut, I chanced to meet Tan Jee Peng from Kulim, Kedah who was posted to my school. A year later, I was transferred to Sungai Petani. Her wife, Guat Lee, suggested that I rent her mother's house as she was staying all alone when Guat Lee and her sister, both nurses, were on night duties. My wife and I agreed and so 'yan' brought us to meet Guat Lee's mother.

SinceI left Sungai Petani in 1989, I haven't met Jee Peng and Guat Lee until today. A month ago, I received a phone call from Jee Peng, telling me that his eldest will be getting married on 26th December and he invited me to attend the wedding dinner. Then a fortnight ago, I received an invitation card by post. Based on the address and a search for the location through the help of Google maps, I was able to reach his house in Bukit Mertajam this morning. Guat Lee had cooked a very delicious vegetarian lunch for me and my wife. After lunch, we talked of the old times. See, 'yan' brought us to meet again after a lapse of nearly 20 years!

Live and let live

I was watching the news when I learnt that a turkey meant to be slaughtered by the President of America on Thanksgiving Day was spared its life. This is wonderful. According to Buddhism, sparing the life of a living being, animals included is better than building seven pagodas.

In real life situation, we can go for vegetarian diet as a way of sparing lives of animals meant for food. These include pigs, cows, goats, chickens and so on. As our food consists of vegetables, we don't have to resort to killing chickens, for example, for food.

If the spirit of non-killing is extended to other things,then wars which involve killings can be avoided. Acts of murder will be a thing of the past. How nice it would be if all human beings practise sparing lives of other fellow men and other beings.

The spirit of 'Live and let live' will then prevail.

Friendship is the play of karma

In real life situation, we don't expect things to happen our ways. For example, you had planned to buy Wan Tan Mee at a certain stall but when you reached the place the stall was closed. Hence it is better for us to act according to circumstances.

A fresh graduate may not get a job suitable to his training at the university. Well, accept the job first and wait for a chance to do something related to your field when opportunity strikes later. This is the play of fate or karma as Buddhists call it.

We sometimes happen to see a stranger but we take a liking to him or her. It shows that somewhere in our last life we know him or her. React by smiling at him or her, hoping that he or she will reciprocate. At times friendship is gained this way as fate has it.

In the past I used to I wonder why I liked someone and detested another. Through the study of Buddhism I now realise that it is the play of karma. The one you like is the one very close to you such as your father, mother, wife, husband or sibling and the one you hate was your enemy or had done a lot of harm to you.

The story of greed

This is a story I heard from a monk who talked about human greed.

One day, a kind-hearted man passed by a beggar who said to him, "Give me one hundred dollars." Out of compassion, the man dug into his pocket only to realise thatt he had only eighty dollars. Hence he handed all the amount to the beggar. Instead of showing gratitude by saying 'Thank You', the beggar said, "Remember you still owe me twenty dollars."

The moral of the story is that human greed cannot be satisfied. Because of greed, some people will go all out to get more and more money some of which is not needed at all. According to Buddhism such people who will reborn as ghosts when they pass away. Even the Chinese has the phrase 'Tan Xin Gui' (Greedy Ghost) to refer to a person who is very greedy.