Bowing is a sign of being humble

I was watching video of Japanese conversation when I realised that the Japanese like to bow when they say 'Hajimemashite' (How do you do?) instead of shaking hands as Europeans do.

I also learnt that bowing was practised long ago in China. Actually bowing is a sign of being humble. It takes away your pride and the state of being superior to others.

As leaders who begin a talk or briefing to their followers by bowing to them, they will have leave a good impression on them and bring them closer together. If superior bows to workers the first time he meets them, they will be too willing to work harder for the company.

Let us bow if there is an occasion to do so.

How to reply to 'arigato gozaimasu'

When some one says 'ありがとうございます ARIGATŌ - GOZAIMASU' to you in Japanese, what should you say in return. Arigato gozaimasu means 'Thank you.'

Well, you just say 'いえ いたしまして。Iie, ITASHIMASHITE'. [You are welcome.]

How to use 'beside' and 'besides' correctly

My students often gets confused when it comes to using these two words. They are 'beside' and 'besides'.

The word 'beside' is a preposition and it means 'near'.
Let us look at two examples to see how it is used in sentences.
1 I sat beside John when I was watching the football match.
2 There is dustbin beside me.

As for 'besides', it is a preposition and adverb. When it is used as a preposition, it means 'in addition to' but when it acts as an adverb, it carries the meaning of 'in addition'.

You can make a sentence such as the one below to use it as a preposition.
Besides singing, the renowned singer composes her own songs.

To use 'besides' as an adverb, perhaps you can construct a sentence as follows.
Besides, I don't have the transport to go there at the moment.

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.

About 'berhubung' and 'berhubungan'

In today's post, I shall talk about two words which pose problems to users of the Malay language. These are 'berhubung' and 'berhubungan'. The latter is often used as if it is the former. However, the meanings are different.

The intransitive verb 'berhubung' means to communicate or to contact someone. Look at he following sentences to see what I mean.
1 Saya berhubung dengan kawanku yang belajar di England melalui e-mel.
[I communicate with my friend who is studying in England through email.]

2 Dia berhubung dengan balai bomba apabila nampak kebakaran berlaku.
[He contact the fire brigade when he saw that there was a fire.]

When the preposition 'dengan' is used after 'berhubung', both words mean 'concerning'. For example, you can write a sentence such as the one below:
Berhubung dengan perkara ini, saya sudah berbincanga dengan Ali tentangnya.
[Concerning this matter, I have talked with Ali about it.]

As for 'berhubungan', it means 'saling berhubung' or 'communicate mutally' in English. Note that you must start with 'Mereka' (They), 'Kami' (We) or a subject such as 'Ali dan Muthu' (Ali and Muthu) when you construct your sentence. Let us make some sentences using this word.
1 Mereka masih berhubungan walaupun tinggal berjauhan.
[They still communicate with each other although they live far apart.]

2 Kami berhubungan melaluli telefon atau e-mel kerana tinggal di negeri yang berlainan.
[We communicate with each other through telephone or email because we live in different states.]

3 Ali dan Albert berhubungan melalui surat kerana tinggal di negara yang berlainan.
[Ali and Albert communicate with each other through mail because they live in different countries.]

Let us keep the key of happiness ourselves

In real life situation, we often feel angry because someone has done something to make us angry or he has disappointed us.

We feel angry because of the act of someone. If we have such a feeling, we are letting him keep the key of happiness. On the other hand, we should keep the key of happiness ourselves. We should think this way. His act has made us realise that we should not have done the same so that others will not get angry.

Being angry is detrimental to our health. When we get angry for three minutes, the energy extended will only be replenished after three days. Hence it is not worth it. Count up to 20 when we are about to get angry. Don't let anger control you because it will be like letting the one who makes you angry hold your key of happiness. Your feeling is controlled by his words or act. However, if you have total control over your feeling and have the mental set as mentioned earlier, you have actually keeping the key of happiness to yourself.

Water can 'see', 'hear' and 'react'

Water can see and hear as well as react. There is a Japanese researcher who did experiment on water to see its reaction when being abused and praised.

First he filled five bottles with water and have the words 'I love you' in five languages on the walls of the bottles. He allowed the water to 'see' the words for two hours. After that, he subjected the bottles of water to temperatures below five degrees Celcius. The he looked at the crystals of ice. He was able to see beautiful crystals formed.

He repeated the experiment with the same water which was defrozened. The words on the bottles were changed to 'I hate you.' The Japanese researcher was surprised to see ugly crystals.

When he did the experiment again with music. He obtained the same results. When air is exposed to beautiful music, beautiful crystals were formed. When rap and heavy metal music were bombarding the water, it showe ulgy crystals.

The moral of the experiment is we should say good words to our body which consists of 70% water. Abstain from anger so that good water condition exists and not otherwise. When water is our body exists in very good condition, we will be healthy. In Zhineng Qigong, we always say, 'My heart is good, my liver is good, my lungs are good, my eyes are good and so on'. Through suggestions such as these, we will be able to generate good karmic force in the water inside ourselves.

The difference between 'damage' and 'damages'

Many pupils often write, 'Floods cause a lot of damages to crops.' They think that damages means ' a lot of destruction'. This is wrong usage. Actually, there is a difference between 'damage' and 'damages'. The former means 'destruction' while the latter carries the meaning of 'compensation'.

Let us look at the following sentences to see the difference in meanings.

1 Damage had been done when broke my prized vase. [destruction]
2 He paid damages to me for breaking my prized vase. [compensation]

Serving others really pay off

I have the chance to listen to a different type of talk on motivation and I want to share with readers what I have gained from the talk. The talk was given by a person who has studied Confucianism and Buddhism and practises them in company.

According to the corporate figure, to change the mindset of the workers, the employer himself has to change. Hence he practises the teaching of Confucius and the Buddha in his capacity as the leader of his company. He shows respects to the workers by bowing to them every morning and thanks them for their work. The rules of the company was discarded and replaced with 'Di Zi Gui' (The rules of disciples) which teaches how one should behave in the capacity of a son, father, leader, subject and so on. It stresses filial piety. All workers who have read 'Di Zi Gui' have marvellously become very good workers, dedicated and hardworking.

He also practises dana and gives lots of money to the needy. The karmic effect is great and his company's performance becomes better and better. The attitude of serving others more than oneself really pays off.

Words ending in suffix 'kan' and take humans as objects

Today I am discussing a group of Malay words which are followed by nouns and needs no suffix 'kan' unless they are followed by 'orang' (humans). A few examples will be given here and the rest are up to your discretion based whether they are meaningful if 'orang' are behind them.

1 a) Pengerusi kelab itu merancang aktiviti tahunan kelabnya. [The verb 'merancang' (to plan) is followed by the noun 'aktiviti' (activities)]
[The Chairman of the club plans his club's annual activities.]
b) Saya merancangkan adik jadual waktu belajar. [The verb 'merancangkan' (to plan for) here is followed by the 'adik' (my brother, a human)]
[I planned for my younger brother the time-table for his studies.]

2 a) Pekerja itu menghantar barang yang dibeli oleh pelanggan itu ke rumahnya. [The verb 'menghantar' (to send) is followed by the noun 'barang' (thing)]
b) Lina menghantarkan ibunya pakaian itu ke kedai dobi untuk dicuci. [ The verb 'menghantarkan' (to send for or take for ) is followed by 'ibunya' (her mother, a human)]
[Lina took the laundry for her mother to the dhoby's shop for washing.]

3 a) Johari membeli akhbar di kedai itu. [The verb 'membeli' (to buy) is followed by the noun 'akhbar' (newspaper)]
[Johari bought a newspaper at the shop.]
b) Saya membelikan adik sebuah buku cerita. [The verb 'membelikan' (to buy for) is followed by 'adik' (younger brother, a human)]
[I bought for my younger brother a story book.]