Mopping our practise

The floor of the main hall is always so clean and white. Makes people wonder maybe the dust in the air feels for these cleanliness and does not wish to stain the floor. Volunteered to clean the main hall yesterday and was so happy to have some realisation.

As I mop the floor, I discovered more and more fine stains appearing on the floor. The stains come in different colour, some easy to wipe away and some more stubborn ones. These seemingly obvious stains I see currently has never for once appear to spoil the purity of the floor. Yet these stain gives me the desire to clean them all up.

Before we set our mind to learn the righteous way of living, our habits are in fact our blindspots. These habit is never an issue in our life. As we embarked on the journey to perfect our bodily actions and mind, these "stains" shows up very obviously due to our increase in intensity of our mindfulness.

Our practises seem to create more troubled mind. But if upon realising these stain, we do not attach our mind to the stains, then I believe these stains on the floor would not have caused the uprising of my desire to remove them.

Cleaning up the floor and perfecting our actions are basic task of our life and in fact is our daily chores. But maybe by not clinging to the notions of right and wrong, we can free our mind better.

A frog in the glass

"A frog in the well" was a phrase which we often describe someone that was ignorant about worldly happens just like a frog believing that the mouth of the well is the whole sky.

Went to a camp recently and stumbled across a modification of the phrase by ven. manko directing to the younger generations. I thought it is a phenomena irregardless of age group. "A frog in the glass" was the modified phrase.

Getting informations in the current context is easy. We have the news, newspapers, or even through the mouth of anyone. In fact I feel we have been overloaded with information. A frog in the glass means the frog is capable to know what happens in the surrounding by looking through the clear glass walls but he did nothing.

Just like the poor frog, we are all aware of the world affairs, disasters, poverty, and sufferings all around the world in just a flip through the papers every morning. But what happens after that? Do we just skip to the leisure sections or just lament how poor thing they are and thats all.

Not expecting to head a humanitarian aid movement but maybe we could just exercise some of our creative mind to reach out :) If creativity is missing somehow through the years, maybe tagging along the people that are doing it will be nice as well.

http://www.tzuchi.org.sg/

May all beings be well and happy :)

Inter-religious harmony

Just some ideas given to our government. Not sure it will lend to the table of the right authority but just give it a shot :) Those that saw these, feel free to give me feedbacks :)

Dear Sir,

Just some feedback which I thought could help promote inter-religious harmony. It is pertaining to recurring episodes of religious leaders trying to put down other religion, causing disharmony to the community of Singapore.

Abusing other religion usually happens due to lack of knowledge for other religious belief thus giving chance to insensitivity and irresponsible comments. This is especially true and delicate in a multi-racial country like Singapore. I was thinking maybe the government could step in to legislate "Induction programmes" for existing religion leaders as well as up-coming leaders that wishes to promote their religion in the community.

The induction programme which i propose could consist of core teachings of the other religion taught by respected religious teachers in Singapore assigned by the religion's regulatory committee and has a track record of having past initiatives in promoting inter-religious activities. The duration should be reasonably long enough for these learners to internalise the knowledge rather then just another "go with the follow" courses. Those leaders that pass through the course will have some form of certification.

With the course in place, there should be tougher penalities for offenders especially when after they have genuine understanding of others' religion already. This will allow government to segregate those ill-informed leaders and those that have bad intentional motives.

Yours Sincerely,

Nelson Ng

到佛堂散散步吧 ：)

前晚有非常好的福德因缘跟马来西亚的青年联谊。虽然只不过是几小时的分享会，但
感触非常。也有些的感慨，感慨没能早些接触佛教。回头看以前小时的童军生活，
虽然学习与体会的机会多，但却缺乏意义己目标。很多的做，很少的想，就好比水
母吧。

那学佛能不到佛堂吗？很遗憾这观点最近才觉得是不可能的。早期都有阅读经典的
习惯。不然就约几个佛友聊起深奥的佛理。其实这也帮了我不少，也结交了不少志
同道合的伙伴。好幸运 ：)

但我发觉这样的活动也并非圆满！佛理又深又广，身为在家如何有能跟法师们那样
的投入？那如果不到佛堂走动，哪来的机会宽解善缘，行菩萨道，救济牵引众生能？
对于一个不到佛堂的青年，那一年到头，做了几次义工，共修，行佛事以及听闻佛
法呢？那基本的十善如何修，八正道如何立行？

那不到佛堂是太忙，太累还是懒散？佛家讲的富慧双修。自己的知识有限靠不住！
佛友或许比知己优秀，但他的知识始终有限有漏，也靠不住！待在家，哪来的修富
呢？就算你是主办了讨论会，动机虽好，受益的也是那在讨论会的几个人。比起工
修修的富难以相提并论。

只有在遇到烦恼与困境时，我们才能成长。佛法缺乏体会，光靠言语只不过是纸上
谈兵。一个旅途上，有个地图能省很多的冤枉路。在修行上也应如此。但始终别忘
了没人能代替你走。

人之初，性本 “空” :)

人之初，性本“空”。或许该说人，性本“空”！

决不是卖弄玄虚，而是最近非常有福德因缘，上了宽谦法师的“维摩诘经” 。
法喜充满！ 佛法说的空性非没有或空无。这道理可说虽是佛学基础但我慧根浅薄，
理解上真是惭愧。这讲座让我有进一部的见解。_/\_

人的行为造作的实有是相有。虽说好与坏是名相，但除去了命相呢？形态却还在。
回想有一回一位有权威的师傅在达摩祖师前卖弄空性的理解，达摩祖师敲了他的头。
这一敲也让那师傅有所悟。

“空”在于性空。人甚至宇宙万物万法本是合和的假相。人是由五蕴合和而成。简
说我是个结合体。如果我被截肢，那我还是我吗？我掉的头发是我吗？性空也是说
到在时间上，万法都是成住坏空的现象。有生必有死，哪怕是山河大地，何况是人
身。

那如果说把课题看成习气，我也觉得是无好坏。说好，但试看不给他奶喝。说坏，
他给父母无比的开心希望。在佛理看，人最初的性格是前世修的习气。试想为和有
些人天生就有些强相，喜欢不喜欢某些事与人。如说是天赐，那坏的行为习气能？


对人，我觉得没有一人样样好或无一好。大奸大恶也有善的一面。也因无常，坏人
坏行为也才有可能修好，但不警惕也有可能堕落。劫律只限于制止行为。乱丢垃圾
罚款只能让人不乱丢，那他能学会整洁的好习惯吗？改应该在理在习惯上下手。世
上能在法律上记载的有限，没列出的更多。那没列在法律的，就能做呢？

况且好坏见人见智。

我所看过的经典对空性有益读的如“金刚经”，“维摩诘经” 和 “楞严经”。

英语非常难表达:)