Letting go of the past, embracing the future - Ajahn Brahm

So nice to conclude the year spiritually by attending a light-hearted talk by Ajahn Brahm. And happier is when my cousin joins me for the talk. Even more happy is a friend of mine who don't have my contact but see my post in Facebook, decided to try her luck to locate me at Somerset MRT!!!

I am not late and yet by the time I reached, the whole hall is packed with people. And I still remember the overwhelming feel when the ushers decide to let the audiences seat on the stage. The crowd just squeeze in like a wave hitting on the beach..... a sight to behold.

Did not manage to remember most of it and here are some I manage to retain;

Ajahn Brahm said that his journey as a monk was not easy as expected. He remembered that when he decides to ordain as a monk he just left his country alone and went to Thailand. He has to meet up with challenges like locating a monastery to stay, what food to eat, the weather and other hardship he experienced.

He quoted an inspiring story from Winnie the Pooh. One day, Pooh was walking in the forest with the panic piglet. Storm came and panic piglet feared what will happen if a tree fell and they are under the tree? Pooh said what will happen if the tree fell and they are not under the tree?

When life doesn't come pleasantly, why do we dwell on the negative part of matters. During the time when he came to give talks in Singapore, SARS broke out and a lot of restriction was mended out for public gatherings. The organizers had put in a lot of money and ask Ajahn Brahmn whether to continue with the seminar. Ajahn Brahm mentioned that there are far more healthy people than SARS patient which will come to hear him out.

It is human tendency to be more receptive to negativity. People like to look at dramas and like to listen to story on end of the world. He bet that if 2012 is the end, he will give away his monastery, grow back and spike his hair and dance naked in the middle of Orchard road......(I doubt anyone wish to proof him wrong).

Shit that we faced in our daily life are fertilizers to grow ourselves. So, the more shit we face, we will have a beautiful garden in the end. Through history, mankind strive and progress after each disasters. Disasters make mankind more innovative and smart.In facing with wrong things we have committed, we need to acknowledge, embrace and learn from it.

We learn better when we are happier. It is just like taking a photo shot. We only capture photos that are happy. No one takes photo when they die. When

To seek happiness and success in life, we should forget and forgive ourselves, yet continue to use what works for them. Policies and plans drafted up by the government or the businesses should not be rigid and accounts for the inevitable challenges it may face.

Ajahn Brahm then shared a way to forgive and forget the mistakes we do. During the eve of countdown to usher in the new year, one can try writing consciously the bad things that had happened to you and written neathly on the toilet papers. Then when the clock hits 12, we will flush this bad feelings down the toilet bowl. Simple yet effective to use.

Stay tuned for further sharing when I can recall . . . . . .

Mani Retreat 2011

Folks! If nothing or even if you have some stressful urgent things going on from 23rd to 26th Dec, shelf your loads aside and join in this year's ManiRetreat @ Suntec Convention hall. http://maniretreat.sg/

They accept part-timers for half day sessions. I attempted last year and the retreat was refreshing. Its not some meditation retreat into the wild or some trainer telling you to do this and that. You just have to SIT, RELAX, and CHANT!

The founder of the retreat is a Tibetan Guru and thus the sessions are in Tibetan. If you are uncomfortable with Tibetan chanting you just don't follow. There is only meal breaks in between and thus you just keep chanting. Good time to expose yourselves to Tibetan chanting.

During the continuous chanting of the 6-syllabus 六字大明咒, one experiences the same mental states as doing a meditation. You get your concentration and phases of mind drifting away. Lesser on sleepiness as your mouth is continuously moving.

So, see you all there :) Please bring a jacket or shawl as the aircon might prevent you from concentrating.

The Art of Disapearing by Ajahn Brahm

Now to share some nice phrases in the book. I would highly recommend this easy read as its also easy for non-buddhist yet beneficial. For buddhist, you will absorb and appreciate better if you throw away the unnecessary chains and locks of your belief. Enlightenment as far as I read and heard before, is about letting go and not clinging onto any belief system :)

Chapter 3: Developing mindfulness

Through mindfulness, you get insight into subtle defilements and the way they work. You see their source and nature. You understand that defilements promise you so much but they never actually delivers......Once you notice Mara, all you need to say is, "Mara, I know you," and Mara just slinks off and goes away (SN 5:1)

Chapter 1: The Big Pictures

The contemplation of suffering, or dukkha, is an important part of true Buddhist practice. We don't try to control sufferings; rather we try to understand it by investigating its causes. It's an important point in our practice, because when most human beings experience sufferings, they make the mistake of either running away from it or trying to change it.

Difficult times are wonderful opportunities to sit down and face suffering, to understand it fully and note take the easy option of always running away.

"People urinate and defecate on the earth; they vomit on it and burn it. All sorts of rubbish gets tossed on the earth, but the earth never complains; it just accepts everything. People also do some beautiful things on the earth. They plant gardens, even better, they build monasteries. But earth doesn't react no matter what happens to it."

Chapter 2: Bridging the Mind into the Present

Never meditate for results. Even though we all want results, even though we want to see things happen, the very act of wanting will block them.

If you go back to the suttas, and see what the Buddha said, you find that your experience matches how the Buddha describe things. Then you become a real Buddhist, not just a superficial or intellectual one. You understand what the Buddha taught and how the Buddha lived, and how he calms his mind and his mental faculties to become still , peaceful, and supremely happy. Such practice is reflected in your health, attitude and life. You become a happier, more effective human being.

Stillness- Medicine for the Mind by Ajahn Brahm

Despite the rain, my mood was still rather high throughout the day, expecting what I will be learning from Ajahn Brahm tonight!! Now that wasn't the right mood for the topic of the evening haha! His talk was ever so relevant and simple enough to grasp, yet full of flavor and substance from his jokes and stories. Here is what I can remember;

His first question of the night to the floor is "Are you busy" and "Are you lazy". According to him, being lazy is good but his laziness means doing really nothing and not even allowing our mind to wander around. His daily responsibility as a monk includes running temples, being spiritual advisers of various society as well as flying around giving talks. And his advice to busy people is to do our best when we need to and do nothing when we have nothing to do.

Once he was invited to an IT Technology conference in the States. He demonstrated that holding on a cup for long will bring pain and sore to the arms. The right way of holding should be knowing to put down the cups when our arms get tired and picked up once the arms are rested. Doing so, the arms won't get as tired.

We are too used to and very proficient in doing our best but we are poor in doing nothing. In our home, even if its a mansion, its hard to find a blank wall. And if there is a blank wall, we would put paintings and flower to decorate it. We just have to put something on it. Our mind is as so. Being stillness is to not be affected by the two winds, the past and the future.

Often than not, we are very attached to what has happened in the past, the mistakes we do and all the guilt. He shared with us a useful yet candid method. Write our sorrows and guilt on the toilet paper! Write it as detailed as possible. Then flush it down the toilet. Toilet paper is used to remind us that the thoughts are filthy and the details are to remind us of the problems. Only then can we faced the problem and go on with life. He jokes that no wonder there are more issues with toilet bowl choked in Perth :P

And on the future, he made a bet with his temples as stake that 2012 is not End of the World!! He was puzzled at how we like to worry. With our own sufferings in mind, yet we indulged in stories of others, rumors and watching horror movies.

He mentioned that Samadhi was translated in english since long time ago as concentration and was very wrong. He likes the chinese way of calling meditation as 止观. Simply ceasing the over-proliferating mental process and be in the present moment. He shared a common meditation trick by talking a phrase very gently and slowly making pauses. And when he makes the pauses, that was the moment of stillness, when there are no thoughts. This method could also be applied to chanting of the mantra by reciting OM~~MANI~~PADME~~ HUM with brakes of about 3 to 4 secs in between the words. I tried it and the feeling is nice. Anyone can do it with their own words or religious prayer too.

When we are in an argument, we always shout at each other. When one stops another starts his round of shouting. Situation gets worst. Instead, after one has started shouting or scolding us, we pause for 5mins or so and then speak our thoughts. These little 5mins pause allow the person scolding us to do self reflection on how ill-mannered and uncouth to use such words on another human.

His temple is situated on a hill top and he has been there for 9 long years. One day, he decided to walk up the hill and was astonished by how the landscape was so different. The environment was very much more beautiful and interesting. The colors were much brighter too. Its actually very scientific. The eyes see image by having the light of the image reaching the eyes and stimulating the nerve fibers behind the retinal causing chemicals to interact and form images in our mind. When he is in a car, the image of the scenery just flashed past too quickly and thus the chemicals were not allowed to react totally. The image of the scenery was not perfectly formed. Stillness comes clarity.

At the end of his sharing, he lead a 10mins meditation. He led by asking us to visualise having two heavy shopping bags and both our arms causing so much pain. And later putting them down, feeling the pain going away from our arms.

For the Q&A part, I didn't managed to get the questions but here are his explanations. Concentrating needs effort and when we try to concentrate, we are expending effort to force ourselves to concentrate. These make people getting all tense up doing meditation. Meditation should be fun and feel relaxed after doing it. When we hold up a cup with increasing concentration, the arm shakes and the water inside is not still. Only by putting the cup down does the water gets still. Also, when we are doing our meditation, we should not keep assessing how well we have done. This will just disturb the water. Just let the process run.

He shared an Ajahn Chah story of just stretching out his hand and a mango will drop on his hand. Its a similes of the idea of stillness. One need not shake the tree and the mango just drop. Sometimes we just need not do anything and things will come to us. His similes of the donkey mentioned that its hard to make a donkey move by whipping it. Donkey are famous to be stubborn. To make it move, just hung a carrot in front of it with the stick tied to its neck. When the donkey starts to move forward for a bite of the carrot, it can't as the carrot is moving forward with him. A "buddhist" donkey would stop. This stopping makes the carrot swing further away initially but will swing back forcefully and donkey gets to bite it.

From Ajahn Chah, he also learnt how fun it is to be completely still. In the forest, if one can be completely still, he will not disturb the environment and he will see animals and sometimes even rare forest dwellers coming out of hiding. This can only be achieve in great stillness until not even having the excitement of seeing these animals.

I suppose this is how little I can stored in my outdated hard disk :P Will revise this post when I recalled more of his teachings or will post it on a separate post if its better.

A realization I got apart from the topic itself. A crop can grow when the seasons are right, the water irrigation is done properly, the sun is up and many more other conditions. Any of such conditions were to be missing, the farmer would not expect a harvest. Isn't this so for our practice. How rare isn't it to be in a country free from religion oppression, peace enough to pursue our spiritual progress, a temple to hear the Dharma and a compassionate teacher to share it with us. Let us strive to walk our life with the Dharma :P

Fluke

Enjoyed the film "Fluke" at our nice Intervasity Camp 2011. The link below is some detailed description of film http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluke_(film) . How nice is wiki ! Save my time to write it out. And here is what I contemplate upon after watching it.

The show is about someone being reborn as a dog after an unfortunate car accident which he thought to be murdered by his good friend. Later on, the dog recalls his past life and plots how to seek his revenged. I am definitely in no position to comment about Karma or the concept of rebirth. But maybe I could paint my thoughts in how rebirth of greed, hatred and delusion gets "reborn" in our everyday life and every moments' thought.

How often have we think after we get or attain something, we think we will be satisfied. But often, it just become a platform for more greed. Greed gets reborn after one greed gets its "nutrients" to climb higher on top of the previous.

When we quarreled and simply can not stand the sight of that person, our anger burns in our mind. We bear grudges and leads to hating that person. Whatever the person says or act, you think he is finding fault in you. Such negative emotions eventually cools down but burns again more easily when there is a chance to (even to anyone). Just like a fire was burned out, reduced into amber, but will start a fire again when we fan it.

After doing something wrong, we feel guilty and believes that a confession and repentance to our faith, we are free from the sins. Then again not long after, we commit another mistake and repeats the same process again, just like a dog chasing its tail. Deluded are we to think we can find an easy way out. And because of such "convenience", we starts to convince ourselves we did the right thing. We grow to believe we are right in anything as long as we can "customize" our faith or belief to agree with our deeds. Delusion gets reborn again from a thought moment to another.

Without practising the Dharma, habouring right view to things, all these defilements get reborn again and again without rest. Having said that, wholesome thoughts and actions can get reborn too. We can grow our loving kindness from just our family to all sentient beings. We grow our compassion to that of Ksitigarbha bodhisattva, where he vows to attain Buddhahood only after freeing all beings from hell. We find joy in seeing others' progress in life and we seek to emulate his progress. We also bears equanimity to curb our greed, hatred and delusion.

Unwholesome thoughts could not arise with wholesome thoughts. An ill-will can not arise when we are having good intentions. We have all the control in directing where our thoughts should go. And thus, Karma is never fatalistic and we can always better our life and lives to come _/\_

Intervasity Camp 2011

Spent an amazing weekend at the Intervasity camp last week :D 24th Sept to 25th Sept. A day worth remembering for me and all participants and committees that make this camp possible.

I am so fortunate to be appointed as the facilitator for this historical moment. Before the commencement of the camp, I had the lingering uneasiness wondering how I could benefit the campers. After all I believe these campers are far more knowledgeable than me in Buddhism. Especially after I have been slacking so much for so long.

The auspicious day arrives and we are ready to welcome the campers :D NTU and NUS was very well organised and even chartered a bus to bring them to FGS. Not a bit sluggishness i felt from all campers and only the eagerness of trying to find out what happens next.

Being the facilitators were definitely and interesting role. On one hand, I have to be friendly and engage the campers to let them feel at home. And on the other hand, I have to be mindful of my bodily actions and speech, trying to be appropriate for the camp. I thought such was a good practice as we should always be mindful in whatever we do.

I am very touched by the contributions of the camp committee as well as the great Venerables. Most of the Venerables just arrive in SG for barely a few days but the materials they shared were so enlightening and organised.

过堂吃饭 was nothing new to us FGS folks but I like the way how the campers get themselves immerse in the session. Minimal noise I could hear and everyone just conduct themselves so properly. I remembered to take the first 3 mouthful of plain rice :D During the lecture on “Buddhist Ettiquette", we are not reminded not to drag the chairs but I don't see anyone dragging. On some occasions, I did try to use my 5 senses to taste the food and the feeling was just great.

I am not satisfied with my meditation as I am nodding away fighting Zzz monster at times. Usually seating a whole hour is nothing but now every minute is a struggle. Another great session is the sharing and discussion of different roles of the MC. Nicely conducted and members of my group on "Secretary and Welfare was very spontaneous. Many problems were addressed which never across my mind. Very valuable feedbacks by all especially Ven Miao Jie. All this knowledge is even applicable in my working life.

Tea Zen is interesting as always but I think a step was conducted wrongly. We have to serve our neighbours with the cup that we drank. But not to worry as I disinfected it with hot water :D So smart of me. And I just manage to finish the whole flask of hot water.

Movie sharing was one of the highlights of the first day. We watched the movie Fluke. This make me miss Girl Girl :( Anyway its on cause and effect. The most important message I took home is not to fill our life with anger. Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes some reason are rather easy to apprehend but most often than not, we need to experience certain lessons in life before we could transcend our old limitation of wisdom to see how things flow and come to be. I shall share more in another post.

The first day end with a short but enlightening debrief by the Venerables. This session sinks deep into my mind. I am so touched by how much the Venerables care for the campers making sure they enjoyed the camp as well as making it a beneficial camp for the campers. The contributions by the Venerables were really selfless. They even make the point to change the chants to be conducted in English. Chanting in English for the Theravadan rituals were nothing new. But translating Mahayana chants into English is a very pioneering endeavor for international buddhism I suppose. Really hope to see more of such developments :D English is an international language and thus riding on English is the best way to spread Buddhism.

I really love the second day. A lot more fellowship and my group Samma Ajiva finally manage to mingle better with each other. Even little casual discussions and chat gives out nice positive energy that makes the conversation engaging. Really got to thank my group mates of Samma Ajiva. I suppose during the Buddha's time, such chats must be more common, where people of different faith or same faith comes together to fellowship and discuss the meanings of life.

Discussions and chats are good tools to learn the Dharma. It allow ideas to be exchange and definitely acts as a nice recap to our knowledge. One point that attracts me to Buddhism is no questions are too "rude" or ask :D

Another highlight is on the Sutra sharing "Eight Realisations of Great Beings" I think it could definitely be used as daily advise for our everyday chores. If I am a boss, I will make sure posters of the Sutra are sticked on the walls, benefiting all possible sentient beings that cross path in life with me.

The discussion panel were enlightening and I thought its nice to have representative of the various Buddhist Society up on the panel. Symbolically, it represents unity, highlighting the importance of the problems encountered in Buddhist Society which are very relevant to them, and conferring strength to the leaders that will be the execution power to drive Buddhism in the tertiary academic arena.

After the discussion forum, we had our photo-taking session. The photos capture this moment of history in SG buddhism as well as a moment in all of us in our journey to pursue the Dharma.

The makan session at night were great too. The campers were invited for the steamboat prepared by our FGS volunteers and the food is fantastic. I like the "fish ball". Tried to "intrude" into the table of SIMBB for further fellowship :P Any kind of topics are interesting to discuss over food !! Xin Zhao broke his record by finishing two bowls in less than 20 mins. Never know the throat can be flexed :S Angela was trying to compete with him, ends up going crazy over the "princess and eunuch" nonsensical chat with Charlie :S The Sadhu version of YumSeng are fun !! Haha.

This camp to me is very fulfilling indeed. Good reflections were done and the way forward are discussed. What remains are to use what we have learnt on our different roles in Dharma propagation. This idea should not just remain in our roles as committee of various Buddhist groups but allow Buddhism to be in way of life and let Dharma propagation be our life goal.

Ending of Dharma

World is coming to an end! That was a slogan that’s even more powerful than our presidential election. And every now and then we hear religious leaders talking about the impending end. So how does Buddhism talks about this issue especially on the decline of the teachings, the Dharma.

We inevitably hear Buddhist talking about the declines of Buddhism in how many years later. And we all get worried. But is it something factual? The talk by a very learned monk in a recent Dharma talk inspired me to maybe post some factual findings in the Sutta Pitaka.

According to the venerable, Buddha never explicitly states when is the end but tells us what will lead to the decline. A teacher tells a student how his misconduct will lead to failing his exam does not mean he will fail as long as he works hard.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an07/an07.021.than.html

In brief, it just meant that as long as the monks conducts themselves in harmony and pursues their practice, then there is no root for decline.

http://www.basicbuddhism.org/index.cfm?GPID=29

This early account of the Pali canon speaks about how human race will start to degenerate in future with emphasis on humans no longer conducts themselves righteously and thus led to decline of the human race. It is interesting to note that this Sutta will give an account of how Maitreya the next Buddha will come.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn16/sn16.013.than.html

This sutta emphasize that the Dharma will/will not disappear on this human world depending on the conduct of monastic and layperson. It also gave some perspective that Dharma will never end in nature but end for the human that does not conduct themselves well.

This brought about the idea that at the “Dharma-ending age”, Dharma does not disappear but is less practice. Maitreya Buddha came to bring the Dharma back to our awareness only.

http://www.dharma.org/ij/archives/2000b/ss_teaching.htm

This website gave in point form what causes the disappearance of the Dharma. They all stress that the Dharma will end with bad conducts of followers.

Finally, while I did a brief search on the net for information, it is disheartening where people just irresponsibly use the Suttas information, twist it, and make their own prophesies of the end of human. Some even use it to establish their cult or their new world orders. As Buddhist, we should refrain from such and only believe what the Buddha has taught with right views.

为何而去？

去佛堂不学佛，就像去联络所。

去佛堂不读经，就像去图书馆。

去佛堂不持戒，就像困在监狱。

去佛堂不修禅，就像身在被围攻的皇宫。

Tackling procrastination and something else

Topic for last week YTalk is on “Tackling procrastination”. Sound relevant to me and thus went down to see how the speaker can minimize my problem of procrastination. Yet little do I know the speaker delivered something that’s even more useful.

On the topic of procrastination, the speaker Mr John Wong lead us to list down what happens when there is too much procrastination and another list of what happens if procrastination is too little. After this exercise, it’s interesting to see that the page on “Too Much” was filled with the negative aspect of too much. When comes to the second list, there was a moment of pause and the list continues after the first person contributes. Yet this time, it’s a mix of good and bad points to having “too little” procrastination. The speaker calls the moment of pause as silent or in Buddhism we does that by meditation. After the silence phase, the brain starts to rewire its thought process and outcomes is listing also some positive points to the list. The speaker calls this transformation.

Conclusion to this phenomenon is Procrastination is neutral. When we don’t need to procrastinate we don’t. Example will be in saving a life in crisis. If there is a need to procrastinate then do so. Example will be to make important decisions that might involve other people. Optimization of procrastination. This is in line to Buddhist belief of middle way. But the main thing is to make a DECISION. Once it is made, stick to it with faith. Middle way is not about doing things half hearted or resigning to half pass efforts. It’s about not falling to the extremes of belief thus allowing attainment of inner peace.

About the speaker, he was already an amazing figure. Years before, he hits a rough patch in life and it’s something about life and death matters. He suddenly contracted an illness that made him paralyze from neck down. Most of his body’s nerves were badly damage. It’s not due to some accident or virus attack and the cause is still unknown till today. A youth in his prime enjoying success of his life, have to lie motionlessly in the hospital ward. Several neurologist and doctors could do nothing.

What turned his life is his sheer determination and faith! One of the thought moments he remembers were he felt sinking deeper into an abyss of darkness but suddenly he felt alleviated by a “floating carpet” as written in his book and surrounded by chants. He wakes up and realizes that it was his friends chanting for him. His recovery impressed the doctors as it’s know that neurons or nerve do not regenerate and it’s happening to him.

He said most of us chant but do we use our mind to chant or our heart. And when we are under a circumstance where nobody and nothing can help, it is the unwavering belief and connections to the inner universe, reality or true self that helps. We Buddhist coined it Buddha Nature. To me this word strengthen my faith in chanting.

Mr Wong currently looks healthy as any normal man, seating in board of directors in many scientific communities and runs a company call transcendental connections. His days were spent flying around different country invited to talk shows in radio and TV. He and his group of people also went around lend a helping hand to other bedridden, helping them to recover from their “terminal conditions”. There are already some successful cases that drop the jaws of many doctors.

I got his book and have been trying to read every word just like me preparing for exams! Yet it is something that’s even more important than excelling in academics: D

最近新加坡有个关于新婚，再婚和离婚的报告。数据让人不禁怀疑，婚姻是否还有意
义。

对我而言，男女之情，有如溺爱与无私爱的拔河。理性和感性的平衡点。
重了理性，少了感性，爱情变成石板的方程式，如何维持。
重了感性，少了理性，爱情像个无头苍蝇，缺乏方向。

爱就像慈悲的火苗，从私爱奢华成亲情。从亲情奢华成大爱。
慈悲也充实，圆满了爱。

两人的结合如结合了两个世界。虽然不能也很难放下自己的世界，所以只有靠圆融
的智慧才能延续爱情。两人的结合也能看似同体共身的结合。一方出了事，另一方
不可能见死不救。爱情也像跳舞，适当的进退，才能融洽的配合。

爱也需有共同的生活态度，人生的目标。勉强的配合与讨好，旧了就变成了累赘。
恋人如果只靠占有，以激情为爱情的粮食，那感亲情变成了需要，而不是彼此的激
励。

人生就像是过眼烟云，如果把爱情当成存在的理由，到人生的劲头，才悔恨虚度光
阴。

Y Talk on Interdependence

Talk was held at Bras Besah. Y Talk is an initiative by KMSPKS temple. The speaker of the night is Bro Shi'an.

Although a basic aspect of the Dharma, this topic can be quite differently delivered by each speaker and here I am trying to see how bro Shi'an had for us on this topic on interdependence. Anyway interdepence is coined to interdependence origination and probably most Chinese Mahayanist will be more familiar with the phrase 缘起性空.

In chinese Mahayana we emphasis alot on emptiness "性空" and as from the Heart Sutra, it has been stated that form is emptiness and emptiness is form. So we can not understand interdependence without concept of emptiness and understanding emptiness without touching on interdepence.

All beings are actually part of existence of a whole. Although we thing that things have definite shape and we thought we humans are a single entity but looking closer, our skins that bounds the bodily shape is filled with pores. And there are always influx and air into our body and our body excreting sweat to the environment.

Interdependence can also be illustrated by the Net of Indra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indra%27s_net). Imagine a big 3D net that covers throughout the universe. In its inter-locking knots, there is a radiant gem which reflects the radiant of other gems totally. Beings are seen as the gems and the net connects everyone of us.

This is to say whatever we do we affect other people. And whatever other people do, affects us. This theory applies to creation and all existence.

Bro Shi'an then move to talk slightly on being a vegan (strict vegetarian) where how choosing our diet can affect the world and in fact on survivability of all species on earth. This gives the idea of what kind of world are we giving to our fellow latter generations to come. We might think that that's non of our business but if we believe in the notion of rebirth, then its really our concern.

This short clip talks about how actually going on a plan of vegetarian weekdays can easily help the world. It just mean being vegetarian for Mon to Fri and eat freely for weekends. http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/graham_hill_weekday_vegetarian.html

Here is a website for Singapore Vegetarian Society where there is a database to find all vegetarian yummies around you http://www.vegetarian-society.org/

He also talk about how number of honey bees of the world are declining and its believe that once bees gets wipe out from the globe, human will get extinct in 4days!

Bro Shi'an ends the talk on about the bystander effect. He spoke about a true incident that happens to a murder of a woman in the middle of a town where no one in the town stand out to help the dying woman. And reason is they all think their other neigbours will do something. We buddhist should also be always ready to stand up to misunderstanding on Buddhism by non-buddhist, of course in a non aggressive way.

Hope to see you in other Y Talks :)

Doing

Inevitably we often thought that the way of realisation is through doing. This comes to the point where Zen masters say chan is about walking,staying, seating and sleeping. That derives the point that chan is doing, chan is eating and chan is even doing big things.

But we do see people and sometimes even ourself during our path of practise we get frustrated, and even lost our meaning in doing. Somethings we expect to do alot and "faithfully" thought some Devas and Buddhas will see us in good light. But I do wonder does a clay statutue really listens to us :) And if even they do, are we doing the right things? Expecting less we have lesser worries. And without mindfulness, doing becomes a chore and all we get is tireness.

To quote from Ajahn Brahm "Simply this moment - chapter on Between the observer and the observed,

The point is where do greed, hatred and delusion live? Where do the five hindrances go? Do they live in your body? Do they live in the food you eat? Do they live in the bricks you lay or the broom or the leaves you are sweeping?

This is an important point not only to your success as a monastic and to your harmony with friends and other monks, but also to your process in meditation. Those hindrance do not live in then broom, nor do they live in your citta (mind). They live between you and the object.....

Too often people put their mindfulness on the object or put their mindfulness on the observer....When you put your mindfulness in the middle, then it is not what you are doing that matters but how you are relating to it......When you know where mindfulness should be put, the path of meditation, the path of Liberation.......

The mindfulness, the awareness of that can actually see where craving comes from, where pride comes from, where ill will comes from, and where fear comes from because that is its breeding ground......

To realise and being mindful of the arising of greed, hatred and delusion from the interactions between the object of doing and the doing leads to realisation. So it doesn't matter what you do and where you are helping. It matters more in the mindfulness of the defilements and how your mind reacts to it.

Simply mimicking the story of realisation of the Zen master is akin to apprehending whether the tea is hot from other people drinking it.

Parallels of Buddhism with Science

Was informed that Buddha "outwitted" the scientist on cosmology and human evolution :) Below is one of the extract. Those in blue talks about Big Bang Theory and eventual contraction of the universes. In fact I remember coming across a sutta on how Buddha actually measured the size and distances of universes....let me go dig it out. And I also remembered hearing Ajahn Brahm said that the sutta mentioned about this current Big Bang was the the first one !!

Those in yellow talks about how human evolved. Not sure about it but definitely you can see a pattern on how craving evolves. Insatiable desire of wanting for more makes them more preoccupied about self. In buddhism, self is said to be illusionary and this will in a way briefly tells that human development due to sense desire actually devolves us in a way.

Those in red highlight was amazing and parallel to how food and vegetation first come about. It was scientifically known that mushrooms and fungus could have populated the surface of earth before greeny plants do :)

Those in green shows how actually we have been stuck by meaningless labels we create on our own to show differences among people that benefits only to grow the ego. With ego comes the desire to “beautify” the ego which leads to even more sufferings.

The Agganna Sutta

On Knowledge of Beginnings

Thus have I heard. Once the Lord was staying at Savatthi, at the mansion of Migara’s mother in the East Park. And at that time Vasettha and Bharadvaja were living among the monks, hoping to become monks themselves. And in the evening, the Lord rose from his secluded meditation and came out of the mansion, and started walking up and down in its shade.

Vasettha noticed this and he said to Bharadvaja: ‘Friend Bharadvaja, the Lord has come out and is walking up and down. Let us approach him. We might be fortunate enough to hear a talk on Dhamma from the lord himself.’ Yes, indeed,’ said Bharadvaja, so they went up to the lord, saluted him, and fell into step with him.

Then the lord said to Vasettha: ‘Vasettha, you two are Brahmins born and bred, and you have gone forth from the household life into homelessness from Brahmin families. Do not the Brahmins revile and abuse you?’

‘Indeed, lord, the Brahmins do revile and abuse us. They don’t hold back with their usual flood of reproaches.’

‘Well, Vasettha, what kind of reproaches do they fling at you?’

‘Lord, what the Brahmins say is this, "The Brahmins caste is the highest caste—other castes are base; the Brahmin caste is fair, other castes are dark; Brahmins are purified, non-Brahmins are not, the Brahmins are the true children of Brahma, [1] born from his mouth, born of Brahma, heirs of Brahma. And you, you have deserted the highest class and gone over to the base class of shave-ling petty ascetics, servants, dark fellows born of Brahma’s Foot! It’s not right, it’s not proper for you to mix with such people!" That is the way the Brahmins abuse us, lord.’

‘Then, Vasettha, the Brahmins have forgotten their ancient tradition when they say that. Because we can see Brahmin women, the wives of Brahmins, who menstruate and become pregnant, have babies, and give milk. And yet these womb-born Brahmins talk about being born from Brahma’s mouth…These Brahmins misrepresent Brahma, tell lies and earn much demerit.

‘There are, Vasettha, these four castes: The Khattiyas, The Brahmins, the merchants and the artisans. And sometimes a Khattiya takes life, takes what is not given, commits sexual misconduct, tells lies, indulges in slander, harsh speech or idle chatter, is grasping, malicious, or of wrong views. Thus such things as are immoral and considered so, blameworthy and considered so, to be avoided and considered so, ways unbefitting an Ariyan and considered so, black with black result and blamed by the wise, are sometimes to found among the Khattiyas, and the same applies to Brahmins, merchants, and artisans.

‘Sometimes too, a Khattiya refrains from taking life, does not take what is not given, refrains from sexual misconduct, speaks truth, shuns slander, harsh speech or idle chatter, is not grasping, malicious, or of wrong views. Thus such things are moral and considered so, blameless and considered so, to be followed and considered so, ways befitting an Ariyan and considered so, bright with bright results and praised by the wise, are sometimes found among the Khattiyas, and likewise among Brahmins, merchants, and artisans.

‘Now since both dark and bright qualities, which are blamed and praised by the wise, are scattered indiscriminately among the four castes, the wise do not recognize the claim about the Brahmin caste being the highest. Why is that? Because, Vasettha, anyone from the four castes who becomes a monk, an Arahant who has destroyed the corruptions, who has lived the life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the highest goal, destroyed the fetter of becoming, and become emancipated through super-knowledge—he is proclaims supreme by virtue of Dhamma and not of non-Dhamma.

Vasettha, all of you, though of different birth, name, clan and family, who have gone forth from the household life into homelessness, if you are asked who you are, you should reply: "We are ascetics, followers of the Sakyan." [2] He whose faith in the Tathágata is settled, rooted, established, solid, unshakable by any ascetic or Brahmin, any deva or mara or Brahma or anyone in the world, can truly say: "I am a true son of the Blessed Lord, born of his mouth, born of Dhamma, created by Dhamma, an heir of Dhamma." Why is that? Because, Vasettha, this designates the Tathágata: "The Body of Dhamma," that is "The Body of Brahma," [3] or "Become Dhamma," that is "Become Brahma." [4]

‘There comes a time, Vasettha, when, sooner or later after a long period this world contracts. At a time of contraction, beings are mostly born in the Abhassara Brahma world. And there they dwell, mind-made, feeding on delight, self luminous, moving through the air, glorious—and they stay like that for a very long time. But sooner or later, after a very long period, this world begins to expand again. At a time of expansion, the beings from the Abhassara Brahma world, having passed away from there, are mostly reborn in this world. Here they dwell, mind-made, feeding on delight, self-luminous, moving through the air, glorious—[5] and they stay like that for a very long time.

‘At that period, Vasettha, there was just one mass of water, and all was darkness, blinding darkness. Neither moon or sun appeared, no constellations or stars appeared, night and day were not yet distinguished, nor months and fortnights, nor years and seasons; there was no male and female, beings being reckoned just as beings. [6] And sooner or later, after a very long period of time, savory earth spread itself over the waters where those beings were. It looked just like the skin that forms itself over hot milk as it cools. It was endowed with color, smell, and taste. It was the color of fine ghee or butter and it was very sweet, like pure wild honey.

‘Then some being of a greedy nature said: "I say, what can this be?" and tasted the savory earth on its finger. In so doing, it became taken with the flavor, and craving arose in it. Then other beings, taking their cue from that one, also tasted the stuff with their fingers. They too were taken with the flavor, and craving arose in them. So they set to with their hands, breaking off pieces of the stuff in order to eat it. And the result was that their self luminance disappeared. And as a result of the disappearance of their self luminance the moon and the sun appeared, night and day were distinguished, months and fortnights appeared, and the year and its seasons. To that extent the world re-evolved.

‘And those beings continued for a very long time feasting on this savory earth, feeding on it and being nourished by it. And as they did so, their bodies became coarser, and a difference in looks developed among them. Some beings became good looking, others ugly. And the good looking ones despised the others, saying: "We are better looking than they are." And because they became arrogant and conceited about their looks, the savory earth disappeared. At this they came together and lamented, crying, "Oh, that flavor! Oh, that flavor!" and so nowadays when people say, "Oh, that flavor!" when they get something nice, they are repeating an ancient saying without realizing it.

‘And then, when the savory earth disappeared, a fungus cropped up, in the manner of a mushroom. It was of good color, smell, and taste. It was the color of fine ghee or butter, and it was very sweet, like pure wild honey. And those beings set to and ate the fungus. And this lasted for a very long time. And as they continued to feed on the fungus, so their bodies become coarser still, and the difference in their looks increased still more. And the good looking ones despised the others…and because they became arrogant and conceited about their looks, the sweet fungus disappeared. Next, creepers appeared, shooting up like bamboo…and they too were very sweet, like pure wild honey.

‘And those beings set to and fed on those creepers. And as they did so, their bodies became even coarser, and the difference in their looks increased still more…and they became still more arrogant, and so the creepers disappeared too. At this they came together and lamented, crying: "Alas, our creepers gone! What have we lost!" and so now today when people, one being asked why they are upset, say: "Oh what have we lost!" they are repeating an ancient saying without realizing it.

‘And then, after the creepers had disappeared, rice appeared in open spaces, free from powder and from husks, fragrant and clean grained. And what they had taken in the evening for supper had grown again and was ripe in the morning, and what they had taken in the morning for breakfast was ripe again by evening, with no sign of reaping. And these beings set to and fed on this rice, and this lasted for a very long time. And as they did so, their bodies became coarser still, and the difference in their looks became even greater. And the females developed female sex organs and the males developed male sex organs. And the women became excessively preoccupied with the men, and the men with the women. Owing to this excessive preoccupation with each other, passion was aroused, and their bodies burnt with lust. And later because of this burning, they indulged in sexual activity. But those who saw them indulging threw dust, ashes, or cow-dung at them, crying: "Die, you filthy beast! How can one being do such things to another!" Just as today, in some districts, when a daughter-in-law is led out, some people throw dirt at her, some ashes, and some cow dung, without realizing that they are repeating an ancient observance. What was considered bad form in those days is now considered good form.

‘And those beings who in those days indulged in sex were not allowed into a village or town for one or two months. Accordingly those who indulged for an excessively long period in such immoral practices began to build themselves dwellings so as to indulge under cover.

‘Now it occurred to one of those beings who was inclined to laziness, "Well now, why should I be bothered to gather rice in the evening for supper and in the morning for breakfast? Why shouldn’t I gather it all at once for both meals?" And he did so. Then another one came to him and said, "Come on, lets go rice-gathering." "No need, my friend, I’ve gathered enough for both meals." Then the other, following his example, gathered enough rice for two days at a time, saying, "That should be about enough." Then another being came to that second one, "Come on, lets go rice gathering." "No need my friend, I’ve gathered enough for two days." (The same for four, then eight days.) However, when those beings made a store of rice and lived on that, husk-powder and husk began to envelop the grain, and where it was reaped it did not grow again, and the cut place showed, and the rice grew in separate clusters.

‘And then those beings came together lamenting, "Wicked ways have become rife among us: at first we were mind made, feeding on delight…(All the events are repeated down to the latest development, each fresh change being said to be due to ‘wicked and unwholesome ways)…and the rice grows in separate clusters! So now let us divide up the rice into fields with boundaries." So they did so.

‘Then, Vasettha, one greedy-natured being, while watching over his own plot, took another plot that was not given to him, and enjoyed the fruits of it. So they seized hold of him and said, "You’ve done a wicked thing, taking another’s plot like that! Don’t ever do such a thing again!" "I won’t," he said, but he did the same thing a second and a third time. Again, he was seized and rebuked, and some hit him with their fists, some with stones, and some with sticks. And in this way, Vasettha, taking what was not given, and censuring, and lying, and punishment took their origin.

‘Then those beings came together and lamented the arising of these evil things among them: taking what was not given, censuring, lying, and punishment. And they thought: "Suppose we were to appoint a certain being who would show anger where anger was due, censure those who deserved it, and banish those who deserved banishment! And in return we would grant him a share of the rice." So they went to the one among them who was the handsomest, the best-looking, most pleasant and capable, and asked him to do this for them in return for a share of the rice, and he agreed.