Happy Lunar New Year!

It's the 3rd day of the Chinese New Year. Been real busy preparing for the new year. Hope the year if the doggy will bring loads of luck and good fortune to all my loved ones and to all who read this blog. Gong Xi Fa Cai !

One out of 84,000 probability

Saw on cable tv on Azio Channel (Taiwan) where a young Rinpoche was being interviewed for his autobiography. I do not know his name (I were to find out later that he is Sheng Karma Rinpoche or Singa Rinpoche). He was clothed in modern shirt and jeans instead of the usual Tibetan monk's red robe. He looked just like a handsome celebrity star. The stark contrast is addressing.

The host was interviewing the Rinpoche, who was a reincarnate lama born in Qinghai. He was not discovered until he was about 15 years old. At the age of 5 he was already uttering to his playmates that he is Buddha but nobody took him seriously and he was unaware of it himself. Apparently many monks his disciples have been searching for him based on previous incarnations' predictions but they could not find him for 6 years. Till they had to deploy the help of a high lama master in India, who meditated for 7 days and nights before revealing where the boy was, the names of his parents and the location of his house. When they finally found him, he was in school. In fact he was a very mischievious student in school.

Rinpoche went on to reveal his brush with almost-love relationships, and his mission. He even sang a mantra of Vajrasattva in rap. When asked if fellow older lamas do rebuke him for being "modern", wearing Prada, singing karaoke and driving a branded car, Rinpoche said that the Buddha has left 84,000 teachings; the symbolic figure represents the diverse backgrounds characteristics, tastes, etc. of the people. The Buddha taught according to the mental and spiritual capacity of each individual. Rinpoche feels that, if the other monks are true practitioners, they will not question his approach, as he being "modern", will probably attract and affect many more youngsters and draw them to him, and thus Buddhism. Hence it serves the same purpose of many a Rinpoche's mission. It was an eye opener for me.

Post note 28 Feb: Chit-chatted with god bro and learnt that he actually knew this Rinpoche. His name is 吉祥仁波切. He met him once in Bangkok in a friend's house. The world is so small. I would like to note that I do not know him or his authencity as a reincarnate lama. 

Connection with Amitabha

Over the past weekend, His Eminence 9th Neyphug Trulku Rinpoche arrived in Singapore again. After an interval of one year. He is a reincarnated lama who is only 26 years old but far more wiser than his years. He was an emanation of Amitabha Buddha (the Buddha of Limitless Light) and in later emanations, as Yeshe Yang, one of the 25 Chief Disciples of Guru Rinpoche (Guru Padmasambhava).

His Eminence just came out of a retreat where he meditated alone in a small hut on a mountain for the past 6 months. It was said that during this time, the mantra of Guru Rinpoche appeared spontaneously on the rocks nearby. I saw the photos with my own eyes. I attended his teachings for 2 nights. He recognised me and smiled so politely. He was the very first rinpoche /lama I met for the very first time in the beginning of last year. So I felt a certain closeness to him. His topics were as unusual as himself. He taught us how to get rid of our "colourful mind" and also taught us where to get the "best mental painkiller from Buddha". He held a private audience with me briefly. He held my hand to speak to me ever so gently and kindly and asked if I understood what he has taught. Rinpoche spoke very good English. At the same time, he blessed me. I was in full bliss !

On the 3rd night, I was even more thrilled because my parents had for the very first time attended an initiation with me and it was the empowerment of the Long Life Buddha (who is also an emanation of Amitabha Buddha). I had hope it will give my parents a long and healthy life with no obstacles. And it was the night before my mom's operation. Hence I was all the more grateful to Rinpoche for this wonderful opportunity to have my parents made the connection with him as well.

Greatness

Since I was young, I chanced upon a Shakespeare's verse in Twelfth Night and I remembered it for a long time. The quote is:
"Some are born great,
Some achieve greatness,
Some have greatness thrust upon them."

It was a deference to tell us not to be afraid of greatness nor be intimidated by people or situations greater than us. It's my form of self encouragement not to feel overwhelmed with testy situations. So, to this, I always tell myself ..."Yes, no great deal!"

Mom

My mom just operated on her left leg yesterday. Two years ago it was on her right leg. Perhaps it was her second time, perhaps she knows how it felt from the first operation. When she was wheeled into the operating theatre, she was in tears. Tears were also filling up Dad's and my face too, as we see her fear, the phobia. When we left her ward last night she had just came out of the operation room, she was still drowsy from the anaesthetics and she was sleeping and resting. Hopefully after this operation, she will not feel pain on her legs anymore. May Buddha bless her!

"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationships." ~ Buddha

Being kind

"The end result of kindness is that it draws people to you."
~ Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop

Smell

Last night past midnight, as I was drifting off to sleep, I smelled of the sweet aroma of burning incense. I thought I was dreaming.... I held my breath and then breathed in once.... twice.... thrice..... it was the smell of incense alright ...... hmmm.... was he here? Breathing in.....the presence of Buddha......as I drifted to sleep....

First day of school...

This week, school holidays ended and school started for the new year/term. My niece Raee is in Primary One, her first day of school, her first step into student life. In all anxiousness, my sis took the first few days off to accompany Raee in school.

My bro-in-law took a snapshot of the Mommy standing outside Raee’s class, and sent a MMS to everyone’s mobile phones, he chuckled: “Mommy more anxious than the daughter!” The Mommy was busily jotting down notes of what the teacher was saying. My sis has to make sure that Raee knows how to buy her food during break time, and make sure Raee knows how to make calls with the telephone card in the public booth. She even trailed Raee’s school bus home, so that she knows what was the route Raee will be taking everyday. Such are the “joys” of motherhood in Singapore…..

Eating Animals

Sometimes it's good to remind ourselves .....

that succulent medium-raw steak was a peace-loving cow
that char-siew pork bun was a harmless pig
that Filet-O-Fish was a free swimming fish
that turtle soup was a tearful turtle struggling in captivity
that fragrant Hainanese Chicken was the hardworking hen who laid eggs
that delicious Chilli Crab had its shell and pinchers pried open alive
that gratifying puff of stick can kill your own flesh and blood inside.

Karma

I had a sad day, I don't know why, but I felt a lot better after reading this:

It can be frustrating when your customers and/or colleagues know you are doing a good job but your boss does not. It makes you wonder why you still work so hard to do an unappeciated job. But if you believe in the law of karma, of getting what you deserve, everything falls into place. It also means everything is already in place - the way it is at the moment is the deserved - by the choice of your (in)action and attitude.

Your boss might think you are not even worth sponsoring a course for to upgrade your work skills' enhancement. And that is what you deserve - maybe you are just not good enough such that he realises from enough positive feedback that you are doing good. Maybe you should tell him directly why you think you deserve sponsorship. Whatever it is, you deserve it - whether you speak up or not. Take heart though, that your good work, even if unrecognised by your boss, will have positive karmic ripples bouncing back to you via one way or another. Sometimes it just takes some time.

We Have Just Enough Problems

I like articles and quotes from Shunryu Suzuki. Here is one of them:

Buddha is always helping you. But usually we refuse Buddha's offer. For instance, sometimes you ask for something special. This means that you are refusing to accept the treasures you already have. You are like a pig.

When I was young, as my father was very poor, he raised many pigs. I noticed that when I gave the pigs a bucket of food, they would eat it after I went away. As long as I was there, they wouldn't eat it, expecting me to give them more food. I had to be very careful. If I moved too quickly they would kick the bucket over.

I think that is what you are doing. Just to cause yourself more problems, you seek for something. But there is no need for you to seek for anything. You have plenty, and you have just enough problems. This is a mysterious thing, you know, the mystery of life. We have just enough problems, not too many or too few.

- Shunryu Suzuki

The new year

It's the new year. It's normally the time when we make new resolutions or repeat unaccomplished resolutions from the past year.

I read about Sumiko Tan's new year article; her realised and unrealised dreams in retrospective mode. And I agree with her. Sumiko posed: "What if you have only one year left to live? When you focus your mind like this, the really important stuff comes to the forefront. You realised which are the goals worth striving for, which are a waste of time and you also learn to let go of fluffy dreams."

If I have one year to live, it certainly would not be wasted on office politics, smarting over an unkind word said to me ages ago, drooling over the latest mobile handset and the perennial worrying over my weight.

Rather my new year resolutions would be :
1. To make more time to practise Dharma and be able to contribute to Dharma projects. (Thanks to all the lamas and great masters and rinpoches who have come into my life).
2. Be able to provide well for my parents and our new house and to be able to bring them for tours.
3. To find a new job which I will love.
4. Catch up with old friends and make many new ones.
5. Straighten up my finances.
6. To find the true love of my life.

I don't want to make a longer list. No point making a long list if I can't acccomplish them. Yes I do wish to make myself a better life, rather than to live life like a "vegetable" (ie. a person with minimal brain functions) like in the past. My past has been really like living each day with no aim in life. I have found Buddha and I should do better than that. We should live each day as if it was the last day of our life. Only then can we appreciate the not-so-important things in our life which we often neglect. No more fluffy dreams.