Yesterday was the 1st of the chinese lunar 9th month. It was also the solar eclipse, where in Buddhist tradition, all positive or negative actions multiplied by 10,000 times. I took my Mahayana precepts vows at 6am in the morning. This 8 Mahayana Precepts are taken for 24 hours, and it is especially good to take them on full and new moon days and on special Buddhist days. And yesterday was such a day. It was a day I wanted to do all good deeds.
I went to the temple at noon, offer light and flowers to Buddha. As I circumambulated around the huge Buddha statue 3 times, there were 2 big beautiful butterflies that were following closely to me. It was beautiful.
I also went to buy a MP3 player for someone, so that I can download all the dharma teachings and songs. I think that was a good deed too. Later I visited my Dad in the hospital. His operation to remove part of his colon a few days back was a success, both in the sense that his cancer did not spread to other parts like the liver. Also, he need not have to "connect" his big intestine to the small intestine temporarily, whereby he would have needed to wear a bag for his stools for the next 6 weeks, and he would have needed another operation soon. Anyway his wound is recovering fast and we pray for the best. So it was good news.
Even though I had only a light lunch (vegetarian of course) and I was fasting for the rest of the day, I did not feel hungry at all. The Precepts vows required me only to have one meal before noon, and to fast for the rest of the day till the next morning 6am. Observing precepts for even such a short time has tremendous benefits:
- One accumulates a great amount of positive potential (merit) in a short time.
- One will receive pleasant rebirths and eventually will attain enlightenment.
- One is protected from harm
I went to the temple at noon, offer light and flowers to Buddha. As I circumambulated around the huge Buddha statue 3 times, there were 2 big beautiful butterflies that were following closely to me. It was beautiful.
I also went to buy a MP3 player for someone, so that I can download all the dharma teachings and songs. I think that was a good deed too. Later I visited my Dad in the hospital. His operation to remove part of his colon a few days back was a success, both in the sense that his cancer did not spread to other parts like the liver. Also, he need not have to "connect" his big intestine to the small intestine temporarily, whereby he would have needed to wear a bag for his stools for the next 6 weeks, and he would have needed another operation soon. Anyway his wound is recovering fast and we pray for the best. So it was good news.
Even though I had only a light lunch (vegetarian of course) and I was fasting for the rest of the day, I did not feel hungry at all. The Precepts vows required me only to have one meal before noon, and to fast for the rest of the day till the next morning 6am. Observing precepts for even such a short time has tremendous benefits:
- One accumulates a great amount of positive potential (merit) in a short time.
- One will receive pleasant rebirths and eventually will attain enlightenment.
- One is protected from harm
- One's place where one lives becomes peaceful and prosperous.
- One's mind is peaceful and calm; one gains control over one's bad habits.
- One gets along better with others.
- One will meet the Buddha's teachings in the future and be born as a disciple of Maitreya Buddha - the future Buddha.
- One's mind is peaceful and calm; one gains control over one's bad habits.
- One gets along better with others.
- One will meet the Buddha's teachings in the future and be born as a disciple of Maitreya Buddha - the future Buddha.
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