The Dhamma is beautiful in every way and all the time.
Without the teaching of Shantideva’s Bodhisattva way of life, I wouldn’t have practised “sympathetic joy”. Without the humiliation, I wouldn’t have sought the truth. Without Venerable Chodron, I wouldn’t have known Nibbana.
Without the Pureland sutra, I wouldn’t have understood the qualities of the Chinese masters. Without the malicious speech, I wouldn’t have abandoned Sukhavati. Without Venerable Wuling, I wouldn’t have meditated well.
Without pursuing Jhana, I wouldn’t have gone to Jhana Grove. Without consistent criticism, I wouldn’t have abandoned seeking for a teacher. Without Ajahn Brahm, I wouldn’t have realised we are all the same!
Without the desire to be part of the monastic sangha, I wouldn’t have attended the Dhamma teachings online. Without blind comments, I wouldn’t have known that letting go is all the answers. Without Ayya Sobhana, I wouldn’t have known that I am able to “dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge…”.
With all these marks the end of my desire to follow a sangha. Sincerely wish all of them well. Thank you!
They were my best teachers. Without them, I wouldn’t have come this far. I have always had soft spot for the elderly. That was why I started volunteering myself in the elderly home after I left school. The same goes towards the elder sangha.
“…with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge.”
A young elephant was hit by a lorry on Mother’s Day while crossing the highway with its mother in Perak, Malaysia.
I remember watching the videos. The mother elephant ran around the lorry, finding ways and trying to save her baby who was trapped underneath the lorry. She even used her head to try to push the lorry. Sadly, there was nothing she can do to save the baby.
I can sense her panic and her eagerness to save her baby. She was behaving just like any human mother would do to save their children.
The videos went viral and caught the attention of viewers. Many found the sight heart wrenching and wished things to be different.
This is a sketch I drew about the accident.
I kept looking at the videos and understood how she must have felt…
She stood for many hours, hoping her baby could get up. She refused to move away and the authorities had to sedate her and move her back to the forest.
According to the news, the baby was buried. There were people who posted videos of her returning to the same spot to find her baby. With AI today, I’m not sure how true it was.
Many wish her well.
May the merits accumulated, be dedicated to her and her baby favourite rebirth.
Before going to bed last night, I was writing a blog and at the end of it, I had the answer. Feeling contented, I went to bed.
Writing is good. Mel often says I need an outlet and blogging is my outlet. I was asking myself if Dhamma was the cause for my loss of interest in my favourite activities or aging? Below was what I wrote last night.
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“If losing interest in the things that we love to do is part of the aging process, does it mean that the absent of hunger in doing things that I once love is due to aging?
How nice it is somehow without exertion, we are able to easily let go of the things that we once love. If this is the case, ideally, over the age of 50 should be a perfect time to understand the true Dhamma because letting go seems effortless.
No one talks about their mental states as they aged. I couldn’t find blogs that share their life stories living as a Buddhist and I definitely won’t need another blog that talks about the Buddha’s teachings.
Perhaps I still have difficulties in recognising emotions…
Be it be Dhamma or aging, living at the present is the solution to all problems.
Ahh…I have the answer!
Zzzzzzz…“
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Basically a learned buddhist understood the path and has liberation in her mind, whereas, a non-buddhist has no clue. There are a few suttas explained by the Buddha about the difference between a learned or trained disciples and one who is untrained. He also explained the benefit of those who are learned and trained.
I remember someone saying that life is meaningless after understanding the Buddha’s teachings and another said he was feeling depressed and both were seeking for answers during a Dhamma talk. I was smiling then.
I guess it’s a process. One day they would come to truly understand what the Buddha meant when he said to live at the present. To understand and accept the first noble truth. To abandon the conditions in the second noble truth. Not only to know but to realise that we can end depression, suffering etc. Lastly, we still have work to do, that is to develop and cultivate the Eightfold path. Perhaps we already are cultivating but we just aren’t aware of it!
So how do I keep my life going? By keeping the precepts, cultivating the Eightfold path, memorising the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, his noble disciples and the devas and also the Metta sutta. By remembering the Mahasatipatthana Sutta and the teachings from the bhikkhunis during Buddha’s time. My favourite Buddha’s disciple is Maha Kassapa. I can and will never perfect everything but they are always in my mind.
To the lay buddhist, when you are tired, just remember that you are merely feeling tired and not breaking any precepts or threading against the path. Therefore, always keep the Buddha’s teachings in your mind, have a cup of tea, keep your mind calmed and relaxed.
Don’t be happy, just smile. Don’t be sad, just smile. Feelings are not reliable and have no foothold. Abandon them!
Whenever there is an outbreak, animals are the first to be blamed and killed. It was never humans’ greed over food that caused the spreading of viruses or diseases.
All animals carry virus and diseases like us and this is perfectly normal. Just like birth, illness, aging and death.
We all know that we are the cause for damaging the environment, Mother Earth and this is not enough. Today, we want to get rid of the animals, we make use of them, exploit them and sacrifice them for our own profit, our selfishness.
Pigeons make good companions and helped send messages in the past. Majority of the people today wants them to go away. We call them pests and make them look like one. The worst thing is we make others believe that they are pests!
I would think otters are likely to be considered as pests in Singapore in future as the population continues to grow. There are people who are already complaining about the otters. It’s a matter of when.
There are always humane solutions to manage the animals. But we choose an easy way over humane ways. However, if everyone could extend our compassion to all living beings and call for humane solutions, we could live not only harmoniously but also create a loving environment!
A newly abandoned cat whom I saw about three weeks ago was suspected to be hit by a vehicle on Monday morning. Someone called SPCA and it took the cat.
I was informed about the accident on that evening and the clinic at SPCA was already closed for the day. The next morning I called the clinic and was told that the cat died on her way to SPCA…
A cremation was arranged the following day.
***Thanks to Xiumin, April and Juffri for contributing to Angel’s cremation and also to the people who kept the feeders informed.
This could have been avoided if only her owner was responsible.Photo taken three weeks ago.
I often advise those who could not commit or keep their cats for life to get a plush toy instead, so that they can get rid of them whenever they like. I am serious!
This is not the first time I’ve seen newly abandoned cats being hit by vehicles. I’ve also seen cats fallen from high floor many times. Adopters love to bargain about the types of materials which they would use to mesh up the windows. Some even tricked us to visit their home, making us think that they have fully meshed when they did not. They must have thought that we would accept and believe that their windows would be closed all the time.
Whenever humans make a mistake, our pets suffer. When humans fear death, the animals have to die! However, the law of nature is fair… and it’s scary too.
“Bhikkhus, dwell with yourselves as an island, with yourselves as a refuge, with no other refuge; with the Dhamma as an island, with the Dhamma as a refuge, with no other refuge. ~ SN 22.43
“Enough, Vakkali! Why do you want to see this foul body? One who sees the Dhamma sees me; one who sees me sees the Dhamma. For in seeing the Dhamma,Vakkali, one sees me; and in seeing me, one sees the Dhamma.” ~ SN 22.87
A place to discover and explore the discourses of the Buddha.
I highly recommend reading the sutta translated by Piya Tan. His "Laymen Saints" has been an inspiration to many lay people.
Cats who teach me to fly... 