Sunday, February 04, 2007
And so we did, as we foraged through Bodhgaya and seen all the 4 sights that Buddha has mentioned and seen for himself the dilapidated nation, in the dumps, amidst great royalty and service.
We reched our beloved hotel - Lotus Nikko, having a consortium of hotels around the buddhist sites in India, and serving some great residential food. The accomodation was good by India's standards and we had to settle for unclean water.
But the major move of the first night was definitely leaving the hotel and approaching the MahaBodhi Temple.
The ride there was really short, just a turn and the temple's sky-rocketing tower seemed to pierce through the thick greenery surrounding it. Outside the temple, beggars lined the streets, like the vendors selling pashmina cloths and silk and various buddhist items.
On the inside, they managed to maintain and clean the temple constantly, making it look really clean and suitable for buddhist practices.
Tibetan monk refugees camp at the area and they really add the grandeur of the place. The continuous chanting of 'Buddham Saranam Gacchami' rang into our ears.
Golly! we've reached the illumination area! the place where Buddha gained his 'Shing'! I ran! i shuttled really quickly between the temples and around the stupas. Then came the Diamond Throne shocker. For the only time around, we were able to walk into and pay respects to the very sandstone tablet that buddha set upon victory over Mara. What a jewel! Emotions pour and u can't seem to believe that u've been there..
The feelings were running tremendous and i started making aspirations for everything. Really. To be able to go there, is an honour, and one of good karma. how good can it be!?
Part 3 - to be continued.
1:34 AM;
Friday, January 26, 2007
BodhGaya (Bodhidaya, in ancient Buddhist times)
Yes... yes.. the long awaited dairy of India is here. So lets just say that this is just a very brief introduction. Day 1 started really early for us, especially when Shixiong spent the night before at my house and was fascinated of the way modernist exorcisms were made by Keanu Reeves' Constantine in the christian flick of the same name.
We slept at a late late, 3am, as if wanting to exorcise our own restless beings, and woke up at 4am. Dumb was the word to use, Tiredness was the ailment that sets in.
However, nothing could stop us from wanting to experience what all other buddhist wants to: The Real Buddha Land. The land of the Enlightened One. So we made our quick exit from my humble abode with our 30kg luggages full of medicines and thick clothing to fight the possible symptons of pneumonia and typhoid.
On the way there, we came together with Zhenfeng and the 3 of us shuttled our way to the world's most renowned and best airport. Sleepy.
Upon arrival, we met up with stewarts from all over the metropolis. And with the steering team from PKS, namely Cell,Chingwi and Aster, we set forth to the holy land for all buddhists.
The plane ride itself was interesting, as we were conversing with lovable Yamada-San at the check-in station. He decided to give all of us a Japanese name, and i got one that's 'Mifune Toushirou'.
Cool eh? But where was i? we went aboard TG 401, i think. And the Boeing 737-400 jet looks like a normal small craft that our very own SIA has, only that it is filled with Thai Stewardess that oozes the charm of the land of smiles.
We sat around each other and soon enough, we took off with great ease and was on our way to the land of smiles, incidentally also a buddhist nation.
Cool! And in a swift transit, we are on the way to Bodhgaya.
We were actually quite excited about the carrier to Bodhgaya, and thought that we could watch movies like 'Gridiron Gang' by The Rock on board, but what greeted us was a much smaller aircraft that had only one carrier lane. Boo... i thought. but its alright, as we slept throughout the turbulent-plagued flight.
What greeted us right from the touch down shocked us. The airport only has a one way runway, and if we were to over-jet the plane, we would skid and crash. The length, was reported to reach only 2km. and the plane had to u-turn immediately.
Both me and Big Ryan were looking out of the plane window to see whether they have a terminal. And what greeted us was a somewhat-new, but old and dusty airport terminal, with only one check out belt and 4 immigration counters.
The level of air pollution was alarming, and we had to put on masks and cover our noses to prevent more smoke inhalation.
The level of corruption in the airport was really high too, especially when we had to clear our bags and have to pay each of the ARMED guards on duty a token sum to speed up the process of checks.
Even the garland of flowers that we receive at the airport was in danger of the attack on syndicates. Boo. i should say. But nothing can dampen my spirits for the sight i was about to see.
The 4 sights that Buddha had visually experienced was presented in front of my eyes, literally. Xiong, me and Feng were shocked. Everywhere. I mean everywhere.......
Part 2 - Next Week!
11:17 PM;
Monday, January 01, 2007
Ok...
U see this blog has been dormant for months.
And i think we should start to rock this ashes and dust gathered here and do some renovation work to this already dead den.
Somehow we are all in the new year!
well, the camp rocks, so did the qing gong yan as well as the spiritual countdown. We brought a totally different setting with our retro setting.
Phew!
Another year ahead and lets all forge forward with new vigour!
Tiger Vin.
4:38 AM;
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Well o..well....
7:17 AM;
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Moshi Moshi 5 Tiger Generals!
Haha... Yes Yes... a very successfully-crafted Vesak@Orchard 2006 and please, give each other some encouragement over here man... its a great job done!
Congrats!! -confetti, confetti-
Now now please do not misunderstand that this blog is just for advocating Dharma terminology and my blog is to dispel efforts of boring 5 TIGERS.
Its just to show.. hey hey.. we are busy.. cause everything we do is for the cause of Buddhism.
Look at the effect and stature of the MOAT team at Orchard Road. Those who know Vesak @ Orchard will definitely speak about us, the Carnival-creators!
So yea, the next up - is none other than Vesak at SBM! wat else?
With a sleek and swift move, we will also ensure that things go on smoothly there as well!!!
Nonetheless our forte, which is CAMP EHIPASSIKO 2006 is still short of 80 pple !!! - equivalent of 2 lodges!! halo!! i know u guys like more beds, but EMPTY BED! no way.. haha.
So u know what to do.
And we will make sure things will work out!!
Well thats all for now.
See ya.
Alvin.
10:12 AM;
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
NAMO: Homage.
Homage to the Buddha.
The first word of a longer salutation at the beginning of every Buddhist service. But for me, NAMO means more than paying homage to the Buddha himself. It is also homage to the supreme effort he made to reach Enlightenment; to the sacrifices he made in renouncing his family and princely lifestyle, and to the pain and suffering he endured as an ascetic before he discovered 'The Middle Way'. It is homage to the selfless devotion of 45 years of his life to teaching what he discovered; teaching all people, regardless of creed or social status. It is homage to what he taught - the Dhamma; a shining beacon of wisdom that has drawn men and women for more than 2,5000 years and lit the path to lead them from suffering. And it is homage to the Sangha; the community of monks and nuns which has devoted itself to follow what he taught, and what has preserved and practised the teachings for so many centuries, this helping countless others along that difficult path.
Sometimes, when I am full of confidence, I picture the word with an exclamation amrk: Namo!
Proclaim it loudly throughout the world for the benefit of all mankind! But at other times, times of doubt in my strength and abillity to follow, to know and to live what the Buddha taught, there is a question mark: Namo?
Then my mind may be full of uncertainty that no amount of inward-looking seems to answer.
I have chanted Namo with dozens of other monks in the most magnificient temples, kneeling on polished marble floors before golden, jewel-encrusted images of staggering beauty, glittering in the light of huge candles and crystal chandeliers. Soemtimes, then, it has been just a word, its own beauty seemingly diminished by the awesome but insignificant grandeur.
But also, late at night, sometimes feeling miserably lsot and full of doubt, I have knelt alone on the dusty wooden floor of a simple little temple in Thailand's remote countryside, before a cobweb-festooned image gleaming dully in the light of a single candle. Then, my voice chocked with emotion, I have whispered Namo and bowed low before something so overwhelmingly vast and beautiful, it is almost beyond comprehension. And my heart and mind have been uplifted and my strength has returned.
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa.
Homage to the Exalted One, Perfectly Enlightened by Himself
The above passage can be found in the intro of the book, 'Phra Farang' by Peter Robinson which I just bouhgt yesterday afternoon. He also wrote a book titled, 'Little Angels' which is a complilation of short stories of little Thai noives and their struggle against poverty. Peter Robinson was actually a monk known as Phra Peter Pannapadipo for ten years. However, he has currently disrobed temporarily so as to strengthen and develop a charity education trust for needy students in Thailand because as a monk, you can't devote so much time and energy into the a trust as you have so much more other responsibilities and in the Therevadan way, monks aren't allowed to receive money, how more to even set up a trust? This is one noble man I have so much respect for. I once communicated with him thru e-mail and addressed him as Venerable, not knowing that he has disrobed. He gave me a very apologetic reply that he is no longer a monk and that he felt that it could be a disappointment. He explained his situation which sounded very sincere and touching. Disrobing was an extremely difficult decision for him but his compasison to help needy children get a proper eductaion - the best way to break the poverty cycle - make him chose the layman path.
So may this very good man one day be at peace and return to his original path when all else is settled - monkhood.
- Shixiong
10:26 AM;
Monday, May 01, 2006
The Kalama Sutta:
Do not believe in anything simply because
You have heard it.
Do not believe in tradition because
They have been handed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because
It is spoken and rumoured by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because
It is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely
On the authority of your teachers and elders.
But, after observation and analysis
When you find that agrees with reason and
Is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all,
Then accept it and live up to it.
One thing I have always found fortunate is that as Buddhists, we do not have room for blind faith. If you have doubts within the teachings, you can choose not to accept it and doing so would not render you to some eternal sins and condemn to a hellish fate.
Rather, the Buddha wanted his followers (us) to study and apply his teachings in a practical way. If we are happy and benefit from it, then we accept it.
I know I have benefited a lot from Buddhism and I have accepted it as an integral part of who Liew Shi Xiong is.
My Journey as a Buddhist...
I began my life as a proper Buddhist at the age of 11 with the Gelugpa Sect of the Vajrayana tradition. I went thru many initiaions under numerous Rinpoches and Geshes and attended two ordination as a little Lama boy. As a novice lama udner the Vajrayana tradition, rites and rituals were main core practices. I remember waking up as early as 5am to do 108 full body prostrations in front of the shrine. Then, proceed to cleaning the hall and then lighting up the many lamps before breakfast. For the rest of the day, we had to compelte 10,000 Majushri Wisdom Chants while having to undergo other lessons in tantric practices while observing the 8 precepts. That period of time, my intrest in Buddhism was ignited and was like a burning fire. I had so much passion and faith and believe in anything and everything the scriptures wrote.
At the same time, my family was introduced to SBM and got in touch with Therevada Buddhism. All of them are drawn towards Therevadan Buddhism. I attended the first Camp EHi-Passiko as was introduced to Therevada Buddhism. My group was then Karuna and my GLs were LAwrence (then 16) and Xiaoying (then 15). LAwrence was like the fierce and authoritative dad who kept scolding me. However, I was very drawn towards Xiao Ying. She was very kind and gentle towards the group. However sadly, she passed away after the camp in a tragic car accident. I also remember sitting right in front of Venerable mahinda whom made me read out the Noble 8 Foldpath at the hall. yeasr later at PKS, he tested me the 10 Paramis at a Dhamma talk for young Buddhists.
And though at that time I was introduced to Therevadan Buddhism, the kid in me felt that it was inferior to Vajrayana Buddhism and thus, sticking steadfastly to my Vajrayana practices. Then, I was already given a set of tantric practices I have to practise everyday and I do so earnestly for 3 years. But at age fifteen, I was opening up to other options.
The first 2 years of my secondary school days was spent at St.Gabriel's Secondary, a Catholic missionary. It was during this period of time many Christians and Catholics sought to impart in me the religion of God and the Bible. However, my faith was very strong I stick steadfastly as a Buddhist. However, at times I wondered what if there is a God and Buddhism is all wrong?
Then I met a 'gui ren'. a Benefactor. A friend whom I have loads of kammic afffinity. Someone I have always met then separated then meet again. He was my schoolante from St. Gab's and an exceptionally intelligient boy. His interest in philosophy drew him to Buddhism and he was then a very devout Buddhists. We met on many occassions to discuss religions and those dicussions had a major impact in me in becoming an even strongr Buddhist. At the same time, I was beginning to find less satisfaction in Vajrayana mainly because most of the time I did not understand what I was doing and the lessons were all in Chinese. I sought for Buddhism taught in English and SBM beckons again. Note that I was still attenidng SBm activities like sunday adult service and Vesak Day but I never participate with the youth group.
Studying Buddhism in English increase my faith a lot. Also, my friend was then one of the founders of the charsimatic Panna Youth Centre and I was quite impressive with their charismatic approach towards Buddhism. In additon, I saw Christian cell groups springing up all around me and I began to feel a little lonely in my practice. My friend seems more interested in the philosophical part of Buddhism and denoucning other faiths. It was then I had my first aspiration to seek a group of like-minded young Budhdists and to learn Buddhism together. There was SBm youth group but somehow, I never returned after the first camp.
Fate has it I came back and joined the Camp when I was 16. I could still remember the number of campers was around 30 plsu and we could formed a circle inside the hall. My group was Ananda and my GLs were these 2 crazy people... Kaiyi and Zeming. I ad lots of fun druing the camp and so the bond was reignited again. I remember just before campfire, we had skit competiions and I acted as Osama bin Laden. I still had the fotos of myself as Osama bin Laden. Of course after that camp, I came back to the family of SBM again. Then, we were still using the room downstairs with the table so big it occupied the entire room. Then there is the window at the side that the aunties used to open up and send food in.
However as JC sets in, I became very very involved in my football. Trainings kept me away for most days and my attendance sucks. I could attend some of the sharings and the main activities like Vesak Day. However, camp was a no-no due to my trip to NZ and thus missed the chance to know people like Chufeng, Liwei, Lokwei, Tingting, Felicia earlier...
But despite being kept away.. my faith in Buddhism during my JC days is still very strong. There was once when my classmates found out that I am a Buddhist (a rarity in arts classes) and sought to convert me. I told one my reasons for not believing in God and that caused an uproar in class. What happened next was a ratehr hilarious sight. All the Christians of various denominations and Catholics in my class (Louis from Never Say Die Yong Bu Yuan Bie included) united together and sought to debate with me and convince me of Jesus' path. It was in the canteen and they surrounded me. I still could recalled my best friend, ak a Muslin sitting at another corner laughing cheekily as the Christians sought to convert me. Of course, thanks to some good materials I was introduced earlier on, the Christians could not convert me and I remain a Buddhist still.. Proud of who I am!
Fortunately, the next year I came back and got more and more involved and as they say, the rest is history... From then I never look back and found myself loving SBm more and more every mintue.
And also, coming back to SBM enabled me to study and learn Therevada Buddhism more and more and more and more impress by it than the other schools.
Schools of Buddhism
As we all know, there are three main schools within Buddhis. There is Therevada, Mahayana and Vajrayan. I chose Therevada Buddhism for many reaons. First, it is simple for the lack of colorful rites and rituals. Second, it originated from the teachings of the historical Buddha and lastly, it has less supernatural and more closer to Earth than the other schools.
And it is during this path of discovering Therevada Buddhsim that I found my faith in Mahayana and Vajrayana dwindling.
I have been sceptical of Mahayana and Vajrayana much as I try not to. To me, these two schools of Buddhism is a far far relative to the Buddhism of Therevada which is supposedly passed along from the historical Buddha. Especially towarda Vajrayana which is full of rites and rituals, devices and hierachies and devotion to a personal guru which I thought contradcits the Buddha's last words before he enetred into parinibanna, "be a light unto yourself".
And so I have and will continue to practise Buddhism the Therevada way. However, there are still many teachigs within the Mahayana and Vajrayana which I accept and found to be reliable. For example, the Bodhisattva idea which is so noble and powerful.
However, I hope tocuhing on my preference in the Therevadan school over the other shcools would not cause any misconceptions that I am against the other schools. That is not so. In fact, a spiritual friend I have, Bhante Rakkitha told me that there is no need to cling onto a label when learning Buddhism.
So this is a brief description of my journey as a Buddhist from 11 to 21. I would like to hear from you guys your experience as a Buddhist.
- Shixiong :0)
6:33 AM;
Young Buddhist Leader....
should be one who is mentally strong. It is natural to be sway by powerful emotions because we are still humans after all! Whatmore, teenagers! But a good Buddhist is able to rise above any mental obstacles with good confidence.
Buddhism has taught us how the Mind works so as good Buddhist, we must make an effort to understand the Mind. The only way to do is not via intellectual debates, discussions or studies but my practice - meditation.
The Buddha predicted that the lack of meditation practise among the Buddhist community will be one of the contributing factor towards the Dhamma-Ending Age. The core of Buddhism is meditation. So it would be wonderul if we all could devote some time everyday for our meditation practice.
One must also be self-sacrificing.
SBM youth group is a group of voluntters. You,me, she, him. We are all volunteers. when it comes to volunteerism, fame and fortune and power should not be on our list of agenda. If so, it would be very dangerous. Being volunteers in the youth group, we must always be prepared for many obsatcles. The route of Volunteerism is a very difficult path because it is one not motivated by money, power, fame - the trappings and main motivation of modern mandkind.
As volunteers in the youth group, we must first know what is the cause for us volunteering our time. I have loads of appreciation to everyone, all the fine young men and women of the group who sacrificed not only a Saturday night to come down for Sharing and bonding but also many other days for any SBm activities.
When you believe in a cause, you must put in 110% backing that cause even if you get nothing but shit in the end. That's the true spirit we ought to cultivate.
Whatever decisions we make, at the end of the day it must be for the good of the entire group.
Of course, I don't mean that being part of SBM youth group means you only expect to give and give and sacrifice and not expect to gain anything. This is totally wrong concept.
Sharing sessions should be seen as beneficial because we learn more about the Dhamma.
Any other actitivites are beneficial because we make good friends that will last a lifetime. This I know because I have found many soul mates who have been pillars of my life. Who name a few, Zeming, Anglee, Kaiyi and Amanda. In addition, if given an opportunity to be organsiers of any certain event, it can be seen as not only service to SBm but also service to ourselve. Because we have been given an opportunity to learn more about ourselves. Any opportunity is a good lesson where we should be able to learn something.
Keep this in mind that... Service to the Dhamma is Service to ourselves.
One fine young lady of the youth group asked me what keeps me within the group.
I told her and I shall share with all my good brothers and sisters 2 main reasons why...
(1) Friendship.
This is important. The Buddha once told Ananda that for a fruitful spiritual cultivation, one must first have friendship and then, together as sprititual friends walk the path towards spritual perfection.
I have found within this group marvellous friends. I hope to keep this group intact so that many more youngsters continue to find for themselves marvellous friends that would not only be good influence but also pillars in theri lives. One of the highest blessing is for one to find a good friend one can have total trust on.
(2) Dhamma
The main reason why the youth group exist is due to the saving grace of our Lord Goatama, the Buddha, our Teacher. We are inspired by His teachings and hence, come together to form this fellowship. A spriitual fellowship for like-minded youth to come together and practise Buddhism together. That is not the end. Also as a fellowship, to spread the good teachings of the Buddha for more people. We know we are facing a huge obstacle in Singapore with the majority of the nominal Buddhists harbouring either misconcpetions of apathy towards their own faith. This is something we as young Buddhist must do our part. We have to spread the true words of our Lord Buddha. However, spreading must be done in goodwill. There must never be in any way go against the free-will preached by our Lord Buddha.
SBM youth group has survived more than 10 years and now towards their 11th year. I do hope that a strong batch will take over the current ex-co committee when it is time for all of us to step down and propel SBm youth group to greater heights. we must alwasy take note that we are not good enough. There is alwasy room for improvement. With that in mind, lets strive together and keep in mind that
'service to the Dhamma is service to ourselves'
- Shixiong
6:10 AM;