August 18, 2007 at 9:51 am (Buddhism, Lord of Miracle, Mahayana, Sri Langka tsunami, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, belief, climate change, earth, earthquake, environment, general, global warming, global warming fears, inspiration, love, love other, nature, philosophy, religion, science, spirituality, thoughts, tsunami, 慈济)
After writing about the Lord of Miracle of Christ that happen in Peru 350 years ago, I recalled those email that I received about the miracles that happen in 2004 Dec 26 Tsunami in Sri Langka. It is true that many Buddha statues was escaped from the destruction by the wave of Tsunami. The point I wish to bring up is not about the Miracle of Buddha. The interesting story begin with this…
When the Tsunami hit Sri Lanka, there was a statue of the Buddha in the town of Galle, which didn’t topple when the waves rushed over it near the bus terminal. A Buddhist monk considered it as a sign. He said, ‘The people are not living according to religious virtues. Nature has given them some punishment because they’re not following the path of the Lord Buddha. The people have to learn their lesson.’
And a Roman Catholic priest cast the blame even wider. ‘This is a punishment from God, because everybody’s leading a wretched life’, he said. ‘All of us are to be blamed for the tsunami, there’s no sense of modesty or religiosity any more. People have gone so far away from God, it’s the message to say “.
A fishman from the fishing village said, ‘The mother has butchered her own children’, ’Either there is no God, or God must be cruel to do this.’
Many of the victims are asking, “Why us? Why me? Why my childrens ? Why my parents ? Other interesting features was the Christians and Hindus in India started co-operating with each other when a year ago they were fighting each other. And when Buddhists and Tamils in Sri Lanka started doing the same.
Is it true that altruism only trumps selfishness when we have to face a common adversity and drastic tragedy like this ?
Is it true that ’Pain and suffering are ‘God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.’ a quote from C.S.Lewis. Can’t we human work on the same goal on our climate change issues rather than fighting each others concept and argue about data ? Do we need a God’s Megaphone ?
Ref :
1. http://in.news.yahoo.com/050110/137/2ix3h.html
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August 2, 2007 at 3:45 pm (Buddhism, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, civilisation, climate change, conservation, earth, environment, general, global warming, inspiration, nature, philosophy, science, thoughts, water scarcity, 慈济)
Restrain and conserve might not good for the economy, but it makes good economic sense. We always heard about “A dollar saved is a dollar earned”, the same concept apply. “A kilowatt-hour saved is a kilowatt-hour earned.”, “A kilo-liter water saved is a kilo-liter water earned.”
Whenever I was tempted to spend, I will think about the above phrase : Restrain ourself, restrain ourself and this definitely help us to reduce spending, reduce usage, reduce pollution hence reduce CO2.
This is what everyone of us can do to reduce CO2 and also prevent being trap into the debt slavery in this debt based monetory system society.
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February 7, 2007 at 9:26 am (Buddhism, Mahayana, Resource Recycling, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, climate change, environment, general, global warming, inspiration, ipcc, philosophy, spirituality, thoughts, 慈济)
Don’t think that saving a tree will not save the world, we are all interrelated. Just like a looking at the origination of a piece of paper, a paper come from a tree. A tree needed water, sunshine and air to growth. Trees needed sunshine, human cannot growth without sunshine too. Therefore the loggers cannot survive without sunshine. In the eyes of a Bodhisattva, we should not only see a piece of papers as paper. We should see deeper into it, without the loggers, we cannot use this piece of paper. Without the bread or foods for the logger, the logger cannot survive. So, we should feel gratitude on the bread or the food. Without the wheat, the bread cannot be make. So, we should feel gratitude to the wheat. Without the farmers, the wheat will not be able to be make to bread. So, we should feel gratitude to the farmers. The cycle going on until even a spoon or a folk, the person who make the spoon or folk, we should feel gratitude to them as everyone use them. Everyone in this society is interrelated and we should feel gratitude to them. So, in a piece of paper, we should see the whole living being inside. So, saving a piece of papers through resource recycling could save the world !
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January 31, 2007 at 9:54 am (400D, Buddhism, Photography, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, inspiration, philosophy, photos, spirituality, thoughts)
A disciple once asked Master Cheng Yen, “How can I learn to tolerate others?”
The Master replied, “Under heaven, there is no one I don’t love, no one I don’t trust, and no one I don’t forgive. If you can adhere to these Three No’s, then your heart will be healthy and naturally learn to tolerate, love and trust others.”
While learning to love the strangers, learning to trust those unknown and learning to forgive those guilty. I look to be unusual and dull. But my heart was cleanse, my wisdom growth. If we can’t love others, hatred will be in our heart, if we can’t trust others, suspicious will remain in our heart, if we can’t forgive others, resentment will retain in our heart.
If you can forgive guilty one like prisoners, it should be easier to forgive our loved or closer one. When you have troubles, just remember these phrases from the Master. Your afflictions will be wipe out and you will enjoys a happier life.
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January 26, 2007 at 3:55 am (Buddhism, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, inspiration, philosophy, spirituality, thoughts)
This is a small basket located on the right hand side of the entrance to Penang JST (Jing Si Tang). The basket contain full of small scroll of Jing Si aphorism. There was once I am very reluctant to pick up the Jing Si aphorism from this basket, the reason is I worry that Master’s will point out my weakness. I am seeing some members randomly pick them up when they have worry or encounter problems they are facing. So, I try to pick them up too, even though I don’t have big affliction or problem need to face. I pick up a message something like this “Planting more seeds of love, let the world be filled with love and compassion”. I don’t believe that I am not doing enough, so I did not care about it. Every time when I go to JST, I will randomly pick up the message from the basket. The same message was pick up by me again and again. Total I pick this same message thrice.
So, I think I have not done enough in planting the seed of love. Now, I am enjoying pick up alporism from the basket every time I go to JST. I am not worry about Master pointing my weakness, but I will take it as an advice from Master of the quality or character I need to improve. If you do come to Penang JST, try your luck to pick a Jing Si Yu from this basket.
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January 15, 2007 at 9:05 am (Buddhism, inspiration, philosophy, spirituality)
I was impressed by the recent news from Star newspapers that a blind person in Ipoh, Malaysia name G. Gunalan was able to work as lotus root harvester. Despite being blind, he was a breadwinner for his family by this tough job of harvesting lotus root on the lotus pond.
Another well-known great blind and deaf is Helen Killer, she was a blind and deaf since childhood, but she was able to speak and write. I would like to introduce another great hero, Erik Weihenmajor.
Erik Weihenmajor was another great person, he born with retinoschisis, a rare genetic condition that gradually causes the retina to deteriorate. He was totally blind by the age of 13. He graduated with BSc with 3.1 GPA and Masters in Education. Erik was a writer for BC’s literary magazine. He w
as offered a job as an English and math teacher.
Eric’s also accomplished a book entitled, Touch the Top of the World, in which he talks his struggle to push past the limits placed on him by his disability, speaks of those who helped him break through the barriers of blindness.
He was the first blind man ever to climb to the Everest. On Sep 2002, he stood on top of Mt. Kosciusko in Australia – the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. You can found his biography at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Weihenmayer
Erik’s wrote another new book, The Adversity Advantage, co-written with Dr. Paul Stoltz, the world’s leading expert on the science of adversity, provides seven proven principles for converting challenges into the never-ending fuel to power our lives.
Master Cheng Yen aphorism did mention that “Do not under estimate our-self, human have unlimited capabilities”. We really need to look into our self to discover the explore capability in our inner-self.
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January 11, 2007 at 11:57 am (400D, Buddhism, Photography, inspiration, spirituality, thoughts)
Lotus have give me a lots of inspiration in photography because lotus show us our human nature suppose to be. Although coming out from a filthy mud but she was pure, clean, beautiful and admired by all.Yet, do you realise that if you put lotus on a clean water, it will die off. Lotus must have its root in the mud. It was so similar to the Buddhisatva that we must stay in the society, yet displaying our beauty nature to educate others.
The brightness of the lotus coming out from within the middle is like a lantern which brighten up the surrounding. Aren’t we human suppose to do the same as well ?
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January 9, 2007 at 9:17 am (Buddhism, Tzu Chi, TzuChi, inspiration, spirituality, thoughts, 慈济)
I was touch by this chinese song dedicated to the disabled performers from China. The meaning of this song not only to the disable person, but the meaning is also applicable to all of us who is not disable but is imperfect in ourself.
Lyrics :
听不见幸福的节奏 can’t hear the tempo of happiness
说不出悲伤的缘由 can’t tell the reason of my sorrow
只因我已化身千手里 because i’ve immerge as one of the thousand hands 舞动人生不空过 i dance without casting away my life 不曾为艰辛而停留 i don’t stop moving on even if life is hard 不曾为命运而低头 i don’t give up no matter what my fate is
只因我已化身千手里 because i’ve immerge as one of the thousand hands 为了奉献而婆娑 i dance to devote my life to you看那生命的缺陷 演出无憾的完美 perform a faultless dance with the imperfection of lives
舞著柔软的勇气 展放大爱的力量 dance with courage and unfold the power of love 一手 一手 百手 千手 one hand, one hand, hundred hands, thousand hands
化解生命的悲苦 to console the hardship and suffering of lives 因为善让生命美丽 因为爱让生命延续 charity makes life beautiful and love makes life go on
因为慈悲让生命宽阔 因为感恩让生命欢喜 compassion makes life broaden and gratitude makes life delightful
In our heart, they are not disabled. They are perfect performers in the arts. Not only demonstrate the beauty of the dances but also show us the beauty of the heart. Their determination to show to the world a perfect dance and not because peoples come to see their show just because of charity.
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