Dreaming (still) ...

Pearlyn have the honour of being the first person to tell me that this song, Going Home, is nice. Although Ananda was the first to comment that it was not bad. Yup man, I like this song a lot. Was listening everyday to the mandarin cover by Faye, Passenger, everyday just a few weeks ago... Since then I had found out the original singer cum composer of this song and I like this version every much too, so now it is on my blog so i could listen everyday...

Xiaowei mention last minute last night that we should send organisations/advisors/patrons/yun gang vesak day cards but come on, so rush man... But nevertheless alex did a last minute design (just a simple one) which i could print out in school and send. Thus today i went to school again...

Anyway while waiting for bus 95, a lost soul came up to me to ask me for directions. He had wanted to go university hall and then the medical check up at yih. I then ask him to follow me, from where we drop he could then take a shuttle bus. Hmmm, on the way we had a little chat. Found out he is from TJ and then when we drop, I asked if he had joined any orientation camp. When he say no, I asked him to join BS one. However, either I bo kill or he really couldn't make it or whatever, I kena rejected. Sigh... Should have brought name card with me. Then mabbe when he change his mind, he could contact me...

After settling this vesak day cards stuff, I went with pearlyn and weiyang to watch Shrek 2 at clementi. Quite long haven watch there liao. It is cheap, $5 only, but the conditions were like ... No wonder so cheap, but anyway think it is still worth it. The movie was not bad, quite funny, not so heavy like troy or like most movies. Found that I had lost interest in such blockbuster movies recently... Maybe too old for such stuffs liao... Too ah pek...

Did cleaning up of my house altar just now. Hmm, for vesak, everything should be nice and clean. Maybe I would feel nice and clean too? Need to buy fruits and flowers tomorrow. It is always a bit troublesome when my mum is not around.

Posted by Zeathereal at 11:41 PM | Permalink

Ubi --> Geylang --> Esplanade --> East Coast --> individual homes

Haven been cycling for quite some time liao. Ever since my bro lost my bike... Anyway this was the first time trying out the new bike too. Spent the night cycling with 4 of my jc frens. First time we have ever organise a cycling outing thus we were all quite excited about. Things were quite smooth in the beginning (albeit a bit of topo-ing here and there), enjoying the cool night and cycling slowly. Especially on the way to and from esplanade, where there were a lot of ... (ahem!). But really enjoyed it, the view was beautiful at night, even though my body and butt hurts...

On our to esplanade however, I had a close accident. The gear on the handle was quite loose and not use to it. As I was meddling with the gear and paddling quickly to change the gear, I failed to notice the pillar in front of me. When I looked up to see the short pillar, which was about 0.5m away, I had to jam the brake. Trust me, it was a natural reaction. Before moving out, derrick had tested my bike and comment that the brakes were good, and thank goodness, my brakes were good, else i would have struck the pillar. But there was a price to pay for jamming the brake. The front wheel halt almost immediately, and i think the back wheel too, but due to the inertia, the back wheel lifted 1 feet off the ground, giving me a scare. For a moment I thought i'm going to fly... Think if my speed had been faster, the bicycle would have completely flip over...

At east coast park, we sort of settled down at the beach there for a long break, before moving out to macdonald for early breakfast. At this point in time, we saw a big bunch of teens cycling pushing their bicycles along the track. As we went pass them, derrick asked them why are they pushing their bicycles, but did not receive an appropriate reply. Anyway we went on our way, making jokes about them and the stupidity of their actions, especially derrick. When we were about 10m from our final destination, derrick suddenly fell theatrically and we immediately know that it is gonna be serious. The bike was spoiled then and we had to push our bikes to macdonald. Derrick also had quite some wounds on him, which make me quite worried. At this point in time, the teens cyclists went past us, somehow they were allowed to cycle again. Just then it struck me how the situation had turned around. We got bike but we can't ride now... Guess this is an example of instantaneous karma ripening...

Anyway here i am back home, finish bathing and feeling very alert. Good morning world, but i'm going to sleep now. Kudos to the two pasir ris frens who had to cycle to eunos and from east coast back to pasir ris. Think that is a lot of distance! Ok, next time, i shall cycle to pasir ris too...

Posted by Zeathereal at 6:59 AM | Permalink

Three posts in a day! I must have been feeling really bo liao...

Just came back from meditation. As usual I was a bit late. Usually I would have been on time for the metta chant but today, the chanting was faster (and nicer too, dunno who is the guy leading...) and they were half-way through the metta chant when i arrived.

I sat around the 'hot spot' again this time round, but managed to get a much better sitting this time round. My half an hour limit seems to be still there too. When my headache comes, I knew it would be around half an hour liao. I opened my eyes and check and yup, it was around there. Sigh, wonder if it is a pyschological problem of mine. Anyway, maybe it is due to my neck too, coz it was also the time i start to feel my neck aching...

Despite that, felt that had a pretty pleasant sitting. Sorry big bro, too lazy to take 21 lar. Must walk quite a lot more, compared to 63... Paiseh...


Hecate


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
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Posted by Zeathereal at 9:34 PM | Permalink

Going to cakkavala meditation now... Will be looking forward to the night cycling later with my jc friends. Initially they had wanted it to be in the tampines/pasir ris area, but upon consideration of the fact that I'll be cycling home alone through such long distances, they decided to change it to meeting place at my house!!! Haha... Looking forward to it, a few more hours only. Hopefully won't be too shack for tomorrow exhibition.

Btw, geocities problematic leh. Can't play some of the songs I have uploaded. If you know of better hosting sites do tell me. If you can hear the song, which Ananda says he could, tell me too...

Posted by Zeathereal at 6:40 PM | Permalink

So much stuff to write. Yet don't feel like anything. I find that for me, my entries are a lot on days which i'm very 'eng' and feeling very bo liao (that's why the entries are also very bo liao). For busy times, I would simply be too lazy to blog... 我真是懒人一个...

Anyway, 2 days ago, i got wenyan to come to my house to help me decide on the decoration for the stall. In the end we rot the day away and only started work at night. The decision to do the banner was quite a rush one (I thought a simple banner wouldn't take up much time and manpower). Got pearlyn and weiyang to meet us yesterday morning to buy the stuff and do the banner. Really really grateful to wenyan. He was sick (think because I had spread him the virus) and still came down to school with me to do the banner. Anyway we were quite disappointed we couldn't find a classroom with a projector which we could use and hence had to do things the hard way, measure and enlarged ourselves. Anyway wenyan was running a one man show doing all the markings and scaling up. By time around 8 plus, only both of us were left, and it was past midnight when i finally reached home... But the banner wasn't done yet!

This morning i tried to do what i can but realised the lettering need wenyan (only his can make it) and thus called him, only to realised he was nearby only, at the YIH docter there. Wah... Anyway soon after he joined us, I had to leave to shift the stocks from Yun Gang to PKS liao. Oh ya, the boss from Yun Gang is very nice. There are nice Buddhists in the business world too! He gave us the lowest price for the tees and also drove us there, helping us to shift the tees there. While waiting for his assistant ( we took two cars altogether), he talked to us about some stuffs. Actually quite a number of those quotes in those cute cards that he sold were written by him! Impressive...

Anyway after things were settled at PKS, I decided to finish things up in school, and together with pearlyn, we made our way to school. I thought wenyan would be gone (home to rest) after writing out the skeleton for the wordings but that impressive guy is still around, with katrine and weiyang, thus i told pearlyn to go back first. When i reached school, wenyan had to leave soon and the three of us continued all the way till 10... Finally it is done now. Thank you wenyan, thank you weiyang. Thanks to pearlyn and katrine too!

Here's the sneak preview

Posted by Zeathereal at 2:23 AM | Permalink

Sounds cool. That was the suggested theme to us from Isaac at today discussion with him in his office in Bugis. Only five of us went. Hwee Chin, Sumantri, a gal(can't remember her name), wenyan and me. Got stuck into this problem of whether to have a common identity or not, for this freebies stuff. He had planned to do everything on a unified identity basis, and he though STIBS or now call Campus Buddhist Network (CBN) is an organisation.

Anyway i'm felt really bad about leaving wenyan behind, by himself, and took taxi with the rest of them to PKS, although he keep saying that he don't want to go. Actually din really want to go, but somehow i also dunno why I had go. Think I won't bang seh him again. So paiseh. Think Sumantri also very paiseh...

Anyway we managed to catch the whole talk. Can't describe my feelings. A lot of things he said tonight had touched my heart, was quite ...... Or maybe I was just being emotional... Anyway was also touched that he gives time and really tried to answer everyone's questions. Guess words can't describe my feelings. Guess he is very inspiring afterall! Hendra from NTUBS said to me after the talk that he thought the talk tonight was quite special, even though he had heard something similar before (from a talk Ajahn Brahm had gave in KL i think). Here is the link to BF website. The talk is not up yet but guess u could check out the rest of the talks available.

http://www.buddhistfellowship.org/

Here's the new bike my bro had bought (finally...).

Posted by Zeathereal at 1:06 AM | Permalink

Sigh, my illness seems to worsen since my last entry. Yesterday morning, was feeling quite uncomfortable liao, but since agree to meet gillian, thus made make my way to school. After clearing my locker and shifting the piles of books and stuffs with me to YIH, was feeling quite terrible that i decided to let YIH doctors have a look. Discover that i had a fever. After meeting gillian and taking medicine and went to BL with her, I was contemplating whether to attend Ajahn Brahm talk or not. However I finally decide to go, even though, honestly speaking, he is not very inspiring to me. More than half the time I was sleeping though, haha... Din catch anything much. I think the rest of the NTUBS/NUSBS pple must be wondering why I no energy lidat...

Today, wanted to go meet ananda and riki to go Buddha Relic exhibition at the EXPO. But even though i had 12hr+ of sleep, I still felt not okay and decide to avoid the crowd and save my energy for the talk. And thus, I went back to sleep, amid doing some house-cleaning, since Darren is staying overnight tonight. Was too late to eat dinner when i woke up and asked pearlyn to save some food for me. After which I met her and just set around the nostalgic area and ate my food, with a cat coming to ka-jiao me. Too bad i dun have camera, else can take picture of the cat.

STILL SICK! now coughing some more! sigh... Hopefully tomorrow will be better. Darren is at my house now. Hopefully i won't spread to him. Btw, thanks ananda for your concern, but the tree is quite sick now... To gordon: take care too!... To Hanbin: I can't match your face to the name! Think Teddy matches you better!

Posted by Zeathereal at 1:46 AM | Permalink

My friend has make up with her boyfriend. Haha, a gentleman he is! He went to her house and after that ... (ahem...). Anyway glad that both of them are fine now...

In case you are wondering about the song and the singer of this song in my blog, it is 爱情不能做比较 by Baby, a malaysian group (told to me by Chin Lee, else i'm completely clueless). The song is very nice by i guess they were not so lucky to have the right conditions for them to be 红.

Feeling better now. Thanks for the concern by some friends. Anyway my big bro (he dun like it when i call him by his name, haha) is sick too. Hope you recover soon and may your sky clear up soon.

PS: The next time i suddenly fall sick, i will know the reason why...

Posted by Zeathereal at 2:26 AM | Permalink

Was quite sianz today. First of all woke up with a terrible sore throat today, but the signs and symptoms were there the day before anyway... The fluid from my nose was yellow. Yucks. Think I must have been very heaty...

Secondly my results sucks. I knew that I won't be doing so well but I had certain expectations of certain modules. However, the result was much beyond my expectation. Not to say that my result was terrible but somehow I had a (impractical?) target and I feel disappointed when things don't turn up well... I guess what the show, Travellers and Magicians, says is very true: Hope gives you pain ...

Played the whole day away... PS2 i mean... Will this be representative of my whole hols? Oh no... :(

Posted by Zeathereal at 7:51 PM | Permalink

Yeah, just had a talk with a classmate of mine. She apparently had some BGR problems. Frankly speaking I dunno how to advice her, me having such poor experience in such stuff. However i gave her some general advice and hope that it will give her a clearer picture to the situation and how to deal with it. We, as outsiders, could only offer some great philosophical advice about love and life but given the same situation, we would probably faced such pain and suffering. No one could solve the problems except themselves. Alas I could only wish them all the best, clear up the misunderstanding soon! This reminds me of a song by Tarcy Su, one of my fav singer, 我们都是好人. Nice song: 如果不是倔强让人变的愚蠢 幸福不会变成被甩上的门 我想我们都是好人 可惜拥有太骄傲的灵魂.

Something she said bothers me a lot. 'why must we be unhappy?'. Wow, I think I could use a lot of Buddhism taechings to explain haha, but wanted to spare her the agony, haha. Think I'm not qualified anyway. But anyway are we really wrong to want happiness everyday? Anyway I guess it is not wrong wanting to be happy, but it is precisely expectations and hope that things will be fine and smooth and everything is good, that is giving us all the pain and suffering when things go wrong...

Anyway, enough of chim stuff from a shallow person like me. Leg is hurting now. Left knee to be precise. Playing 3 hours of badminton on friday and playing soccer on sunday had taken its toil on me. At least I hope that there is no big problem... But anyway had a damn lousy day at soccer on sunday. Woke up late cum not feeling well (coz the night b4 only slept for 3 hrs plus), then must go all the way to Pasir Ris somemore! Can't blame them though, since quite a lot of people live in Tampines/Pasir Ris area. And the area no one ka-jiao. No sign that we can't play soccer too, unlike the one at Bedok, where the police came to chase us... But there is price to pay too, becasue it is so inconvenient! From the mrt, we stil must walk a bit to a bus stop to take another bus there. SO ULU! No wonder no one ka-jiao lah!!!

Anyway back to the game, I was having the lousiest day day ever. Made so many mistakes and keep passing to the opponents in front of my goal! It is no wonder that my team mate shouted at me in exasperation. Haha, but anyway my team mates were in excellent form that day, there were 3 groups of 6 but we won every game, and till we were too tired to continued. Anyway can sense the pressure back again. Difficult to describe but i know exactly what i mean. Yes, pressure...

Today had a pretty fun evening with some members from STIBS at Awareness Place. After which had supper with them at nearby vegetarian centre and once again, I left with my stomach barely filled. The other time was at the movie premiere. Took the bus back with Dickson. A fren called then and he heard me mentioning soccer and began to get excited. I then jio him to our weekly sunday soccer and we exchanged contacts. Hmmm, not bad, managed to find someone so on about soccer :)

Posted by Zeathereal at 3:00 AM | Permalink

I dreamt of his holiness, Dalai Lama. He was talking with us 25th MC in my house. Then he was talking to each of us individually, asking us questions and we ask questions too. Then things start to get a bit absurd so I guess there is nothing sacred about the dream, haha...

Posted by Zeathereal at 1:48 PM | Permalink

Feeling lethargic today. Slept till (blush) 12 plus today. After which din do much, just play the day away, acquiring this new game, Arc the Lad, recently. Attempt to do the stuffs chun kit wants during the late afternoon but after an hour, felt more lethargic and went to sleep again (haha...).

Woke up late, and had to rush down to Cakkavala meditation. Was about 10 minutes late (partly due to the rain too) and was 7.46 when i could finally get to meditate. The conditions were terrible. The corner i sat was like a hot spot, I was sweating. And the loud music neighbours were playing did not help. Overall just had no heart to meditate. Give me back Cheng Beng!!! haha... Sigh, I guess it just my mind...

Saw gordan, ananda, teddy, hendra and sumantri there. Was quite surprise to see ananda actually. Always talk so much cock with him online through MSN but it was the first time I had actually spoke to him in person. Feels a bit weird, haha... The only other time i had met him was, hmmm, new year eve at PKS? At that time din speak to him at all i think... It is a wonder what messenger service like ICQ or MSN can do... Paiseh gordon, bang seh you. I thought you are going off with them, hall 3(ananda) or hall 11(kin song). Really hungry so i thought i would go off first. Sigh, I tot you all will go supper...

PS: For the snake analogy thing, just want to elaborate more on it. It just means people might not readily accept the truth. Different methods need to be employed for different people. The person is like us human, living in the dream. Emptiness is just the true nature of all phenomena. For all of us deep in the dreams, we find it real and there is the snake (suffering) but if we would only realise that we are in a dream and awaken to that dream, then everything would end. - contributed by Sin (sadhu sadhu sadhu! Run for 26th MC okie?)

PS: I forgot to add one another stuff in. During the talk, Rinpoche also said that if we understand the teaching on emptiness, then we would think something like this: 1 incense is good enuf to offer buddha; 100 million incense is never enuf to offer buddha. Go and interpret this! :)

Posted by Zeathereal at 2:26 AM | Permalink

Part 3

Sunyata
- 空性; emptiness – all phenomena have no real and true independence existence
- the best way to understand sunyata is through devotion (by Buddha)
- If there is no habit, there is no path. Our habits cause us to see the opposite of sunyata, eg rituals such as flowers, lamp, temples…
- Reducing the bad habits are what we call reducing the bad karma
- Increasing our good habits are increasing the good karma
- However the wise one would see beyond the good and bad habits → attain enlightenment

Man have a gross habit of using references, eg good/bad, pure/unpure. We have some bad habits that we are not even aware of.
- wishes/craving
- worst habit of all is clinging to oneself, most difficult to eliminate, eg even when we are doing bodhicitta training, we are still doing it for ourselves.
- The reason why we renounce is not because worldly things are evil; rather it is because there is nothing independently existing. Eg: we have been educated to think that a Ferrari is expensive
- All illusions exist in our mind, and hence we renounced.
- Things that are important to us are changing all the time → this proves that nothing is really important
- The best way to stop clinging to ourselves is through the understanding of sunyata
- because reference is eliminated, won’t compare and compete
- no fear…

12 dependent origination
- from no ignorance to non-attainment
- beginning of cycle – from ignorance, consciousness and karmic powers
- at the centre of the reincarnation graph is bird, snake and pig (representing ignorance, aversion and greed)
- outside this is the two halves of good and bad karma
- outside this is the 6 realms
- outside this is the 12 dependent origination
- and outside is the time (represented by demon) holding the rebirth cycle
- every being is subjected to time, to decay, to change

Avalokiteshvara reply:
- however there is no ignorance, thus no end of ignorance; up to no old age and no death
- no suffering, no cessation of suffering, no attainment and no non-attainment, no path, no wisdom (contradiction to first sermon?)

Explaination: An analogy would be someone had a vivid nightmare of poisonous snake. However we can’t tell him it is just a dream, it is not real, ie, we have to agree with him and ‘get rid’ of the snake together.

If he is more receptive, then we can tell him there is no snake and hence we can’t throw out the snake

… (wasn’t paying attn, din take much notes down)

- hence Buddha of the three times … complete enlightening
- Om – auspicious beginning
- Gate – gone
- Gate – gone
- Paragate – beyond gone
- Parasamgate – beyond the concept of gone
- Bodhi – 觉 (not sure… can anyone help?)
- Svaha – may actualize

Miscellanous
- If merits we do don’t go towards sunyata, then we will have to ‘衡量’ the merits, then Buddhism will be a capitalize religion
- Qualities, quantities are not important
- We are living in the truth, we just need to recognize it
- Hearing/seeing; contemplation; meditation

Buddha Nature and Sunyata
- while it is dwelling in the samsara, the Buddha nature does not decrease
- if we become Buddha, it does not mean our Buddha nature have increase
- it does not change one bit!

How to do nothing?
- for beginners like us, is meditation (but still it is doing something)
- in order to achieve one normality, we have to have a little bit of abnormality
- meditation is the closest to doing nothing (once again note that doing nothing ≠ laziness)
- sit there, do nothing and just observe – better than doing prayers!
- Recite the heart sutra + sitting
- pick up a problem, look at the problem and begin analyzing → why is it a problem?
- was it a problem yesterday? Last year?
- taking refuge → trigger by fear

Bonus/extra thoughts (whatever u call it…)
- God is not a god until someone realize that he is a GOD!
- But where that someone came from?
- Anyway so that someone ‘created’ that GOD and think that GOD created him!
- Time is a concept
- There is no beginning/end
- No Armageddon
- Sunset/sunrise → 24 hrs, 1 day
- 7 days → 1 week
- 52 weeks → 1 year etc… so on… It is a concept!
- When we are old, we blame time
- But sun is still rising and falling, there is no beginning, no end
- Every sunrise is yet continued from yesterday sunset ……

Posted by Zeathereal at 3:31 AM | Permalink

Part 2

A man basic nature is pure, i.e. heart/mind is pure.
- we can’t see our pure heart after mixing with all the ‘pollutants’.
- like muddy water, where water and mud are separate entities
- as long as we do stop mixing them (i.e. doing nothing), our mind will settle down
- Essence of Mahayana – our basic nature is pure

So what is the ‘noble family’ referred to? A race?
- in Mahayana teachings, all of us are sons and daughters of noble family
- we can inherit the properties/surname/race of the Buddha
- because we are pure
- limitless wealth, Buddha’s wealth

Qn: Shariputtra is asking how we can claim this wealth back?

Avalokiteshvara reply:
- five skandhas to be empty of nature
- form is emptiness, emptiness is form
- why form?
- all unhappiness are clinging/attachment to self
- but self does not exists!
- me, I self – referring to which entity???
- the answer is five skandhas
- a form which we refer to as ‘me’
- ridiculous feelings which we take as part of us
- want to feel good , comfortable
- ridiculous perceptions. All perceptions are of no basis. Even if have, are because of fear, hope, anger, ego, etc
- all these make up the self that we call
- biggest part of all is the consciousness (most ridiculous)
- we are always nervous – we want to get praised, gain, and don’t want to get criticize, etc…
- it is so complicated that we can’t ever drink a cup of coffee and enjoy it!
- we can’t appreciate anything
- moreover our consciousness is constantly collecting info that will make us even more nervous!
- thus the first thing to look at is the five skandhas. Anything real or concrete for us to cling on to? (this is so impt that it is repeated twice in the sutra)
- NOTE THAT EMPTINESS NOT EQUIVALENT TO ‘VOIDNESS’
- Eg feeling good, due to the circumstances, it is conditioned
- there are no real true ‘good’ feeling. Thus it is empty of true good feeling
- no independent, separate entity that exist

Form and emptiness
- can’t be separated, no two separate entity. The moment form exist, there is emptiness
- that’s how nature is. Buddha did not set this rule!

Origin/ Starting & End
- to answer this question, many religions sprout
- there is no beginning, no birth
- neither is there an end, no Armageddon
- every phenomena is analogous to chicken and egg situation.

Why do we practice if everything is empty? Is there something ‘impure’ that we must cleanse?
Avalokiteshvara reply:
- no impurity or true evil. Similarly for purity. Everything is on a relative scale.
- In the ultimate level, the enlighten quality of the mind will not increase or decrease, because there is no purity and no impurity!
- Extends to senses and senses phenomena
- no eye → no appearance
- no ears → no sound
- no nose → no smell
- no tongue → no tase
- no body → no touch
- no mind → no dharma
- All teachings of the Buddha are actually placebo (安慰剂)

Posted by Zeathereal at 2:58 AM | Permalink

Disclamier: This does not in anyway represent what Rinpoche has said. Due to my feeble knowledge and weak understanding, information might be misrepresented here. Read at your own risk!

Part 1. Introduction to the Heart Sutra

Wisdom is our heart in the 'normal' state. However, what is 'normal'? – subjective
- as long as mind is affected by emotions – not 'normal'
- potential to achieve it?

Mahayana
- we possess this innate wisdom
- we need to discover it
- by doing ‘nothing’, we will achieve
- very difficult to understand and do
- as explained by Buddha, but no one will believe
- however it is not being lazy, which will leads to doing a lot of things, such as feeling guilty…
- doing everything that we like is also very difficult
- bound by duties, society norms etc
- what we can do is little things, start by doing little ‘abnormal things’
- becomes 仪式化 (ritualize) like shaving head, not eating meat etc…
- because we do not know how to not to anything, we can’t accept it
- Buddha’s teachings is beyond all the mantras, practices etc. these are but ways to bring us into the essence
- but some people get carried away with the rituals
- eg, some people replies to question on what is Buddhism is ‘being vegetarian etc’
- Concepts of precepts, generosity, discipline … are secondary to wisdom
- must be balanced by wisdom
- bodhisattva’s qualities are to teach us wisdom (I dun understand what I’m writing here either. Pls tell me if u do)

(so good for nothing, doing nothing = greatest liberation???)

Heart Sutra
Emptiness couldn’t be taught using words or phrases, that’s why Buddha is in deep meditation – and blessed Shariputtra with this curiosity to ask Avaloiteshvara…

PS: Dun think my song is just another pop song. Think the lyrics quite meaningful, telling us of the futility of comparision =p

Posted by Zeathereal at 3:52 AM | Permalink

Thus have I heard. Once the Blessed One was dwelling in Rajagriha at Vulture Peak mountain, together with a great gathering of the sangha of monks and a great gathering of the sangha of bodhisattvas. At that time the Blessed One entered the samadhi that expresses the dharma called "profound illumination," and at the same time noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, while practicing the profound prajnaparamita, saw in this way: he saw the five skandhas to be empty of nature.
Then, through the power of the Buddha, venerable Shariputra said to noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, "How should a son or daughter of noble family train, who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita?"

Addressed in this way, noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, said to venerable Shariputra, "O Shariputra, a son or daughter of noble family who wishes to practice the profound prajnaparamita should see in this way: seeing the five skandhas to be empty of nature. Form is emptiness; emptiness also is form. Emptiness is no other than form; form is no other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness are emptiness. Thus, Shariputra, all dharmas are emptiness. There are no characteristics. There is no birth and no cessation. There is no impurity and no purity. There is no decrease and no increase. Therefore, Shariputra, in emptiness, there is no form, no feeling, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no appearance, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no dharmas, no eye dhatu up to no mind dhatu, no dhatu of dharmas, no mind consciousness dhatu; no ignorance, no end of ignorance up to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment. Therefore, Shariputra, since the bodhisattvas have no attainment, they abide by means of prajnaparamita.

Since there is no obscuration of mind, there is no fear. They transcend falsity and attain complete nirvana. All the buddhas of the three times, by means of prajnaparamita, fully awaken to unsurpassable, true, complete enlightenment. Therefore, the great mantra of prajnaparamita, the mantra of great insight, the unsurpassed mantra, the unequaled mantra, the mantra that calms all suffering, should be known as truth, since there is no deception. The prajnaparamita mantra is said in this way:

OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA

Thus, Shariputra, the bodhisattva mahasattva should train in the profound prajnaparamita.

Then the Blessed One arose from that samadhi and praised noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, saying, "Good, good, O son of noble family; thus it is, O son of noble family, thus it is. One should practice the profound prajnaparamita just as you have taught and all the tathagatas will rejoice."

When the Blessed One had said this, venerable Shariputra and noble Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva mahasattva, that whole assembly and the world with its gods, humans, asuras, and gandharvas rejoiced and praised the words of the Blessed One.

Posted by Zeathereal at 10:29 PM | Permalink

Was very gan cheong today. Was about to left my home when i realised that i had forgotten to bring my reservist booklet. Tried to search my army stuff drawer but couldn't find. Thought that maybe our unit had keep it and thus left home, but send a message to my friend to ask him about it. When he replied that we are supposed to have the book with us, i immediately head back home and this time, i ransacked the house before i found the book. By this time i would have been late, very late. As i was contemplating whether to take cab or not, as it was raining, i suddenly thought of the pay that they are going to pay us, ard $20 per day only. It would hardly cover my taxi fare thus i decided not to take cab. Dun think they will do anything to me either...

First part of the day turn up quite well. Was quite please that the bitch wasn't around. I'm hardly so mean as to call someone names but this one absolutely deserve the 'rong xian'. Maybe i'll write one entry about her when i'm free. Anyway to my dismay, we saw her at the cookhouse after we had our lunch and she went to our training shed to supervise the lessons again! (*groan) Worse still, she decided to film down the whole process of intravenous infusion (IV) practice and 'live infusion'. WORST still, she decided to film me shooting the IV on my friend! A little background here. Our bitch here clearly remember my friend ever since we went for the same course in the School of Military Medicine. Maybe that's why she decided to film us!!! I was quite confidently initially, before she came. However, my friend veins had collapsed ever since our trainee days and it was really difficult to spot a suitable vein. I was breaking into sweat. NOT THAT WITH HER FILMING THE WHOLE PROCESS HELPS!!! However, ahem, due to my concentration achieved from my meditation practice, I managed to get it right the first time round. (*Cheers!) After which is my friend turn to shoot me. Sad to say, he did not get it in and it hurts quite a bit. However (even i was surprise!) I tap him and say it was alright when he apologise to me, becoz i gotta sacrifice two hands now!!! And i had really mean it. However the spec was very nice, and as my fren was half successful , he decided to close one eye. Phew...

However, as i was chatting with those that were already done with the stuffs, another malay friend, suddenly came to find me to ask me to volunteer the other hand. I was a bit hesitant and ask him why he haven't try his partner other hand. Although i had somewhat know the answer (the other malay attitude one) i was hoping to siam this. But i din want to put him on the spot so i decided to volunteer. Wah, he miss my beautiful vein and had to 'topo'. Once he got it, he forced the catheter in. I could feel the resistance, and finally he got through the test. However, he was really a bit buay zhai, when he removed the catheter, he mercilessly drag it out at a train speed. I can tell you it really hurts... Ouch!!! :(

Anyway, one thing to complain about army. They decided to change all the 20 gauge needle to 16 gauge. All the 20 gauge butterfly venula was changed to 16 gauge light saber. Maybe can ask gillian what it means if u dun understand but i really think for f*** sia! What happen if the vein is very small? Their logic is the bigger the needle, the faster the administration of the fluid. For goodness sake, where is your common sense! A more 'lao jiao' reservist then laugh at this statement and commented that: if the needle is too big, it's more difficult to get it in (cum it's more painful!!!), then it would not have matter whether the fluid was administered faster or not.

Posted by Zeathereal at 5:49 PM | Permalink

Yesterday had a medics gathering at Rendevous Hotel, at Dhoby Ghaut. Was wondering whether to go or not, because surely our MO (Medical Officer) will treat us. One of the purpose, i assume, was to 'foster better relations' with his subordinates so that the coming ICT (In-camp-training) will be smooth. I will not be going for the ICT, as there were some cock ups, and most of us studying in tertiary institutions did not get the recall letter. However, due to MO persuasion, some still volunteered to go back nonetheless. I wasn't one of them. As such i felt quite paiseh to join in the free dinner.

However, i still joined in. Reached there 1.5 hours earlier, to meet up with Ethan (still can't believe he is the senior medic! hahaha). Although i always make fun of him, he is one of those whom i find can brighten up my day with his behavior. =) Went to walk around Plaze Singapura for a while before went to search for the restaurant. Coudn't find it and had to wait for MO to arrive. And he brought us in to the hotel and a quite posh looking restaurant. By this time Ethan was getting more and more uncomfortable coz he was wearing sandals. However no one stop him, so he was quite relieved. The first thing that he did, after he sat down, was to ask MO if he will be paying (he did this throughout). Wah laos, where got people so direct one, haha...

However, as there was no halal food, we switch to another restaurant on the 2nd level. It look familiar! It was that quite ex restaurant that my family had went before with my sis bf family. Oh no... After MO had ordered the food, which was a lot, i quickly told him that this place is quite ex, however he say 'never mind'. Anyway there was wastage and when the bill came, his 'WAH' was really loud, lol. $370++ for the 11 of us, haha... Anyway, throughout the dinner, we all took this chance to complain our body problems to him. I din of course, no point, but the rest quite 开门见山地 state their problems with hands ah, or leg ah, or back ah. MO tried to dutifully, as usual, listen and explained the situation. However he also clarify immediately that he had no power to downgrade people and that if we are really unfit, he will encourage us to go for downgrade too. I dunno how to describe this but i was trying hard to stiffle my laughter at this situation. Really brought back some army memories.

However, me and Dani, both of us companyline medics, can't help but feel out of place. A lot of their memories and situations and all those talk about BCS did not apply to us. They have their memories together. Me and Dani had our own memories with our company and platoon, since we were both platoon medics. In fact, I had used to loathe them, HQ medical side. So much for support and help in fighting rights for us, companyline medics. The truth is they couldn't do anything for us, we had to fend for ourselves in the coyline, and a lot of time we have to chiong suan while they were just covering safety. I also had my first ever quarrel with a superior in the army - the temporary senior medic at that time, over this issue. It is a long story but an infuriating one, i was really angry at that time, but come to think of it now, it doesn't matter now. Whatever it is, they had a job to play, and they had to support the whole batallion. Our safety depends on them a lot. And we should not really complain or compare. Every appointment got their difficulties.

Anyway back to the dinner. The highlight for me was my short conversation with MO. I asked him about IBS related symptoms and whether i should go for the clinical trial or not. Furthermore i consult him about my mum's numbness and after analysing. he told me it's not likely to be stroke related. Might be some injury to the head or neck area though... Today my mum received her test report, and yup, indeed it was not stroke-related problem. He further ask for my plans for the hols and upon knowing that i might not be going to US afterall, he say the door to ICT is always open. Not much time for me now though to reconsider... Should I or should i not? Hmmm......

Posted by Zeathereal at 2:33 AM | Permalink

Went for Cakkavala weekly meditation a few days ago... Where are the NTUBS and NUSBS people??? There were only me and Sumantri (both SLs???). After which i was enjoying that bit of calmness at the bus stop waiting for my bus when i saw one cat chasing after something. I went nearer to observe.

After some time i saw a frog jumped out from the drain onto the grass and i saw two cats was approaching it slowly... Confusion arises in my mind, should i chase Ananda fav animals away (yeah, he went to peep at them in the toilets!!! I'm disgusted) and save the frog, or should I leave nature as it is. Maybe it's the frog karma to die. I will have to get on the bus and after i'm gone, the cats might still attacked the frog. The cats by then were pawing at the frantic frog. Suddenly, a boy ran up and stamp and shouted at the cats, which scared them away. Whether he was just being mischievous or wanted to save the frog i did not know, but one thing i know was i was very relieved that the frog survived the ordeal. And i felt ashamed of myself, especially for having such fatalistic view.

I told alex this story the next day, at exactly the same spot, after our MC meeting and ask him to think about the moral of the story. He din get it and asked me instead for the hidden message that i wanted to tell him... *shake head, lol... You are thinking too much Alex!

Posted by Zeathereal at 12:52 AM | Permalink

Was hooked to tv recently... yep, watched quite a few dramas per day, but strangely, everything seems to clear up around the same time. Now all three of my favourite shows had ended liao, quite 'eng' liao and thus came up with this new blog...

Shows i was watching:
1. 寻秦记
2. 天子寻龙
3. 烈火雄心II

If u ever get to watch 烈火雄心II, don't watch the final episode! So sad man, one of the main male character died! Just as his gal was going to accept his proposal! I was cursing the script writer after that, haha...

Was most surprised to see someone online a few night ago at around 3 plus in the morning. It was my sis... Although i had her contact for quite sometime liao, this is the first time i ever get to see her online. Had a chat with her and tried to get her connected to a voice conversion... Couldn't work... Guess her laptop dun have an in-built mic... Remembered she brought a digital cam over, tried to get her to connect (to be used as webcam) but she din have her camera with her at that moment. Imagine how happy my mum would be if they could see each other but sadly all my plans din work out... Anyway she sent me some photos and guess that should satisfy my mum for now...

Had wanted to write a lot of stuff actually... to complain about HDB, about army, about how i'm simply too lazy to improve myself spiritually even though i'm so eng nowadays!!! but, all these would have paled in comparision to what my big bro, gordon is going through... Today he had his car knocked again, which in my opinion is really very very suay (after listening to his description)! But maybe he can take console in the fact that at least it's not his fault, unlike me the other time, who went to bump other people car... Anyway hope his ordeal will be through and his life be brightened up!

Lastly, i end this entry with a comment about funnybean entry. It's amazing how some people have such distorted or rather, different views, and just refuse to admit or see their mistakes. This reminded me of an incident at east coast park.

This incident took place quite a few years back... My jc classmates were having a gathering cum barbeque at the east coast park. The gals reached the area first. When we guys reached the pit, we were most astonished to find our class gals sitting at one corner glaring at another group of gals (5 people, of younger age, most prob upper sec). These intruders gave us a story that some malays had give them permission to use the pit earlier that morning, which the malays had booked for the day, but won't be using it. They also insisted that they had reached the pit first so it's theirs, even though we have the receipt to prove our booking and payment for the pit. Our gals just refused to talk it out nicely with them (is it true that girls can't reason with girls???) and we have to do the job. After much talking and calling down the relevant authorities, they still refused to leave. The authorities (2 guys came down) give in and one of them went to cycle around to look for available spot for them and finally found one empty spot right at the very end of the beach. Guess what? the intruders told us to leave instead (by this time i really buay tahan them liao, free offer of pit for them they still ask for more!) and of course, we didn't budge and had to spend more time arguing with them. We volunteered to help them packed up and set up fire (coz they had already set up everything at our pit liao) and finally they decided to shift... After everything was packed up and they were leaving, one them said this ultimate sentence: 我还是不了解为什么我们得走。。。 I promise you that it is one of those few moment that i really felt like giving someone one tight slap across the face, and of course I wasn't gentlemen enough to specially go over to help them to set up fire (i stayed behind to set up our own fire whilst some guys helped out with the intruders... though of course i would say it's stupidity to help them ...).

Posted by Zeathereal at 3:42 AM | Permalink

菩提本无树
明镜亦非台
本来无一物
何处惹尘埃

Posted by Zeathereal at 3:35 AM | Permalink

Ta-daa!!!
My new blog is up!!!
I need help!!!

一。 如何换颜色？
二。 如何 add links?
三。 如何 play music?

Posted by Zeathereal at 2:37 AM | Permalink