Sudden Cyber-Age Paranoia

Have you guys noticed that human beings are doing more and more things than before? Technological advancement and the continuous demand for more efficient use of time has pushed us to achieve much more in our lifetimes as compared to our forefathers.

Time is so important in this world now that everyone is trying ways and means to have more time on their hands. Whether working, eating, shopping, banking, travelling etc., everyone just wants everything done quickly and now! No delays allowed.

Waiting for food to be served at tables is no longer necessary. We just walk to the food counter at any food court or fast-food outlet and within minutes our food is prepared, self-served and we can finish a meal all within 10 minutes. Long queues at bank counters are also now a thing of the past. No more having to face smiling or for that matter grouchy bank tellers anymore because we can again self-serve, withdrawing or depositing money via more efficient untiring machines 24 hours a day.

My mum used to tell me that she and my dad were pen-pals. They wrote to each other and only after many months (or even years) of correspondence, they eventually met up with each other. Thanks to technology, we do not need to go through such a long process of corresponding via snail mails to get to know our friends. We can communicate everyday via email, instant messaging or peer-to-peer (P2P) Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to talk to friends on the other side of the world, all without having to pay hefty IDD charges. Online couples are probably sprouting up every minute right now thanks to technology!

I’m never really IT-savvy or a geek but within a few months, I have learnt so much on communicating and sharing information by the megabytes almost effortlessly online with friends from all over the world. With online ordering, practically anything and everything can be bought and delivered to our doorsteps so easily, we don’t even need to step out of house anymore if we don’t want to.

People we know or don’t know are reading each other's blogs and sharing their thoughts everyday, a situation highly impossible and unbelievable to me just half a year ago. Would you have thought that this was possible?

We are now so used to this super-fast pace and convenient physical world. Will we be able to take it if all these changed overnight? Will we be able to adapt if things just slow down suddenly? Can you take it if you have to wait 30 minutes for your food to be served? What if we can’t use the internet anymore? What if the machines all go on strike? What if the electrical power went dead worldwide one day? What are we going to do? We can’t chat anymore!!! >_<

Hmm……make sure you have some money in your wallet all the time…you can never rely on those machines completely. Stock up some candles and matches at home. Keep some ready pen, paper and envelopes as well. Don’t rely too much on electronic books…do keep a book or two with you…just in case, so that you can still have something to do if the world does black-out one day. I’ve got more than 10 with me right now. The power should be restored by the time I finished reading them right?

Hit by a sudden cyber-age paranoia…… :p

Love and World

Hi friends, today is the International Day of Peace. I’m normally not very interested in movements like these but seeing the recent coup attempt in Thailand and the ongoing 倒扁 activities in Taiwan, I can see that there are many unhappy people living on this earth. I hope everyone can take this opportunity to put down all differences, resolve tacky issues amicably and make this a day of peace and non-violence. Learn to put down all resentments, dislikes, hatred, and spend a little time cultivating love and kindness instead.

As I grow older, I find that my compassion gets stronger and my heart gets weaker. It disturbs me whenever I see people and animals get hurt, whether emotionally or physically. I managed to flip the papers this morning and saw a picture of a white kitten being spray painted orange throughout by a pathetic sadist. I really wonder what was on the mind of the person who did that act. He/she needs help and I hope help is on the way.

Today, I would like to share with you a zen teaching from ZMSS:

Love and World
See the world as your self
Have faith in the way things are
Love the world as your self
Then you can care for all things

Commentary: South, north, east west. The rising sun is bright everywhere.

ps: I had a disagreement with my brother this morning over where to bring my mum for dinner tonight. Hmmm…must make peace with him now.

Friends interested in finding out more about the International Day of Peace, here's the link: http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/

Just want to say…

Have been working long hours again recently. No time to blog, nothing to blog.

I was just clearing my writing desk and saw the birthday cards and teachers’ day cards I received in the last few weeks. I decided to re-read them and it brought a smile to my face…my tired-looking face (after a long day in the office). I’ve not received so many birthday and thank you cards at one go for quite a while already, especially those hand-written cards. It always feels different, so wonderful to read hand-written messages, right? Can you recall when was the last time you wrote something manually for a friend? Time to pick up that pen…

Friends kept mentioning about 緣份. What is 緣份? You all know that I don’t think things happen by chance but are part of our G-plans, our sacred contracts. My old buddies, my volunteer friends, my online friends, my students…we are all cosmically connected.

Some of you keep thanking me for being there for you. I would like to say, thanks too for being there for me when I'm frustrated at work and troubled by personal matters. Thanks for constantly reminding this workaholic to eat, to go home early, to take her supplement, to get sufficient rest, to sleep early etc. etc. Well, whatever it is, thanks for being part of my life, by contract or by chance.

Now I feel a little confused…on one hand, I tell myself to practise non-attachment but on the other hand, I get more and more attached to the people around me. Hmmm…I like every one of you so much. What should I do? Put it down? How???

Friends…
May all of us be well.
May all of us be peaceful and at ease.
May all of us be filled with loving-kindness.
May all of us be happy.

Thinkers…Love Your Own Idiosyncracies

This is to supplement my last post on watching the mind, just in case some of you think that I’m being self-critical again. Love your own idiosyncracies, yourself, the thinker, the creator of all thoughts.

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Observing thought - J Krishnamurti

I must love the very thing I am studying. If you want to understand a child, you must love and not condemn him. You must play with him, watch his movements, his idiosyncrasies, his ways of behavior; but if you merely condemn, resist or blame him, there is no comprehension of the child. Similarly, to understand what is, one must observe what one thinks, feels and does from moment to moment. That is the actual.

Book of Life - August 25th

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The Thinker Is the Thought - J Krishnamurti

Is it not necessary to understand the thinker, the doer, the actor, since his thought, his deed, his action cannot be separated from him? The thinker is the thought, the doer is the deed, the actor is the action. In his thought the thinker is revealed. The thinker through his actions creates his own misery, his ignorance, his strife. The painter paints this picture of passing happiness, of sorrow, of confusion. Why does he produce this painful picture? Surely, this is the problem that must be studied, understood and dissolved. Why does the thinker think his thoughts, from which flow all his actions? This is the rock wall against which you have been battering your head, is it not? If the thinker can transcend himself, then all conflict will cease: and to transcend he must know himself. What is known and understood, what is fulfilled and completed does not repeat itself. It is repetition that gives continuity to the thinker.

The Book of Life - September 11

Ｗatching My Mind

I went for my jog again this morning. I told myself I had to make sure I do a proper jogging meditation today. I noticed recently that my mind has been working non-stop. No, it was’t my work. I observed that there’s this continuous internal chatter going on in me. I just had to do something about it. How? By observing it and hopefully put the thought down.

This was what I observed going through my mind during the six rounds I jogged:

First round: A family of four…father and three sons cycling together. Hmm…nice to see family-togetherness.

Second round: The bald man whom always brisk walks in the opposite direction from me. Ahhh…must remember to say hi to him.

Third round: A girl in a red t-shirt on the swing……hmm…that t-shirt looks familiar… I seem to have a similar one…

Fourth round: An old couple having their morning stroll hand-in-hand…so nice to see old couples still so loving.

Fifth round: Chiak…chiak…chiak…chiak…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. The sound of someone dragging her feet while jogging.…so irritating! Better jog faster to get away from the sound.

Sixth round: A lady roller-blading…wow…looks quite stylish with the scarf on her head…is she Japanese? Now why is she signalling for me to give way to her??? Isn't it easier for her to manoeuvre away from me, the super-slow jogger?

See what happened to my mind? Everything that I saw, I either had an opinion or comment about it. That’s what makes my mind so busy, so tired. How do Zen masters do it? Red comes, only red…white comes only white…No thoughts at all. Just like that. Will I ever achieve that? So tough…

找回自己

最近常提到聖嚴法師
前天從電視上看到他已退位
把法鼓山方丈的棒子交給了徒弟
今天又看到這位老師父的教導
與這位未曾見過面的師父似乎有點緣份

找回自己
**********
真正的自我
應該是能夠主宰自己
能夠差遣、調配、控制
自己的身心活動
自己能夠做得了主
這個才是自我。

應該要向東走
就不會往西去
能夠主宰自己的雙手
去救人、助人、
而不是殺人、打人
也能夠主宰自己的心
讓它生起慚愧心、謙虛心
而不是驕傲心、自大心。

盡心盡力做自己能做的
學自己應該學的
承當自己應該承當的
盡量的付出
從中不斷的修正自己
這就是找回自我最好的方法。

I Started A Joke

I started a joke
It started me laughing
But I didn’t see
That the joke was on me

When I finally realised
It started me thinking
And I had to see
That the joke was not meant to be

So I looked up my head
Ran my mind over my heart
I finally did
The thing I deem right to be

Now I’ve finally seen
That the joke wasn’t meant to be
It started a whole world living

A bad joke it was to be
Yeah…a joke that was on stupid me

Recent Pictures

As you all know, two of my Taiwan friends were in town a couple of weeks ago. Me and Yanny brought them around and I got the opportunity to take some pictures. Not in the mood to write these few days…a friend also commented my recent postings sounded kind of depressing. So what should I do? Share some pictures lah! Here they are…my favourite is the hissing cockroaches.








Would have preferred to post some people pictures but I figured that my friends would like their identities to be kept confidential. Do let me know if you would like me to share some of your pictures here, ok?…^_^