Monday, April 12, 2010

When i turn old

posted by wisdomeye on http://www.sgforums.com/forums/1728/topics/396278

(from a blog)

当我老了,不再是原来的我。
请理解我,对我有一点耐心。

当我把菜汤洒到自己衣服上时,当我忘记怎样系鞋带时,
请想一想当初我是如何手把手地教你。

当我一遍又一遍地重复你早已听腻的话语,请耐心地听我说,不要打断我。

你小的时候,我不得不重复那个讲过千百遍的故事,直到你进入梦乡。

当我需要你帮我洗澡时,请不要责备我。
还记得小时候我千方百计哄你洗澡的情形吗?

当我对新科技和新事物不知所措时,请不要嘲笑我。
想一想当初我怎样耐心地回答你的每一个“为什么”。

当我由于双腿疲劳而无法行走时,请伸出你年轻有力的手搀扶我。
就像你小时候学习走路时,我扶你那样。

当我忽然忘记我们谈话的主题,请给我一些时间让我回想。
其实对我来说,谈论什么并不重要,只要你能在一旁听我说,我就很满足。

当你看着老去的我,请不要悲伤。
理解我,支持我,就像你刚开始学习如何生活时我对你那样。

当初我引导你走上人生路,如今请陪伴我走完最后的路。
给我你的爱和耐心,我会报以感激的微笑,
这微笑中凝结着我对你无限的爱。







◆When I turn old, I am not the original me: Please understand me and have patience with me.

◆When I drip gravy all over my clothes, when I forget to tie my shoelaces:
Please remember how I taught you what not to do, and how to do many things by hand.

◆When I repeatedly tell you things that you’re tired of hearing: please be patient and listen to me. Please don’t interrupt me. When you were young, I told you the same story over and over again until you were sound asleep.

◆When I need you to help me bathe: Please don’t scold me. Do you still remember how when you were small I had to coax you to have a bath?

◆When I don’t understand new technology: Please don’t laugh at me or mock me.
Please think how I used to be so patient with you to answer your every “why.”

◆When my two legs are tired and I cannot walk anymore: Please stretch out your powerful hands to lend me a hand, just like when you were a baby learning to walk I held both your hands.

◆When I suddenly forget what subject we are discussing: Please give me a little time to recollect. Actually, it does not matter what we are talk about; as long as you are by my side, I am so contented and happy already.

◆When you see the old me, please don’t be sad: Please understand me and support me, just like how I was with you when you were young and were just learning to face life.

At the beginning, I guided you to the path of life. Now I ask you to keep me company to finish this last leg of my life. Give me your love and patience, I will give you a grateful smile, and crystallized in this smile is my endless love for you.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Happy Birthday to ME

today is the day this being typing on this pc was born 32 years ago

it feels funny writing this, for it no longer feels right to wish me a happy birthday, knowing that this reality is transient. still it's a day traditionally given to the SELF, so let's just take this opportunity for ME to say some well wishes.

on this day,

I wish that my parents will continue to enjoy good health, and may all their negative karma be transferred to me. I dedicate all my merits and good fortune to them. May they have the chance to see the dhamma and achieve liberation.

I wish that my brother will continue to be well, enjoy good health and live a fulfilling life ahead. May he have the chance to see the dhamma and achieve liberation.

I wish all my friends good health, and strength to fulfill all their endeavours. May they also have the chance to see the dhamma and achieve liberation.

Finally I wish that I will have the strength to help relief the pain from all sentient beings. I wish that I can help as many people as possible to achieve liberation. I wish that I can achieve liberation.

May anyone who reads this have the chance to see the dhamma and achieve liberation.

with Metta.

How Ananda became Enlightened?

Taken from http://venchinkung.com/how-ananda-became-enlightened/.


How Ananda became enlightened?



Ananda was the only one left at the time of the first council of Buddha’s own disciples who didn’t become an arhat. He was Buddha’s attendant. He heard every word that Buddha taught, and memorized them all, but he didn’t meditate much because he was too busy.






Some time after Buddha’s death, there was a meeting of all the arhats, but since Ananda wasn’t an arhat he couldn’t go. So he kept meditating, trying at the last minute to become enlightened, and it got to be midnight, 2, 3 o’clock in the morning of the first council of Buddhist arhats, but still he couldn’t make it, even though he was the repository of all of Buddha’s words. All the other arhats wanted him to go, but he couldn’t since he wasn’t an arhat.






Finally it got to be 3:45 in the morning, 15 minutes before the 4:00 wakeup call. Finally, Ananda just gave up and said, “Oh ********, I’m not an arhat.” Then he got enlightened, because he saw things as they were. It was the end of the struggle. No more trying to become an arhat, and he became an arhat.






Many Buddhist traditions teach this story. That says something that is being yourself, rather than to mere doing and self-improvement. It expresses clear vision, seeing things just as they are, rather than as we’d like them to be. It is a lovely, timeless story.



Monday, April 5, 2010

There is no such thing as a bad decision

there's no such thing as a bad decision, every decision made is always the best one given the conditions at that point in time.

i only ever said this statement to 2 persons, mew and cla. and mew is the only one who could understand conceptually what i meant by this sentence.

a decision can only be good or bad in retrospect, depending on how far it is from the expected outcomes. when the outcome is very near to what is desired, there is a good decision. when the outcome is very far to what is desired, there is a bad decision. but by that time when we know the outcome, that decision is already a thing of the past, existing only as a mental object.

at the specific point in time when a decision is required, there will be a weighing of conditions. conditions arising from the environment (form arising from the 5 senses), conditions arising from our feelings, conditions arising from similar past experiences (volition), we will form a perception of the situation and come to a decision.

to have a better grasp of this, think back to a time when a supposed bad decision was made. chances are there could be alternative options open to us, yet we have decided thus for whatever reasons. those reasons will surely involve any of the conditions stated above.

what has this got to do with anything at all?

living in a world with thoughts of bad decisions have a negative impact. it deflates confidence, it causes self blame unnecessarily, it distracts us from looking at the outcome and working on it. please do not misunderstand this as a way of shunning responsibilities. it is not. in fact it is taking up responsibility by understanding the nature of decisions and continuously working on outcomes.

maybe if we can see it closer, all these conditions are arised automatically, with each of them both a cause as well as an effect that is changing dynamically every moment of our lives.

if ever mew has a chance to read this, hope she can see beyond the surface level, and come to terms and see beyond the self.

wish her a good life, with metta.