Single Mom Striking Out

One of the biggest things in Buddhism is this: you must have compassion for everything around you, alive or not. Treat the cup with tender loving care and it will serve you long and hard. Everything living, needless to say, we need to be compassionate about their sufferings. Like plants...plants suffer too when you don't water them or give them enough sunlight. Ants suffer too when you stomp on them or spray sheltox on them. :-) So, all things here on earth are suffering in one way or another, hence, as Buddhists, if we have compassion for other living beings, it raises your spiritual awareness and personal karma. But what is compassion and how do you extend that to your ENEMIES or people who bully you? Yes, you may suffer for a while when they bully you but there lies hope that they will soon see your compassionate side and change. If they do, then you have just saved a person's spirit. His or her soul. However, if you choose to be vengeful upon this person that you ha...

Human beings are pretty messed-up bunch of people, wouldn't you say? If something is simple, we are hell-bent on making it complicated. If something was flawless, we go out of our way to try to make it 'more beautiful'. Just keep things simple, for goodness' sake. For example, religion. If you explored each religion, at the core of it all, we are all looking at the same thing. Heaven is almost equivalent to Nibbana or eternal happiness which is more or less equivalent to Islam's Syurga. We all believe in one thing....and yet, we decide to put up a divide and say that you are a Buddhist, you will not go to Heaven. You are a Christian, you will not be allowed to enter Syurga. The beauty of Zen Buddhism is that we believe that you will be where you want to be if you believed it strong enough, with unrestrained faith. We are all going to the same place. Islams will go to Syurga, Christians will go to Heaven. And we all believe in a valid religion. Do not distort...

the more you fight against all things natural, the more you hurt. people fight for more money, more power, more material things, to be more beautiful, to be more successful....and sadly, to be happier. we need to understand that fighting will lead to noise. name me a type of fighting that does not cause friction and noise. :-) after all that fighting, you create friction and stress. but if you sat down and said, 'wait wait wait. hang on, let me evaluate this situation here', sit down and think, you will soon realize that all the noise has gone away. you are just there, being you, calm and collected. there is no friction when you don't let the fight get to you. internally, you begin to access the fight that means most to you. fight THAT calmly and in a manner that is in-between, socially acceptable, that does not harm others, means a lot to you and most importantly, worth your time. time is precious and is one of those things that we have absolutely no control over. ...

I got this from this website that I frequent, TinyBuddha.com. Very nice and inspirational website. None of us chooses to be born, but we all choose from moment to moment to really live or to merely exist. Choose life today. Face your fears. Take a risk. Jump out of your comfort zone. Do what you love. Share your passions with people. Say yes to possibilities. Use your strengths. Say what you mean. Love with abandon. Ask questions. Give answers. Be present. Be authentic. Looks so simple on paper, so hard to do. I don't know when was it that I lost the ability to say 'screw it, let's rock this shit'. There is no single one moment to put your finger on. No 'this is x moment . the very moment that you decided that everything has to be carefully construed, planned and mapped out. never will you, from this moment on, be able to live with impulse and spontaneity.' whenever it was and whatever it is, i believe that i am not alone. i am just one of those who dare to...

went out grocery shopping and thought that i might as well get some stuff for the kids at the nearby orphanage. it is right beside the temple that i am in love with at the moment. hahaha...i know. siow-ness. anyway, bought some stuff>> it's nothing much but it's at least something and like the people say, it is the effort and thought that counts. not how much and how expensive. you know, we should all learn how to have kindness, love and joy for all the things that we are lucky enough to have that we have the capacity to think of someone else who is less lucky. it is only when you have the capacity to love others and share with them that counts SOOOOOO much. others might think, 'aiya, it is only a bunch of cabbage' or 'it is only color pencils what' but if you think of it on another level, how many people out there do not have the privilege of having cabbage to eat? how many people out there are eating rice with soya sauce every night? in that sit...

It's funny...never thought of meditating in the way that Monks do. Seriously. To me, it used to be this 'woo-woo-woo' (cue: ghosts in the background) kind of thing that people with a serious case of personality conflict do. Blame it on society. (from here on, i don't care about grammar and caps anymore. i forget that this blog is not one that i write to promote my writing services) :-)))))) grin for me, please. meditating is as important to the Monks as it is to everyone else. it is not always about the chanting, the phrases and all the meanings behind all the sutras and stuff. it is about sitting down there, taking a moment to reflect on yourself and the world around you. and if you have tried meditating, you will know this in your heart when i say that, for beginners, it's bloody hard! it's like forcing a child with ADHD to sit still for....like 20 minutes. but you should. do i? yes, i do!!! as a matter of fact, i have gotten so used to it and have ben...

If there is one thing that I have to disagree with society, it would be parenting style. Unlike conventional parents (I do not pass judgment if you disagree with me - I am merely observing), I try not to push my kids in every other direction in life. Children are the purest things ever! They have all the rest of their lives to be unpure, so, I think our role as parents whether you are Buddhist or not, is to guide them and accept them for what they are. The reason why some people choose to push their kids directions is because we attach ourselves to them. Zen Buddhism is about not attaching yourself to anything because everything is impermanent. Suffering starts only when you start to attach yourself to objects, money, people, car, house...etc. Think about it. With the kids, it's the same. We are in this journey together, yes, but you are you and they are them. Some parents say to me, ' But we have to make sure that they make something of themselves in this life. They must...