kalama sutra

"Rely not on the teacher/person, but on the teaching. Rely not on the words of the teaching, but on the spirit of the words. Rely not on theory, but on experience. Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything because it is written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

the Buddha

Humanity Prevails. Free Burma!

Stand with the Burmese! Stand with Freedom!

This small act, no matter how minute, is what we bloggers can do in spreading the word and possibly safe 54 million people from the cruelty and ruthlessness of an oppressive government. Do your part to stop the killing. Post this banner ad and the message below on your blog and website. Thanks. Peace!

Dear friends,

The emergency petition to stop the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Burma is exploding, with nearly 500,000 signers from every nation of the world. But the situation in Burma remains desperate, with reports of hundreds of monks being massacred and tortured. Burma's rulers have also killed and expelled international journalists, cutting off global media coverage of their cruelty.

China is still the key - the country with the most power to halt the Burmese generals' reign of terror. Avaaz is delivering the message this week with a massive ad campaign in major newspapers, beginning Thursday with a full page ad in the Financial Times worldwide, and in the South China Morning Post. The strength of the ad comes from the number of petition signers listed – can we reach our goal of 1 million signatures this week? The link to sign the petition and view the ad is below, forward this email to all your friends and family!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/u.php

China continues to provide key economic and military support to Burma's dictatorship, but it has been openly critical of the crackdown. Now we need the government to match words with actions.The ad paints a powerful moment of choice for China in its relationship with the world – will it be a responsible and respected member of the global community, or will it be associated with tyranny and oppression?

People power, on the streets of Burma, and around the world, can triumph over tyranny. Our strength is in our numbers, spread the word!

With hope and determination!!!

For the best local reporting on the situation in Burma, try these links:

http://www.irrawaddy.org

http://www.mizzima.com

meaningful...timeless

A story by Kahlil Gibran

I was strolling in the gardens of an insane asylum when I met a young man who was reading a philosophy book.

His behaviour and his evident good health made him stand out from the other inmates.

I sat down beside him and asked: ‘What are you doing here?’

He looked at me, surprised. But seeing that I was not one of the doctors, he replied:

‘It’s very simple. My father, a brilliant lawyer, wanted me to be like him. My uncle, who owns a large emporium, hoped I would follow his example. My mother wanted me to be the image of her beloved father. My sister always set her husband before me as an example of the successful man. My brother tried to train me up to be a fine athlete like himself.

And the same thing happened at school, with the piano teacher and the English teacher - they were all convinced and determined that they were the best possible example to follow. None of them looked at me as one should look at a man, but as if they were looking in a mirror.

So I decided to enter this asylum. At least here I can be myself.’

inside

A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an ox's or a bear's, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.

-Meister Eckhart

The thing is that when we go about showing how much we know about everything else, it gives a sense of authority over others. The thought of "I know more than you." makes one feel secure and in control. A deciple of security, I too suffer the same faith. The temptation is great to want to declare my opinions and intellectual capacities. The sharing of knowledge and the intention to assert power is totally different. The foremer is a fruitful discussion while the latter is an attack leading to chaos.

We see each other as not being the same. Of course, when a caucasion meets an African, they don't see themselves having a single thing in common. Because in the eyes they see hatred, the nose smells jealousy and the mouth tastes revenge. The skin reflects layers of prejudice. But if we peel away these layers of false seperation; in times of emergency, in the face of death and at times of birth, we feel a uniting force that penetrates every skin colour and ideologies. This force is uncondional love for man and nature.

If a white American girl falls in love with an African, why can't we see through her eyes of love, feel through her heart of compassion?

Wishing you a prosperous Lunar New Year! May you be well and happy.

Just as a fire is covered by smoke and a mirror is obscuredby dust, just as the embryo rests deep within the womb,wisdom is hidden by selfish desire.

-Bhagavad Gita

~~~*~~~

This verse is taken from the Bhagavad Gita, a short Sanskritwork of seven hundred verses that has fascinated andinspired mystics, physicists, psychologists, andphilosophers of many countries for three thousand years. Seton a battlefield on the morning before a fierce battle, theGita uses warfare as a metaphor for our personal strugglewith the challenges of life.

The Gita's message is simple but profound: our native stateis freedom. What we want most from life is to be free of allthe mental compulsions that keep us from living in peacewith ourselves, with others, and with the environment. Thisdesire for freedom is at the core of our personality, saysthe Gita, and our failings only hide our real nature likedust obscuring the face of a mirror.

E. E.

2007

The glory of the human being is our ability to remake ourselves. The Buddha is very rightly called the Compassionate One because he holds out hope for everybody. He doesn't say our past has been dark, therefore our chances are dim. He says whatever our past, whatever our present, the sky is bright for us because we can remake ourselves.The Buddha says, be a good wood worker. Consciousness is the wood, and you can make it take any shape you like. Just as a carpenter works the wood to build a house or a fine piece of furniture, similarly we can fashion the responses and attitudes we desire: love, wisdom, security, patience, loyalty, enthusiasm, cheerfulness.

E.E.

Happy New Year. Spread your wings and fly.

the 3 treatments

Prince Zhan goes to see the Royal Doctor one night in secret. His heart racing as he pushes the door into the doctor's chamber.

Prince: I want a prescription.

Doctor: Yes, Your Highness.

Prince: Poison...deadliest.

Doctor: Arsenic, vapours without a trace upon consumption.

Prince: It sounds perfect but...doctor?

Doctor: Yes, Your Highness.

Prince: Anything more deadly?

Doctor: Of course! (Pauses) The human heart. (Bows with respect).

***

Queen Ping Wah leaves her palace without a guard on a moonless night. She heads north toward the Royal Doctor's clinic.

Doctor: Your Majesty, I am at your service.

Queen: I need some questions answered.

Doctor: I give only my best, Your Majesty.

Queen: Is arsenic the darkest of all poisons?

Doctor: Absolutely. I have found no other competitors.

Queen: Very well, prepare a dosage for me but before that...doctor?

Doctor: Yes, Your Majesty?

Queen: Are you very certain that it is the darkest? Anything else that you have missed out?

Doctor: But of course, no poison is darker than the human heart. (Bows with respect).

***

General Ma left his company of officers much earlier than usual. It was just after midnight and as he disappears into the night, he went on a detour to visit the Royal Doctor.

Doctor: My Lord, what a pleasant surprise!

General: My old friend, Ching. It has been a long time since we met.

Doctor: Yes, while you defend the country with the power of your sword, I am ashamed that I only spend time with herbs and plants.

General: What is the might of a sword compared with the wit of a mind? You defend by saving lives while I defend by taking lives. The ground turns red.

Doctor: For the longevity and prosperity of His Majesty, the Heavenly King, we perform the tasks our postion brings upon us with loyalty.

General: Loyalty can make us blind.

Doctor: No, it is power that makes us blind.

General: Yes, something as innocent as a plant has enormous power to crush the life of a strong and well trained soldier.

Doctor: The silent killer is often the most addictive.

General: Can you spare me some?

Doctor: Yes, my old friend.

General: The most lethal.

Doctor: Arsenic.

General: I trust you but what is more poisonous?

Doctor: I believe it is the human heart.

stage life

Life is a kind of play in which we are called upon to play our part with skill. But in meditation we are sometimes more like the audience, while our thoughts are the actors. If we could go backstage, we could see all the actor-thoughts getting made up. Anger is there putting on his long fangs. Fear is rattling his chains. Jealousy is admiring herself in the mirror and smearing on green mascara.

Now, these thought-actors are like actors and actresses everywhere: they thrive on a responsive audience. When Jealousy comes out on stage and we sit forward on our seats, she really puts on a show. But on the other hand, what happens if nobody comes to see the performance?

No actor likes to play to an empty house. If they're real professionals, they might give their best for a couple of nights, but after that they're bound to get a little slack. Jealousy doesn't bother with her makeup any more; who's going to admire it? Anger throws away his fangs. Fear puts away his chains. Whom can they impress? Finally, the whole cast gives it up as a bad job and goes home.

In other words, when you can direct attention, your thinking will never be compulsive again.

E.E.

hour glass

The fact is that chattering and talking are signs of a weak mind; the need to talk and to entertain or else one will feel bored. It is not fun unless one creates a joke, dramatises and gets everyone to laugh. Perhaps it is a long term conditioning of the mind that one has to be accepted and be lovable. And the only way to achieve that is through ceaseless talking and words.

The uneasiness of being alone with another person is annoying. Because then the mind starts to wonder what the other is thinking about us. Maybe one is wearing a wrong shirt or one is over weight. Because when no words are spoken, silence invites all sorts of imaginations. The reason being the mind cannot be quiet. It has to be constantly working, analysing, judging and criticising. Should the mind remain still, it is deemed that the person is stupid.

A quiet person is not stupid. A talkative person is not a genius. The saying, "an empty vessel makes the most noise" in truth means that a person who knows next to nothing, is one who wouldn't keep their mouth shut. Because it is a method used to disguise their stupidity and to distract themselves from the present moment.

One who is wise feels full and calm and is in no need to express their thoughts to convince or to entertain anyone. Wisdom here has no connection with intellect and a university degree. Wisdom is to have an awareness of the power of now.

The mind is built for survival and it is constantly setting new goals, targets and plans. What is at the present is not victorious enough. It is not a success. The future, somewhere out there on the time line, that's where real victory has planted its flag. To get there we always neglect what is before our eyes. And after much ups and downs, we are at the "future" we want and the flag disappears to another further spot on the time line.

Ask yourself this question, "If not now, when?"

metta

May there be peace, trust and compassion on earth.

I send you love and light.

doves & bats

There is nothing easy about learning to love. The real romantic must be very practical: it takes a lot of hard, unromantic work to sustain any human relationship. Naturally there are going to be differences between you and your partner. Identical twins have differences of opinion, so whyshould two people from, say, New York City and Paris, Texas, expect life together to be smooth sailing?

Even on the honeymoon there may be difficulties. You open Pandora's box expecting a lot of doves and out come a couple of bats instead. You have to be ready to say, "The doves are there; they're simply lying low. Why don't we get to work and shoo away these bats?" Rather than dwelling on the negative, try to respect the potential in the other person and help him or her to realize that potential through your support. If you want a relationship to get deeper and deeper with the passage of time, you will go on strengthening it all your life.

E.E.

jet

...the greatest love of all...

...is easy to acheive...

...learning to love yourself...

...it is the greatest love of all...

I have thus planted the first seed and so I shall allow it time to grow. I am not attached but I am not indifferent either. For in her I see me and in that I see all and in all I see God. Whatever route I take, I eventually come back to full circle. The step I take now leads me one inch closer to that which is within. It is a spiritual quest. Who is it that I love but myself? And what is self but God?

sige

This is my song. "I say it best, when I say nothing at all."

When I do speak my thoughts and feelings, the person who listens gets the wrong impression. So, it is really worthwhile for me to maintain status quo.

Nevertheless, what is in my heart is the purest emotion, but words are not the only method of talking.

Silence is the root of all communication.

I miss you.

battery

A faceless old man wins the lottery

Choking his heads in foolish money

A lifeless life is like a defunct battery,

a bear finds joy from slurping honey!

(c) Wendy Loh Lai Si 2006

you and me

It is easy to be attracted to a person physically. I am not sure if you know of someone who slowly consumes your thoughts, actions, emotions and ultimately your life. To be honest, I was a fool to have once surrendered myself completely to an individual. So far so that I was living for the happiness of this person to my detriment. My expections of this person to provide emotional stability was immensely high that it reached a point of absurdity. I professed to love deeply but the person I wrongfully love was myself. The more I pursued this relationship, the darker the day became.

I was told that I was attached to this person and a realisation did appear but not for long. When a relationship is based solely on what's on the outside, it is doomed to fail. The emotional gush and the feeling of lightness will soon subside. A grave mistake comes into being when one marries at this stage. Because once the initial romance dies, there is nothing left for the couple to love.

Expectation and demands are evil. It is not about one person having a right to demand another person to do some gratifying acts. It is like a child demanding for a new toy and you see him rolling on the floor exploding in anger and tantrums. Parents often feel hurt and guitly for not being able to provide for their child, or else they are irritated and do as told. Emotional blackmail is the name of the game. Once we fall prey to emotional blackmail - because we do not want to hurt the other person, we in actual fact are worried that if we do otherwise, no one will like us; especially if it involves someone we claim to dearly love. Emotional blackmail works squarely on our weakness of wanting to be liked and popular.

If this realisation begins to crack the root of my devotion, then I am allowing the light to flow in. Before the first crack occured, I felt the entire world breaking into tiny pieces, like shattered glass. From each fragment I see different reflections of the same thing in every possible distortion. To see the truth, I have to stop looking at the reflection but seeing the object.

It is but a shadow and thought I love.

beware

In the vast universe, one can't help but to feel small and insignificant. Physically, it is impossible to be in two places at the same time. With the advent of technology, CCTV cameras are hooked to several rooms and we vaguely can see what's happenning elsewhere. BBC and CNN deliver news through the idiot box. We are aware of wars, accidents, natural disasters and coronations without having to leave our cubicle.

The Internet is yet another wonderful discovery for mankind. The concept of virtual reality comfortably replaces the immutable physical impossibility. When one is online, the universe suddenly shrinks. We find ourselves communicating with friends from Hong Kong and the US in real time even when one resides in Malaysia. One can easily purchase a limited edition CD from Amazon.com prior to its worldwide release. One can participate in an online virtual tour of a prestigious 6-star hotel. Four-D presentations will soon replace the flat two-D cinema shows.

Even when everything becomes closer, faster, shorter and efficient; what is the lingering loneliness?

No matter how advance technology can get, emotional dissatisfactions exist. Someone who uses the latest PDA phone and laptop finds himself drowning in alcohol and waking up in the morning with different women. Someone who owns a mansion still sleeps with a younger man behind her husband's back. Someone who is religious is as imposing and narrow-minded as an atheist.

On the other hand, someone who does not use a mobile phone and lives in a shabby apartment still buys the cheapest beer and sleeps with his neighbour's wife.

In this ever expanding universe, we feel tiny and unconnected to the higher source. We don't stop for one second to deeply understand our very own existence and to question the descriptions of the world; but instead divert our energy to chasing after material gains, physical victories and false spiritual answers.

Perhaps we will never learn.

substance

Sometimes people misconstrue arrogance for courage. A decent and most innocent statement can be made to assert one's position and to show that one is better than the rest. The tomato is not launched by mistake. It is the intention and not the action that matters more. Self-praise whether direct or indirect is no praise.

This brings to mind a story.

Once there was a monk who declared to the world that he was the best meditator and spiritualist. He graduated from the fine school of Chariot. He claimed that no storm or Tsunami can move him once he is in a meditative state. He will not get-up even if the wind blows him dry and the sun scorches his skin. The news of this great sage travelled across boundaries. People came from everywhere to challenge the monk or to worship him. No matter what they did, he remained nonchalant. Some even threw stones at him but he didn't wink an eye. He said that he has divine protection and it seems that what he professed was true.

Far away in a distant land, there lived a hermit in a cave. Even he heard of this magnificient monk and he decides to challenge the monk. So, in his dark cave he lit a candle and wrote the monk a letter. Through many hands, the letter finally reached the monk. When he opened the the envelope and read the content of the letter his anger shot higher than his ego. "How dare this tiny hermit calls me a piece of shit!" he roared.

The monk got-up immediately, mounted a horse belonging to his disciple and rode for 3 days and 3 nights to where the hermit lived to teach him a good lesson of manners and courtesy.

When the hermit saw the monk he said calmly, "Oh! I thought nothing could move you?"

search

Would I offend many if I say that everyone is looking for God in all that they do? The atheists do not believe in the existence of God. The agnostics keep to a neutral position. The believers do not doubt their doctrines.

Nevertheless I dare submit that God is not found in doctrines, books and scriptures. These are merely tools and a representation of the Beloved. God is not to be believed for its very existence. God is in every step we make in life to search for betterment. To a writer, her writings reflect a relentless quest for the truth. What moves her and from which value does she form her opinions? All that she writes only go to show that the truth, which teases her from the corners of world, is her search for God.

The word "god" causes one to stop breathing for 10 seconds. Each time it is mentioned and each time another person asks "Do you believe in god?" you ponder. It is not caused by the need to formulate a smart reply but it questions the very foundation of your philosophy and you realise that you have none of your own other than those read from books, learned in school and copied from others. It is a case of lost cause when one does not know God in the flowers, the trees, friends, enemies, family and oneself.

As far as it goes, an ant knows God from each micro-cube of sugar it pilfers from the canister.