Friday, January 27, 2006
Welcoming Year of the Dog
The Asian community welcomes Chinese New Year with Dogs and Dragons.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Australia Day
Australians celebrate Australia Day on 26 January 2006 with lots of vintage cars and hot air baloons. It is a public holiday with lots of fun.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Happy Chinese New Year
This Sunday 29 January 2006 is the Chinese New Year of the Dog. May I wish everyone a very happy and prosperous New Year.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The Boddhi Tree is the tree of wisdom.
Sunday, January 01, 2006
May we all grow in wisdom and compassion
Once there was a test performed on a group of 10 years old kids. They were told this story. Once, there was a man and his wife. The wife was seriously ill and the man was so poor that he did not have the money to buy medicine for his beloved wife. So he went to the medicine shop and stole the medicine and gave it to his wife. He wife later recovered from her illness.
The children were asked the question. Was the man wrong in stealing the medicine? The majority answer was that the man was wrong as he should not steal.
Three years later, the same group of kids were told the same story and asked the same question. This time, only a handful of the kids said that the man was wrong.
So why do we have a different answer from the kids three years later? It is obvious that majority of the 10 years old kid sees things in a straight forward and simple way. They have been taught that stealing is wrong, so they thought the man was wrong by stealing. As they grow older, they became wiser. They also grow in compassion. They are more forgiving and they look at the cause of the wrong action. As in this story, the wrong act was committed for the sole purpose of saving a life. And the kids now wiser and with more compassion, are more likely to forgive.
In real life, many people have done the wrong thing out of desperation to survive or to save a love one. Though we should not condone those wrong acts from the moral or legal view point, surely, we can view the act committed with more wisdom and compassion and be less harsh in melting out our criticism.
In this first day of the New Year, may I pray that we will all continue to grow in wisdom and compassion.
The children were asked the question. Was the man wrong in stealing the medicine? The majority answer was that the man was wrong as he should not steal.
Three years later, the same group of kids were told the same story and asked the same question. This time, only a handful of the kids said that the man was wrong.
So why do we have a different answer from the kids three years later? It is obvious that majority of the 10 years old kid sees things in a straight forward and simple way. They have been taught that stealing is wrong, so they thought the man was wrong by stealing. As they grow older, they became wiser. They also grow in compassion. They are more forgiving and they look at the cause of the wrong action. As in this story, the wrong act was committed for the sole purpose of saving a life. And the kids now wiser and with more compassion, are more likely to forgive.
In real life, many people have done the wrong thing out of desperation to survive or to save a love one. Though we should not condone those wrong acts from the moral or legal view point, surely, we can view the act committed with more wisdom and compassion and be less harsh in melting out our criticism.
In this first day of the New Year, may I pray that we will all continue to grow in wisdom and compassion.
