Coping with grief
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Sorry just now haven't reply your qn about Mandarin.. then the moment I remembered, my house's electricity went out
(they were fixing my house lamp)The Chinese at my dharma center are easy to understand. There are English speaking people there also, whose Chinese isn't too good. We don't use difficult technical terminologies to explain things but ordinary, plain and simple Chinese.
In fact one of the local dharma teachers (english speaking and holds a Ph.D) couldnt understand much Chinese, but my Master chose him to teach the dharma (but he has left for Australia recently, there's another Jen Chen Buddhist community there also). Can take it as opportunity to learn Chinese also.. haha
As for age... there's adult class... youth class (teenagers) and children class.
I'm still 18 but I go adult class more often... just a personal choice since the time I came, like 13 years old (though their youth class also quite fun).. or maybe my thinking very old
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ok then, got nothing to lose. printed out the travel route and will se..... Never been inside Geylang before but needless to say, heard loads about the area. Just hope i don't have to witness the unsavoury activities at 10 pm.
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Geylang contains the 'extremes'...
On one hand it is the center of religious activities (both Buddhist, Christian, and others)... and there's good food around.
On the other hand there's also vice activities...
No matter what... as they said, when the mind is pure, the land is pure.
A person with pure vision sees pure land everywhere :)
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Well that " thing " doesn't really start at 10pm sharp . you may get to see them ard 8pm . But nevertheless , you are there to attend buddhism classes so you don't have to be bothered abt it . Even if pple do approach you just say a simpe no will suffice and carry on to your destination .
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Geylang is certainly colourful and the trip was an eye-opener.
Unfortunately, the languange was an issue for me as it wasn't always in Mandarin.
Age is only a number.
Thanks for everything.
.
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Originally posted by purplejade:
Geylang is certainly colourful and the trip was an eye-opener.
Unfortunately, the languange was an issue for me as it wasn't always in Mandarin.
Age is only a number.
Thanks for everything.
.
This is the first time he taught in Hokkien (the last 20 minutes on finance) in dozens of his VCDs I've watched... because he wanted to educate certain group of people (the less educated, poorer people) on that issue. Otherwise I don't think he would speak in Hokkien. I also couldnt understand that part. Haha
Overall it's still a good talk :)
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Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
Geylang contains the 'extremes'...
On one hand it is the center of religious activities (both Buddhist, Christian, and others)... and there's good food around.
On the other hand there's also vice activities...
No matter what... as they said, when the mind is pure, the land is pure.
A person with pure vision sees pure land everywhere :)
Can't you accept that vice is part and parcel of human nature?
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Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
Can't you accept that vice is part and parcel of human nature?
No. If a person's nature is vice then he would be vice 100% of the time. So viceness is merely a temporary conditioned manifestation that can be corrected.
But a person's nature is empty and luminous, a.k.a. Buddha-Nature. This is the unconditioned ever present nature of everything. It is obscured by our fixation on thoughts and feelings.
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Life is full of surprises. The person has been located and is co-operating with the Police. It is very sad that our friendship has been reduced to this.....
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Originally posted by purplejade:
Life is full of surprises. The person has been located and is co-operating with the Police. It is very sad that our friendship has been reduced to this…..
That should teach him a lesson.
As for you... try to learn to forgive him.. even though your relation with that person may never be the same again.
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Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
No. If a person's nature is vice then he would be vice 100% of the time. So viceness is merely a temporary conditioned manifestation that can be corrected.
But a person's nature is empty and luminous, a.k.a. Buddha-Nature. This is the unconditioned ever present nature of everything. It is obscured by our fixation on thoughts and feelings.
Part and parcel lah... Do you think lust is not present in people? -
Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
Part and parcel lah... Do you think lust is not present in people?It is a temporary conditioned manifestation that can be transformed. It may or may not be present, but never all the time.
It's not 'someone's nature' -- there is in fact no person and no nature. There is only everchanging patterns of sensations, feelings and emotions, and corresponding actions and behaviors. There is no agent, self, or a permanent entity that can be found within nor apart from these Luminous (Aware) and Empty phenomenality.
Just like there is no entity called 'weather' apart from the everchanging patterns of clouds, rain, lightning, wind, etc. The word 'weather' is just a convention -- it has no intrinsic nature.
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Originally posted by An Eternal Now:
It is a temporary conditioned manifestation that can be transformed. It may or may not be present, but never all the time.
It's not 'someone's nature' -- there is in fact no person and no nature. There is only everchanging patterns of sensations, feelings and emotions, and corresponding actions and behaviors. There is no agent, self, or a permanent entity that can be found within nor apart from these Luminous (Aware) and Empty phenomenality.
Just like there is no entity called 'weather' apart from the everchanging patterns of clouds, rain, lightning, wind, etc. The word 'weather' is just a convention -- it has no intrinsic nature.
Then why state that Buddha nature is present in people when surely it is also transient in nature? -
To quote Zen Master Hui-Neng and Zen Master Dogen,
Impermanence is Buddha-Nature (luminosity and emptiness inseparable).
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Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
Then why state that Buddha nature is present in people when surely it is also transient in nature?It is because we have all the 10 worlds (see below) in us, and because we can change rapidly within the 10 worlds within a fleeting moment of time (with influence from the environment) that Buddha nature seem so transient.
Ten worlds are:
1) Hell
2) Hunger
3) Animality
4) Anger
5) Humanity/Tranquility
6) Rapture/Heaven
7) Learning
8) Realization
9) Bodhisattva
10) Buddha