Buddhism As Education

The Most Venerable Hai Tao and His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chungtsang, the 36th throne holder of the Drikung Kagyu Lineage and the 8th reincarnation of the Chungtsang Rinpoche will be in Butterworth, Penang from 12 August to 15 August 2010. Venerable Hai Tao and H.H. Chungtsang Rinpoche will be at the Palme Gon Buddhist Society on these days to conduct numerous Dharma programmes such as Dharma propagation, group chanting of mantras and sutras, lighting of candles, animal liberations and blessing service. On the first day i.e. 12 August, Venerable Hai Tao will conduct a special blessing ceremony on the new premises of the Palme Gon Buddhist Society in Jalan Bagan Lallang. During this event DVDs and CDs on Buddhist Education will also be distributed to devotees and visitors. For more information on this event, please contact 012-5263827, 012-4278987, 014-2580805 and 016-4900944.

Many of our Buddhist friends and devotees today knew existence of a flag for our Buddhist community worldwide. But few knew the meaning of the colours on the flag. It is important that every one of us in the Buddhist community know what does the Buddhist flag really mean to all of us. The five colours of the flag represents the six colours of the aura that emanated from the body of the Buddha at the time of his Enlightenment. Blue (Neela) represents Loving Kindness, Tranquility and Universal Compassion; Yellow (Pitha) means the Middle Path - abstaining from extremes of luxury and suffering; Red (Lohitha) stands for achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity; White (Odatha) for purity and emancipation and Orange (Manjestha) represents the Essence of Buddhism with wisdom, strength and dignity. The vertical stripe, compound of the other five colours (Prabhaswara - "essence of light") which symbolizes Truth.

Let us look at the idea that no one can cause us psychological pain, starting with some reflections. Can you recall an incident when someone said something to you that you experienced as painful, either a small slight or an insult? What is your reaction: Irritation; indignation; self-justification; full blown anger? Were you aware the hurt you felt? Or did you quickly pass over that to anger? Was it only afterward that you felt the hurt? What did it lead to? An angry exchange? A long hostile relationship? Slander? Has anyone ever attacked you physically, perhaps as mild as a shove in a queue? Or has someone in a rush pushed you out of the way? Maybe someone has hit you or thumped you on the nose? What was your reaction? Was there any different from the above but simply more intense? Was there a desire for revenge? Can you recall an incident when you said something cruel to someone. Just a quip but it was meant to sting. How did you feel immediately afterward? Satisfied? Well-pleased? A...

As Buddhist, we should remember and comprehend well the working of the Death Proximate Karma, without forgetting that the Habitual Karma is also important because it is a lifetime karma that we depend on for our next rebirth which is created by accumulating our good or bad deeds. Here are some instructions for the dying: 1. Do not get angry - pay attention to your dying moment. If you are angry or mad at this moment, you will be reborn in the lower realm. The best is to concentrate on reciting Amitabha Buddha's name continuously. 2. Forgive and forget - do not think of your enemies or vengeance because you will be reincarnate and take revenge on each other endlessly. And if this happens, you will accumulate more negative karma onto yourself and cannot go for the right practice. 3. Do not become attached to loved ones or your wealth as these attachments will lead you to lower realm i.e. animal realm. In the story book of the thirty three Zen masters, there is a story about one of th...

Today is the National Maha Sanghika Dana in Penang Times Square organized by the Yayasan Belia Buddhist Malaysia (YBBM). About more than 100 members of the Sangha were invited and more than 500 devotees were present to grace the event. In conjunction of the above event, a food fair was also organized by YBBM in order to collect funds for the Malaysian Sangha Fund.

The Amitabha Buddhist Fellowship, Butterworth had recently organized a trip to Cameron Highlands to visit the famous Sam Poh Temple up there. Our participants went up there on 10 July 2010 morning and adjourned on 12 July 2010 afternoon.

Reminder ! The National Maha Sanghika Dana organized by the Yayasan Belia Buddhist Malaysia (YBBM) will be held at the Penang Time Square, Jalan Dato Keramat on 18 July 2010 from 7.00am to 1.00pm. For all main sponsors, please be at the event on or before 9.30am on that day as you will be invited to offer requisites to the members of the Sangha at this auspicious event. Looking forward for your presence in this meritorious event. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu

Loving Kindness is the wish that all sentient beings, without exception, be happy. Loving Kindness counters ill will (aversion). The attitude of Loving Kindness is like feeling which a mother has for her newborn son. She wishes that he may enjoy good health, have good friends, be intelligent and successful in all that he attempts. In short, she wishes sincerely that he will be happy. One may have the same attitude of Loving Kindness for a particular friend or for others in one's class, community or country. The extent of Loving Kindness in the instances mentioned above is limited to those for whom one has same attachment or concern. The meditation on Loving Kindness, however, requires one to extend Loving Kindness not only towards those whom one feels close to, but to others whom one may know only slightly or not know at all. Finally, one's loving kindness is extended to all sentient beings in all the realms of existence. Then only does the ordinary wholesome attitude of Loving...