Today is Duanwu day to commemorate Qu Yuan. Let’s enjoy the dumplings.
Happy Vesak Day! Last week, I visited the Buddha Tooth Relic temple at Chinatown to thank the Buddha and Bodhisattvas for safe trip and also to pray before Vesak Day. I was surprised to see many tourists visiting the Buddha Tooth Relic temple last weekday. It is a popular attraction. Do take note to dress appropriately. If you wear shorts or short skirt, you be offered a wrap cloth to cover.
At Level 3, you can explore the museum where you can find out more about the Buddha and his relics in the relic chamber. No photography is allowed in the Relic Chamber.
Before enlightenment, Buddha spent 6 long years practicing asceticism and long fasting, causing his body to be weakened and he almost lost his life. While meditating one day, he heard someone playing a string instrument and came to the realisation that the Middle Path is the way for achieving the liberation of body and mind.
"Cultivation is like playing a musical string instrument. The string will snap if it is too tight, or not make any sound if it is too loose. Indulgence in sensual pleasure or extreme penance are attachments. The Middle Path is the way for achieving the liberation of body and mind."
After attaining enlightenment after 7 days of deep meditation, Buddha had compassionately taught sentients being the Four Noble Truths. Buddha reminded us to think and investigate his and others' teaching before accepting it.
The Four Noble Truths are
1) The truth of suffering. Like it or not, both rich and poor go through suffering. The suffering of old age, not getting what you want, separation, sickness.
2) The truth of the cause of suffering (craving, anger and delusion)
3) The truth of the end of suffering. (There is a way to end suffering)
4) The truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold paths.
The Noble Eightfold paths which helps to develop Sila (ethical conduct), samadhi (mental discipline or meditation) and panna (wisdom) 戒定慧 are as follows
1) Right Thought (be aware of your thinking with good intention. Eliminate greed, anger and delusion)
2) Right View (understanding of cause and effect, 12 links of dependent origination)
3) Right Speech (Refrain from lying, gossip, idle, harsh speech. If one has nothing helpful to say, be silent) Hmm, this is something I might need to work on it but hey I'm just stating the truth and my intention is to warn people.
4) Right action (moral, honorable and peaceful conduct). Hmm sometimes I'm quite mischievous.
5) Right livelihood (Honest living, Refrain from making a living that harm others like selling weapons, intoxicating drinks, and toxins) This is why I don't support people making use of Buddhism to make money especially in places like night clubs that sell alcohol. Buddha warned his disciples not to drink alcohol as it might cause them to be careless in their action and thus create bad karma. If that dj wants to perform, don't wear monk robe as real monks and strict Buddhists don't drink alcohol. Not drinking alcohol is one of the five precepts for lay Buddhists.
6) Right effort (prevent unwholesome state of mind)
7) Right mindfulness (be aware and mindful of one's thoughts and feelings
8) Right concentration (meditation)
On Vesak Day, this is the day for me to remember Buddha's teaching and to remind me to be mindful. There were some days when I was not mindful and I reacted.
I like this story about how Buddha interacted with an angry man and was not affected by his insulting words.
In this story, as Buddha was walking in a village, a very angry man insulted the Buddha and said that he had no right to teach others. Buddha was calm and serene as usual and he asked the man, “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?”
The young man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.”
The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy. All you have done is hurt yourself.”
I'm back to Singapore yesterday after spending a month in China as a female solo traveller, to be specific, 25 days at Wudangshan and 5 days in Shanghai. This is my first solo travel to China and I'm glad I made many wonderful friends there while enjoying the beautiful view of vast mountains while learning Taichi. I like the peaceful, quietness and energy at Wudangshan.
There is no direct flight to Wudangshan from Singapore, so I chose to fly to Shanghai and spend a few days exploring the financial city in China. Shanghai is a safe cosmopolitan city which is very similar to Singapore but things are much more affordable there and people are generally really friendly, soft-spoken and helpful. They are different from the rude and loud personality depicted by the media.
During my stay in Wudangshan, my friends appreciated my help in translating for them. During this trip, I appreciate the bilingual policy in Singapore. We can use our knowledge to make the world a better place. With both Mandarin and English proficiency, I felt happy to help to explain and ensure clear communication to help prevent conflict and misunderstanding. Let's use our knowledge and language proficiency to make the world a better and harmonious place.
Click my travel blog here to read more https://travelandenjoylife8.blogspot.com/2025/04/amazing-china-trip-at-wudangshan.html. I’ll be updating my travel there.
Finally I spent some time to update both travel and blooming flowers blogs. Last week I started to travel solo to both city and mountainous places for a month. This is the longest period of time I'm away from Singapore since New York two-week solo travel in 2011. After working hard for 20 years, I decided to do what I always wanted to do which is to see flowers during the Spring time and to explore beautiful mountain. In my former job, I could only have 1 week rest in March and even during that period, I also need to prepare for next week work.
It's the best time to travel when you are in mid-40s when you are quite fit and financially comfortable. I noticed some seniors having difficulty walking up the mountainous area during the travel. After the trip, I'm open to suitable job opportunities. If I can’t find anything suitable then I depend on current passive income and continue to blog which earn some money.
I was wondering if I should create another Youtube channel on travel. After thinking, I decided to just add Travel playlist to current channel on Blooming Flowers and Arts and changing the channel name to Blooming Flowers, Arts and Travel for easy management. So if you like to see flowers, just select and click the Gardens playlist. Also I think it's troublesome for my friends and relatives to toggle between channels and for me to switch between channels to update.
Blooming Flowers and Arts here: https://bloomingflowersnarts.blogspot.com
Heart Sutra and Buddhism: https://heartsutrabuddhism.blogspot.com
I finally visited Buddha Tooth Relic Temple at Chinatown Singapore this Monday. I decided to pray and also to see Buddha's relic. Also I wanted to try the vegetarian food at the temple basement 1. To my shock, there were many people eating during lunch time on weekday.
So I finally watched Ne Zha 2 at my favourite movie theatre at Shaw Lido in Orchard Road. This is a great animation movie. What is amazing is that the movie is about 2 hours 23 minutes long but I felt like time flew by so fast. There was no dull moment at all and I really enjoyed this movie. It's both hilarious and touching and it can make you laugh and cry. The most touching moment is between Ne Zha and his mother.
It has many messages embedded in this movie. It teaches you not to be fooled by mere appearances and to verify before taking action. I won't reveal more. I highly recommend you to watch. I paid a total of $25.00 as $22 for the Imax movie ticket and $3 for booking fee. This is really an impressive movie. Highly recommended!
这是一部用心的作品！
Ne Zha 2 will be screening in Singapore theatres on 6th March. 2 more weeks of waiting. I'm looking forward to watching it. Will they be screening in Imax theatre?
I like the indomitable spirit of NeZha director, Yu Yang. He pursued medical degree but didn't become a doctor so as to pursue his animation dream. For three years, he worked hard to achieve his dream without any income. This NeZha movie is kind of a dedication to his mother unconditional love in supporting his dream. It is now the highest grossing animation in the world with a single market. Why? Europe is not screening it. So their citizens who want to watch it travelled to China to watch. America only started screening NeZha last week. The special effects and story are awesome. Singapore has not screen this movie yet. If I can’t watch it in Singapore, I’ll travel overseas to watch it.
Just work hard and ignore the naysayers. Some news media just like to focus on the negative. (That’s why I don’t read news often) Just focus on doing well and the results will follow in due time.
When I was young, I used to watch Ne Zha, Chinese drama in the 1980s. The drama is based on 16th century, Ming dynasty novel Investiture of the Gods 封神榜 by Xu Zhonglin. I really enjoy the story of the good prevailing and Ne Zha fighting for justice. In battle, he has the spear and wind fire ring with him. The third son of General Li, he had a tumultuous relationship with his father who took his life in his past life. Even though he was impulsive, he cared for his mother and helped the weak. He is a protection deity revered in Chinese Taoism and you can find Ne Zha temples around Asia.
I heard that Ne Zha 2 movie is very popular. I hope to watch this animation movie soon in Singapore.
May there be justice in this world. No more human trafficking. Protect the children who are the future of planet earth.
我命由我不由天. My destiny depends on me, not on heaven. I like his spirit on being a master of his fate.
PS. I hope Wikipedia conduct check else there is no credibility if any one can type in inaccurate information just to ride on the wave of this popular movie. Wikipedia will just become irrelevant. I noticed the Ne Zha title wikipedia was edited often.
