I love the intricate cute lanterns designed by Singapore talented illustrator Ah Guo 阿果 Kow Fong. I love buying Ah Guo designed stationery. The vibrant lanterns lighted up the the lovely Gardens by the Bay. This year theme is Celebrations(同欢). The Mid-Autumn Festival lighting will end on 22 September.
Click here for more information.
Nearest MRT: Bayfront and Gardens by the Bay MRT stations
I saw Audi car roadshow at Suntec City today and decided to sit on the driver’s seat. My only experience in car driving so far is only on go-karting ride many decades ago. I’m wondering if I should take driving test but then I’m scared of driving. When I went for luge ride, I chose the dragon trail as there was no one there and I felt better traveling the path alone. In other congested paths, others could be zooming past you and some blur people might hit your car.
It was fun exploring the car on the driver’s seat. I think this Audi car is quite big and comfortable. I prefer lighter colour car like pastel pink or blue.
I finally brought this book Decoding the Tao Te Ching by Sim Pooh Ho, edited and translated by Tekson Teo. Tao Te Ching 道德经 is authored by Laozi, a great enlightened Chinese philosopher about 2500 years ago. I think it would be great if the translator had included the whole chapters in Chinese characters and the English translation side by side. I wanted to see if the translation is accurate and how he interpreted so I copied the Chinese characters from the internet. At the same time, I can also improve my Mandarin.
Even though you can finish reading the entire book which has only 5000 plus Chinese characters in 81 Chapters within a day, the teaching is profound and needs time to digest the essence of Laozi's teaching. I read a few chapters and find some similarities to Buddha's teaching such as Emptiness, Universe law of Cause and effect karma and keep to the middle path. It’s a fair system . If someone steal from your daughter, there should be consequence for the thief to prevent theft from happening again and protect the society. That is why I find Singapore's strict law and enforcement safe for society.
For example, on Emptiness is not nothingness but there is function to it on Chapter 11 and karma on Chapter 30.
11) 三十辐，共一毂，当其无，有车之用。埏埴以为器，当其无，有器之用。凿户牖以为室，当其无，有室之用。故有之以为利，无之以为用。
The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends. Therefore, what has a (positive) existence serves for profitable adaptation, and what has not that for (actual) usefulness.
The following are my favourite chapters from Tao Te Ching。
以下是我喜欢的道德经章节。
1) 道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。无名天地之始；有名万物之母。故常无欲，以观其妙；常有欲，以观其徼。此两者，同出而异名，同谓之玄。玄之又玄，衆妙之门。
8) 上善若水。水善利万物而不争，处衆人之所恶，故几于道。居善地，心善渊，与善仁，言善信，正善治，事善能，动善时。夫唯不争，故无尤。
25) 有物混成，先天地生。寂兮寥兮，独立不改，周行而不殆，可以为天下母。吾不知其名，字之曰道，强为之名曰大。大曰逝，逝曰远，远曰反。故道大，天大，地大，王亦大。域中有四大，而王居其一焉。人法地，地法天，天法道，道法自然。
42) 道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。万物负阴而抱阳，冲气以为和。人之所恶，唯孤、寡、不谷，而王公以为称。故物或损之而益，或益之而损。人之所教，我亦教之。强梁者不得其死，吾将以为教父。
81) 信言不美，美言不信。善者不辩，辩者不善。知者不博，博者不知。圣人不积，既以为人己愈有，既以与人己愈多。天之道，利而不害；圣人之道，为而不争
【第一章】道可道，非常道；名可名，非常名。无名天地之始，有名万物之母。故常无欲，以观其妙；常有欲，以观其徼（jiào）。此两者同出而异名，同谓之玄，玄之又玄，众妙之门。
From https://www.daodejing.org/
About Worrying
“Don’t live your life imagining problems that haven’t yet arisen and aren’t going to. Enjoy the present. You have to live life to the fullest, always seeking happiness instead of worrying. When a real problem arises, then put your time to good use figuring out how to solve it, instead of worrying when everything is just cool, like now.”
“Look how pretty those street lights are... Pretty enough to paint... Check out how the light falls on that vine... And those roofs outlined against the stars... Life is there for you to enjoy fully, Jim. Try to pay attention to all that life offers you... The marvels are there to be found every moment... Try to feel, perceive, instead of
thinking. The most profound sense of life is found beyond thinking... You know what, Jim? Life is a fairy tale come true... It’s a beautiful gift that God has given you...because He loves you.”
His words made me see everything from a new point of view. It seemed incredible to me that this was the normal, everyday world that I’d never paid much attention to... Without even having noticed it before, I realized now that I lived in a place that looked like paradise.
About Sharing
“Here we all love one another.”
There are times when understanding something produces the interior equivalent of a flash of light in us.
Ami’s explanations had finally gotten through to me. I was suddenly able to understand what he had been trying to tell me. That world was not like mine. It wasn’t a place of competition, fear and distrust of others, rivalries, egotism. No, it wasn’t like that. Humanity in that world was a big family in which everyone loved each other reciprocally. So they shared everything, always seeking happiness for each and every one of them. Now it seemed very simple to me.
“Famous, maybe. What does your uncle, the physicist, do?” “He’s developing a new weapon, an ultrasound ray.” “Hmmmm... If he’s not able to understand that human intelligence is a reflection of divine intelligence, if his shortsightedness makes him arrogant and disrespectful to God, and, besides, if he dedicates the talent he received to the manufacture of arms,...then I don’t believe that his level is very high. What do you think?” “What? But he’s a wise man!” I protested. “Once again you’re confusing things. Your uncle has a great deal of information at his disposal and is good at seeing relationships between data, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s an intelligent person, much less a wise one. A computer can have an impressive data bank and undertake incredible operations, but that doesn’t make it intelligent. Do you think a man is intelligent if he’s digging a grave that he himself is in danger of falling into?” “No, but...” “Weapons turn against those who support them.”
What we have here is a problem of terms: on Earth people are called intelligent or wise when they are good at using only one of their brains. But we have two...” “What?! Two brains?!” “Well, it would be better to say two ‘comprehension centers.’ One in the head; that’s the ‘computer,’ the only one that you people know. It processes information related to the things of this world. The other is in the chest. It’s not visible because it’s not material. But it exists. It has to do with the profound things of life, with the eternal, universal truths, like wisdom and love. The balance between the two centers creates the light that you saw in the man’s chest on the screen.” “That’s very interesting, Ami.” “For us, the person who is intelligent or wise is the one who has both centers in harmony. This means that intelligence must serve the heart. But the majority of people who are ‘intelligent’ think that the reverse is true. They do cold cerebral calculations and they can’t see what’s really important.”
Ami smiled kindly and said, “A drop of sea water cannot say that it’s the sea, even though it’s composed the same. You are made of the same substance as God. You are love, but vibrating at a frequency that’s not very high. Evolution consists of the elevation of our frequency of vibration. That allows us little by little to recognize and regain our true identity: love.”
Ami began to laugh. “God neither punishes nor rewards, but everything that we do comes back to us. If we do good, we receive good in return. If we do evil, we can’t expect to receive anything nice in return.”
May all sentients beings be well and happy.
Finally found a good book explaining the Tao Te Ching written by the wise sage Laozi 老子 about 2600 years ago. I find Laozi’s teaching rather profound thus I’m happy to find this book decoding his teaching.
I find that there are some similarities on Taoism and Buddhism on the concept of self and returning to the Source. You can find this book Decoding Tao Te Ching by Sim Pooh Ho at bookshop. You can read an excerpt from it below.
I'm really happy that Green Dot, a vegetarian eatery is finally at Tampines 1 mall located at basement 1. This week, Green Dot had 1 for 1 lunch promotion on 18 and 19 June at Tampines 1 mall for their grand opening. My cousin told me about this promotion and we went for dinner yesterday.
I love their signature laksa and I think it is the best vegetarian laksa and it is better than other non-vegetarian laksa. If you love laksa, you should try Green dot laksa.
Nearest MRT: Tampines MRT station (East-West line)
Click here here for Green Dot menu.
