Value of Human Life

Head Stones and Mile Stones

It has been taught by many trainers and motivational gurus to set aside a special day to contemplate and plan for the coming year ahead. Being a sucker for such stuff, I admit, I faithfully followed.

One who fails to plan, plans to fail, so the mantra goes. Is that really so?

As we travel along the roads, we see milestones. By planning, we set our own milestones along this journey of life. Is that good?

Maybe the truer truth is that all these milestones don't matter.

We spend so much time and effort accumulating the wealth of this world. The most important thing seems forgotten along the way.

As we fade away witht he sunset, what is it that really matters? On reflection, all the milestones that we planted are just gravestones.

My Father

At 55, when tough guys retire, my Father was looking for better income to provide for those with him.

Papua New Guinea was then the new frontier and they were enlisting. However his age worked against him.

He passed on to the pure realm about a year later.

The night he moved on he visited me and told me he was leaving. I shall always remember him as a courageous and righteous man witha soft heart.

Preciousness of human life

According to the Teachings, the scarcity of being born a human is compared to the possibility of a turtle surfacing once every hundred years and on surfacing his head passes a ring the size of a yoke floating in the wide ocean.

Within the laws of probability, everything is possible. The laws of karma, rebirth in different forms, multiple realms and worlds; all these are possible.

The Teachings exhort us to make use and treasure this human life and use it meaningfully for the pursuit of spiritual goals. Have I?

Circles

In the event of every life, there often comes a time when there is a wish for a bigger space. Often, it ends up in the buying of and moving to a new house. Often the journey does not end there. We take apart and renovate and rebuild to make it “our” space. That may be the reason why mansions are built. The reason seldom is it ever be to house the numerous servants or the extended family.
Then the next move becomes the search for a good grave site. The favorites are those that overlook the sea (at least in novels and story books) or which overlook the native land and those that harbor fond memories. The other choice, besides ground burial is cremation. There the story continues with the choice of columbarium if the ashes are not scattered. The extreme though not for everyone of course, is being blasted into space, to drift among other space debris.
This is the endless circle, isn’t it? Of course, some call it progress.

India Crossing

This remains one of my favorite images.

It was taken on the road from Dehra Dun to Dharamsala, not the main highway route but that off track route further to the west.

This crossing is actually over a dried up river bed for the bridge had collapsed. The lorry people are washing their trucks on the river. Basic as their livelihood may be but a lot of pride is present. Just as the cow is sacred because they are partners in eking out the land, so are trucks as they are part of the sustenance of life.

As the sun sets, it tells of the sweetness of rest and a meal at the end of a long hard day. It offers peace and recovery for the toil of the next day.

Pilgrimage

I have often wanted to go on a great voyage. Maybe it is the sense of adventure of every young kampong boy or maybe it was jelled by all the wonderful stories of adventures that I read or maybe it was a mixture of both.

The real adventures were the campings and hitch-hikings with the furthest being the trails around Auckland.

Although age (and aging) has dulled this passion somewhat, I am beginning to fantasize about another type of voyage. This time it is going to be a great pilgrimage.

The only trouble with that is that I have not identified which kind of pilgrimage or what type or the form it is going to take. One of the ideas I was toying about is a pilgrimage on foot (for what is a pilgrimage if it is by easy motorized transport?). Well, I have to recognize the practicalities and realities of a real foot pilgrimage. In that, maybe it may be making use of a minimum of motorized transport but it will still be a test of personal vigour and devotion.

There were many journeys made which in most ways may be called pilgrimages. This would include visits to the graves of holy saints in Java, the Three Stupas in Nepal, the Holy Buddha places in India and Tibet but other than the first journeys to Bodhgaya, NamoBuddha and Boudha, the others somehow misses a certain flavour.

Most pilgrimages take on a religious flavor but it need not necessarily be so.

I would like combine this pilgrimage with an inner journey as well. How it is going to be again remains a fantasy but deep within I send out energies that one day within this lifetime it shall come to pass.

This write does look like a rambling and ranting of which it is but perchance, an idea can form and concrete action taken. Any suggestions…?

What are we?

A quote from this book (I have not finished reading it so am unable to provide a review...later)

"The ship is safest when it's in port, but that's not what ships were built for."

Farewell, Uncle Yap

Yesterday was a sad day for me as I sent off a freind who had to go. His heart failed him.

Many of his Energy Worker friends were there too and I believe they felt the same way.

Wherever he is now may he frolic with angels and continue his passion and goodness just as he had done on Earth.

We shared the same office building many years ago and we were part of the team who laboured and saw the birth of "Inner Journey" magazine.

Be well friend for with your going away, you have left many lessons and one of these is the impermanence of life and more importantly to make urgent use of our time here.

Farewell....

Falling Leaves

As I turned up to enter the Port Dickson toll to head north to KL yesterday morning, I was gifted a most wonderful sight.

Angsana leaves were falling like a shoal of fishes. Shades of yellow and green were fluttering down in a seemingly never ending stream, guided by an urgent calling.

I took a breath and so wanted to take a picture but the camera was located in at the back seat. To show and share with friends this beautiful sight. That brief moment will now remain a memory.

I suppose life is like that, a brief moment in time as we whiz pass. Like those leaves, we will eventually fall and return to the Earth from whence we came.

life whizzing by

Aa I was driving along the north south highway a few mornings ago, I passed by one of my favorite spots along the highway. This one is just after the Seremban toll heading north on the right hand side. It is a grassy knoll. It is not naturally grassy though as it once used to be belukar but now is a cleared area used for culturing turves.

That morning, the sun was just up and men were busy changkuling away harvesting the green turves. It was a splendid sight of men at work with nature, away from the roar of us busy noisy motorist. There was calm in that.

I so wanted to take a picture but it was not possible as I was speeding along. A great shot wasted.

Life is like that. We move so fast whizzing past that we have no time to capture the details. We miss the sights, the aroma, the joys. Just like that moment on the road, it can only remain a memory soon to fade with nothing to share with anyone else.

Should we not slow down some? Time and Tide wait for no man, how true!

Dying and Dreaming

I lost a few friends this past few years to death. The day will come when I will lose all of them when I die.

I dreamt that I was walking along a path. This path used to be one of those that as a young boy I had often used when running about with boys from the same village. The shrubs that lined this path had leaves that were prickly and tend to cut our skin if we were not too careful which often happens when we became too engrossed in our games.

In this particular dream however the leaves were green, fresh, young and new growing off their long stems. I take this to be a good sign.

Within the same dream was another aspect. It got me thinking about how we are so much a slave to attachment and emotions. For example a young boy will forgo the opportunity, excitement and experience of studying in a foreign land simply because he has affections for a girl and being apart becomes something unthinkable.

As grown adults we too have moments when we pine for those we love. Very often we miss our family when we are away from home. Sometimes it is just the knowing that they are near that makes us feel good. Each may be going about their own individual activity.

We are very attached and emotional animals. Perhaps, the solution lies in us being able to move a plane higher by “feeling” on a mental level. That way distance and separation does not become an issue as when we are all mentally connected there is no separation. Of course, the teachings tell me otherwise. It tells me that as long as there is one iota of craving, a thought such as the one I have just talked about is but one distraction that will lead me astray.

The true path should be one that leads me to rejoin the great ocean, just like the droplets of rain rejoining the sea. That way all becomes inseparable and free of ‘you’ and ‘I’.

A Dream of lost babies and flip flop-having only one face

I had a dream two nights ago which on reflection gave me some interesting insight and lessons.

It was actually two dreams in one. In the first part of this dream, I was in a hospital nursery. There was this couple with a baby who had just learnt to crawl. On the blue tiled floor was scattered lost of colorful toys. These toys were like Lego strewn all over. Somehow the baby was dropped onto the floor and she vanished. Well sort of vanish. We knew she was somewhere among the toys but just could not be located. I tried to help and in doing it made a show like I was concerned and threw sidelong glances at other people to check whether others knew I was ‘concerned’.

The next stage of the dream had me leaving this nursery. I boarded what appeared to be a huge ship but the difference was that this ship could fly. So there we go soaring over the dark sea and its huge waves. Even though soaring, this ship somehow ploughed the waters and the wake of the water was awesome.

I chanced to look at my feet and I had flip flops on. And one, the one on the right foot was coming loose. Even though I tried to hold on to it by squeezing it, there was a loss of control and that flip flop fell into the sea below. Within my thoughts the flip flop was not so important as I had another good pair of hiking boots. It was quite a high fall and I could see it fall and disappear.

What this dream taught me was that to act with greater sincerity. In my dealings and thoughts I should not act because I wanted people to think I was of a certain nature. That nature of mine should be natural and should come from the heart not for some hope of recognition or reputation. I should learn to develop myself such that every act and thought as well as the words that leave my lips are naturally free of falsity. I should have only one face which will be the same irrespective of what others see me as, what I should show to others and what I would like myself to be. That is the meaning of the first part of the dream.

The second part of the dream tells me that I should not hold onto little things in life. I should not let petty issues trouble me in that there are so many more precious things in life. There are bigger issues and goals. I should learn to let go.

'black' or 'white'?

Today a friend is travelling, taking a long train ride south. The reason for this journey is to visit a sister who is scheduled for an operation to remove a tumour, a pretty large one.

Every operation involves risk and it is not a journey to relish. It is a journey that does not carry with it the excitement that comes with setting forth on an adventure.

Very often we find ourselves in a family gathering not out of sharing some joyous moment but for some sas tearful event. The chinese say that family meet either for some 'black' or 'white' event. It echoes very appropriately the way the rat and dollar race has got to us. We just 'have no time' to catch up in lighter moments to share live or just simply for that cup of tea.

We do not catch a train to drop by or over at a brother or a sister or father or mother to say hello or simply to to chat nothings. I remember my grandmother used to trudge with her rattan weave bag from town to town visiting her daughters. I remember my aunties too doing the same and they will drop over for a few hours and then walk a long way to the bus stop and then take the last bus home to her village home many miles away.

That's how life was in the old way. What happened? We have cars and many other means of getting about yet we do not do the old way? We wait for the 'black' or 'white'....

Saving for what?

Ever own a laptop computer? And if you do, do you take the battery out to use when the mains are plugged cos batteries are expensive and you want to save the battery for that time when you need it most. Well, I did.

As often happens, the battery outlasts the laptop. Just like in life we always try to scrounge on ourselves so much so that we begin to develop some masochistic joy out of scrimping on ourselves. Very soon we find that our body gives up on us and we will leave behind all those treasured possessions like savings for that rainy day, unopened gadget or a new shirt still in its plastic envelope waiting for that one suitable day. One person I know still have the plastic wrapping on his car seat, not wanting to tear and throw it away for fear of dirtying the fabric. Well, he will never relish the soft feel of the seat cushion. That person is my brother…haha..

“Go for it!” says one shoe advertisement and I think we can see its relevance in the way we look at life as well. After energy work courses, we often teach that we must give ourselves a treat in celebration. It may be a hearty meal or just something simple like a bar of chocolate. In this way we celebrate life and also take it as an opportunity for the blessings and abundance that the Universe had provided us. Try it!

Tarot card

I visited Fremantle WA last month and was quite excited to take a look at the Freo market as I heard that there were quite a few new age shops and whatnots there. There weren’t really that many to generate any excitement being the usual crystal stalls and alternative healing but what caught my eye was a tarot reader right at the entrance.

She was a plumpish lady with wistful penetrating eyes. Actually I did not get to sight her at first as she was away from her stall. On her empty stall table was a deck down side up and I noted that to be a mystic deck. Ah!…quite up my street I thought.

I kept circling back to that particular stall and finally got to catch her with a client. But unfortunately I did not get to lug my camera with me this trip and with the memory card of another camera running low had no shots to show.

I was fascinated with card reading as a child and had my share of visiting “famous” card readers in KL those days. During my secondary school years, I started reading every book available on this enchanting hobby but as I could not get a deck (wouldn’t have afforded one even if there were any around) used the playing cards instead.

One lady who inspired me with her humility and astonishing accuracy was a Bak Tai which is Mrs. White in Cantonese. She lived in those heritage houses fronting the old Klang bus station and would only accept gifts of fruits as payment. Bless her!

Coming back to the tarot; over time I find that to use them to divine events and fortune is not the point. Rather, they are glimpses into our inner self and from this fleeting glimpse allow us to work out our path in life.

To want to look into the future is what most want but that should not be the way out of life. Just like in the story of MacBeth, the witches can portray as showing you the future but may only show you half of it. In any case, to believe in that tiny glimpse of a future becomes only a lack of self will for the only right course that is to be charted is the one we do ourselves.

The tarot works the same way as dreams do giving us little gifts and pointers to guide us so that we can better able understand our inner self and through that make wise choices of our outer actions. This remains to me the most valuable gift that the tarot offers. It is simple yet profound. All we need is some basic understanding and an open mind.

impermanence of life

The Teachings say that life is short like dew drop on a blade of grass. I reckon on papaya leaves too.

found solitude pulling wild grass

I found a quiet moment of solitude today as I pulled out wild grass after mowing the garden. As i reflected i had this sudden rush of solitude and the outside world just aint for me!

cycle of life

my son has now completed his degree and now has started work. At such an early stage and at such a tender age, he is now out there with all the rest sorting out his life. My wish for him is to find the happiness that many lack. One day he should find his success in this material world, find a girl he loves, marry and settle down to a family of his own.

That is the cycle of life but apart from wishing him a settled successful life, I hope his karma blossoms and he finds the Buddhadharma.I have held the view from early on that life is sufering and i have no wish to bring more beings into this world to suffer. I hope that that is not true for in that may every being with this human birth finds it an opportunity to use it well and find nibbana. I wish this too for my sons and loved ones. In fact for all.