Serene Stone Carving

Every time I pass by this corner shop at Chinatown to Yi Xin Vegetarian, I am always impressed by the stone carvings that it displayed. Especially their Bodhisattva sculptures, such as the one in picture, which one couldn't resist to stop for a moment to silently pay respect to.

Lofty Peaks in Little Sayings - Part2

More quotes from Lofty Peaks in Little Sayings :

If you are not influenced by states when you are moving, then your movement is the same as stillness.
If you are not disturbed by idle thoughts when you are still, then your stillness is just like movement.
If you can cultivate to the point where movement and stillness are the same, then your skill is mature and there is neither movement nor stillness, neither emptiness nor existence.
That is the Middle Way.

Why is the world in such trouble?
It is because of fighting.
People have let their tiger-like tempers and fiery ignorance get the best of them.
People fight with each other, families feud with families, and on a greater scale,
nations battle with nations.
Such fighting will surely be the end of us.
But even when we die, we still will not have realized what happened.

Holding the precepts means watching for and correcting your own mistakes at all times.
It does not mean minding others' mistakes and not doing anything to correct your own.
That would be like doing other people's dirty laundry.

What is the Way?
It is just the truth.
The truth is such that no one can overturn it.
The truth is absolute, not relative.
There is only one truth, not two.
The Way is common to all true cultivators.
It can be explained in Confucianism, in Taoism and in Buddhism as well.
The Way is the Truth, and any religion can teach it.
When the Buddha became enlightened, he exclaimed in surprise at what he had discovered,
"How strange! How strange!
All living beings have the Buddha nature."

Lofty Peaks in Little Sayings

My 1st encounter to Teachings by Master Hsuan Hua was about 2 years ago when their branch in Singapore set up a free book distribution booth at the book fair at Bras Basah Complex and as then I just read about Rev. Heng Sure, hence the booth attracted my attention. There are many wonderful books.

Recently, they are reducing their operations in Singapore and distributing their collection of books and this small pocket-sized booklet is one of the treasures I have got.

Below are some of the quotes compiled in the booklet.:-)

When you seek nothing, you find true happiness.

Your nature will be steady, you will be at peace.

Wishing to climb high, we start low.

wishing to go far, we begin with what is near.

Parents are living Buddhas right in your home so do not neglect what is near to seek afar.

Everything is made from the mind.

If your mind is not true, even the true becomes false.

If your mind is true, then even the false can change.

A great response can happen.

If we do not look within ourselves to find our own mind,

then we will miss the chance to see things clearly.

For the sake of momentary pleasure, we may do things that we will regret for the rest of our lives. There is an old saying: "Content with what we have, we are always glad.

Being patient with what comes, peace is always with us."

How true that is!

First of all, we should work on not fighting, not being greedy, not seeking, not being selfish, not pursuing personal advantage, and not lying.

These principles are very simple. we should start from what is simple, moving from near to far, and from shallow to deep.

You cannot just get angry when you feel like it, you cannot think, "This is wrong. This is not right." Do not be so negative. Things are not always going to go your way, so take a step back and think, "Patience! Patience!Got to have patience!" Then things will turn out fine.

The effect fits the cause. Do good and good will come to you.

Do evil and you will get evil back.

This is natural law.

Create a perfect result and get a perfect result.

Plant a haphazard cause and get a haphazrd effect. Be clear about this.

Do not let it go in one ear and out the other.

Do not fight. If we do not fight with people, then people will not fight with us.

Even if people do fight with me, I will not fight back. If we can be like that, then disputes would just not happen.

Whatever is in our minds will also exist outside.

If there are no wars going on in our minds, there will be no wars outside.

A Relaxing Sunday

This is one of the rare days that mum wanted to visit Bright Hill Temple (kmspks) and of course I have to make time to accompany her.

A beautiful sunny Sunday and blessed to enjoy a hearty breakfast at their canteen which served delicious porridge. A simple dish with lots of love inside. :-)

Passed by the side of the Hall of Great Strength and saw that there is Foot & Shoulder massage each at $12 for 30mins. It is service performed by the blind.

Having a stiff shoulder (stress from work?) & a tired & slightly sprained feet from new sandals worn, with the consent of my impatient mum who surprisingly was willing to wait for me, I decided to give it a try.
In the windy environment, enjoying the breeze & enduring the occasional pain by the professional hands, it is relaxing moments amidst chanting music played by the uncle selling CDs behind the Hall of Great Compassion.

For the price, and the professionalism, it is indeed value for money. I definitely felt my strained muscles relaxed & was it psychologically, I seem to have a better sleep that nite & my prolonged flu & cough that did not seem to have recovered completely for long was gone the next day.
Wonders... haha, mum who usually don't like such session was somehow impressed by their professionalism from observing them and asked for their operation hours.
( I think she is tempted to try during next visit:-))

So next time if you visit the temple on Sundays & 27th of each lunar month (celebration day of the temple), maybe you could consider their service too. :-)