This Metta Chant is specially dedicated to Heng Jovi.
Wishing him great health and happiness always!
Monday, 13 April 2009
Saturday, 11 April 2009
The Sky Is The Limit
"Climb of Hope" - a campaign organised by Shelter Home to scale Mount Kinabalu, Sabah which will take place from July 4 to 7, 2009.
There are many activities lined up, including conquering the summit, a visit to the foothill Poring Hot Springs and the chance to experience sun rise from East Malaysia above the clouds, a sight to behold.
Young and Old are welcome to join this charity climb. Please submit your registration form with a payment of RM1,500.00 before May 29, 2009.
The fee is inclusive of accommodation, airport transfer, air ticket, airport taxes, land transfer, meals, entrance fees to Kinabalu Park. Poring Hot Spring and Canopy Walk-way and climbing insurance.
"We hope Malaysians will join us to make this campaign a success and make a difference to the lives of these children. It is also an excellent opportunity to get away fromt he hstle and bustle of city life and bond with nature." said Shelter Home for Children executive director James Nayagam.
He added that aside from participating in the hike, Malaysians can also make personal contributions to the cause by sending in their donations to Shelter Home for Children.
Shelter Home hopes to raise RM100,000.00 from the campaign which will go towards providing education, healthcare and protection for nearly 30,000 refugee children.
For more information on the "Climb of Hope", please contact:
Elaine or Anthony at 03-79550663.
The Summit
Canopy Walk and Hanging Bridge
Poring Hot Spring
Poring Hot Spring
There are many activities lined up, including conquering the summit, a visit to the foothill Poring Hot Springs and the chance to experience sun rise from East Malaysia above the clouds, a sight to behold.
Young and Old are welcome to join this charity climb. Please submit your registration form with a payment of RM1,500.00 before May 29, 2009.
The fee is inclusive of accommodation, airport transfer, air ticket, airport taxes, land transfer, meals, entrance fees to Kinabalu Park. Poring Hot Spring and Canopy Walk-way and climbing insurance.
"We hope Malaysians will join us to make this campaign a success and make a difference to the lives of these children. It is also an excellent opportunity to get away fromt he hstle and bustle of city life and bond with nature." said Shelter Home for Children executive director James Nayagam.
He added that aside from participating in the hike, Malaysians can also make personal contributions to the cause by sending in their donations to Shelter Home for Children.
Shelter Home hopes to raise RM100,000.00 from the campaign which will go towards providing education, healthcare and protection for nearly 30,000 refugee children.
For more information on the "Climb of Hope", please contact:
Elaine or Anthony at 03-79550663.
The Summit
Canopy Walk and Hanging Bridge
Poring Hot Spring
Poring Hot SpringTuesday, 31 March 2009
Feels Like Only Yesterday
Dearest Mum and Sis
Christmas celebration 21 years ago
Family outing like this was a weekly affairp/s: Both cousins, Vivian and Yap Yang are now 22 years old!
Mum and Sis,
I believe you are up there guarding over me,
We have not really left each other behind,
Your kind words and sweet voices still linger on,
Remembering two of you have become my daily chore,
Unaware that it has been a long eighteen years,
It was just like only yesterday.
Mum and Sis,
May your souls rest in peace,
And I believe,
Someday we will meet again.
~ with love and fond memories
Ching Ming - 2009
Friday, 27 March 2009
60 earth hours - Malaysia
This campaign will be more meaningful, only if everyone cares to do it daily.
A little more efforts, a little more conscious in energy saving. Do not switch on whatever is not needed, that is it. Simple, right? But not everyone is up to it.
Villi my son, for one, is not a subscriber to this Earth Hour 'stunt' as he put it. When everyone switching on "everything" by 9.30pm at one go, those carbon and c02 emissions will even pollute the earth many more times than letting them running. The point is, save whenever we could. Make it your lifestyle by living with bare minimum energy, not asking you to go back to nature but use not, waste not.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
A dog name faith.
He was born with 3 legs - 2 healthy hind legs and 1 abnormal front leg which needed to be amputated.
He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.
He was rejected and scorned.
His first owner also did not think that he could survive. Therefore, he was thinking of putting him to sleep..
At this time, his present owner Jude Stringfellow came into his life and wanted to take c are of him.
She was determined to teach and train this dog to walk by himself.. She thought, all we need is a little faith.
Therefore she named him 'Faith.' In the beginning, she put Faith on a surf board to let him feel the movements of the water. Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and to reward him for standing up and jumping around. Even the other dogs at home helped to encourage him to walk. Amazingly, after only 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned
to balance on his 2 hind legs and jumped to move forward. After further training in the snow, he can now walk like a human being..
Faith loves to walk around now. No matter where he goes, he just attracts all the people around him. He is now becoming famous on the international scene. He has appeared in various newspapers and TV shows. There is even one book entitled 'With a little faith' being published about him.
His present owner Jude Stringfellow has given up her teaching job and plans to take him around the world to preach, 'that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul.'
In life there are always undesirable things. Perhaps a person who feels things are not going as well as they could will feel better if they change their point of view and see things from another perspective.
Perhaps this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone.
Perhaps everyone can appreciate and
be thankful for each beautiful day that follows.
Life is the continual demonstration of the power of thinking positive and having faith..
Believe in yourself.
Never lose faith.
Saturday, 21 March 2009
Oh My, youngman
Today we were all dumbfounded by this Perodua's salesman near my residential area.
This story is very brief:
My family went to this showroom to buy a MyVi car for my son. Carried with us was a cheque book ready to put in deposit to buy from whoever 'will' serve us.
My hubby : Excuse me, can I take a look at your 1.3 ezi model?
Salesman: Sure, sir.
My hubby : Erm...do you give discount if we buy from you here? Because the other showroom near my workplace do extend some discount.
Salesman: Sorry sir, we cannot give you discount.
My hubby: Are you sure? cos we really wanted to buy.
Salesman: No sir, if you think you can get discount at other place, please go there, I cannot give you any discount here.
He then show us the way out! and we walked into our car in silence...
We ended up buying the car at the Perodua dealer near my hubby's workplace an hour later which is only 20 minutes drive from my house.
You tell me.
This story is very brief:
My family went to this showroom to buy a MyVi car for my son. Carried with us was a cheque book ready to put in deposit to buy from whoever 'will' serve us.
My hubby : Excuse me, can I take a look at your 1.3 ezi model?
Salesman: Sure, sir.
My hubby : Erm...do you give discount if we buy from you here? Because the other showroom near my workplace do extend some discount.
Salesman: Sorry sir, we cannot give you discount.
My hubby: Are you sure? cos we really wanted to buy.
Salesman: No sir, if you think you can get discount at other place, please go there, I cannot give you any discount here.
He then show us the way out! and we walked into our car in silence...
We ended up buying the car at the Perodua dealer near my hubby's workplace an hour later which is only 20 minutes drive from my house.
You tell me.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Help 30 Disabled Women Help Themselves
Thirty disabled women have just graduated from a three-month computer and soft skills training programme conducted by eHomemakers, with the support of the Department of Women’s Development.Beginning October 2008, the women from all over the Klang Valley, gathered at the YWCA’s Vocational Training Center for 36 hands-on training sessions on essential skills like Microsoft Office, conducting online searches and sending emails. The next 16 lessons focused on acquiring the basic soft skills necessary to work in an office. English conversational and written skills as well as lessons on customer service formed the bulk of the soft skills training.
eHomemakers would like to thank the YWCA’s Vocational Training Center for providing the venue and TLC Computing Center for designing special courses for the disabled.
The women are now ready to work as Home-Based Administrative Assistants (HAA).
eHomemakers, on behalf of the disabled women, is seeking:
· Home-based administrative or customer service jobs
To view the profile of some of the women, click on the following links:
The above article is from : eHOMEMAKER
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Something to Commemorate
Today was very special to me.
It was almost a miracle.
Villi passed his SPM.
Mind you, with flying colours! By my standards.
One year round of fetching him to tuition, yelling on top of my lungs to:
~ Stop the computer games!
~ Wake up for tuition!
~ Go eat!
~ Take your vitamins!
~ Sleep early!
~ Keep yourself healthy!
has finally paid off. Phew!
The nightmare of having him to re-sit for another year was finally over. Tears dwelling in my eyes when he hugged me with the result slip in the school compound. I suddenly feel that my shoulders were almost weightless. 17 years of responsibility were eventually released. God, I need time to rejoice!
Congratulations to you, my Bao Bei.
p/s: Sorry son if mama made you look bad but I just can't help to think of the worst scenario...you were great and you are!
It was almost a miracle.
Villi passed his SPM.
Mind you, with flying colours! By my standards.
One year round of fetching him to tuition, yelling on top of my lungs to:
~ Stop the computer games!
~ Wake up for tuition!
~ Go eat!
~ Take your vitamins!
~ Sleep early!
~ Keep yourself healthy!
has finally paid off. Phew!
The nightmare of having him to re-sit for another year was finally over. Tears dwelling in my eyes when he hugged me with the result slip in the school compound. I suddenly feel that my shoulders were almost weightless. 17 years of responsibility were eventually released. God, I need time to rejoice!
Congratulations to you, my Bao Bei.
p/s: Sorry son if mama made you look bad but I just can't help to think of the worst scenario...you were great and you are!
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Love is being a mother
Love is scaring away monsters in the middle of the night, then again at
1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m.
Love is putting peanut butter on anything as long as they'll eat it!
Love is knowing how to disguise vegetables 30 different ways.
Love is reading the same bedtime story for the 999th time.
Love is a hug around the knees.
Love is watching Mr. Rogers instead of All My Children.
Love is cutting off the crusts.
Love is a refrigerator covered with creative works of art.
Love is not grimacing through the dirtiest of diapers.
Love is trading in the Camero for a station wagon.
Love is the magic kiss that heals all owies.
Love is a cuddly kid in a blanket sleeper.
Love is the first kick, first smile, first laugh, first step, first
anything.
Love is your child pointing to a picture of Christie Brinkley and saying
"mama".
Happy 22nd Birthday to you my dear, Vivian. Mama will even cart away the monster for you, wherever and ever. Loads of LOVE from all at home.
1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m.
Love is putting peanut butter on anything as long as they'll eat it!
Love is knowing how to disguise vegetables 30 different ways.
Love is reading the same bedtime story for the 999th time.
Love is a hug around the knees.
Love is watching Mr. Rogers instead of All My Children.
Love is cutting off the crusts.
Love is a refrigerator covered with creative works of art.
Love is not grimacing through the dirtiest of diapers.
Love is trading in the Camero for a station wagon.
Love is the magic kiss that heals all owies.
Love is a cuddly kid in a blanket sleeper.
Love is the first kick, first smile, first laugh, first step, first
anything.
Love is your child pointing to a picture of Christie Brinkley and saying
"mama".
Happy 22nd Birthday to you my dear, Vivian. Mama will even cart away the monster for you, wherever and ever. Loads of LOVE from all at home.
Friday, 20 February 2009
My house is shabby, but it is comfortable
In 2007, in an end-of-year message to the staff of the National Neuroscience Institute, I wrote: 'Whilst boom time in the public sector is never as booming as in the private sector, let us not forget that boom time is eventually followed by slump time. Slump time in the public sector is always less painful compared to the private sector.' Slump time has arrived with a bang.
While I worry about the poorer Singaporeans who will be hit hard, perhaps this recession has come at an opportune time for many of us. It will give us an incentive to reconsider our priorities in life. Decades of the good life have made us soft. The wealthy especially, but also the middle class in Singapore , have had it so good for so long, what they once considered luxuries, they now think of as necessities.
A mobile phone, for instance, is now a statement about who you are, not just a piece of equipment for communication. Hence many people buy the latest model though their existing mobile phones are still in perfect working order.
But I personally think the hard times will hold a timely lesson for many Singaporeans, especially those born after 1970 who have never lived through difficult times.
No matter how poor you are in Singapore , the authorities and social groups do try to ensure you have shelter and food. Nobody starves in Singapore. Many of those who are currently living in mansions and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle will probably still be able to do so, even if they might have to downgrade from wines costing $20,000 a bottle to $10,000 a bottle. They would hardly notice the difference.
Being wealthy is not a sin. It cannot be in a capitalist market economy. Enjoying the fruits of one's own labour is one's prerogative and I have no right to chastise those who choose to live luxuriously..
But if one is blinded by materialism, there would be no end to wanting and hankering. After the Ferrari, what next? An Aston Martin? After the Hermes Birkin handbag, what can one upgrade to?
Neither an Aston Martin nor an Hermes Birkin can make us truly happy or contented. They are like dust, a fog obscuring the true meaning of life, and can be blown away in the twinkling of an eye.
When the end approaches and we look back on our lives, will we regret the latest mobile phone or luxury car that we did not acquire? Or would we prefer to die at peace with ourselves, knowing that we have lived lives filled with love, friendship and goodwill, that we have helped some of our fellow voyagers along the way and that we have tried our best to leave this world a slightly better place than how we found it?
We know which is the correct choice - and it is within our power to make that choice.
In this new year, burdened as it is with the problems of the year that has just ended, let us again try to choose wisely. To a considerable degree, our happiness is within our own control, and we should not follow the herd blindly.
*The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore and also, daughter to Lee Kuan Yew. *
While I worry about the poorer Singaporeans who will be hit hard, perhaps this recession has come at an opportune time for many of us. It will give us an incentive to reconsider our priorities in life. Decades of the good life have made us soft. The wealthy especially, but also the middle class in Singapore , have had it so good for so long, what they once considered luxuries, they now think of as necessities.
A mobile phone, for instance, is now a statement about who you are, not just a piece of equipment for communication. Hence many people buy the latest model though their existing mobile phones are still in perfect working order.
A Mercedes-Benz is no longer adequate as a status symbol. For millionaires who wish to show the world they have taste, a Ferrari or a Porsche is deemed more appropriate.
The same attitude influences the choice of attire and accessories. I still find it hard to believe that there are people carrying handbags that cost more than thrice the monthly income of a bus driver, and many more times that of the foreign worker labouring in the hot sun, risking his life to construct luxury condominiums he will never have a chance to live in.
The same attitude influences the choice of attire and accessories. I still find it hard to believe that there are people carrying handbags that cost more than thrice the monthly income of a bus driver, and many more times that of the foreign worker labouring in the hot sun, risking his life to construct luxury condominiums he will never have a chance to live in.
The media encourages and amplifies this ostentatious consumption. Perhaps it is good to encourage people to spend more because this will prevent the recession from getting worse. I am not an economist, but wasn't that the root cause of the current crisis - Americans spending more than they could afford to?
I am not a particularly spiritual person. I don't believe in the supernatural and I don't think I have a soul that will survive my death. But as I view the crass materialism around me, I am reminded of what my mother once told me: 'Suffering and deprivation is good for the soul.' My family is not poor, but we have been brought up to be frugal. My parents and I live in the same house that my paternal grandparents and their children moved into after World War II in 1945. It is a big house by today's standards, but it is simple - in fact, almost to the point of being shabby.
Those who see it for the first time are astonished that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's home is so humble. But it is a comfortable house, a home we have got used to. Though it does look shabby compared to the new mansions on our street, we are not bothered by the comparison.
Most of the world and much of Singapore will lament the economic downturn. We have been told to tighten our belts. There will undoubtedly be suffering, which we must try our best to ameliorate.
I am not a particularly spiritual person. I don't believe in the supernatural and I don't think I have a soul that will survive my death. But as I view the crass materialism around me, I am reminded of what my mother once told me: 'Suffering and deprivation is good for the soul.' My family is not poor, but we have been brought up to be frugal. My parents and I live in the same house that my paternal grandparents and their children moved into after World War II in 1945. It is a big house by today's standards, but it is simple - in fact, almost to the point of being shabby.
Those who see it for the first time are astonished that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's home is so humble. But it is a comfortable house, a home we have got used to. Though it does look shabby compared to the new mansions on our street, we are not bothered by the comparison.
Most of the world and much of Singapore will lament the economic downturn. We have been told to tighten our belts. There will undoubtedly be suffering, which we must try our best to ameliorate.
But I personally think the hard times will hold a timely lesson for many Singaporeans, especially those born after 1970 who have never lived through difficult times.
No matter how poor you are in Singapore , the authorities and social groups do try to ensure you have shelter and food. Nobody starves in Singapore. Many of those who are currently living in mansions and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle will probably still be able to do so, even if they might have to downgrade from wines costing $20,000 a bottle to $10,000 a bottle. They would hardly notice the difference.
Being wealthy is not a sin. It cannot be in a capitalist market economy. Enjoying the fruits of one's own labour is one's prerogative and I have no right to chastise those who choose to live luxuriously..
But if one is blinded by materialism, there would be no end to wanting and hankering. After the Ferrari, what next? An Aston Martin? After the Hermes Birkin handbag, what can one upgrade to?
Neither an Aston Martin nor an Hermes Birkin can make us truly happy or contented. They are like dust, a fog obscuring the true meaning of life, and can be blown away in the twinkling of an eye.
When the end approaches and we look back on our lives, will we regret the latest mobile phone or luxury car that we did not acquire? Or would we prefer to die at peace with ourselves, knowing that we have lived lives filled with love, friendship and goodwill, that we have helped some of our fellow voyagers along the way and that we have tried our best to leave this world a slightly better place than how we found it?
We know which is the correct choice - and it is within our power to make that choice.
In this new year, burdened as it is with the problems of the year that has just ended, let us again try to choose wisely. To a considerable degree, our happiness is within our own control, and we should not follow the herd blindly.
*The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore and also, daughter to Lee Kuan Yew. *
佛教慈善中心 - Malaysia Buddhist Charitable Centres - Part 2
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佛教慈善中心 - Malaysia Buddhist Charitable Centres - Part 1
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