Should We Accept "Impermanent"?

" You by my side, that's how I see us, I close my eyes, and I can see us, we on our way to say " I Do "........". What a beautiful wedding song!

When my aunty married ten years ago the above beautiful song was played at the banquet hall where the wedding dinner was served. Recently, I came to know that my aunty was having a serious marital problem with her husband. According to my sister-in-law, my aunty discovered that her husband is having an affair with a young lady from foreign country. What I heard is that the lady was young, gorgeous, have very good social skill and also good skill at taking care of "man". I ama really surprised that this unhappy incident happened to my aunty. I still remembered the day when my uncle proposed to marry my aunty, everyone in the family were so happy. Everyone in the family thought that this is a perfect match! Out of a sudden, I heard that my uncle's heart has changed, he told my aunty that he, as a well known businessman in the society, he cannot live with a lady who is old looking, non fashionable, not sociable....... . What an insult to my aunty?! It seems he won't grow old!

If my uncle is attached to the "image" of "young, pretty and gorgeous" look, definitely, my aunty won't be abe to meet it! Everything in this world is subjected to change! All of us will grow old, the appearance of our physical body will change accordingly. Our muscles will start to sag, our internal organ will start to show sign of degeneration...... . How can one goes against the natural laws?

In my opinion,we have to accept the fact that nothing in this world is permanent! We must make sure that we do not let our mind sways us away from believing that "All conditioned things are Impermanent!". Whatever thing arises in this world are with conditions, e.g. a table, the conditions are : we must buy the wood, we must cut it according to the specification, we must polish the wood............ . Same like conceiving a baby, the conditions are : father and mother must come together, it's the fertile period of the mother ........... . If we do not meet all these conditions, do you think the end results can be met? Same goes to my aunty's situation, if my uncle can accept the the fact that our physical body is subjected to the natural process of change, I do believe they will not come to this type of situation!

" Suffering Is A Condition Created By Our Mind?! "

"We are living in a world of suffering!"

Are we really living in a world of suffering? I believe it depends very much on our own perception and or reasoning!

Let us look at the following examples : A rich man may find that not living in a luxurious house and not driving a luxurious vehicle is suffering, however, for a poor man, they are happy with just a shelter with basic amenities and driving a small car. A big businessman may find that the life of a hawker is suffering, however, the street hawker is happy over their living, they don't have too much "issues and challenges" to face! An alcoholic may find happiness after he has drunk, however for a normal person, he may think that why should his life be controlled by alcohol and to him this is suffering! A superstitious person may find happiness in seeking all sorts of blessings from the supernatural beings and to a realistic and practical person, this is suffering! etc........... .

Suffering is a condition created by our mind. Below are two real life incidences where it proves that suffering is a condition created by our mind:

Incident One

One of my brother friends was diagnosed with prostate cancer recently. The doctor told him and his family that he only has about six months to live! After hearing what the doctor said, he immediately "quarantine" himself in the room. He just wanted to be alone and let the illness to "conquer" him. What he does now is just to come out from the room, take his meal and go back to his room and rest. He does nothing but just rest in bed all the time. He is really in a serious suffering state!

Incident Two

One of my colleagues was also diagnosed with cancer. When the doctor told him he has prostate cancer. He did not feel sad. He smile and told the doctor not worry or feel sad about it. He also told the doctor that he will not let the illness to conquer him. He did not resign from his employment or stop work immediately. He continue to work like nothing had happened to him. He is cheerful, confident and highly motivated everyday. Although everyone in the company were so worried for him, he told us not to worry. He requested us not to treat him like an "alien". His cheerfulness, confident and high self motivation character has won the race. Although the doctor told him he still have six month to live, as at todate ( i.e after two years ) he is still around with us! In fact, the doctor was surprised and told him that his illness has completely recovered. Although this colleague of mine is suffering from a terminal illness, he is not living in a suffering state!

Based on the above two incidences, do you agree with me that " Suffering Is A Condition Created By Our Mind!". Please share your views.

The " How To " Mindset

"It Begins With The End In Mind!"

Personally, I agree with the above statement. However, with an "End In Mind" is not good enough, we must also identify a right process to achieve it. With an "End In Mind" without a right "Process" to support it, it is just like a "Dream"! I have seen many people failed to achieve what they have planned for just because they do not have a right process.

Just take an example of someone who intends to bake a banana cake. With his "vision" of seeing the cake within the next few hours, he goes to the mini-mart to purchase the ingredients. However, if he doesn't know the process of how to : a) mix the ingredients in the right sequence and with the right composition, b) bake the dough with the right temperature and right timing, do you think he can get a good banana cake at the end of the day? I wonder! Another example is the businessman, if he has a big vision to bring his organization from a local level to a world class level, and if he does not identify the right process to do it, do you think he can achieve his dream at the end of the day? As for the student? If he or she has an ambition to be an doctor one day and he does not have the right "study" process, can he achieve his dream?

Many people like to create a "Vision"! Most of them just neglect the importance of identifying the right process to achieve it! I have come across many organizations hanging their "Vision" and "Mission" Statements in their front offices and many areas within their premises, however when I asked their staffs on how they are going to achieve it, they just told me they do not know. Some of them even told me that it is their boss instruction to hang the "Vision" and "Mission" there!

My sharing is that if we have created a vision or set up a goal, do not neglect to identify the right process to achieve it. If we fail to identify the right process, our vision or goal will remain as an "Intention" or just a "Dream"!

As the saying goes, " If you are on the right process, your results will come automatically "!

Any sharings?

All In The State Of Mind!

" Ah Pek ( an address to an elderly Chinese man ), if you take this medicine, you can walk immediately! This medicine is like "battery" water, it will give you the strength and energy to walk. Trust me Ah Pek. I don't cheat you Ah Pek! ". This is the so called "assurance" the hospital assistant gave to an elderly person who had just undergone a surgery.

I was not surprised to see the Ah Pek stand up and walked after he had taken the medicine. I believe many of us may have encountered a similar situation like this. Whenever our "self -confidence" level has dropped, we need some external "assurance or catalyst" to boost back our confidence!

Mind can make wonders! If you believe you can or have full confidence in doing whatever you are doing or intend to do, you will succeed in doing it. However, if you do not have the confidence, you definitely won't be able to achieve the end results!

Faith Healing is a very good example. If the patient himself does not have the confidence in the treatment, I believe the Faith Healer will fail in his effort to treat the person! I believe all these are in the state of our mind!

Let us do an exercise to see how our mind can deceive us, can you count the no. of black dots on the picture as shown on the left? Having difficulty to count? Well, this is eactly how our mind can deceive us! I believe if we don't have a cool and calm mind, we won't be able to make a sound judgement in whatever we do!

If we don't manage our mind, our mind will manage us! If our mind is managing us, how can we see thing in its true sense?

Should We Do Our Part?!

"If you were to go for a long holiday and forget to lock your house, what guarantee can you get from the Divine Being that your house will be safe when you return? This is the question my friend posted to me when I was having tea with him yesterday.

I believe there are two important parts to this question! One part is on the faith on the Divine Being, the other part is on the duty and responsibiity of the person himself! I am not in a position to talk on the faith on the Divine Being, however, I would like to share my views on the duty and responsibility of the person as follows: Why should we make the Divine Being as our security guard? Why should we push our duty and responsibility to the Divine Being? What have we done to ensure our own safety and security? If we were to push everything to the Divine Being, what is the difference between us and the robot? Moreover, by doing this we are going to make the Divine Being to be very very busy! Let us be fair to the Divine Being, we must also do our part! Well, in this context, I salute the free thinkers who do not have a Divine Being to rely on! They really practise Self -Reliance!

I believe as long as human beings do not eradicate this unfavorable habit of pushing duty and responsiblity to others, the world will continue to be in a mess! Let us put our hearts together so that we can work towards eradicating this unfavorable habit and make the world a better place to stay!

What A "Ghostly" Mindset!

I have a friend who told me he will never visit any friend who is in the hospital. I asked him why? He told me that whenever he goes to any hospital, he will fall sick the next day! He also told me that there are many "ghosts" in the hospital disturbing the visitors. Well, as for his explanation on he will fall sick the next day, my reasoning is that it could be due to his body's immunal system is weak. As for his explanation on there are many ghosts in the hospital to disturb visitors, I do not see any reason why the ghosts want to "disturb or victimise" him?

I believe the following has been implanted in his mind ... "ghosts are terrible and horrible, their face are full of blood and very very scary, they will harm people, they will possess your body etc etc ......." Some parents use this to frighten their young children so that they won't simply go anywhere. These parents are really innocent. They do not know by doing this, they have already implanted a wrong concept in the mind of their young children. Their children will be scared of ghosts, have no confidence to walk in the dark, scared of attending funeral etc etc... for the rest of their life! I have seen some of these children even go to the extend of becoming very superstitious later! I believe this friend of mine is also suffering from the same consequences.

If I were to post a question : Which is more harmful, Mankind or Ghosts? What would be your answer? If you were to say is ghost, the next interesting questions I am going to ask are : Have you ever seen a ghost take away many many many human life in one event like a War? Have you ever come across a serial rapist ghost? Have you come across a ghost torturing mankind like putting a hot iron on the body of another human? Have you come across a ghost "tempting" mankind to "hook" on to drugs? I haven't seen or come across any of the above incidences before. If you have come across, I do hope you can share your view.

The strong inclination of human beings towards sensual and sexual pleasure have blown off their mind! They can't really differentiate what is wrong and what is right! They will just do whatever that can satisfy their sensual and sexual pleasure. They couldn''t be bothered about whether the method they use to get what they want is wrong or right! They can be very cruel at time just to get what they want! Well, as for the ghosts, they are already in the in the "suffering" state, if they are in the suffering state, how can they have the "free" time to disturb mankind? On the contrary, if the ghosts are not in the suffering state, they will be at a "happy" state! If they are in the happy state, why should they create trouble for themselves by disturbing mankind??? I really do not understand!

Anyway, I believe human beings already have enough "human problem" to cope with. Can we find a way to treat all ghosts like Casper - the friendly ghost so that all beings, be it human beings or other beings can live in peace in this beautiful world! If I am not wrong, I remember some religious school taught that we must love our enemies so that our love will "melt" the heart of our enemies! Please share your view.

Can "Greed" Kill Mankind?

I received the information on "New Cheating Scam" in my mail box almost everyday. The DJs' in the radio station are broadcasting it everyday. The media are publishing the warning or alert messages in their newsapaper or magazines everyday. However, people are still succumbed to all these cheating scam! Will there be an end to all this unwholsome act by the unscrupulous group? Can people control their greed so that they are not succumbed to all these cheating scam?

Greed, I believe is a "critical illness" which is more harmful than Cancer! However, people just ignore it. I believe all of us are aware that researchers are trying their utmost best to develop new medicines to control or cure the cancer patients. However, I still have not come across any researchers who are finding ways to cure the "Greed" of the people! As all of us are aware, most of the problems in this beautiful world are caused by the "greed" of mankind! Most of the sickness especially mental sicknesses are also caused by "greed" of mankind! What had been done to remedy or safeguard this situation? I do not know.

Most of the medical professionals will tell us that stress can create many sickness for mankind. What is the root cause of "Stress"? One way or another, it is either directly or indirectly linked to human greed!

Just take the example of the cheating scam, if the "victims" were not greedy or thinking of getting fast and easy money, do you think they will fall in to the trap? After they had fallen into the trap, their money are gone and when this happens, their livelihood were affected etc .. . I can imagine the trauma they have to go through. Why can't they have a sound mind when temptation arises?

Watch out for our "Greed"! When it arises in your mind, make sure you are aware it is coming your way and it is going to hurt you . Do not try to "brush" it aside, watch the rising of the thought in your mind! Tell yourself that greed is in your mind, do not respond to it, allow it to stay idle in your mind for few minutes, and gradually as your mind is not responding, "Greed " will subside from your mind accordingly.

Any views on the above? Please share.