'The World Is Yours to Change' (Part Four)

Poverty

Something to very SERIOUSLY think about.

'The World Is Yours to Change' (Part Three)

Video by NYPSD for SD Concert 2007

'The World Is Yours to Change' (Part Two)

Just waiting for my actual In-Camp Training from 20th September to 6 October. The prospect of entering an alternative life for slightly more than 2 weeks creates an unreal sense of existence. It is weird.

Will be blogging more after 6 October. At the mean time, check out http://theworldisyourstochange.wordpress.com/

Save the World!

You can, if only you believe it.

Too Easy

Going back camp for a route march today. Really.. What's the point? It's too easy.

Teachers Day 2007

On the evening of 1st September, I attended a concert by Mr Nestor Torres who flew to Singapore to encourage our local Soka Gakkai members with his music. Among the music played was the “Wonderful Law of Life” which was inspired by the Lotus Sutra.

During the concert, he also shared that our lives contain the Buddha Nature like the sun (Good). And it is only when the sun struggle to shine through the dark clouds which represent our fundamental darkness (Evil) can we enjoy the beautiful rainbow of hope and values. It was a brilliant analogy.

That evening, as I thought about this year’s Teachers Day, I decided to write again to the man who had influence me most in my life. This man is my mentor, Dr Daisaku Ikeda. He is definitely the most important teacher in my life.

Sensei! Happy Teachers Day!! And thank you for all that you had taught me.

What makes us happy?

According to recent scientific studies, one of the greatest sources of happiness is the ability to feel gratitude. In the studies, feeling gratitude is shown to improve health and bring about a speedier recovery of people with chronic diseases. Most grateful people have high self-esteem and low rates of depression, stress and negative moods. They are more likely to be resilient, and they seem to have an easier time overcoming obstacles. They are also less likely to make negative comparisons with others or what others have.

Gratitude cultivates an individual’s sense of interconnectedness and strengthens social ties. It also increases one’s sense of personal worth.

Gratitude is more than a pleasant feeling; it is also motivating. Gratitude motivates people to do good, to share and increase the good and kindness they have received. Individuals who can feel grateful, engage more frequently in kind, supportive and helpful behaviors. Life becomes complete when we are able to give to others what we ourselves received in the past. In short, it is gratitude that enables us to be fully human.

I am really grateful to my mentor.

Please allow me end this entry by sharing another poem by my mentor:

Having battles to fight
makes life exciting.
Encountering great difficulties
provides us opportunities
to develop our Buddhahood.
By confronting and
overcoming every obstacles,
we enable our Buddhahood
to shine brilliantly within our lives.