29 June 2012

Teacher in the Pursuit of Happiness


The talk in town recently involved the suspicion of corrupted practises by a group of religious leaders from the City Harvest Church (CHC). Reading various reports and argument from both camps who defended and condemned him respectively, I tweeted the following:

“The corruption of religious leaders is worse than secular. Not just betrayal of material trust but distortion in the pursuit of happiness.”

At the time of writing, these leaders from CHC are being investigated. The verdict is yet to be announced. But that is not of my main concern with this blog entry. If they are innocent, I congratulate them. But if they are guilty, I am of the mind that their crime is worse than mere commercial fraud.

There was this famous quote attributed to John Lennon which reads, “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” 

In this adventure we know as life, there is no pursuit more important than the pursuit of happiness. Not the pursuit of health, wealth, honour or glory. Happiness!

And we have teachers for many things. For example, we have teachers in our pursuit of knowledge, proper behaviour and professionalism. But teachers in our pursuit of happiness have to be accord the highest seat of respect. And the ones playing the roles of teachers in the pursuit of happiness are often the religious leaders. Rationally, we know that there are both good and bad teachers in all fields. And we are well-advised to learn from teachers with open yet discerning minds. However, that does not diminish the responsibility of the teachers to live up to their teachings. As such, the responsibility of a religious leader is massive.

Corruption in any field is bad. But to me, the corruption in the business of providing spiritual guidance has to be the ultimate evil for it actually contributes to the confusion and distortions to followers’ pursuit of happiness. It cannot be forgiven. This is why I felt that spiritual leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and Daisaku Ikeda, who held themselves to high standards of morality, are the true shining gems of humanity.





Wisdom to discern good from evil. That is what all involved needs to cultivate.

21 June 2012

爱让你看到 - cover




This was the theme song for Chingay 2012.

This song was also recently used to encourage my fellow trainers for NDP 2012. Recording it here to further encourage them electronically.

"Winter will always turn to Spring" - Nichiren Daishonin

= = = = =


爱让你看到 -- original by 杨海涛 & 蔡淳佳


Verse 1:
黑夜的黑 让那烛火变得更明亮
(The dark of dark nights makes the candle light brighter)
大雨的大 让雨伞更坚强
(The stormy of stormy rain makes the umbrella stronger)
忙碌地为谁撑着伞 心就会更晴朗
(The heart becomes cheerful when holding the umbrella for others)
微弱也能是一种光
(Weakness can also be a light)

Verse 2:
冷风的冷 让那拥抱可以更温暖
(The cold of cold winds makes embraces warmer)
难过的难 让陪伴可以是港湾
(The hard of hard times makes companionship a harbor)
忙碌地为谁化成桨 心就会更勇敢
(The heart becomes brave when rowing the oars for others)
我们一起越过千层的浪
(We overcome layers of waves)

Chorus:
爱让你看到人海里的孤岛
(Love lets you see the lonely island among sea of men)
爱让你听到谁心里雪融了 你知道
(Love lets you hear the thawing of hearts)
在这世界上总会有人说冬来了
(When others cries that Winter is harsh)
伸出手 让春天对他笑
(Let us reach out and Spring will smile upon them)