Dhamma Delights

Stoning Adulterers

2012-01-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

An Iranian woman, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi, reportedly faces being stoned to death for having an affair with a married man, Jafar Kiani. Punishment by stoning probably is not meted just on adulterers. People could be stoned for various reason including blaspheming, believing in another God and even for being not a virgin on the wedding night. Christians in ancient times, probably do not stone adulterers. In the mount of Olives, a woman said to have commited adultery was brought to Jesus and since Moses was said to have commanded that adulterers be stoned, Jesus's opinion was sought as to what to do. It was in the mount of Olives then that Jesus had uttered this famous line: He that is without sin, let him first cast a stone. To the woman, Jesus had said that he did not condemn her and had then asked her to go and sin no more. I suppose that is what the third of the five Buddhist precepts is all about. Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi, I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct. There probably has never been a set Buddhist law that states that adulterers should be stoned or be punished in any other way. Indeed if adulterers are sinners, Karma probably would take care of them.

An Evil Act

2011-12-18T23:53:00.001-08:00

When a woman cut off the penis of a man, it would not always be a case of adultery, or so I found out from this report about a California woman, Catherine Kieu who reportedly was accused of cutting off a man's penis whom she had tied to a bed. There had been an argument between the woman and the 60-year-old victim earlier over a future house guest's visit. As in the case of the first of the five Buddhist precepts, Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi where taking the life of a living being, man and animal included, is not encouraged, the act probably stems from a thought. To break the first precept, there ought to be a being and a thought to kill that precede the act of killing. Obviously, the California woman had prior to cutting off the being' s penis, been ruffled in her thoughts. The mind, Buddha said, is the forerunner of an action and when there is anger in the mind, there is a high possibilty that an evil act may follow. Not necessarily, killing.

Sons and Parents

2011-11-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

D.H Lawrence perhaps would have written about Sons and Parents instead of Sons and Lovers if he had read about this man in Singapore who reportedly paid his sick parents RM4,994 to move out of his flat. The man was said to have even made the parents sign documents , promising not to return to the flat. Treating ailing parents miserably perhaps is not something new. A Jataka tale tells of a man, Vasitthaka who takes his ailing father out to the cemetery, digs a hole with the intention of breaking his head with a spade but is brought to his senses by his young son. The latter who has gone with him to the cemetery has dug another similar hole and when asked why he has done that, replied:

I too, when thou art aged, father mine,

Will treat my father as thou treatest thine;

Following the custom of the family

Deep in a pit I too will bury thee..

This tale is food for thought, isn't it?

Quotes to Ponder: Buddha

2011-11-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

* Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived wisely.

*Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.

*The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness.

*Look within, thou art the Buddha.

*Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others

Burglar Kids

2011-11-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

You'd probably take it with a pinch of salt that the little Cortez children in Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids (inset) could be involved in espionage and so adept, too. Children, nowadays probably could be whatever they want to be, even burglars. In Putrajaya, Malaysia two boys, aged seven and eight, skipped classes and broke into 26 homes in a six-month period, stealing money, shoes, caps, mobile phones among other things. Now, it is not a matter of the kids having broken the second of the Buddhist Five Precepts: Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given. The police had said the two burglar kids were too young to be charged. Come to think of it, when it is the Buddhist Five Precepts for laypeople, can a person be too young to undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life, from taking what is not given, to abstain from sexual misconduct, false speech and intoxicants?

Some Mothers

2011-10-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

In US, a 33-year-old mother offered her 13-year-old daughter's virginity to a man for US$10,000.In Kuala Lumpur, a mother beats her seven-year-old son to stop him from disturbing her when she was entertaining her clients. Yet another took her 14-year old daughter out of school and forced her to work as a masseuse by day and prostitute by night while the other working at a restaurant in Bandar Baru Selayang tossed her newborn baby girl out of a third-floor flat. Some mothers do really make you wonder about what Buddha said: If a person carries his father on his right shoulder and his mother on his left shoulder and they urinated and defecated while there and the person supported both parents with precious and exotic clothing and food, that person will still not have returned one moment of the parents' kindness. Do some mothers really deserve this honour indeed!

Children Dhamma: Talking about the Dhamma

2011-10-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

You look at him and you probably wouldn't think he looks smart, weird perhaps - but Zhang Xinyang(inset) who at 13, did his Master degree at Beijing University of Technology and accepted by Beihang University to study doctorate in mathematics at 16, had in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), proven himself to be not just childish, unreasonable but also plain selfish. The genius had occasionaly threatened to stop his studies if his parents refused to buy an apartment for him in Beijing. Zhang's father, Hui Xiang, an ordinary middle-income civil servant from Liaoning province, has educated his son to be an active learner and encouraged him to think and question. The boy reportedly could talk about serious topics from the Iraq war to city image. Probably, you'd wonder if he could talk about the Dhamma?

Taking a Bite out of an Apple

2011-10-18T21:09:00.000-07:00

The co-founder of Apple Inc. and the ex-chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios, the late Steve Jobs (inset), reportedly had leanings for Buddhist teachings. That's not half as interesting as this piece of news - On Sunday, a ritual, supposedly Buddhist, was held in Penang, Malaysia to hasten Steve Jobs's reincarnation. About forty people took a bite of an apple, observed three minutes silence and then threw the apple into the sea. It seems that a temple medium Wong Sao Tian had had a vision of Mazu who told him to grieve over Jobs's death. Mazu (妈祖), sometimes, called Matsu, is a popular Chinese goddess of the sea who protects fishermen and sailors. The Federation of Taoist Associations in Malaysia and several other Buddhist groups in the country had criticised the ritual as being ridiculous. One cannot deny that there are rituals in present day Buddhism. Buddhist rituals probably must have this upaya characteristic in them. Upaya is Sanskrit for skillful means and there are therefore, Buddhists who are of the opinion that the rituals are tools to help one to gain enlightenment. That aside, have you wonder for once if Buddha would encourage rituals in our life, one like taking a bite out of an apple?

Raping a Wife

2011-09-30T22:49:00.000-07:00

In Pandan Indah in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, a husband dragged his 29-year-old wife into a room, tied her up and then raped her. The man had lost his temper when his wife refused to accompany him to her mother's home for a feast. I thought that was almost simliar to what Tony Leung Leung Ka-fai ( 梁家辉), the three-time Hong Kong Film Award-winning actor did to British actress, Jane March in Jean-Jacques Annaud's movie, The Lover. Of course, in the movie, Tony did not drag or tie up Jane; perhaps, he did not even rape her but he did get furious and let off steam by bedding her. Now, when it comes to the four letter word, Rape, even if it is done to a wife, I suppose it should be a violation of one of the Buddhist Five Precepts: Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct. Is there any law that allows a man to do nasty things to his wife?

Grandfather

2011-09-29T23:33:00.001-07:00

I remember a heartwarming Taiwanese drama starring Sylvia Chang Ai Chia and Ker Chun Xiong with the simple title Wo de ye ye (My grandfather) about an old man suffering from Alzheimer' s disease under the care of his daughter-in-law. The 60-year-old grandfather in Kuantan, Malaysia who fractured his ribs after leaping from the fourth floor of a hotel however, was a healthy man who was not suffering from any disease. He has no record of depression and was not suicidal before and had therefore caught his family by surprise when in the midst of having breakfast, he left his wife, children and grandchildren just to jump from the fourth floor of the hotel. Would that perhaps remind you of King Pasenadi's third dream where cows were seen suckling the milk of calves they had borne? That was supposed to augur the days when there is no respect for the old folks and the destitute who had then to exist by favour of their own children.

Yes to Crimes!

2011-09-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

I was in Bayview Hotel in Batu Feringghi, Penang when I chanced upon the local daily, The New Sunday Times declaring on its front page No to Hudud. Hudud, by the way, refers to Islamic law which cites theft, highway robbery,illegal sexual intercourse (zina), false accusation of zina, drinking alcohol and apostasy including blasphemy as offenses which need to be punished. Punishments include capital punishments by sword or crucifixion (for highway robbery with homicide), by stoning (for zina' when the offenders are mature, married Muslims), amputation of hands or feet (for theft and highway robbery without homicide) and flogging with a varying number of strokes (for drinking and zina when the offenders are unmarried or not Muslims, and false accusations of zina). If one is familiar with the pañca-sikkhāpada, that is the Buddhist five precepts:
Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi, Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi, Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyām, Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi- I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life, I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given, I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct, I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech,I undertake the training rule to abstain from fermented drink that causes heedlessness, one would think that the offences in Hudud are mostly in accordance with the Buddhist precepts, except perhaps for apostasy and blasphemy, too if one does not consider the latter a form of false speech. While the the President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing (inset), tells non-Muslims to support Hudud in Kelantan, saying though that it should be implemented for Muslims only, it has seemed all so quiet among the Buddhist circle. I suppose that should not be because of indifference or a nod of approval for crimes. The law of Karma may be there to deal with the breaking of the precepts but if some people choose to punish criminals with harsh punishment, would that strike fear into the hearts of the innocents? Would the innocents then vote for a Yes to Crimes?

Some Wood

2011-09-11T19:52:00.001-07:00

Would you pay a few thousand dollars for a piece of wood? Not too long ago, there was a report that this piece of wood called teras gemungga has become popular among local artistes and VIPs in Malaysia. A 72-year-old collector, Sayuti Harun, also known as Pok De, said people were willing to pay as much as RM2,000 for the wood as it could be used to protect a person from being charmed and to ward off evil spirits. I suppose that's similar to the practice of paying thousand of dollars for a Buddhist amulet. Occasionaly, one would hear of Chinese businessmen paying a fortune for Buddhist amulets from Thailand; especially those produced by some highly respected Thai monks. The amulets may have various functions, to protect one from being charm, to ward off evil spirits, to attract the opposite sex, to make one bullet-proof etc. The Jatukham Rammathep, for instance, is an amulet from Thailand which is supposed to protect and bring good fortune to the bearer. A woman reportedly got trampled to death in a rush to acquire reservations for a batch of Jatukham Rammathep in Thailand. You'd probably wonder if this make sense when you consider one of Buddha's quote on self reliance: The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed. Would Buddha approve of amulets?

Angry about Angry Birds

2011-09-09T00:53:00.000-07:00

What's this about Angry Birds? Just the other day, a young girl told me she had played the puzzle video game with her little niece into the wee morning. The game which was designed by Finnish Rovio Mobile has become such a hit that it has also made this year's Mooncake Festival rather special. You could now see not just the stylish wingless birds on mooncakes but also on lanterns. In fact, my own niece molded some of her mooncakes into the shape of the little birds, which I suspect was just to surprise and please her little daughter. I suppose Angry Birds would bring lots of cheers to the Chinese this year round; but considering that in the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs with the sole intention of destroying them, do you suppose for once that it would make some Buddhists angry and send them into a stampede or some witchhunt or something. Afterall, this thing about destroying of pigs does not really come well with the first of the Buddhist Five Precepts: Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking life.

Forbidden Apple

2011-09-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

You'd think that thieves are great pretenders. There is a report that some come as carpet cleaners or wiremen to steal. Some even carry expensive and hig-tech drilling equipment in their MPVs or classic cars so that they can bore holes through the walls of banks, pawn shops or jewellery shops where they stand to cart away million dollars worth of cash and valuables. With loots like that, it is no wonder that one could forget this second Buddhist precept: Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given. It is not a matter of one getting a bite of the forbidden apple.

Overzealous

2011-08-16T00:13:00.000-07:00

Malaysia's Education Ministry reportedly shut down a tuition centre at Old Klang Road in Kuala Lumpur which provided free English tuition. Besides religious recreation, singing of Christian songs had been used as teaching tools there. The centre was not just without a permit but there was fear that three Muslim students studying there could be proselytised. Proselytising Muslims, by the way, is an offence in Malaysia. The incident has prompted Malay rights group Perkasa to demand a ban on Christian teachers from national schools, which is perhaps understandable. Before,there had always been a few cases of especially overzealous born-again Christian teachers who preached a little during lessons, brought down the religious beliefs of others even and on weekends, brought their charges of other faith to churches. Since their charges are either Taiosts or Buddhists, that of course, wasn't an offence. There has never been a problem with being overzealous, not even with overzealous religious bigots.

Buddhist 'Non-Halal' Food

2011-08-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

Pure Creamery Butter-Golden Churn sold in Malaysia is considered a non-halal food. That means Muslim are not to consume the food. The Sarawak Islamic Religious Department had found pig DNA among its content. Not too long ago, the local Star paper had made an apology for having caused offence , distress even, to its Muslim readers. The Home Ministry had called up the Group Chief Editor for running buka puasa articles together with stories on non-halal restaurants. The paper had been described to be rather insensitive for under Ramadan delights, the paper had promoted non-halal restaurants and had even included pictures of them. Ramadan, by the way, is the Islamic month of fasting. Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and sexual intimacy with their partners during the day on this month and learn about patience, spirituality, humility and submissiveness to God. Talking about food, there ought to be food that are non-halal to Buddhists,too. Some Buddhists, for example, do not take beef. That could stand for non-halal, don't you think?

Is any food here that is not permissible to Buddhists?

Penang's Assam Laksa...
Hawaii's Kalua Pig...

Thailand's Massaman Curry...

Singapore's Chilli Crab...

China's Peking Duck...

Angry Bird Mooncake...

Stand Up

2011-08-05T21:47:00.000-07:00

Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in the Klang Valley was raided recently by a group of between 20 and 30 police officers and officers from the Islamic religious department. Local church leaders came out strongly against the raid which was said to have disrupted the dinner to raise funds for Malaysians living with HIV but was thought to have been an activity to proselytize Muslims. Two local dailies then claimed that Christians conducted welfare activities to convert needy Muslims and the Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) challenged the dailies to prove their claims. Its general secretary Reverend Dr Hermen Shastri said all religious communities did good work as a religious obligation to serve the destitute and the marginalised. The church senior pastor Dr Daniel Ho had said that the trespassers had subjected the dinner guests to undue harassment and Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing had also called on the religious departments to either furnish proof of their claims or to apologize. When I visited Iran years ago, an Iranian man whom we met said there used to be Buddhists in Iran. In the island of Java in Indonesia, Borobudur stands tall but the inhabitants in the vicinity are all Muslims. Afghanistan used to have the Bamiyan Buddhas to boast off but not the Buddhists who built them. It probably makes one wonder if Buddhist monks or their leaders for that matter, stand up.

Look Deeply

2011-08-02T00:48:00.001-07:00

In Kuantan, Malaysia, two robbers tried to break into a pawnshop by drilling through its ceiling. They however, drilled into the wrong room and had to leave empty-handed. That probably tells about nirvana. In searching for a solution to solve life's woes, often we read of Prince Siddhartha and a group of five companions led by Kaundinya depriving themselves of worldly goods, including food and practising self-mortification. The prince nearly starved to death and only when he collapsed in a river and almost drowned did he begin to reconsider the path he took. Somewhere in a Buddhist forum was a comment that claimed that only hard core Buddhists will achieve enligtenment. A person purportedly must not have sex and alcohol too and there should also be no eating for pleasure. Difficult indeed is the Noble Eightfold Path and one certainly has to look deeply!

It Takes Two

2011-07-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

Once, a 45-year-old woman found this 30-year-old Indonesian woman, Yati, walking alone in the streets, crying. The latter had been thrown out by her employer who had accused her of seducing her husband. The woman took the Indonesian woman into her home and for months, they lived together with the former's husband under the same roof. One day, the woman saw her husband's motorcycle parked at a flat. She suspected that Malek, her husband, was having an affair with the Indonesian woman and promptly contacted the religious authorities who with the anti-vice officers, raided the flat. The Indonesian woman was booked for not having a valid travel document but officers also found that the Indonesian woman and her husband were legally married. Could this be a case where two of the Buddhist Five Precepts for layman are broken: Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given.Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi. I undertake the training rule to abstain from sexual misconduct.

Toilet without Doors

2011-07-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Fancy this! Some male students in a secondary school in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan destroyed the doors of the school toilet and the school punished them by removing all the doors in its male toilets. You'd wonder what kind of education is being provided by schools these days but that aside, I was actually reminded of someone saying that a man, because of having a body, stands to suffer all sorts of diseases. That ultimately leads to the contemplation on anattā or anātman, this idea of non-self in Buddhism which states that all things perceived by the senses are not really I or mine and one should not cling to them. According to the Anatta-Lakkhana Sutta, the Buddha had said, The body, O Monks, is not the Self. Sensation is not the Self. Perception is not the Self. The mental constructions are not the Self. And neither is consciousness the Self. Perceiving this, O Monks, the disciple sets no value on the body, or on consciousness. Setting no value on them, he becomes free of passions and he is liberated. The knowledge of liberation arises there within him. And then he knows that he has done what has to be done, that he has lived the holy life, that he is no longer becoming this or that, that his rebirth is destroyed. Perhaps, this concept would render one less egoistic and more accepting of what life has to offer but pray, please tell: What good would be a toilet without doors?

Bundles of Sufferings

2011-07-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

82-year-old Ting Ah Moi made headlines when she pined for 67-year-old Khong Chee Fook, a married temple priest. In a press conference, the former expressed her love for the latter, saying that she had only eyes for him but the priest merely meditated. He would have nothing to do with her.Ting lives alone and claims that her surviving children had abandoned her, too. Just a few days ago, a friend told of a Buddhist couple who work and play hard but choose not to have children. The couple claim having children tantamounts to bringing them to a world of samsara. That, I suppose is a Buddhist influence, a negative one, perhaps; but with the demands made by children nowadays, maybe having children means suffering not so much to the children but to the parents themselves. Then of course, we often hear of children being called bundles of joys and not bundles of sufferings, don't we?

Places: Golden Temple of Dambulla

2011-07-06T21:09:00.001-07:00

Sri Lanka is a lovely place to visit if you like temples and especially ancient ones at that. Being a Buddhist country, you'd of course expect to see lots of Buddhist temples and stupas. The Golden Temple of Dambulla or Dambulla cave temple in the city of Dambulla in Matale District has been accorded a World Heritage Site in 1991 and is one is the largest and best-preserved cave temple complex in Sri Lanka. There are more than 80 documented caves here but the major attractions are spread over 5 caves. King Valagambahu, a king of the Sri Lanka's Anuradhapura Kingdom is said to have converted the caves into a temple in the 1st century BC and later, many other kings improved on it, turning it into a major religious centre. The temple is still functional today and I suppose, ladies are not allowed to have their head covered when they visit the temple. I remember a lady Muslim friend being turned away from another temple for wearing a scarf. When she saw a Christian nun being allowed in, she definitely was not happy. The Malay lady felt discriminated and who in the world like that?

Which T-shirt do you think is suitable to be worn in a Buddhist temple or other holy places for that matter?

Great Expectations

2011-07-02T06:13:00.000-07:00

A group of women NGOs led by beautician and Malaysian Beauty Therapy Association president Datin Clara Chee was outraged over the rising number of massage parlours in Selangor because these places, they said, had become vice dens and had caused much heartbreak to many innocent lives when husbands, fathers and sons frequent the places. As the president put it: Family values are affected and this is bad for the moral fibre of society. Women probably expect a lot from men and in Buddhist teaching, husbands indeed have to be tender, loyal, courteous, fair, honest and provide security, good companionship and moral support to the wife. In return, the wife have to love, be attentive, faithful, thrifty, care for the children, provide the meals and calm the man down when he is upset and be obligated to the family and be sweet in everything. Modern women probably are sweet in something.

Cows and Calves

2011-06-18T01:22:00.000-07:00

A 40-year-old man in Serdang, Malaysia, reportedly chased his parents out of their house after he married a 20-year-old China national. The parents who were aged 69 and 65 were locked out of the house they had been staying in for over 10 years. Children do not just lock out their parents. In Richmond, Texas, a son was on trial for hiring people to kill his mother and brother. His parents had no idea that their son had planned for their death. In fact, they had just given him an expensive Rolex watch and had had a special dinner together to celebrate the son's graduation. Talk about people having no respect for the old - King Pasenadi in his third dream had this scene of cows suckling the milk of calves they had borne. It is supposed to foretell the days when young people do not respect the old. Then, old folks,destitute and dependent supposedly will have to exist by favour of their children. I supposed it the calves have milk, it's not really bad if they allow the cows to suckle...

Hell

2011-06-16T01:31:00.000-07:00

Hell, according to many religions is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. As it is, hell sounds like a place for people who have done something wrong but in some religions, good people probably go to hell too since it is said that sinners and non-believers would not be able to go to Heaven. Heaven, by the way has often been described as the holiest place a person can go to after death and for a good person not being able to go there for just being a non-believer sounds rather unfair. Besides Heaven and Hell, there are other afterlife destinations like Purgatory, Paradise, Naraka, and Limbo. The question now perhaps, is where are these places. Finding them perhaps is not as simple as finding X as in algebra or geometry. That apart, you'd probably wondr if there is a Buddhist hell...