“Half of the earth is water; our body is three-quarters water. Water represents the interface between the 4th dimension in which we live and the 5th dimensional sphere of our soul. Many studies have shown subtle effects of healers upon hydrogen bonding and infrared absorption of water. None of these scientific studies can compare with the beauty and clear messages shown by Dr. Emoto’s elegant work. The impact of thought and beauty has never before been demonstrated so well.”
C. Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D.
Founding President, American Holistic Medical Association
President. Holos University Graduate Seminary
Author of 295 publications, including Sacred Healing

I wasn’t aware of the work of Japanese scientist Dr. Masaru Emoto until a member sent me an email a couple of days ago, but I thought it would be interesting to share with you.

Since 1992 he’s been conducting experiments, exposing water to different words, pictures or music, and then examining and photographing the frozen crystals under a microscope.

He’s written a series of books, the most famous of which is “Messages from Water”.

What he’s found is that water is very much affected by our words and actions.

Here’s an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

And here’s some of his images:

Water exposed to Mozart Symphony

Water told “you make me sick”

Water exposed to words “Love and Gratitude”

Water exposed to heavy metal music.

Water exposed to picture of cherry blossom (sakura)

The implications of this research create a new awareness of how we can positively impact the earth and our personal health. The success of his books outside Japan has been remarkable. Dr. Emoto has been called to lecture around the world as a result and has conducted live experiments both in Japan and Europe as well as in the US to show how indeed our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions as humans deeply impact the environment.

On this website back in November last year, we mentioned the Charter for Compassion, a global endeavor to celebrate compassion and promote collaboration between the world’s religions.

That Charter will be unveiled on November 12th, but in the meantime I wanted to point you towards the TED site, which currently has six short talks on compassion from six different perspectives — from a Rabbi, an Imam, a Reverend, a Tenzin, a Swami and a secular voice of compassion. Together, these six speakers bear witness to the fact that compassion and the Golden Rule lie at the heart of all religion and all morality.

When you’re done watching, we’d love you to leave us a comment here to tell us what you thought.

Find out more at the Charter for Compassion website.

Once a year, you come together to help me mark Vesak in our unique way. We offer chants to remind us all of the Buddha, His life, and His teachings. Over the past two years, we have slowly but surely translated these chants into English and simplified Chinese for the benefit of our members and friends, young and old. Take the time while you are on the site to reflect on these chants when they are being sung.

For the past two years, I have challenged you to focus on developing a “one heart”. It is now time to move to an easily forgotten value of “cherish”. Cherish is central to our faith here in this Shrine.

My Master taught me this value and I like now to impart that to you – a value that is central to the philosophy of our Shrine and applies to everyone; male or female, young or old, Buddhists or non Buddhists. There is benefit when one understands and practises this value of cherishing.

So how do we cherish? Cherishing is easier understood through an example. When I was with my Master, he would remind me that we must cherish everything; we cannot be wasteful – be it food, things we use. It doesn’t matter whether they are things you buy or what others have given you. We must still cherish them all the same. It doesn’t matter if you are financially well; we still cannot waste nor dispose of things just because they are old or out of fashion.

I remember how he led by example. During meal times he would very carefully place a banana leaf on the table, unfolding it mindfully before gently placing the food. He was much focused and into the present moment. After consuming the meal, he would again, with a focused mind, gently clean the leaf, folding it back carefully, setting it aside for later use. I remember clearly how he would also use the seeds of the bitter gourd. He would explain that while the seeds were hard to digest, we can cook them in soup and extract their nutrients. Nothing goes to waste.

“Cherish” is not limited to just tangible objects. It is not only about treasuring the holy water like how we would hold dear the last drop of water during a drought but also our faith. We come from a unique Buddhist lineage where the community is small and closely guarded. Evangelization is not part of our doctrine and we ought to cherish this opportunity to be part of this community. We must cherish the principles and methods that are embodied in our Buddhist track.

We should also cherish the community of members and followers like you. We must walk along this path harmoniously; cherishing one another; helping each other unconditionally notwithstanding their functional lines. We should render help to each other like we would to a family member.

“There is worth in everything; one should not discard just based on face value”, putting it in another way, “为天地惜物业” – “respect the earth and treasure what it holds”. This is the principle that has been central to our Shrine’s track of Buddhism for generations. It is not just about environmentalism but incorporates treasuring relationships and faith. It is also the foundation upon which the value of “Cherish” is built. All my spiritual objects have been handed down from generations beyond me. This is the key philosophy of our Shrine and I urge you to reflect on this and put it into practice in your own daily life.

一年一度，大家又聚集一堂，以独特的方式帮助我筹备卫塞节。我们吟诵经典、回想佛祖的一生及其谆谆教诲。在过去两年中，我们陆续将经文翻译成英文和简体中文，以方便我们的信徒及朋友、青年和老人分享。在此聆听诵经时，请仔细回想经文。

在过去两年中，我鼓励大家全力发展“一心”活动。今年的庆典主题则为常被人们遗忘的“珍惜”的价值。珍惜是本堂的信仰中心。

我的师傅曾向我传授这一价值观，现在我希望与大家分享——这一价值观是本堂的哲学中心，适用于每个人；无论男女老幼，佛教徒或非佛教徒。一旦我们理解和实践珍惜的价值，将受益无穷。

那么，我们应该如何珍惜？让我们通过示例来更好地理解它。我师傅在世时，他提醒我：必须珍惜一切；不能浪费食物或任何用品。无论是自己购买，还是别人赠送的东西。我们都必须同样地珍惜看待。即使经济宽裕；我们也不能浪费；或仅因为用旧了或不流行而随意处置任何物品。

我还记得他如何以身作则。用餐时，他会将香蕉叶小心地放在桌上，仔细展开，然后轻轻放上食物。他异常专注的神态让我记忆犹新。用餐结束后，他会轻轻清洁叶片，仔细折叠，然后收好以备日后使用。我还清楚地记得他如何使用苦瓜籽。他解释说，瓜籽很难消化，我们可以放在汤里煮，吸取它们的营养。不能浪费任何东西。

“珍惜”不局限于有形事物。不仅要像手捧旱灾中最后一滴甘露一样珍惜圣水，还要珍惜我们的信仰。我们来自一个独特的佛教宗系，社群规模很小但受到了严密保护。福音传道不是我们教义的一部分，但我们应该珍惜这一机会，成为社群的一员。我们必须珍惜向佛之路中包含的原则和方法。

我们还应该珍惜社群成员和像你们一样的信徒。我们必须和睦相处，共同前进；珍惜彼此；无条件帮助彼此，不求回报。我们应该像帮助家人一样帮助彼此。

“万物皆有价值；人们不能仅凭表面价值即进行抛弃”，换言之，“为天地惜物业”——“尊重地球，珍惜其所有”。这是本堂代代相传的向佛之路的中心原则。这不仅关系到环境保护，也结合了珍惜其关系和信仰。它也是“珍惜”价值的创建基础。我所有的祭祀用品都由经前辈代代相传。这是本堂的主要哲学，希望你们能将其发扬光大，应用到日常生活中。

The Giver was alone and the Gift unused; the Giver felt lonely and sought to find someone worthy of the Gift.

The Rebel came along and saw the Gift the Giver possessed and desired the Gift for himself. Rather than ask the Giver for the Gift, or ask what the Giver wanted for the Gift, the Rebel decided that social rules did not apply to him and simply said, “Give me the Gift.”

The Giver knew that the Gift was fragile and would be destroyed if mistreated, and did not trust the Rebel, for how many of those who are impolite are also delicate? But the Giver did not wish to offend and so said to the Rebel, “I am sorry, but this Gift is for someone else.”

The Rebel grew angry and blustered, “But I deserve the Gift. I am special and I deserve that things be given to me.”

The Giver, glad to have trusted her first instinct, merely repeated, “I am sorry but this Gift is for someone else.”

And the Rebel, still complaining, went his way.

The Giver sat under a willow tree contemplating the Gift and wondering about the qualities needed to really appreciate the Gift. As she was sitting there, the sun and the breeze and the sound of the creek below lulled her into a doze.

The Thief, who had overheard the Rebel and Giver, was waiting for just this moment. Dashing out from behind a nearby bush, he made a grab for the Gift; grasping it, he started to run away.

The Giver, however, was awakened by this and reached out to stop the Thief. “Give that back!” cried the Giver. “It is not yours! You have no right!” So saying, she reached out, trying to retrieve the Gift.

The Thief said, “I do not care if it was not mine. I have possession of it so it is now my property.” And so saying, he pulled again at the Gift, hoping to wrench it from the Giver.

In the ensuing struggle, the Gift was fouled, battered, and broken. The Thief, deciding he did not want a damaged Gift, finally let go and said, “You keep it, it is now worthless.”

The Giver cried at the state of the Gift which she had hoped to find someone worthy of; it was dirty, pieces were missing and scattered in the grass around her, and the intact parts were bent and dented. She began to believe the Thief’s assessment of the Gift; perhaps it no longer mattered who it belonged to, worthless as it was.

But then she noticed that her tears made clean streaks on the Gift as they fell, and she thought that perhaps if some of it could be cleaned, all of it could; perhaps she could make her Gift have worth once again. She took the Gift and its broken pieces to the creek where she began to wash them.

The Gift was easy to clean, but in trying to wash the pieces that had been broken from it, the Giver lost one. She began to lose hope again. Yet she was still determined to try to repair the Gift.

Hours passed as she fit the pieces back together where they would stay. Some pieces she could not make stay, however.

From behind her, a voice, “Perhaps this Glue could help you mend your Gift.” She turned to see a Stranger holding a small tube of Glue. She took the Glue and thanked the Stranger, then finished her Gift with the Stranger’s Glue.

When she turned to give the Glue back to the Stranger, he was gone. She thought to herself that this Stranger had thought her Gift worthy enough to donate his Glue and not even demand payment, nor even ask for the Glue to be returned. Perhaps her Gift had worth after all.

And as she sat and contemplated her Gift, she realized that the Stranger was the type of person who would neither ask nor demand a Gift, nor would he take it, but rather, he would give. She thought to herself that the Stranger was a Giver too. And who better to appreciate a Gift than a Giver?

So, she sought out the Stranger and when she found him, she tried to return the Glue to him. He thanked her but said that she should keep the Glue, in case the Gift should break again.

And the Giver said, “In that case, you should accept the Glue, for I wish to give the Gift to you.” And, so saying, she placed the Gift in the Stranger’s hands.

The Stranger looked at the Gift and said, “This is too precious. I do not know if I can take care of the Gift.” The Giver said, “I believe that you can. I will stay with you and help you care for the Gift when you falter.”

So, the Stranger and Giver took the Gift together, sharing it, and holding it as an example for all to see.

Special thanks to one of our members who sent this through by email.

If you’re not vegetarian all the time, the lead-up to Vesak means dietary changes. It might also mean eating at unfamiliar hawker stalls, buying ingredients at stores you don’t normally go to, or experimenting with new recipes.

What can you do if you get hit by an upset stomach (diarrhoea)?

There’s a traditional cure that’s extremely effective, but seems to have been largely forgotten in our rush for modern medicines. It’s recommended by Professor Wong Hock Boon of the NUS Department of Paediatrics at SGH.

Method

Take a handful of rice and boil it with three or four large glasses of water. Let it cool and then strain off the rice and drink the ricewater. Remember, you need to drink quite a lot… you have 10 to 12 meters of intestine.

Why It Works

It’s a very effective rehydrator, but noone’s really sure how it works and the reasons are still being researched. One explanation is that starch-like sugars tend to draw less fluid out of the body and into the gut compared with similar amounts of simple sugars such as glucose.

More information is available here.

This story has been circulating via email and was sent in by a member. We thought it was so beautiful we needed to share it.

The year is ending, again. Only this time its the lunar calendar. Dec 31 never means much as the eve of the Chinese New Year. Perhaps it’s the conjuring of endless cleaning chores that made it meaningful. Festivities are only as meaningful as we make them to be. They have a stronger value when some form of work or preparation is involved, otherwise its just another holiday.

I am more reflective and sensitive to my environment today. The flies landing on my arms, the laughter of children playing and the gentle warm breeze across my face. Moments like these are so hard to come by. We are so wrapped up in the acrobatics of life from the moment we wake to the time we put ourselves to bed. Retracing the last few steps in our head, wondering if we have locked the front door. The eyelids fall and we care no more.

Life is but an ebb and flow of experiences. It doesn’t matter if you are eating home or out this year. It is the journey of experience; the moment spent with your families and friends. Be reflective of the events that come by over the next day or two. Do not judge but appreciate it with an open mind and be thankful for the lessons. There is a story behind every experience.

So this year, appreciate the journey and be in the present moment at every single step. Happy new year everyone!

liang

There’s an ancient prayer called the Serenity Prayer. It’s commonly thought to be written by Reinhold Niebuhr, who was an American Protestant activist, but its popularity spread outside of the Christian religion and it’s now commonly repeated in support groups and has been adapted in many ways for many purposes.

It says:

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”.

I’ve always thought that acceptance was a tricky concept. On the one hand accepting things outside of our control helps us find happiness. There’s no use getting uptight about something in our lives we can’t change, especially if it doesn’t affect the core of who we are. Negative emotions like jealousy, anger and resentment come from wanting things to be different to the way they really are, and these kind of emotions have very negative impacts on our well-being.

On the other hand, many aspects of ourselves are choices we’ve made and that we continue to make. They’re not absolutes, they’re not “just the way it is” and they’re not inevitable. These things we can change.

When we look around and we see ways to make the world a better place, we have a choice of whether to take action or not. When we look inside and find ways of thinking or acting that are negative, again we have a choice.

Buddhism teaches acceptance, but it’s acceptance of the true nature of things. The lesson is not that we’re powerless to change anything. In fact, practices like meditation and selflessness are the opposite. They are tools we can use to harness our own power to make positive changes.

I saw a light-and-frothy Jim Carrey film called “Yes Man” last week. At the beginning of the film his life was a disaster. Bad decisions led to more bad decisions, his job was going nowhere, he was alienating his friends and he was miserable. Of course, all those things cycled on themselves. The more miserable he got, the more bad decisions he made. His fundamental change comes when he commits to saying “yes” to everything.

I’m not suggesting this is something you should do. It’s just a far-out comedy and it’s full of all kinds of unlikely situations. But there’s a fundamental truth under all the funny stuff. What happens is that events have unforeseen impacts. Benefits in ways he’d never imagined. One positive change leads to something else good happening in his life, which leads to something else, and so on. At the beginning of the film there is a spiral of circumstances downwards, but change reverses the spiral.

That’s why I’m a fan of resolutions. I think we’re all smart enough to know what changes we could and should make. Perhaps what changes we NEED to make. I know, we can make them anytime, it doesn’t need a special occasion. But if it helps to have a marker, like New Year, then why not? And who knows what positive benefits might result?

I wanted to share a list of New Year resolutions I found in a newspaper last week. I cut it out because there are a few in there I thought I might focus on this year. Perhaps there’s one or two that will resonate with you?

New Year Resolutions

• Quit smoking
• Lose weight
• Stop alcoholic drinks
• Remain calm and composed
• Face problems positively
• Practice kindness and selfless service
• Take up games and do exercise
• Practice sweetness of speech
• Replace anger with love and compassion
• Complain less and appreciate more
• Find no fault in others
• Endure challenges cheerfully
• Smile and laugh more
• Remove fear, worries and ill feelings
• Be caring and sharing
• To be content and not to yearn for more and more
• Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts and feelings
• Be more cheerful and be in the company of positive people

Whether you’ve got changes to make this year or you’re fine just the way you are, Happy New Year. I hope 2009 brings all our wishes closer.

=)  Marc

I wanted to draw your attention to a short video that went live on the web a few days ago. If you have some spare surfing time then please do click through and have a look. It’s very inspiring.

It marks the launch of a global endeavor to celebrate compassion and promote collaboration between the world’s religions. The background to it is a TED Prize wish by Karen Armstrong, calling for a Charter for Compassion.

And the exhilarating twist here is that the writing won’t be done behind closed doors. It will be done by you… and perhaps millions of others around the world. Because they’re using special collaborative web tools created by the geniuses at Kluster (a collaborative decision making platform) to enable this be truly a charter “created by the world for the world”.

Millions of people around the world will be contributing, in their own language, to help create a charter capable of inspiring the world to focus on what the great religions share, as opposed to what divides them. Already people are responding to this amazing idea with passion and excitement. The goal is to obtain all input from global participants within the next four weeks, select the best contributions with the help of a council of religious “sages”, and conduct a major launch of the finished document in 2009.

Although Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion, I think this is very exciting and very relevant to something we all hold close to our hearts.