If you’re not in the group portrait taken in Pontian that hangs on the wall at the Bishan shrine, here’s your chance to fix that.

We had a great time on the last trip. The Pontain shrine got a good spring clean, the food was delicious, and yes… there was shopping, singing and laughter.

This year’s trip is open to all helpers and family and will be on Sunday 13th June.

Come along and check out the recent renovations at the shrine. The post-Vesak AGM will also be on this day, .

We’ll be gathering at around 7am to get on the chartered buses, with an early buffet lunch and then dinner in Kukup at around 4pm. We’ll probably be back in Singapore again at around 9pm.

It’ll be a lot of fun, so hope to see everyone there. Just let your section head know before Wednesday 26th May (during the Vesak Week).

If you need any other information or you can’t get hold of anyone to register, drop us an email here and we’ll take care of you.

There are 3 more practice sessions for the new chants.
Saturday 15/05 @ 2pm, Shrine
Sunday 16/05 @ 10.30am, Shrine
Saturday 23/05 at the Vesak Site (time to be advised)

Come along and tune the vocal chords.

Madam Wong, the loving wife of Lai Chee Keong who is a member of the security group and mother to Gillian and Wynne who are members of the prayer group, passed away peacefully on May 2, 2010. While her calm and quiet demeanor will be sadly missed by all her friends and family here in this Shrine, we know she is a step closer to her destination on this spiritual path. We bid her farewell.

I know you’ve all been practicing the new chants in the shower, and while idling at the stop lights in your cars, because I’ve been feeling the love in the air!

Why not join us this Saturday, May 1st, at 2pm at the Shrine, and get some expert tuition from Tick Koon and Yeow Meng? All the hidden secrets of the phrasing will be revealed, there’s lots of opportunity to perfect those harmonies… and it’s a nice cool spot on a summer’s day.

You’ll all know that this year we’re gathering for a mass prayer on Vesak Day, Friday 28th May, from 8pm to 9.30pm.

Everyone is invited… members, helpers, patients, dinner guests, friends, family. We’d like to encourage everyone to be vegetarian from 11pm the day before, but if that’s not possible then that’s OK too. There’ll be plenty of room for everyone.

We’ll be chanting three praises to Sakaymuni Buddha 꽝盖 姦瀁뤘뵀

If you were at the Pre-Vesak AGM yesterday, you might have picked up a CD with the three chants on it. If you didn’t, there should be some more available soon.

If you like your music as MP3s, we’ve uploaded them for your convenience.

If you want to listen on the website, just click the link and it should play in your browser. If you’d like to download it to your computer, right-click the link and select  “save target as”.

The 3 Chants together, 16 minutes (15.3Mb)
Chant 1, 2 minutes (3.2Mb)
Chant 2, 2 minutes (3.2Mb)
Chant 3, 3 minutes (4.5Mb)

You can get the words as a PDF here.
If you picked up a CD at the AGM and the words are a bit small to read comfortably, this PDF is A4 format and it’s larger and clearer.

We’re working on notating the rhythm at the moment, so I’ll let you know when that’s available.

We’ve never done this before and we’re very excited, it should be very special!

Just a reminder that this has been set for Sunday, 25 April at 3pm.

And thank you to the secret agent (codename: SpecialK) who pointed out the errors in our Vesak dates. Yes, it would be silly to start vegetarianism on the 24th for an oil lamp procession on the 22nd. Other way around. Start by 11pm on the 22nd for the oil lamp on the 24th. I’ve corrected the dates on the website. A couple of other things that might have been unclear:

• the start dates for vegetarian diet are 11pm on the day stated
• during the Vegetarian Banquet, and at all times during our celebration, it is not necessary to be vegetarian to visit the site. However it is necessary at all times to be vegetarian to enter the central path (to proceed to light an oil lamp). In previous years the dinner has been on the last night, and the path was open to non-vegetarians during the dinner. That will not be the case this year. We would like as many of our guests as possible to join us in offering a lamp to Buddha during this occassion, and we do not want to disappoint anyone, so we would like to encourage all our guests to be vegetarian from 11pm the evening before the dinner.
• the central path WILL be open to non-vegetarians on the final night of our celebration, from 6pm onwards. We would like to encourage everyone… our members, friends and dinner guests… to come back on the final night for a mass prayer from 8pm to 10pm. The actual prayer area will only be open to those on vegetarian diets from 11pm the night before, but there will be plenty of room on the sides for anyone who cannot enter to join the prayers.

I threw this picture in just for fun. My, how we’ve all grown since 2006. Some of us upwards, some outwards.

See you next Sunday.

Well, it’s almost that time again, and as before Moh Hong Buddhist Shrine will be celebrating Vesak 2010 with prayers over 5 days starting from 24th May to 28th May 2010. To allow time for preparations, the Shrine will be closed from 12th May to 19th June 2010

Registration Dates :

• 11th April
• 25th April
• 09th May (Last day)

Members, patients and friends can register the following with the Shrine:

1. Fruits & Flowers Offerings
2. Oil Lamp Procession+
3. Vegetarian Banquet ^
4. Healing & Blessing +
5. Deliverance of the Decease (Seet kor) +
6. Mass Prayers*

We encourage you to register early to facilitate our preparation.

Checking of “Tang-kals” will be done on 9th May 2010 only. Collection is on the same day.

Programs & Dates
Oil Lamp Procession (Kwan Teng) : 24th & 25th May 2010+
Healing & Blessing : 26th & 27th May 2010+
Vegetarian Banquet : 27th May 2010^
Deliverance of the Decease (Seet kor): 28th May 2010+
Mass Prayers : 28th May 2010*

Those who need to collect their offerings due to early departure are required to make prior arrangement with the Shrine Management not later than 9th May 2010.

Note :
+ Please observe vegetarianism 3 days before the 1st event e.g. If you are participating in the Oil Lamp Procession (Kwan Teng) on 24th May, you should start your vegetarian diet on 21st May. Those who possess the Shrine pendants are encouraged to attend the Oil Lamp Procession personally.
^ For those who are participating in the Vegetarian Banquet and wish to enter the central spine to light an oil lamp, you should observe vegetarianism from 11pm of the night before (26th May).
* This year the Shrine will be conducting a Mass Prayer session on the evening of 28th May 2010 from 8pm to 10pm. The usual vegetarian dinner will be held a day earlier to accommodate this event. All members, patients, their immediate families and friends are welcome to join us in this event (minimum one day vegetarianism is required). The session provides the opportunity to train our mind and seek blessing from our Master as She meditates.

“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.

Just a reminder that the delish range of CNY goodies will be available at the Shrine this Sunday… and I swear you can taste the love.

Don’t miss out!

There will be a range of nuts and delicious CNY goodies on sale at the shrine this Sunday, and on Sunday 31st January. All vegetarian of course, and all tried, tested and delicious.

As you know, we’re in the process of growing a building fund for a shrine in Singapore, so all proceeds will go towards a wonderful cause.

I’ve taken artistic license with the picture, because unfortunately I don’t think love letters are available, but my favourite broad beans are there, along with many others.