Guan Yin Dan

Last Sunday was Guan Yin Dan. As a half Buddhist and half free-thinker, I also particpated on that day's event. Actually, I'm not very sure what Guan Yin Dan means. I only know that it is related to the goddess of Guan Yin. My family and I started our day by the usual ritual we perform almost every year. Burn joss sticks, burn "holy" papers, listen to Buddha chants and eating vegetarian food for a day.


After eating our breakfast and burning all the things we need to burn, dad and I went to "Tin Hao Gong" which is a big temple located on a hill at Brickfields. It's just a few kilometres from college. We went there at around 2p.m. so the place isn't that crowded. Most people have already gave their offerings and went home.


Here's some pictures of how the temple looks like.



Tin Hao Gong



Dad with a statue of Guan Yin at the background




Me with the "God of Love". Hey, where's my name?



The garden of Zodiacs




Me and my zodiac animal.




Let's see what kind of person I am:


Hehe, not bad leh. ~Sigh~ but why still no GF....




Dad and his zodiac animal.



The monkey

The fierce tiger

Here's some pictures in the temple.

A giant statue of errr..... I also don't know who she is. I just offered my prayers.

A giant statue of Guan Yin

After offering our prayers, I decided to have a little fun. For the first time, I went to "kao cim" to take a peek at what my "future" would be like. Am I going to be a millionaire? Marry a beautiful woman? Be the next prime minister of Malaysia? Open up my own "Wai Khoon's Reader Programme"?

Basically, "kao cim" is something like menilik nasib whereby your future is determined by a pile of wooden sticks which are numbered instead of a crystal ball. Pick up the pile of wooden sticks and make sure that they are of the same level. Then, you drop them back in the container and pick the highest stick. Then, you take a piece of paper from the boxes according to the number on you stick. By the way, you need to donate some money into the container next to you before you "kao cim". I donated RM2.

A lady taking her paper.

Let's see what my future has installed for me.

= =! This is in chinese. I can't read this.

Phew, luckily an English translation is available at the back.

Why me!!! What have I done wrong in my past life to deserve this!!!

~sob~sob~


Am I obstinate and conceited? Am I that stubborn? Am I doomed to be poor and single for the rest of my life? Nooooo!!!!!!! I refuse to believe that our life has been pre-destined since we are born. I believe that we can shape our own future if we are willing to work hard for it!

And if you ask me, I don't think I'm that kind of a person or am I? People say that we cannot judge ourselves accurately because we often can't see our mistakes. So, what do you think?

Conclusion: I say let's not allow this superstitious belief cloud our mind and soul!!! Instead, let's work hard for our future!!!

GAMBATEH!!!

An Obnoxious Discrimation

In this post, I am not going to write anything about my life but I would like to rebuke on a recent claim by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Islam and all the other existing religions in the world. He brazenly claimed that Islam is the only universal religion; adding that it was a mistake to believe that Christianity is the universal religion alongside Islam. He said that all Africans, Asians, Europe and Americans have nothing to do with Christianity except Israelis; making that claim as though as Islam is the only true religion which we must indulge ourselves in while portraying other religions as deviant and false. What infuriates me is that he proclaimed that all those who do not follow the Islamic teachings are losers as Islam is the only true religion in the world. This is a preposterous claim as he has no right to say that Islam is the only religion which everyone must follow. Everyone has their right to believe in their own religion as long as their religion encourage them to instil great virtue and do good deeds in their life. There is no evidence to prove which religion is true and their God truly exists and created this world as these religions were formed a long time ago and their only proof of their existence are by words from people and transcripts in religious books. I as a Buddhist believe that there are no Gods in this world and the only way we can free ourselves from sufferings is to achieve the state of Nirvana. Most of my relatives believe that there are Gods and Goddesses which bless our life and control our fates. They also believe in demons, ghosts and the hereafter. However, I have little belief in such things as I only believe in what I can see. I don’t believe in superstitions such as feng shui and all those ritual ceremonies to bring good luck. In my opinion, most of the religious beliefs and superstitions originate from animism whereby people in ancient times have little understanding in the natural phenomena such as storms, volcanic eruption and droughts, hence causing them to believe that there are supernatural forces behind all those phenomena. Now, most people harbour strong beliefs in Gods because they want to have something they could depend on which provides hopes when they encounter problems. It also acts as guidance for them to be virtuous and do good deeds in life, and prevent themselves from doing anything which are wrong and could hurt others. A person does not need to be guided by a religion to do good deeds if he truly cares for others and loves every living thing in this world. What Gaddafi said in his recent statement was nothing but religious discrimination and baseless which is akin to what Pope Benedict has said recently on the mass media which only differs in the type of religion they are advocating. Earlier, the latter said that a society without Christian conscience will lose their directions in life, and ends up empty and bankrupt. I don’t think this statement is true as I have saw and met many people are successful in life and yet they are not Christians or other religion believers. I have also seen people who are religion believers, yet they are the scumbags in the society. Both of them should retract their statements and apologize to the public. If they still insist on thinking that way, they would end up provoking the public and creating havoc and polemic all over the world especially Gaddafi who also refuted the history of christianity by saying it is wrong to believe that Jesus had been crucified and killed because another man resembling Jesus was crucified in his place, and all those who are not followers of the Islamic teachings are losers. If that obnoxious toad had made these statements in front of the public in a country where other religions reign over the place, he will surely be beaten to death before he could iterate another outrageous statement. He is not suited at all to be a leader. By making such a statement in front of the media, he risks compromising the international ties between Libyan and other countries. This could jeopardise business opportunities and the tourism industry. A leader should be more open-minded and has a wide perspective; placing the aim to improve the country ahead of his own senseless pride.