Google Glass

Wow!! This is so cool - can't wait for it to be introduced.

The Power of Prayers

The Buddha is the greatest among all doctors,
able to cure all diseases of afflictions,
able to relieve people from all the great sufferings
of birth and death.

- Avatamsaka Sutra

Yes, Buddhists firmly believe in the efficacy of prayer.

When someone prays, his faith engenders a mental state of super normal, unified concentration, by which he can stimulate or arouse (gan) the compassionate vow-energy of the beings (such as Buddhas or Bodhisattvas) to whom he prays, and thereby receive a response. That is, the mental energy resulting from the supplicant's concentration tallies and interacts with the energy of a Buddha's or Bodhisattva's vows. This interaction, in turn, gives rise to an inconceivable extraordinary power, which produces the special experiences and efficacious results of prayer.

In Chinese societies, where Mahayana practice prevails, praying to the Bodhisattva Guanyin (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara) [for example], brings about… miraculous results.

However, a benevolent deity or spirit actually already protects a reverent devotee of the Three Jewels [Buddha, Dharma, Sangha]. If she suddenly encounters misfortune, even if she doesn't pray at that very moment, her ill 'luck' [karma] will be averted, provided that she has firm faith. Prayer works because of firm conviction. If someone has unyielding faith, she is constantly under the protection of prayers.

Although Buddhists believe in the power of prayer, they do not emphasize that praying can solve every problem.

For example, if a Buddhist becomes ill, prayer is very important, and if she has confidence, then in certain cases, through pious, sincere prayers she can induce a sympathetic response and be cured. Therefore, we find Buddhists scriptures mentioning cases of people being cured through expounding or hearing the Dharma. But if the sick person lacks conviction and experience in (successful results from) prayer, she should see a physician.

So even during the time of the Sakyamuni Buddha, when a bhiksu became sick, he was normally treated with medicine. Therefore, it is generally believed that the Dharma is primarily for treating the spiritual illness of birth and death. For physical illness, one should use medicine. The ill should pray but also seek medical treatment: this is the view of an orthodox Buddhist.

Facebook Obsession

Statistics about FaceBook...

It is amazing how many of us are spending so much time on Facebook.

I too have a Facebook page but I have not updated it for more than 6 months. I just do not have the time and energy to do the updates.

However, I am really surprised at the way many of my friends update their Facebook with so much mundane and stupid things that you just wondered who they really are.

Don't they know that whatever is published on Facebook is there for the eternity? With Google search, you can find out anything you want about someone and the kinds of things that they have written in the Web.

And you have clueless parents posting all their babies/children photos, open to everyone on Facebook, oblivious to the dangers of pedophiles trolling on-line for kids. Don't these stupid people know that there have been many cases of kidnappings or assaults happening because the criminals got the info from their Facebook postings?

I have started to "Unfriend" many of those on my lists as I just could no longer stand their endless, mindless babbling about mundane things in their lives.

Please, "GET A LIFE"!! Seriously...

Fear and The Lady

“Fear of imprisonment, fear of torture, fear of death, fear of losing friends, family, property or means of livelihood, fear of poverty, fear of isolation, fear of failure. A most insidious form of fear is that which masquerade as common sense or even wisdom, condemning as foolish, reckless, insignificant or futile the small, daily acts of courage which help to preserve man’s self-respect and inherent human dignity. It is not easy for a people conditioned by fear under the iron rule of the principle that might is right to free themselves from the enervating miasma of fear. Yet even under the most crushing state machinery courage rises up again and again, for fear is not the natural state of civilised man.”
- Aung San Suu Syi

The Lady is truly a courageous worrier who knows what the value of life is about. She has suffered much over the years with so much dignity and grace.

The world is truly blessed to have such a beautiful soul living in our midst. She is serving like a beacon of hope to all the people who have lost sight of hope and defeated by the evil that exists everywhere.

So, do not be afraid - overcome the fear! It is better to live a courageous, short life than to cling to a meaningless and cowardice one.

The Widow's Mite

Today is Easter - Happy Easter to everybody.

Easter is a good time to reflect on Sunday School stories.

One in particular, The Widow's Mite, tells of a widow who donates two small coins (a mite being the least valuable coin available at the time), which was everything she had to her name.

Another woman, who is very rich, gives only a small portion of their own wealth. And she goes around boasting about how generous she was to all her friends and family.

Who do you think is more generous, in the eyes of God, and have acquired more merits?


The traditional interpretation of the morality tale is that the value of a gift is not accounted by how much is given, but by how much is kept back.

And whether one makes a song and dance about the "act of generosity".