This Chinese Adage which I received is very meaningful. Don't you agree?

中國諺語
Chinese adage

關於『金錢』
About “MONEY”

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買到房子
但買不到一個家
You can buy a house
But you can’t buy a home

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買『時鐘』
但買不到『時間』
You can buy a clock
But you can’t buy time

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買一張『床』
但買不到充足的『睡眠』
You can buy a bed
But you can’t buy enough sleep

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買一本『書』
但買不到『知識』
You can buy a book
But you can’t buy knowledge

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買到醫療『服務』
但買不到『健康』
You can buy medical treatment
but you can’t buy health

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買到『地位』
但買不到『尊重』
You can buy a footing
But you can’t buy respect

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買到『血液』
但買不到『生命』
You can buy blood
But you can’t buy life

有了錢 $
With money$
你可以買『性』
但買不到『愛』
You can buy sex
But you can’t buy love

I will be going to Yogyarkarta next month to tour Borobudur, the great Buddhist stupa on Java

(Indonesia), built and decorated perhaps before 800AD, should be on anybody's list of the ten greatest art-complexes in the world for its size, quality, sophistication and excellent state of preservation.

Located at 42 kms west of Yogyakarta, on the island of Java in Indonesia, Borobudur - one of the most magnificent Buddhist shrines in the world - was built at the end of the 9th century by the Hindu kings of the Sailendra dynasty.

The plan for this stupa is a schematized representation of the cosmos, a mandala. After visiting its lower terraces decorated with bas-reliefs, pilgrims attain the shrine's crowning stupa, which symbolizes the Absolute.

Following in the footsteps of various discoverers, let us visit this unique and magnificent monument, which has since been restored by the Indonesian government and UNESCO.

In today The Star Paper and reported in many news report and websites, this is a very good article on how to be a Happy Person. Want to know the secret, read more.

Stressed-out Singapore named its happiest person on Thursday at a conference that aimed to make people in the city-state feel better.

Andy Goh, 35, the manager of a local engineering company, was named "Singapore's Happiest Person".

His secret?

"A lot of times, happiness is not just money and stuff, so you've got to count your blessings: health, family, friends, helping other people," Goh said after receiving 200 dollars (148 US) and a trip to the Thai resort island of Phuket.

The aptly named Philip Merry, chief executive of consulting firm Global Leadership Academy, began his search for Singapore's most cheery resident last month.

The winner was announced at the end of the two-day New Science of Happiness and Well-Being Conference, organised by Merry and his wife.

It seemed like a grim task after a poll by advertising firm Grey Group found that nine in 10 people living in the city-state, Southeast Asia's wealthiest economy, said they were stressed.

The contest called for written nominations, between 300 and 1,000 words, explaining why the candidate was a "model of happiness," Merry said. Nominees had to be 18 years or older.

A surprising 207 entries were received, Merry said.

"I literally thought when we launched... 'are we going to get anybody?' Not only did we get 207 stories but we've got such fantastic stories," he said.

"There is a lot of happy people that we just don't talk about or recognise."

Nominees were whittled down to four finalists including Zaibun Siraj, 61, a training consultant at a local polytechnic. She recently published her own book, "Zany, Zeal, Zest and Zing: The Z way to happiness."

In the end, Zaibun's zaniness could not top Goh's simple prescription for feeling good.

"Look not too far, as it's probably already close to you," the happiest man advised.

I have signed up for the Mercedes Trophy 2008 Qualifying Round 2 and I am aiming for the Hole-in-One Price which is worth RM350k.

As per tradition, one of the highlights of the tournament is the grand prize for the hole-in-one for all par 3 holes – a Mercedes-Benz E200K worth RM353,888.00.
Venue : Saujana Golf & Country Club, Subang
Dates : 21 May, 2008

There will only be ONE round of selection for Women Category, which is at the Malaysian Finals on 25 June 2008. The winner will qualify for the Asian Finals.

The top two winners in each handicap categories for Men’s Categories and the winner of the Women’s Category at the Malaysian Selection will qualify for the Asian Finals, with an all expenses paid trip to Sanctuary Cove, Australia from 30 July to 1 August 2008. The winner of each handicap category at the Asian Finals will qualify for the World Finals in Stuttgart, Germany from 25 – 30 September 2008.

The four categories of competitors are :-

Men : Category A - Handicap 0 - 1 2
Category B - Handicap 13 – 20
Category C - Handicap 21 – 24

Women : Category D - Handicap 0 - 36

Upcoming Event

Qualities of Kyabje Choden Rinpoche

Kyabje Choden Rinpoche is a revered meditation master and devoted spiritual practitioner.From his wealth of experience and understanding, Rinpoche offers practical advice on how to stimulate inner reflection, deepen our wisdom and compassion, understand the true nature of our minds and ultimately achieve a greater degree of peace and happiness.

Quotes from Lama Zopa Rinpoche::

“Rinpoche has vast knowledge and experience – not only having vast intellectual understanding but also His holy mind enriched with oceans of realizations as vast as space, being soft-minded, having completed the mind-training in good heart, being pure and possessing all the qualities of the learned ones.”

“The other thing I want to say is that my feeling is that each word Rinpoche says is coming from His own realization and that is why each word is very, very effective.”

“And Rinpoche is someone whose mind is always in the practice, in the pure Dharma, without even one second’s break. So if one really meditates as Rinpoche gives teaching and really puts effort, there can be some change, one can really have some experience, development in the heart due to Rinpoche’s blessing – His realizations and His pure samaya with His Gurus.”

“If one puts effort to meditate at the same time as Rinpoche is teaching, definitely you will have realizations. There are many people who achieve realizations during teachings – while the Lama is teaching their mind gets moved and they get realizations.”

“Also He has the highest realization of emptiness according to the Prasangika School, not just a lower school view of emptiness such as Svatantrika or Mind Only, which could be implied by the quality of “great insight”. Then, Rinpoche is extremely skillful in the way He teaches – able to make the teachings very effective, has compassion and no upsetness in guiding the disciples, in revealing the teaching.”

Quotes taken from talk given by Lama Zopa Rinpoche at Land of Medicine Buddha, Oct 13, 2002.

COMMENTARY ON THE HEART SUTRA

12,14 April 7.30pm 13 April 3pm

The Heart Sutra is the shortest and the most popular sutra in Buddhism. The six hundred volumes of the Maha Prajna Sutra are summarized by the Diamond Sutra in around 5000 words, and the Diamond Sutra is summarized by the Heart Sutra in around 250 words.

The Heart Sutra is regarded as the summation of the wisdom of Buddha. It expresses perfectly the insight attained by non-attachment, the doctrine of emptiness. The Heart Sutra reveals the entire secret of truth of the universe and life.

* Emptiness refers to the fact that no thing -- including human existence -- has ultimate substantiality, which in turn means that no thing is permanent and no thing is totally independent of everything else. In other words, everything in this world is interconnected and in constant flux. A deep appreciation of this idea of emptiness thus saves us from the suffering caused by our egos, our attachments, and our resistance to change and loss.

TEACHING ON CALM ABIDING

16,17 APRIL 7.30pm

Why we should learn Calm Abiding meditation

• The ability to control the mind is one of the profound advantages of calm abiding. It brings peace and emotional stability.

• It makes all meditations more forceful. When the mind is powerful because of having developed calm abiding, you generate a real strong experience in the meditation. It really helps us to gain realizations and we become closer to liberation and enlightenment.

• It also helps all of our other practices become stronger. For example, when we do purification practice, if we do with calm abiding then those practices become stronger and purification of our negative karma will be very effective.

• It helps develop our visualization abilities.