Buddhafied

The present

My friend Todd got me a little gift for Christmas called the Buddha Board. It's a neat little pad where you use water, instead of ink, to write or draw whatever you want. After a few minutes, the water with vaporized and it will become an empty pad again. I have been doing my Mantra character practice on it lately and it works perfectly. I find myself spending a lot of time walking back and forth in the apartment to write the best looking Mantra. Sometimes it doesn't look anything I want it to be and I wish I could wipe it off instantly so I can restart, there are other times where I write the perfect looking Mantra and I wish it will stay there for longer. The Buddha Board reminded me of some fundamental philosophies of Buddhism.

No matter how much you like or or dislike something, at some point in time, the phyiscal or the mental element will run to the end of its course, as everything that has a beginning also has an end. Whether it is the sterdiest architecture or the most basic form of microrganism, whether it is a relationship or just an acquaintance, nothing in the universe can escape from the cycle of birth (begin), aging (blossom), sickness (perish) and death (end). Nothing will last forever.

Again, just like many other concepts of Buddhism, this is such a pessimistic thought. Instead of telling you that your love ones will go to heaven, Buddhism suggested that everything just end (actually, more like going into a eternal cycle of birth and death, which is even more depressing, but I will leave that topic for another rainny day), instead of telling you that there will be some form of judgement to your bully, Buddhism suggested the pain will end, eventually. Buddhsim never fail to provide you with more reasons of "why bother to live?" From the surface, this is such a passive and gloomy way of treating life, but the core concept behind all these can be summarized in one word: present.

Since everything will come to an end and everything is ever-changing, the only thing we can be certain is the present. "Now" is the only moment you have in your life that you have control of, not a second ago, not a second later. Instead of cherishing the physical or even mental aspect of something which will not last, let's enjoy what you have at this moment. Don't be caught up with the mistakes you did yesterday (my ugly Mantra characters); don't wish for anything to be there forever (my beautiful Mantra characters); enjoy the moment (the personal time I get to have).

Of course, when things eventually come to an end, it will never be easy. The feeling will still be hurt, the heart will still be broken, but at least there will be no regret, because you have lived the present.

Inappropriate bookmark

Like many people, I love music. As my mentor Whoopi Goldberg said in Sister Act 2, "If you wake up in the mornin' and you can't think of anything but singin' first...then you're supposed to be a singer. Girl." I take my singing career very seriously. In fact, everyday I write songs for Cleo (mostly about her girlish figure and flat face) and perform in front of her. I also answer to people's question using lyrics ("do you know what are some of my favourite things? Raindrop on roses...") I am just like a jukebox on legs that's keep on giving. Sometimes I walk around in the office with my iPhone playing music, people will look at me funny because they hear music coming out from my back pocket. Then I go and tell them the story of Orpheus, the son of the god of music from Greek Mythology, and confuse them thinking I have the power to make music appear out of nowhere.

I also have this thing where I subconciously categorize incidents/time of my life into different songs. I guess I just listen to music so much that I connect different songs with whatever I was doing at that time automatically. Of course, since I don't do this on purpose, I generally won't know which song linked to which memory of mine. It's usually not until a few months (or years) later when I hear the same song then my senses will bring me back to those memories as if I am experiencing them all over again. The connection can be so strong that I sometimes can even "feel" the temperature and "smell" the scent. For the most part, I am quite appreciative when it happens, as whether it's good or bad, those memories were a part of me. Not to mention the songs get associated with my memories are pretty good songs.

Last night, when I was driving home and I heard this song on the radio:

To my shocking, I instantly remember all my fond memories of preparing for my charity event this past summer. OUT OF ALL SONGS OVER THE SUMMER, THIS IS THE SONG MY BRAIN DECIDED TO USE AS A BOOKMARK?!!! The charity that we raised over $10,000 is associated with "I kissed a girl"? Seriously?!

 

What next? My wedding be associated with "The Chicken song"? My first vacation with Scott be associated with "Ichy Breaky Heart"? Or 30 years old birthday be associated with a Jonas Brother song? I need this to stop now!

The universe

After typing so much about my own life and about silly little things, I thought it will be a nice that once in a while I'll type a little bit about Buddhism (well, also... it's kind of difficult to justify having a blog named Buddhafied when all I type is about my dog and men with beard). So from here on, to keep the integrity of this blog, I'm dedicating each Tuesday to my Buddhist study and I'm starting a series regarding on my interpretation to the philosophy behind Buddhism. I have to warn all my readers, as everything is open to different point of view and perception, please don't take my concept or theory as the sole meaning of Buddhism. By all means it could be completely different than another Buddhist will tell you and I am not here to suggest my way is right or to defend myself. I am merely sharing my thoughts and the little piece of wisdom that I am lucky to endorse. That being said, please feel free to leave comments, as it is really what this section (and blogging as a matter of fact) is all about.

---

Once in a while I hear someone say the phrase "the universe is against me today". I am sure I've said similar phrases lots of times before, probably the most often one is "the world hates me today". Of course, most of the time when we say stuff like that, it was merely a vent or a gesture to "I am having a bad day", but the sentence itself opened up a very interesting and unique views about Buddhism or other religions: what is the universe?

Opposing to many mainstream religions, Buddhism do not mention about God. For the purpose of this blog, I will refer God using the definition in Merriam-Webster dictionary as "the being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe."  This is not to confused with all the figures in stories of Buddhism. Buddha and many other spiritual forms described by Buddhist is really just an enlightened individual who understands the true meaning of the universe/life. He/she is not the creator nor the ruler of the human kind. This doesn't mean Buddhism resist the theory of God, it just doesn't acknowledge or deny it. Hence, this lead many, including myself, to believe that Buddhism is more like a philosophy than a religion. With no creator mentioned, who are we looking for guidance then? The answer is, the universe itself.

So, what is the universe according to Buddhism then? Interesting enough, there is no direct answer provided. Buddhism suggested a rather scientific way to explain the universe. It is like a logic, a law or a cycle, a way of how things form and how thing end. It's like math, where one plus one is equal to two, it's a logic, a concept and it applies to everything. It's like the Newton's Third Law of Motion, which for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, it's karma, a cause and effect. If you buy into this concept, you should also believe that this "logic" or universe is indifferent, as it's simply an algorithm, a law of how things work. This explain that many people interpretation of the word "karma" is wrong, because karma itself is simply a concept explaining the cause and effect, it doesn't explain the meaning of "good" and "bad".

Using this theory, it is raining today because it does, the earth (universe) has no concept of preference: things happen because it happens. This is not to confuse with the concept that everything is pre-determined, because having a logic does not mean the components can not be changed (ie: one apple plus one apple always equals to two apples, but there is no logic implying that you begin with just one apple). When we get upset the fact that it rains, it is really us that is resisting the natural path of the world (universe).

This might sound very pessimistic at times, as it suggested us to "take it as it is" and not let our feelings be bothered by any unfortunates. However, there is one important factor about this: our heart. If all along it has been ourselves who choose to believe that a rainy day is a bad one, it means that we also hold the true power of changing that believe. It is our freewill that allow us to choose how we interpret the rain when the rainy day comes, whether it's going to just be a day or it's going to be a bad day, a switch of the heart can make all of a different.

Because all along, it wasn't the rain that caused the emotion, it was the heart.

Kathy Griffin rocked my world

If there's one comedy show you get to watch each year, I highly recommend that to be Kathy Griffin. We were at her show just this Saturday and she was incredible!

I don't know how I found out about her at the first place, but I'm sure I was in Hong Kong and she must've said something outrageous on the red carpet somewhere. Being absolutely bored at night when I was doing my Buddhist stuff, I probably did a search on youtube about her... and life was never the same ever since!

I don't think I've ever laughed two hours non-stop like that (well, maybe I did over Chicken Legs, but that wasn't quite the same). According to Scott, at some point during the show, I was leaping up in the air and bouncing up and down, but I have no memories of that. In my defense, who the heck can restrain themselves when she starts to refer Ryan Seacrest as a "she" and claim that she can distract Katie Couric in three seconds by talking about her shoes. She was so quick and witty that even if there's a nano-second that she feel the audiences are not into a particular joke she will switch it immediately and come up with something brilliant. Definitely a must-watch.

For those who haven't had a chance to watch her live, and for those who wants to know why Kathy dislike Ryan Seacrest that much, have fun with the following clips:

Dog poop

Happy New Year everyone! May this year be a happy and prosperous year for you and your love ones and your kids and your dog and your cat and your plants and your iPhone and if you are really nice to me, I will also wish your coffee be full of cream and sugar. Amen.

Anyway, talking about cats and dogs, have you ever have those moments in your life where you think you've bring your dog's poop to work? Well... I just had one of those.

See, my dog likes to do things her way, and her way usually means she just like to stand at the side of the road and stare at cars. When she was younger, I would force her to walk with me, which got me in trouble, but now she's a 77 year old lady, Scott and I let her get away with it sometimes. And because she refuse to walk around the block, we can't throw her freshly made presents to the dumpster. It means we sometimes have to carry her poop back into our apartment (yes, we are such well-educated classy gay couples. You'all should be ashame of yourself for not being more like us. u'hm). This morning, before I head out the door, I said goodbye to Scott and he mumbled in his sleep "don't forget your lunch in the fridge", I was like, "I don't have lunch in the fridge." "Oh... really? Well, don't forget Cleo's poop." Well, have a good day to you too Snuggle Muffin. I gave him a kiss and dash out the door with the bag of poop, which has been there probably since 5pm last night. I stepped into the elevator with dog poop in one hand and my Pepsi in the other. I swear the lady in the elevator thought that was my lunch. She kept on staring at the poop bag then at my Pepsi. Well, that would give a new meaning to the word "recycle" and make Al Gore proud.

When I finally got to work, I sat down and start checking my emails, all of a sudden I remember that bag of poop that I was carrying earlier. "Oh my god, where's the poop? I thought I had it on my hand, where is it now? Did I put it in my pocket? Oh my gosh I hope I didn't. Did I left it in the car?" After a few minutes of panicking thinking I've "lost" the poop, I remembered I put it in the garbage can in the garage long before I get into the car.

What I find it funny was that for a few seconds there, I was actually worried that I lost a bag of dog poop... who in the world will worry if they lost poop? We should all be happy that our hands are poop-free! What on earth has gotten to me. Either I really need some good night sleep or I need some counseling... probably both.

2009 New Year Resolution #1: No more panicking about losing dog poop.