Buddhafied

Multi-task

*I saw a lady walking on the side of the street while reading a book*

me: "Bubba, I can never understand how people can read while walking."

Scott: "why?"

me: "Well, I can see how people can text message while walking because at least you conduct what you type in your head and you just type it out afterward, but for reading you don't know what you're about to read, so you have to concentrate on that, it just doesn't seem to be enjoyable to walk and read at the same time."

Scott: *pat on my head* "Some people can multi-task... but it's okay."

me: "......"

Exposing myself: the Underwear Affair

I have created a team to run on the street in just underwear!

As some of you might already know from my blog, I do fundraisers for the BC Cancer Foundation once in a while. It's a fun thing to do although it could be stressful especially when it comes to selling tickets and trying to make sure everything goes right. This year, I decided not to host a huge event in the summer but instead I'll join other people's event for a change (yeah, let them deal with the pain of cleaning up after!). So, to keep me and my friends healthy and active, I registered to do a 10k run to "uncover cures for cancers below the waist (prostate, colon, and ovarian cancer, among others.)" The event name is called the Underwear Affair.

My grandfather died of colorectal/prostate cancer about 5 years ago. He was a very healthy man who was still working at the age of 80 years old, but died within a few months after he got diagnosised with the disease. Although his death made a very strong impact to how I view the world which ultimately helped my decision of becoming a Buddhist monk, it was still not a very pleasant memory afterall. So the subject of cancer below the waist is close to my heart since then. Besides, who doesn't want to run around on the street in their underwear! (I know we don't have to and I probably chicken out at the end, but I like to keep my options open, thank you.)

I have created an online pledge form for my team and myself, please let me know if you want to support and I'll send you the link. I have to raise at least $300 in order to participate, or else I'll just be a guy wearing his underwear standing on the street. O_o

Suffering

One thing I find myself doing more and more often lately is to re-examine a lot of the Buddhist concepts in my head, finding out whether they are really valid and most of all, whether the are logical.

The past few days, I've been thinking about the concept of reincarnation.

The basic concept of reincarnation is simple, there are six paths (or six realms) that made the wheel of life: hell realm (torture and aggression), hungry ghost realm (eternal starvation, unsatisfaction), animal realm (lack of wisdom or foolish), Asura realm (jealousy and wrath), human realm (desires) and deva (heaven-like but pride). After death, you will reincarnate according to how you live your life (karma) and might go into a different realm. The only way to end this cycle of suffering (samsara) is to break away through enlightenment.

The problem I have right now is the word "suffering".

Since I was very little, I have always been told that coming back as an animal is suffering because animals are lack of wisdom and are a lower form. However, if animals don't have wisdom, who is to judge whether they are suffering or not? Some might suggest that their suffering is having to go through the cycle of life and death (along with the pain we deal with in between); however, the universe is full of (if not just about) birth, death and reborn - That is the true cycle of life. In this case, why is this cycle such a bad thing? Whose perspective is that life and death is suffering when it is part of nature? I find this contradicting to Buddhist concept of the universe, especially when we are talking about a religion which promotes reuniting with the universe itself.

As Buddhism is full of symbolic metaphor, I start to doubt that the six realms listed above are actual "destinations" of reincarnation.

Could it be that the six realms of suffering is really referring to the six types of emotions that we all have? Then reincarnation itself will simply be the cycle of unsettling feelings in us that we never seem to be able to get away from: one day we are angry about one thing, then the next day it manifest into jealousy. According to Buddha, the only way to break through the reincarnation cycle is through enlightenment and understand the true meaning of life; isn't it also true that the only way to stop internal "suffering" is through acceptance of who we are and appreciating life?

Am I trying too hard to find an answer that I lost my focus on the importance, or this is already the answer?

Note: I always find that the six realm is very close to the seven deadly sins in Christianity. As a matter of fact, I found many concepts between the two religions are the same... which is why I never have a strong feeling against the core teachings of Christianity.

Skillup

Hmm... where should I start... I can make up some lame excuses saying I was busy and I can't type, but no one is that busy who can't type a blog post for a month. I can also be bluntly honest and say I was lazy, but that was not entirely the truth either. The thing is, I just haven't been too enthusiastic to do anything lately. I haven't been doing any running training which I was supposed to do; I didn't take photos of my new place, like I said I would; I haven't even call my grandmother, for goodness sake, a few months now. I would like to blame it all on my video game addicted personality, but let's just be simple and blame it on the weather, shall we? And now, since the clouds are no longer covering up the sky and I have no more excuses for sitting infront of the couch staring at my TV, I can now walk two feet, grab my laptop, sit back down and type again. You gotta love Spring!

Seriousness aside (like I always am), I'm doing a little bit of thinking lately, specifically where I should go with my life. I think it's just time for me to make some moves in my career path again.

It has been a while since I had some deep thoughts about this, but lately, after looking at a lot of portfolios and meeting up with some talented graphic people on twitter, I am considering to narrow down my career to graphic design. When I left school, I got an economic degree minor in publishing. Back then, I showed quite interests to graphic designs and was (and have been) doing some freelance job for people here and there. The problem was I wasn't sure whether I wanted to do that as my full-time job. So, given I needed a job desperately back then, I went for a more "broader" choice and stay with marketing, which served the purpose and I had much fun since then. What got me thinking was when I start to ask myself the question "if there's one skill set I want to be the best and to be known as, what would it be?" and there's only one answer to that question: "graphic design". Not surprisingly, this whole conversation in my head generated from playing video game. See, my Dark Knight has been focusing on his accuracy gear instead of strength because I think hitting the mob should take priority than how hard I hit it. I knew Mom bought that Nintendo for me when I was 5 for a reason: I have made her proud.

I am currently working as a half graphic designer at work anyway, but everything I know about the graphic world is self-taught. I think if I want to persue something more, I should consider taking at least some formal trainings, then the question is: where and what?

I think I have a few options here. I can take part-time courses at a community college and get some skillup (or what I like to call it Graphic Skill +1), take full-time courses at an art institue like Emily Carr (Graphic Upgrade: new amours and weapons avaiable upon finish), or I can look into the Master of publishing program at where I graudated (End Game Battle: fame and reputation +10). What I'm afraid of the most is finding out that I am not creative or good enough, but without seeing what's out there I will never know.

There are much to research for and maybe none of these options are viable with my current financial situation, but something I am thinking about more and more the past month. I guess it's still not too late to make a change like this, I just wish there's a quick answer. Maybe my Dark Knight will encounter someone tonight and send me off to a quest to find a treasure chest and if I find the right tools to open it it will tell me where I should apply for...