Of religions.....

A casual friend of mine asked me the other day that whether I am a Buddhist or a Christian. Well, it is a profound question. I was born in a Taoist family, but was registered as a Buddhist. In fact, during those days in the 60's, most Malaysians of Chinese origin were registered as Buddhists because our parents are not that really educated and there were communication problems between the parents and the birth registration clerks. And in most cases, most Malaysian Chinese are not really that particular of the registration status of religion. So, here you go, I was an accidental Buddhist by registration.

During my childhood years, my family practiced Taoism. In fact, most of my family members still practiced Taoism. I started reading the Bible in 1993 and later in 2006, I also begin to read Buddhism texts. When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2008, I picked up the Bible again....

So am I a Taoist, Buddhist, or Christian ?

Frankly, throughout my adult years, religion was never an issue to me and I always treat it as a private matter. In my public dealing with friends and relatives, I attempt to keep my pubic life as secular as possible. One thing I do do know, when I was inflicted with chronic illness, I became more religious and tried to find a balance in my life to seek self healing. I turned to the Bible and tried to comprehend the words of God. Until today, as much as I want to adopt the words of God religiously, but I also realized, Buddhism's values has been deeply ingrained in my daily life. It is like my root and culture.

So, when I announced to my friends that I am a Buddhist Christian, my Christian friends stared at me with disbelieve and tried their level best to salvage this lost soul. But the surprising thing is, my Buddhist friends accepted me as what I am. They left me be and let me find my own path to seek my own enlightenment.

To me, Buddhism is a way of life, and the truth of being. And, Christianity is about the embracement of the Almighty God with Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior. Christianity gave me hope, but Buddhism gave me peace of mind. Of course, there are always differences in values and practices between Buddhism and Christianity, but my purpose in this life is not to thrive on the differences. My purpose is to walk the middle path, and to seek and embrace the commonalities between these two great religions.

As a Christian, I am still a God fearing person and I recite the Lord's Prayer on daily basis. As a Buddhist, I am still subscribing to the Four Noble Truths, The Eight Folds Path, and the Mediation aspects in my daily life.

Between Hope and Peace of mind, I walk the middle path, and had chosen to embrace both. So, I am a Buddhist Christian.

Of prayers and healing...........

Of late, my hand phone and mailbox has been bombarded with a lot of “words of God” from well intended people. It has been indeed becoming very stressful to read all those SMSes and emails. To stay focus to my treatment strategies and keep my stress level to the minimum, I unsubscribed from all the egroups, set my hand phone to silent mood which naturally resulted in a lot of missed calls, and automatically delete all incoming SMSes. To a certain extend, this action helped me to attain certain level of peace of mind for the time being.

While I am battling my survival and dealing with the treatment issues, on almost daily basis, I was advised to have more faith in the almighty, and to conduct aggressive prayers to claim the healing verses of the scripture. I was even told that, the doctor can only treat signs and symptoms, but the ultimate healing comes from the Almighty. I believed, I am still a logical man. As much as I recognized the need to have greater faith in the Almighty, I must also acknowledge the fact that, healing comes from within, and modern medicines play a vital role in our struggle to recover from chronic illnesses.

Let me put it this way, I was and am sicked, is probably due to my weakened immune system. So the natural and logical action for me to pursue, is to consult and seek treatment from a qualified medical practitioners. Of course, offering prayers to the Almighty to seek divine intervention is another spiritual approach. But I failed to understand the need to conduct daily prayers. I have faith that the Almighty is a all knowing merciful God, and definitely he is not an absent minded God ! Times and repeatedly I was being reminded by well intended friends that because I did not offer prayer unceasingly on daily basis, I would be viewed as not having strong faith in the Almighty ! Well, if that is the narrow minded interpretation of how one perceived my relationship with, and my faith in the Almighty, then Amen, and so be it.

Believe it or not, it takes so much more faith and strength to recognized the fact that, healthy people can go around praising the Lord for their good health, and sicked people have to accept the fact that they have to continue to suffer in silent while the Almighty is testing their faiths. Forgive me, my heavenly father, I think this concept of spiritual relationship do at times sound very perverted to me. Nevertheless, as a God fearing person, I accept the fact that my sickness is a form of punishment the Almighty meted out to me for my previous sins. My life is created by the Almighty, it is his prerogative to take this life as and when he see fit. In the mean time, while waiting for the passage to paradise, it is my duty to have a sound mind to continue to seek treatments from the doctors, and live life as logical as possible.

Come to think of it, over the previous few months, I had been bombarded with a lot of spiritual advises to seek healing from the Almighty. At times, it is very stressful for me to reconcile this spiritual needs with modern medicines. One thing for sure, and I do know, to improve my chances of recovery, I must eliminate all possible sources of stress. So, for the time being, possibly over the next few month, I will adopt a secular lifestyle, and imposed self “exile” from spirituality. So, no more attending churches for the time being.

Of course, I am still faithful to the merciful Almighty. I will still pray to the Almighty in the privacy of my home and communicate to him as and when the needs arose. I don't think I need to be a hypocrite to showcase loud prayers or worships to the whole world. I believed, my heavenly father prefers to listen to me in the privacy of my own home.

Oh Almighty, forgive me if I sin, I am, after all, a logical man trying to be a spiritual man in a secular world.

明天會更好. Praise the Lord.......

Reflections : The Almighty & Me....

I was born in a Taoist family in Taiping, Malaysia. Through the mistake of the nurse at the government hospital, I was registered as a Buddhist in my birth certificate. My parents, being less educated, was not aware of the administrative mistake. So, here you go, I became a Buddhist Taoist.

During my early childhood, it doesn't really bother me what religion I belonged to. Because I never learn how to pray and bother about the ritualistic procedure of offering prayers to the various deities and ancestor worshiping. All I ever remember is, during the first day of Chinese New Year, I followed my late mother to all the Taoist temple in town. My mother, being a very religious person, pray to whatever “God” she came into contact with. There are occasions, she pray to Mother Mary, the deities at the Hindu temples, etc. So, from very young age, I am exposed to various religions.

Due to the fact that, both my parents are not educated, I never came across any Buddhism or Taoism text in my house them. So, the practice of religion is basically via oral history and by observing the rituals performed by my late mother during certain Taoist ceremonies. The only religious chant I ever learned is “Namo Amithaba”. Along the way, I also learned to remember the birthrate of the deities, anniversary date for offering prayer to ancestors, all souls day, and the passing over of winter.

As a Taoist, I learned to use the correct number of joss sticks when offering prayer to the deities and ancestors. I carry on with my parents' “religious traditions” right to the present day where I set up special altars in my home to pay respect to Tor Pek Kong ( Hokkien God of Prosperity), Kuan Yim ( Godess of Mercy), Chai Kong ( the Beggar monk), Teh Chu Kong ( The landlord deity), and the ancestor altar for my late parents.

The reality of my spirituality at this stage is basically quite simple. I believe in the existence of various sages and deities. For example, the Jade Emperor is the supreme deity that control the Heaven, the Nine Emperors God is the deity that control the sea, etc.

In terms of Buddhism, Buddha never claimed to be a God or prophet. He is basically a great teacher of human philosophy specializing in the truth of life. Taoism, on the other hand, according to my understanding, is basically teaching the moral values of family and society. So these two religions formed my fundamental understanding of spirituality and religions.

At a very young age, I ventured into Canada to receive my so called modern western education. So, I do believed, my informal religious familiarization during my early childhood and tertiary education shaped me to be a religiously open minded and rational person rather than a spiritual man.

As I grow older, there is also a deep sense of urge within me to the realization that my rational ( physical ) well being is actually depended on my spiritual well being. The 2 contrasts of faith and reason at times, does spiraled me into unexplained hallucinations. There are times, in my dreams, I had conversations with ganapathy, chaikong, torpekkong, etc. I even saw the manifestation of Kuan Yim in the form of Clouds formation. Perhaps, this is a form of escapism from my mind to temporary shut out the conflicting values to eliminate unnecessary mental stress.


I had never take spirituality as a critical factor in life. I perceived spirituality as an irrational science. Frankly, I find it difficult to reconcile spirituality with logical deduction. For me to live meaningfully and productively in this life, it is better for me to adapt to the physical habitat, with both feet on the ground, and adopt a practical lifestyle to survive. I can never find justification to have blind faith in something that I can not physically and logically justify. Does that made me anti-God or an unbeliever ? On the contrary, my secular outlook can be at times oxymoronic. The bottom line is, as much as I am logically rational about my approach in life, I also happen to believe in the existence of the Almighty, and the need for a more holistic life by embracing spirituality. My personal feeling is, between faith and reason, I had yet to be enlightened to have the elusive knowledge to understand spirituality using my limited knowledge of physical science. Eventually, all roads lead to Rome. I do believe, as I age, there shall be a sentimental path laid out for me by the Almighty to seek my salvation in spirituality.

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John 20:29

I do personally believe in miracle, but for miracle to materialize, I need to have strong faith in spirituality. But I will not indulged in blind faith in seeking miracles. For example, if I am sick, I would consult a medical doctor and take the prescribed medications, at the same time, complement modern medicine with prayer to God for speedy recovery. It would be illogical for me to refuse medical treatment by depending solely on prayers alone to seek restoration of health.

I am, after all, a logical man seeking enlightenment to be accepted in an increasingly illogical world. I had accepted Lord Jesus Christ as my savior, and also converted to Christianity. I sincerely pray to the almighty to grant me the grace and wisdom to understand spirituality and the truth of life.

It is a crime to be sexy ?

“......A Malaysian group condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex............. The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,............ that covering up according to xxxxxxx precepts was important to fend off social ills, including rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex....”

The above is an extract of a news report published in the local newspaper today. I am a bit blurred now. Am I supposed to accept the argument that the offender is in fact a victim because he can't control his sexual urges ? Indeed I find it very amusing to read such comments from the so called religiously righteous people. On the other hand, I am now also beginning to understand why there are so many sexual criminals out there. Well, what can I say, some people do have a very funny and perverted sense of justice. My honest opinion is, present day society has so much social problems, not because of the dress codes of women, but too many narrow minded and misguided morons with misplaced religious values giving perverted criminals the religious justifications to commit sexual crimes. So, it is religiously correct to blame the victims and defend those criminals who commit sexual crimes ? Wow !

I do not wish to be insensitive to other people religious sensitivity on dress code. But my personal opinion is, if a person want to dress like an Arab, by all means, that is his or her rights. But in their eagerness to glorify their religious values, they should have the same religiosity to respect the rights of others. How can civilized people be sensitive to those religiously misguided people who always felt that it is their right to impose their religious insensitivity on others ? I am sicked and tired of these people's noisy and smelly discharges of contaminated energies. This is the 21st century, not the caveman century. Humanity has evolved to become a civilized society. It is beyond my comprehension of faiths and reasons to see there are still many groups of noisy people glorifying outdated values of human rights.

They said, don't judge a book by its cover. My personal belief is, how a woman dress has nothing to do with her morality and character. She is merely exercising her rights for freedom of expressions. It is a woman's rights to creatively show her perfections through clothings. Why are some of the so called religious inclined people find it so difficult to accept this basic fundamental rights of women ? Is it the fault of the victim if her choice of clothings “provoked” a pervert to lust like a barbaric animal ? So, according to some of these religiously inclined people, it is justified for those perverts to commit sexual crimes ? Why are these so called religiously educated people giving excuses to the sexual predators to justify their perverted sexual crimes ? Well, what can I say ? Some mothers do have them. And Yes, they do walk among us.

My honest feeling is, it is acceptable to have your own standard of morality and brag about the greatness of your religion, but the right thing to do is, KEEP YOUR RELIGIOUSITY TO YOURSELF ! DON'T USE THE GOOD NAME OF YOUR RELIGION TO IMPOSE YOUR MISGUIDED NARROW MINDEDNESS AND STUPIDITIES ON OTHERS. If you are ashamed of the imperfections of your own body, by all means, please use whatever gunnysacks to cover your self. That is your rights. If you insist on revealing clothes to show the artistic imperfections of your body, that is also your rights. But if you persist on invoking your religion to unreasonably impose your biased rights, and expect others to be sensitive to your rights to your misguided intolerances, may I remind you that, not all of us profess the same religion as you. So, please mind your own business, leave the good name of religion alone, and park your religious insensitivity elsewhere !

A sexual offense is a criminal offense. Period. It is a great sin for those who continuously harping on religious justifications to defend those criminals' behaviors. A criminal who committed sexual offense should be punished accordingly. It is despicable to blame the victims simply because those sexually deprived two legged animals can't control their urges.

Of religions' sensitivity and commercialism

There is a saying that "When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion, it is called religion." So, in the name of religion, what stupidity are men incapable of ?

I read with interest a news article by SJECHO on a local supermarket (MYDIN) taking the religiously righteous move to condemn a Dutch made movie called FITNA. "In a very emotional outburst, Ameer Ali ( Managing Director of MYDIN ) condemned the movie and subsequently announced that all Mydin malls and emporiums would boycott all Dutch products with immediate effect. Notices have been put up around the mall urging shoppers to stay away from these products. Additionally, red labels have been placed on shelves displaying Dutch products, informing consumers of the origin of the product. " Click HERE for the news article. SJECHO is a local community free newspaper in Subang Jaya.

If I understand the news report correctly, MYDIN announced their decision to “boycott” all Dutch made products, but at the same time, still displaying the Dutch made products on the shelves with red labels. Mydin's action should be more consistent with their words. MYDIN should have just removed all the Dutch made products from the shelves. Somehow, I seemed to have the perception that, on one hand Mydin wanted to portray their religious righteousness, but on the other hand, they also do not want to risk losing out revenues in case consumers still insist on buying the Dutch made products. It is indeed amusing to find a business organization standing on the middle of the road playing with consumers' religious sensitivities.

Perhaps, in addition to removing all Dutch made products from their shelves, MYDIN should take the additional step to initiate legal proceedings against the maker(s) of Fitna by outlining which contents of the movie infringed their sensitivities.

I had not personally viewed Fitna. Therefore, I do not know how “INSENSITIVE” is the movie towards Islam. Assuming that Fitna is indeed very insensitive to the Islam, my personal opinion is, as a civilized and educated man, we should realized by now, that the movie is not made by all the Dutch men and women, but one man with distorted views of the Islamic religion. It is perfectly legitimate to boycott the movie, but let us not be blinded by emotional preferences to boycott all things Dutch. Why are we behaving like an uncultured men trying to condemn all the Dutch ? Let us not allowing one misguided movie maker to influence us into cultivating hatreds against a peaceful country and her people. We are all educated and civilized man and women, not emotional pariahs.

Personally, I love Dutch made diary products. I will not ridicule myself to boycott everything that is Dutch simply because there is a misguided Dutch man out there showing disrespect to other religions. I will continue to buy Dutch made products from other supermarkets. As far as I am concern, religion and consumerism are two separate matters. I would like to keep it at that.

Sincerely, if the movie show disrespect to the Islamic religion and infringed the sensitivities of Muslims, I do hope the dutch government can initiate actions to impress upon the makers of the movie that it is not a good business practice and as well as unethical to show disrespect to other people religions.

Increasingly, we are now faced with unreasonable intrusions of religions into politics and government's administrations all over the world. It is legitimate to use religion to create niche acceptance in commercial activities. But, we are also beginning to see a worrying trend of religions being mis-used to gain commercial coverage. What next ? Acceptance of religions being used to impose narrow minded intolerances on other people's lifestyle ?

Of late, we had been tuned to the idea that, freedom of expressions comes with responsibility. Responsibility is a subjective matter. Different cultures have different tolerances of morality and values. It is also irresponsible to use religion to curtail human rights and to restrict freedom of expressions simply because those rights may not be compatible with our perceptions. Are we now immorally acceptable to religions being used as a basis to suppress the fundamental human rights and freedom of expressions of others ? My philosophy is simple, if you don't like what you see, hear, or smell, walk away. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, and, do no evil. You mind your own business and let the rest mind their own.

Religion should and always be a matter of the heart and personal preferences. Afterall, all religions are created by men in the name of God. We should be allowed and be respected to believe in whatever we want to believe. Increasingly, this world is also slowly and surely being polluted by misguided people calling other people infidels or unbelievers simply because they are of different religions.

Freedom of expressions is a sacred rights of modern civilization. We should defend the rights to express our opinions without any fears or inhibitions. If in the event our expressed opinions are deemed to be wrong, then the receivers should point out with factual arguments in a healthy forum, not uncultured emotional threats, instigations, or retaliations. Buddha once said “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned.”

Without doubt, I would also like to think of myself as a very religious person. But I walked the middle path. I do not imposed my religious values on others, and I do not condemn other people religions. Likewise, I expect other people to have the basic decency to mind their own business, keep their righteous religious values to themselves, and park their grievances within themselves. I am sicked and tired of people trying their level best to use religions as launch pads to seek popularity and gain selfish interests. As far as I am concerned, if there is a God, then this God of you and me is an almighty institution that does not need sinners like us to defend his honours against other sinners.

"Of course, there are different truths on different levels. Things are true relative to other things; "long" and "short" relate to each other, "high" and "low," and so on. But is there any absolute truth? Something self-sufficient, independently true in itself? I don't think so." - A Buddhist quote.

Of reason and faith, everybody knows the way, but few actually walk the path. Let those who commit no sin casts the first stone. Beyond that, let us live for today, and make friends, not enemies. If my comments hurt your sensitivity, please read my lips, my sincere apology. It is unintentional. I am merely exercising my rights to free speech.

Namo Amithaba Buddha.

Of Thaipusam and one man's angers......

Thaipusam cerebration is over. Lots of appreciative thanks to the Hindu activists for their persistence in seeking the administration to grant the day of Thaipusam as a public holiday. All of us have a much needed rest day yesterday.

Prior to the Thaipusam, I was told that, there are SMS going around asking Malaysians of Hindu faith to boycott the famous Batu Cave temple. This morning, the MSM have reported that there are more than 1 million people visited the temple, and the SMS campaign has failed to convince the Hindu devotee to boycott the Batu Cave temple. However, the blogsphere reported otherwise. The usual crowd at Batu Cave has declined substantially. Which is which ? Do we believe the MSM or the blogsphere ? But one thing is certain, the attendance of devotees at Batu Cave temple did dropped substantially. So the fact is, there are indeed many Hindu devotees decided to boycott the Batu Cave temple and instead go to other smaller Hindu temple to perform their annual Thaipusam rites.

Sad to note that, sacred temple and religious event such as Thaipusam, has been misused by politicians to launch political attacks against their opponents. God has nothing to do with infidels's political differences, don't drag God into it.

Most of the MSM are emphasizing that there are more than 1 million people visited Batu Cave temple. Really ? The MSM also provide extensive written coverage of the MIC president, Samy Vellu, and the Thaipusam event at Batu Cave temple. It does gave me an impression that, they are trying their level best to portray to the general pubic that Samy Vellu still has considerable and majority support from Malaysians of Hindu faiths.

Frankly, it is of no concern to me, whether Samy Vellu still has the majority support or not. I guess, as a politician, only MIC members and the voters in his constituency can decide his political fate during the general elections. Can we equate the number of Hindu devotees at Batu Cave to Samy Vellu's political popularity ? Are the claimed and unsubstantiated 1 million visitors to Batu Cave temple all Hindu devotees and supporters of MIC and Samy Vellu ? My God, these devotees are there to pay homage to Lord Murugan, not Samy Vellu ! Rightly, religion should never be used as a tool to seek endorsement of political survival.

However, I do find it very amusing to read some of the reported remarks made by Samy Vellu. These are some of the quotations of Samy Vellu from MSM :

“People who send such SMS are not clean; they are dirty fellows. They are nasty, with a low quality mind and no capacity...”
Nasty, low quality mind, and no capacity... these are words usually used by uneducated and arrogant pariahs. On this auspicious religious day, maybe it is worth the while we refrained from insulting fellow Malaysians with these kind of uncultured words.

“You make me laugh. Do you honestly think Indians are that stupid?”
Sir, Indians are not stupid! Laugh all you can. Mr Samy, they are not Indians, they are Malaysians. People with differing opinions are not stupid, only people who are incapable of accepting differing opinions are stupid. Didn't your father told you so ? And don't underestimate Malaysians. Please remember, the one who laughs last laughs best.

"God knows what is happening and what we have done and he will only help MIC and BN."
I don't know, maybe God did communicated to him that he will help MIC and BN. At the rate it is going, I do honestly believe MIC and BN need all the help they can get from God. Maybe, Malaysian politicians should refrained from referencing God or invoking God to justify their political relevancy. I don't know which God he is referring to. Hindu God, Christian God, Muslim Allah, or a Universal God ? Honestly, do you think God care what political party or political values one has ? I personally think it is abusively arrogant and immoral to associate God with biased statements to justify one's intolerance to others' freedom of speech and expression.

"These are nasty, low grade fellows. They do not have the capacity to do things that comply with law and order."
Mr Samy did said "We must know how to be ashamed. Those who know how to be ashamed will not use kuils." So, is it okay for him to use kuils to conduct political attacks on others ? Honestly, Mr Samy must do what he preached. His actions must be consistent with his words. He should have the political decency to refrain from using sacred temple and sacred religious event to hurl uncalled for remarks against his political opponents.

"Who can threaten us? If anybody threatens us, we can identify him fast. It takes only five hours to find his location. He can't run away from us. I'll hand him over to the police."
In the first place, who is threatening MIC and Samy Vellu ? Is differing in opinion constitutes a threat ? But anyway, it is good to know that our Mr Samy has that kind of super capability. I sincerely hope he can make good use of that capability to help the police to apprehend the murderer (s) of Datuk S. Krishnasamy and help to locate the missing five-year-old Sharlinie Mohd Nashar. Or perhaps, offer his expertise to our Malaysian Police to help fight and reduce crimes.

It does sound like there is a political warfare between MIC and Hindraf seeking to win Hindu support in Malaysia. But so far, the war of words look quite loop sided with only MIC getting the coverage from MSM.

Honestly, in a democratic society, I believe it is the rights of unhappy devotees to send SMS or other means of communication to other Hindu devotees to boycott or support the Batu Cave temple. And equally, it is also the rights of recipients of the SMS to ignore the message and carry on to perform their religious rites in Batu Cave or elsewhere. It is not appropriate to use controlled MSM and religious platform to hurl ucultured words and uncalled for remarks to others who differed in opinions.

Be fair, and play fair. OM Namo Amithaba Buddha. Om Mani Pedme Hum....

Religious hypocrisy - Piss or peace ?

"I dearly hope that authentic religious freedom could become reality everywhere and that everyone's right to practice their religion freely, or to change it, should not be impeded....... This is a primordial right for every human being"
- Pope Benedict -

Not so long ago, if I remembered it correctly, the Pope did mentioned that Buddhism is a form of erotic fantasy. As a Buddhist Taoist, I forgive him, because I know, he speaks out of ignorance for he do not have the opportunity to embrace the TRUTH in Buddhism.

I am not a Christian, but I do not hate Christians. I happened to believed that Christianity is one of the greatest religion. I respect Christianity but it does not mean I believed in their teachings. I respect the rights of Christians to believe in their teaching of salvation and damnations. Likewise, I do hope the Christians and followers of other religions respect my rights to believe in karma, vipakka, and reincarnation.

Coming back to the above quoted statement of Pope Benedict, honestly, I do have tremendous respect for this frailed looking old man because he finally preaches respect and freedom for other religions. I do hope other so called learned spiritual and religious leaders from other religions can emulate Pope Benedict to call on the rest of the world to respect the basic human rights of individual to profess, practice, or change religion. As long as these so called religious and spiritual leaders do not discard their intolerances and their refusal to respect freedom of religions, these morons are nothing but a bunch of rapists of civilizations.

Ironically, the followers of some religions demand others to respect and observe the sensitivity of their religions, but in their own countries where they are the majority, they are incapable to respect and observe the sensitivity toward other minority religions. Some religions readily accept the conversions of followers from other religions, but treat it as sinful if followers of their own religions converted to accept other religions. There have been too many instances of misguided followers of one religion resorted to destroy places of worship of other religions, threatened others with violent deaths and punishments if others renounced or convert out from their religion, attempt to unreasonably imposed their religious belief onto others, and prevent others from performing their own religious practices freely. The act of deliberately spreading hatreds and intolerances against followers of other religions, and impeding freedom of religion is uncivilized, uncultured, and barbaric. Some religions seemed to be very proud of their spiritual hypocrisy of claiming to be preaching love and peace but cowardly indoctrinate its followers to take the path of barbarism and violence.

Sometimes, it is beyond reasons to note that there are so called religiously inclined people ever quick to commit horrible and terrible violence attacks against innocent people all in the name of defending the honour and demanding respect for the founder of their religions. Should the rest of the world's civilized people expected to be apologetic to understand and respect these mobsters. These mobsters have every rights to revere the founders of their religions and commit violent deeds against their own kind and kill each other within the boundary of their own religions. Afterall, if they confined their religious teachings among and within themselves, others should be very happy to respect their rights to profess alternative paths of humanity as long as they don't harm others. It is absolutely ridiculous and arrogantly uncivilized insisting and asserting others to revere and respect these mobster's religions and their religions' founders.

Many violent conflicts and disputes are caused by differences in religious beliefs. How can a religion be a religion of peace when its followers resorted to brutal murders and barbaric violences to establish dominance of their religions over another and maim those who differed ?

When a person has no self respect, how can he respect others ? When the teaching of a religion encourage violences, how can the religion embrace love and peace ? Likewise, collectively, when a group of people have lost faith in their own religion, they will attempt to denounce the religions of others in the hope of masking and justifying their misguided faiths.

Some religiously inclined people shout to the world that their religion should be respected in other countries, but in their own countries, they claimed that it is their majority rights to disrespect other minority religions. They demand greater tolerance and freedom to practice their religions, but in countries where they are majority, they persecute, impede, and arrogantly intolerance against other minority religions. When they don't get what they want, they go on violent rampage to destroy lives and properties ! The world is not sensitive to their religious rights ? Hypocrites!

Much ado over a borrowed Arabic word....

Too much narrow minded politics, over zealous ignorances, and the pressure of wanting to be perceived as racial champions during the coming general elections made rational people making irrational decisions. A few weeks ago, the internal security department of the government of Malaysia threatened to ban the Catholic's Weekly Herald ( Christian publication) if it continue to use the word "ALLAH" to refer to God in its Malay language edition. According to them, only Muslims can use the word "Allah", the rest of other religion should use the word "Tuhan" in their publications in Malay Language.

I used to think that "Allah" is God of Muslims, and "God" is the God of Christians. Now I am enlightened to know that "Allah" is not a Malay word, but a word borrowed from Arabic language used by both Christians and Muslims to refer to the same "GOD".

To side track, I also used to think that "Rasa Sayang" is the traditional Malay song for Malaysia, and "Wayang Kulit" is the traditional cultural heritage of the Malay in Malaysia. But, Indonesia now claimed that both "wayang kulit" and "rasa sayang" belong to Indonesians. You know, everytime I eat Roti Canai, it reminds me of the Hindu from Chenai, India. I sincerely hope people from Chenai will not be misguided to claim ownership of the origin of this popular food and force us to rename Roti Canai as Roti Chenai. And whenever I eat Nasi Lemak, I am reminded of the "kiribath" ( coconut milk rice ) of Sri Lanka. And I also hope the Sri Lankan don't force us to rename Nasi Lemak as Nasi Kiribath or attempt to claim ownership of the origin of Nasi Lemak.

Malaysia is a country where 60% of her population are Muslims. However, the founding principles of the nation guaranteed freedom of religion for all her citizens. Religion has always been a sensitive issue in Malaysia, the demand by the internal security department was deemed by many Malaysians as an uncalled for extremism and a form of restriction on Malaysians' rights to practice religion of their choice.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi had on Christmas Day, warned Malaysians to be on their guard against religious extremists trying to tear apart the multiracial fabrics of the nation. 2008 is indeed a good start for Malaysia. The government has rejected the narrow minded and extremist views of some ignorant and over zealous people. Weekly Herald now received its publishing permit for 2008 with no conditions attached. Sincerely, I do hope, in the not so distant future, freedom of speech and religion can be further guaranteed with the complete abolishment of the so called "publishing permit".

Congratulation to Weekly Herald. Allah ( or GOD in English language) with his almighty grace has answered the prayers of the Christians for their rights to spread their good words in Malay language.

Praise be with the Lord, Namo Amithaba Jesus, Amen....

In God we feared ?

"The fear of Allah is not there. So we have now a polluted earth, a polluted water, a wasteland...." Sheik Mohammed Omran, a Muslim cleric at Brunswick mosque in Australia, blamed the devastating drought, climate change, and pollution on Australians' lack of faith in Allah. Read Drought blamed on lack of faith

"Australia has turned away from Almighty God . . . the sinful condition of mankind has contributed to the stem of rainfall...." Danny Nalliah, pastor of Catch the Fires Ministries, blamed "sinful" Australians for the nation's record drought and climate change. Read Pastor blames drought on immoral Aussies

Oh no, not again... Another fear factor in the name of God ! Anyway, If Australia is such as sinful and immoral place as claimed by these so called religious people, why are they and their followers still residing in Australia ? Perhaps, they should go back to their biblical and holy lands dictated in their holy book to seek salvation from their respective Gods.

The law of universe is such, that, all things will find their natural balances. Certain geographical and environmental degradations such as draught, climatic change, etc. are due to mankind's lack of respect for the environment and earth's geographical conditioning, it got noting to do with men's faiths in God. If there is a God, isn't it very perverted of God to create catastrophes to cause hardships to men simply because he want to punish men for their "sins" ? If there is a God, isn't God supposed to be all compassionate, all knowing, all forgiving, and all merciful ? Honestly, If there is a God, I think he or she is not doing a good job in keeping the human race enlightened. Perhaps, God has been sleeping in his Job. If you ask me, since we institutionalized religion and instituted man made law to create and protect the existence of God, he or she should be punished for not reciprocating human's good deeds of creating him. God should be punished, not human beings.

All secular man live in ethical world and eventually go to Nirvana. What about the so called religious men ? I think most of them come from hell, live in hatreds, and fart incoherent languages to create fears in the hope that other naive and irrational men and women will tag along their path of illogical mental lunacies.

A trully religious person do not go around preaching fears and reprisals. A trully religious person keep his religious belief to himself. A trully religious person do not condem other people's beliefs. A trully religious person is a spiritual person. A spirituall person walks the middle path and is respectful of his environment.

So, next time, if some men or women start invoking the name of their God to indirectly instituting fears and promised paradise, you know you are being approached by deluded lunatics with his brand of religious intolernces. Please do mankind a great favour by asking them to go back to their rightful place with their pissful mentalities - Hell.

Om Namo Amithaba Buddha.......

Toy story.....

A female teacher from Britain was sentenced to 15 days jail by a Sudanese court for allowing a group of school children named a soft toy, a teddy bear, with the name of a founder of a religion.

According to the news report, the mobs streamed out from the place of worship after their prayers and gathered to demonstrate emotionally and angrily. I found it extremely unbelievable that a bunch of so called religiously inclined men mobbing on the street waving swords and knives. They demanded a school teacher from Britain to be executed because the emotionally charged perpectual grievance seekers claimed that she has insulted their religion. Or perhaps maybe to them, it is religiously righteous to demand a life be destroyed on the slightest filmsy excuse to satisfy their satiation for grievances. What have they been praying in the place of worship ? Love, peace, forgiveness, and gratitude ?

Read HERE for further details.

The mobs chanted "Shame, shame on the UK!" Perhaps they are looking at the mirror and describing the images on the mirror. No offense intended. My honest perception is, these people are merely a group of mindless masses lathering themselves over nothing, and seeking the name of religion to mask their inferiority complex. I just want to read something easy and entertaining news that spread love and peace, but end up being bombarded with farting noises from psychotic people indoctrinated with mental illness.

In the name of religion, pariahs are capable of a lot of nonsenses. Oh dear God, what have you been doing ? Sleeping on your job again ? I am speechless but it does gave me an impression that mob rules in a loony country.

I named my pet dog "Buddha". And I honestly believe my dog has better human values than a lot of people out there pretending to be righteous and religious. To all those grievance seekers out there, one piece of advise, "Peace and love comes from within. Do not seek it without". You honestly think you can fool God with your insincere prayer and faked religiousity ?

Om mani pedme hum, Om namo amithaba Buddha.

It's a dog day today.....

Every dog has his day. And the day is the Second day of Deepavali. In Nepal, on the second day of the restival of Tihar, special honours (Kukur Pooja) is bestowed on dogs. Even the street dogs are worshipped and garlanded. Dogs are not only men's best friends, in Hindu beliefs, dogs are the only designated holy animal to accompany Dharmaraj Yudhisthir on his journey to heaven. Dogs are also assigned the heavy responsibility to guard the underworld (Yama).

Have you hug your dog today ? So, for today, show some respect, affection, and prepare a good meal for your dog.

I am going to home now to buy some favorite foods for my poodles..... Namo Amithaba Buddha

In the name of development.....

SAD !!! Another Hindu temple has been demolished ! To whoever it may concerned, show some self respect to your own religion, please stop destroying other people's places of worships.

On Tuesday, November 1st 2007, the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple located in Kampung Karuppiah, Padang Jawa, Shah Alam, was demolished by the local town council. I understand that Hinduism is a minority religion in Malaysians. But, there is a need to respect the rights of others to practise other religions. It is clearly an insensitive and uncultured act by the local town council to destroy the Hindu temple without consulting the local residents. During the demolition, many resident protested the action of the local town council, several people were injured and arrested.

When we said we respect freedom of religion, are we unashamedly showcasing our talent in forked tongues immoralities and indecencies ? To what extend are we willing to defend the rights of other Malaysians to practise their religions in Malaysia ? It made me puke to see some Malaysians going around the world wanting to be perceived as champions of international human rights, but are incapable to respect human rights in their own country. I think I am getting a bit fed up of all these crying babies going the world demanding sensitivity to their religion, but on the other hand, they themselves demonstrate blatant disrespect and insensitivity to other religions. Perhaps, pariahisms is the ingrained religious values for some oxymorons.

Destroying a temple under any circumstances or reasons is by itself an immoral act. Sad to note that a sacred place for worship has been destroyed without due consideration to the spiritual needs of local residents. My frank opinion is, people who show no respect for places of worships are basically uncultured barbarians.

I joined millions of Hindu brothers and sisters to pray to the good angels that enough donations will pour in and an alternative site allocated to built a NEW, BIGGER, and MORE IMPRESSIVE Sri Maha Mariamman Temple. I am not a Hindu, but I do love the see the unique architecture of Hindu temples. Hindu temples are the most beautiful and cultured places in the world. I do sincerely hope the Malaysia Indian Congress can initiate more political and social actions to built more Hindu temples in Malaysia.

May the almighty forgive those who destroys places of worship. Om Mani Pedm Hum......

Of race and ethnicity......

I chanced upon an old news article dated June 10th 2007 which was published on Sabah's Daily Express. I know not so much about constitutionality of Malaysia or sociological interpretation of race and ethnicity. But I found the definition of “Malay” by the Malacca's Chief Minister, Mohd Ali Rustam, very interesting.

According to the news article ( Please read HERE), Mohd Ali Rustam said :

• “a person who is a Muslim, converses in Malay and follows the Malay traditions is considered a Malay. "It is easy to become a Malay, "
• "Even if that person is Chinese or Indian or Kadazan if they are Muslim or have converted, converse in Malay and follow the Malay tradition, then they are Malays.”
• "The Kadazans if they are a Muslim, we considered them as Malays, and if they have not embraced Islam, they are Bumiputeras. It is easy to become a Malay."

Interesting indeed. Honestly, I am a bit confuse here, if I converted to Christianity, speak English, and regularly eat pork chop, ham, bacon, and sandwich for breakfast, does that qualified me to be an Englishman ? If an Englishman or Italian migrated to Malaysia, converted to Islam, and speak Bahasa Malaysia, does that make him a Malay ?

After 50 years of Independence ( or Merdeka ), why are all these pariahs still resorting to split Malaysians along the line of religions and languages ? Why can't we just call ourselves Malaysians and move forward ?

If a parrot can imitate a dog's bark, at the end of the day, do we call the parrot a dog, a parrot, or a paradox ?

The above does reminds me of the following jokes :

A young couple left the church and arrived at the hotel where they were spending the first night of their honeymoon. They opened the champagne and began undressing. When the bridegroom removed his socks, his new wife asked, "Ewwww---what's wrong with your feet? "Your toes look all mangled and weird. Why are your feet so gross?"
"I had Tolio as a child, " he answered.
"You mean polio?" she asked.
"No, tolio. The disease only affected my toes."
The bride was satisfied with this explanation, and they continued undressing. When the groom took off is pants, his bride once again wrinkled up her nose.
"What's wrong with your knees?" she asked. "They're all lumpy and deformed!"
"As a child, I also had kneasles, "he explained.
"You mean measles?" she asked.
"No, kneasles. It was a strange illness that only affected my knees."
The new bride had to be satisfied with this answer. As the undressing continued, her husband at last removed his underwear.
"Don't tell me," she said. "Let me guess.....Small Cox?"

That's all for today, lunch break is over, back to work........

Ramzi Yousef Converts to Christianity?

The mastermind of the 1993 terror attack on World Trade Centre is now a Christian.

This morning, while watching the CNN news, there was a brief news on a convicted terrorist, Yousef Ramsi. In an interview with C.B.S Television Network, Yousef Ramsi claims that he has converted to Christianity. The interview is scheduled to be aired on Sunday, October 2007. A convicted criminal who glorify death and violence in the name of his old religion, now glorify life and peace in the name of his new religion ? Does it really matter whether Yousef Ramsi is a Muslim or Christian ? He once adopt a life of barbarity, called others infidels, but now enlightened to embrace infidels' God. Sincerely, good for him, I do hope he see the lights and find peace in his new religion and at peace with himself. The world now has one less terrorist and hopefully more peace ?

Read “Did Ramzi Yousef Really Convert to Christianity?”

Everyday, we have all sort of people converted in and out of each other's religions. We have Muslim becoming Christians, Christians becoming Buddhist, Hindu becoming Christians, etc. etc. These sporadic conversions doesn't indicate whether a particular religion is better than another religion. What probably happen is, more and more people are getting disillusion with their own religions. Based on my observation, people usually switch religion during personal crisis or for certain economic and financial reasons.

Everybody claims that his or her religion is the fastest growing religion in the world. No big deal ! Since when spirituality became a contest of political popularity? It really doesn't matter what religion you professed. You are what you are. If there is a God, and if you claimed that he is all merciful and loving, then, does God care what religion you belonged to ? God is not a racist or a cultural moron. As far as he is concern, you can be an atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or whatever, he will continue to love you as long as you are kind hearted, compassionate, reasonable, and mindful.

If somebody comes to you to say that his religion is the only true religion, his God is the only true God, and you must embrace his religion to enjoy the attention, blessing, and love from God, I can assured you that you are dealing with a liar. He may be very persistent with his misplaced religiousity, but repeatedly stating a lie is not going to make the lie a truth. You are probably dealing with a freaked up asshole from a farting religion. Perhaps, you should compassionately advise him to seek mental treatments and confine his closeness to God in a mental institution.

No wonder this world is in such a mess....

In the name of God, heaven awaits sinners ?

This little blue marble called earth has a population of approximately 7 billion people. Of these 7 billions people, approximately 6 billion people belonged to the four major religions of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism. The balance 1 billion people embraced not less than 30 type of different religions. And within each religion, there are also various sects or groupings.

With the exception of Christianity, no one single religion command more than 30 percent of the population. So, who are we to say that only our religion deserved the merits of God as the TRUE religion ? In this perspective, why are some of us willingly allowed ourselves to be misguided to commit misdeeds against followers of other religions in the name of God. What perverted pleasures can we derived by dominating and wiping out other religions ?

We go around the world crusading prevention of cruelty to animals and to protect endangered species, but are illogically incapable of appreciating and respecting each other cultures and religions. We glorify death over life, and violence over peace in the name of religion, Is human life of lesser worth compared to animals ? Some of us fellow human beings are indeed a bunch of monkeys swinging from tree to tree shouting incoherent languages demanding to be respected with our demented religious upbringings.

Almost all religion believe in the existence of a single universal God. All religions claimed to preach love and respect, but in practise, religions had been the main causes of all major violences and instabilities in the world. Looking at the various religiously inspired conflicts, it does gave an impression that, religions have lost its spiritual sense of morality, and had been consistently degraded into political movements to achieve satanic agenda.

In my adult life, I do encountered many senseless religious preaching in the name of the so called all merciful God. There are always religious people of various religions trying very genuinely to preach the wholesome goodness of their religions, and with all sincerity trying convert people into theirs. For they single heartedly believed that their religion is the only TRUE religion, and their GOD the only TRUE God. But, when their religious values are not accepted or when they failed to convert people from other religions, they became irrational animals with misplaced angers and hatreds violently venting their frustrations and wanting non believers to die in hell.

There are also times, I had been directly or indirectly preached by followers of other religions and enticed with the concept of heaven and hell. I was told, if I convert out from my religion, salvations awaits me, and I will be rewarded with an after life of paradise in heaven. The beautiful part is, I will be given many beautiful virgins, tasty wine, succulent fruits, and good foods. Whatever I do in the name of my new found God, be it a criminal intent, barbaric act, or otherwise, I shall gain credit points on my way to heaven. The sad part is, if I do not convert, no matter how many good deeds I performed, an unbearable after-life of burning hell awaits me. So much about the peaceful and forgiving natures of some religions with actions inconsistent with the preached words.

As far as I am concerned, religion should always be remained as a private and individual matter. Individual rights to embrace religions of their own choice should be respected and protected at all costs. Each and everyone of us has our own spiritual and material path to pursue. For that matter, be as religious and as spiritual as the good book dictated, but in the best interest of humanity, have the right mindfulness to keep our belief to ourself and in the privacy of our own homes. Most religions are formed many hundreds or perhaps thousands of years ago, what worked then as a political movement to unite people does not necessarily works now in this modern age. We are now in the 21st century, it would be better for the sake of humanity if all of those so called religious people and the followers of all religions appreciate and respect the diversities of other religions. Wouldn't it be better to live a peaceful and material life ethically and respectful of other people's religions ?

Would we be able to go to heaven with lots of credit points to redeem virgins, wine, and good foods by over jealously imposing our religious values on others ? For that matter, would we be able to have a good after life by trespassing and transgressing the religious rights of other people through intimidations, violences, harassments, and threats ? Well, I don't really know whether there is a promised heaven, we will only know after we are dead, and dead man tells no tales. Religion is after all an illogical science of promised illusions and delibrate confusions. A piece of sincere advise, if your religion dictate you to disrespect other religions and encourage you to commit criminal and wrongful acts in the name of your God, perhaps you should seriously assess the teaching of your religions logically and ethically. Let us not get confused by preachings of misguided hatreds and intolerances, or be deluded by the promise of pleasurable heaven to cause harms on others.

So, the next time some body come to you with the statement beginning with “in the name of God....”, please avoid them at all cost ! Let's be practical, do you think God actually commissioned these harlots to spread the messages of narrow-mindedness and ignorance ? If God has a message for you, he will communicate to you directly. The all powerful and almighty God does not need misguided sinners to spread his messages.

Like it or not, religion can be manipulated into a poweful weapon of mass deception. In the name of God, what deceits are human beings incapable of ? In the name of God, evil has become us !

In the name of religions......

Whether we like it or not, the world is now at war with each other. We are not experiencing the wars between nations, but grouping of people under the same commonality of perverted religious values to stage and instigate unrests and violences against others. The illogical reasoning of religions seemed to be the favorite justifications for instigating hatreds and violences against other religions. This illogical ideological wars has break new frontiers of using religion as weapon of mass deception to brainwash its followers to commit barbaric and satanic acts.

What are the motives of the so called self proclaimed leaders of these religions ? I do not know. Perhaps, they want to be idolized as heroes in times of instabilities and troubles. Perhaps, there are hosts of other reasons. It is not up to me to speculate. He who instigate violences and destructions in the name of God are usually people who lost hope in their own religion and had lost faith in God.

We are now living in the 21st century, but we are also being regressed into the dark age of humanity. Religions are pitted against each others to established superiority position in the minds of the monkeys. We imposed and transgressed the religious rights of others, claiming that it is our rights to do so in the name of our God. We are after all, a bunch of uncivilized demented minds.

Sad to note that, every religion marketed their position as religion of peace and love, and its God the most merciful and benevolent. But resorted to gain publicities and superiority through violences, hatreds, and intolerances. Almost all mass violences and terrorist acts in the world today are committed in the name of religions. I find it amazing that, majority of the followers of the so called religions of peace did not came out to condemned the perpetrators whenever a mass violence or terrorist act is committed. Instead, the world is being asked my the followers of the particular religion involved to understand the root cause of the violence and terrorist act, and be sympathetic to the aggressors. These followers of so called religions of peace are the worst culprits and indirect terrorists. They are the worst mass murderers and hypocrites that commit atrocities against mankind in our modern history. I do wonder how they can come to terms with their insanity, self proclaimed righteousness, and their faked religiosity.

Increasingly, we also came across cowards who tried to impose their religious values on others by resorting to cruelty on animals such as dogs, pigs, cows, etc. Misguided or otherwise, whether their religions are religions of peace or otherwise, I sincerely do not wish to comment further. But I guess it is suffice to say that, their actions speak for themselves. My only frank comment is, if we have any differing opinions on others' religions, we should refrained from venting our frustration on helpless animals and violences against innocent people.

The proper and civilize avenue to resolve differing religious values and opinions is through dialogs and discussions in forum. Let us not resorting to barbarisms using act of violences, act of instigating hatreds, act of using force to impose and transgressed into the beliefs of others, or any other form of despicable indirect act that may cause hardships and sufferings to others.

I do not wish to offend any religions. But sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, I do hope sanity prevails. If a follower of our religion committed violences, murders, or any acts against the law, it is our duty as the believer in God to speak up against such act and condemned the perpetrators as criminals. Let us not resorts to justified their acts with excuses simply because these criminals belongs to the same religious movement as ours. The insanity against humanity must stop immediately, let us not be perverted to shout the slogan of peace and love on one hand, but, on the other hand, provide immoral and indirect support to these misguided people who used religions as justification to quench their thirst for bloods and other ulterior motives.

God do not need mortal being like us to defend his good name or position. Let us not be deluded to think that it is our duty to defend God. Have a peace with yourselves, and be peaceful towards others. Keep your belief to yourselves, respect the beliefs of others, and most important of all, mind your own business.

I felt nauseated to see triads organizations invoking the power of God in secret rituals to offer divine protection to their gangsters to conduct extortions, kidnapping, murders, and all sorts of criminal activities. How are these rituals different from mass violences and terrorisms conducted in the name of God ?

Name me one God that asked his followers to commit murders and violences against others. There are NONE ! I believe in religions that preached peace and love. Beyond that, all other religions that urged their followers to commit crimes, murders, and violences are satanic cults, and its followers, satan worshippers and barbarians.

My coffee do taste very bitter this morning...... this restic seventh day is, but a painful reminder of humanity approaching its end of galaxical journey to self destruction. Life is, afterall, a game that nobody gets out alive. The promised eternity is, but an over glorified illusion and insanity. In the mean time, I would like to live a secular life publicly, and a religious life privately. For the moment, heaven is on earth for me, please do not contaminate my habitat with your deluded and demented religious superiority.

Is there God ? Is there God ? Om Mani Pedme Hum.

A shrine for Barbie ?

Talk about spiritualism........ In Singapore's Pulau Ubin, there is a shrine dedicated to the spirit of a German girl who died during World War I. The little girl's spirit has been elevated to the status of Deity by the locals. The shrine is known as "Lady Datuk Kong Shrine". What religion is this ? New Age ?

“.....Three years ago, a local emigrant to Australia had the same weird dream for three nights. In his dream, a western girl led him to a shop. She then asked him to buy a Barbie doll and bring it to the"Lady Na Tuk Gong Shrine". The man followed the directions given with a grain of salt. To his surprise, he found the shop and also the doll the girl described in his dream. He bought the doll and brought it back to Pulau Ubin. Today, a lot of people come to the temple to worship the Barbie doll and it is said their prayers for safety and health are answered....” Read further at Sin Chew Daily's "拿督公姑娘廟"

Happy Ganesha Festival

Ganesh Chaturthi, or Ganesha Festival, is an auspicious occasion in Hindu calender. Today, September 15th 2007, is the first day of the 10 days celebration of Ganesh Festival. Hindu Devotees all over the world celebrates Ganesh Festival to commemorate the Birthday of Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha is the elephant-headed and potbellied son of Shiva and Parvati. In Hindu religion, Lord Ganesha is the God of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. He is also the benevolent protector of the innocent, and ruthless destroyer of evils. Lord Ganesha is one of the most popular God for Hindu and a lot of non Hindu. As a Buddhist practising Taoism, on regular basis, I do visit Hindu temple to pray and pay respect to Lord Ganesha. So, If you want good health, wealth, and success, do visit the Hindu temple over the next 10 days to offer your prayers to Lord Ganesha.

Read HERE and HERE for more information on Ganesha Festival.

Taoism is the REASON, Buddhism is the TRUTH, Hinduism is the WAY........ Om Mani Pedme Hum.

To my Hindu brothers and sisters, Happy Ganesh Chaturthi ! May all of you be blessed with success and good health.

Rosh Hashanah

Today, September 13th 2007, is the Jewish new year. As a Buddhist, I must admit, I had been very ignorance of others’ religion celebrations. Believe it or not, I did not know Jewish’s new year is called Rosh Hashanah until today. My sincere apology to my fellow humans on the other part of the world for my lack of religious knowledge. To all Israelis, I sincerely wish all of you a year of health, success, prosperity, and fulfillment.

May the tears of the past soften the hearts of the future to love and be loved. May the hands that kill be the hands that heal. May God bless the peace makers and banish war makers to hell. May the guns and bullets be forever rested, and may your country have everlasting peace with your neighboring countries.

The following is a brief description of Rosh Hashanah from the web site Jewish Festivals and Days of Remembrance in Israel :

---- Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Jewish new year. Its origin is Biblical (Lev. 23:23-25): “a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts [of the shofar, the ram’s horn].” The term Rosh Hashanah, “beginning of the year,” is rabbinical, as are the formidable themes of the festival: repentance, preparation for the day of Divine judgment, and prayer for a fruitful year. The two-day festival falls on 1-2 Tishrei in the Jewish calendar, usually September in the Gregorian calendar, and starts at sundown of the preceding evening, as do all Jewish observances. Major customs of Rosh Hashanah include the sounding of the shofar in the middle of a lengthy synagogue service that focuses on the festival themes, and elaborate meals at home to inaugurate the new year. The prayer liturgy is augmented with prayers of repentance. In many senses, Israel begins its year on Rosh Hashanah. Government correspondence, newspapers and most broadcasts carry the “Jewish date” first. Felicitations for the new year are generally tendered before Rosh Hashanah. ----

May this year Rosh Hashanah be the beginning of everlasting peace and tolerance for mankind. May all of us repent and pledge not to repeat our wrong doings. God, let there be peace among fellow human beings.

HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH….. Om Mani Pedme Hum

FAQ - God and Religions

I was approached by a very religious person today, he talked to me about human beings being sinners, and persuading me to embrace his religion. Based on that conversations, he impressed upon me that God will forgive sinners who accepted the religion of his, and there shall be salvations, and places in heaven are guaranteed.

I know, this guy is a very nice person and with genuine sincerity and convinced that his religion is the only region that provide the "right way" to God. The question is, if his religion is the only "right" religion, then how come there are so many established religions in the world competing for attentions and publicities ?

With due respect to all and no insensitivity intended to any religion, my honest perception is, we do not need a religion. My educated guess is, most religions are all man made and were initiated by a few people purely out of their desires to create a political movement to establish control over and intimidate the many.

God would preferred you not to encumbered yourself with man made protocols and man made words of His. He would preferred you to lead an ethical life and follow your sincere heart to focus your attention directly with HIM through prayers in any languages or dialects of your choice. By the way, don't worry, God is multi-linguals.

Believing in a religion and believing in GOD are completely two different things. The formal is a political indoctrination of culture of fears and illogical rewards, while the later is a spiritual bondings of love and respect with the Almighty. A lot of the world's problems nowadays are caused by intolerances, ignorances, and misinterpretation of religions. God does not caused the world's problems. Human beings did.

Now, by not having a religion, does that made a person a sinner ? The question you should asked yourself is, if you do not subscribe to any political ideology and does not commit any crime, would you be penalized and be put into jail ? However, if you insist you must embraced a "right" religion to make you closer to God, then, good for you. But whatever you do, please respect and appreciate others' preferred medium of loyalty to God in their own ways.

Now, tell me which religion shall lead you to God and the Kingdom of Heaven ?

Om Namo Amithaba Buddha.