Travel Tips

Rely not on the teacher/person, but on the teaching.

Rely not on the words of the teaching, but on the spirit of the words.

Rely not on theory, but on experience.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.

Do not believe anything because it is spoken and rumored by many.

Do not believe in anything because it is written in your religious books.

Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.%c*

But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and the benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

and the teacher is Buddha , excerpt from Kalama Sutra

Did you realise that by saying that Buddha did not ask all Buddhist or followers to believe him / his disciples or any sutras ..( and in fact challenge his own teaching )....but to think for themselves...whether the teaching is locical and reasonable...I believe the reason being the Enlightened one knows that after all different people may interprete it differently and the original teaching that are passed down might not be in its original form -

thus by having Kalama Sutra ...Buddhist are asked to think and not follow anything blindly ...and that is how I have found the following analysis ...

heaven and earth

Some people say - I want to go to heaven . So if you tell him how he can get there , he will do anything you say ( anything to get there ! )
And some say if you do good deeds , you will go heaven ?
So if we do good deeds, with that thinking in mind,arent we " hoping for something in return" instead of helping for the pure joy and satisfaction of helping others ? Do we call ourselves sincere ?

Is earth such a horrible place ? Is heaven such a bliss ? You have your beautiful family , good frens here on earth , but up there are you sure you will see them or have the same kind of relationship and bonding ?

Life would be pretty boring coz you dont have to worry and no sadness . So if there is no sadness , will you be able to appreciate joy and happiness ? How ? Think about it .

But you can experience them on earth. So still wanna go heaven ?

what is karma ?

well do you believe in them ? Do I believe in karma ? I would say 50 % . Why ?

When we say if we do bad , something bad will befall you and is the contrary true that when you do good , good will ( have to ) befall you ?

If we believe in the latter , how can we say that we are sincere in helping the less fortunate ones ? Arent we just hoping for something in return ? Why cant we help people just for the sake of helping people ?
Do we have to be so calculative ?

I am not so agreeble to certain Budhhist teaching where certain things you do will earn you certain points and even bring you to different levels of heaven. Even though the intention is good but I believe I cant apply this part !

Is monothesim based on belief or conduct ? What I mean is does belief alone in monotheism will definitely secure you a place in heaven ? ( despite of what you have done or what you will be doing , since god is ever so loving and forgiving ? )

Some says unbelivers will be condemned ? But will people who believes in polytheism be banished to hell even though they have done good all their life ? ( an extreme case will be a polytheist who has done good all the time, be banished while a montheist has done cruel and bad things ( but asked for forgiveness everytime and repeat it again ) will be forever saved from hell , because God is always forgiving and thus his believe allows him to enjoy this ultimate benefit.

Is this true ? So does montheism involves only belief ? what about ethic/conduct ? Do they have to exist at the same time ? will absence of anyone still make you eligible for heaven ? What if ethnic/conduct wise you are saintly but just the belief part is different ?

Again we are also hoping for something in return for things we do ! Are human such that everything they do, they have to know that they will get / they want to get something in return ?

Why cant humans be happy that they live in this beautiful place called earth , they have lovely family and frens and forget about going heaven coz its gonna make your life in earth sounds like hell when in fact each of us can make a difference to make this earth a better place ..only and if only we start to thinking about others ..and not only " my heaven " , " my good karma " and blah blah blah !

I know what i said might disturb some people , but I write in good faith and I know its not easy for some who have been brought up in certain religion to accept what I said.

But my fren , do not fear , try to look at a different perspective ..and think rationally ....

...why do we pray ?
is there a limit for what we ask for ?
can we ask for good health ?
can we ask for safe journey ?
can we ask for happiness ?

why did we pray ?
can we ask for wealth ?
can we ask for beauty ?
can we ask for money ?

Why are we asking so many things from god ?
is god a wishing well ?
if one person has a wish ,
can you imagine how many wishes god has to track ?
but normally we ask not for one but two or three or more....

One friend told me the people there are more religious ...
I ask why ?
Probably they go to the
temple/church more often ?
Probably they pray more in one
day than others ?
Do you think that is a measure of
how religious you are ?

When you pray the next time , try to remember not to make god your wishing well !

Sometimes I believe that it belongs to other ...
That I choose not to bother ...
Of fear and of loss of purpose ...

Reborn by the steel of positive thinking ..
Baptized my the evidence of confidence ...
that pushed and hurl you afar ...
... never have a finish line ...
Because someone ...
.will move the line when you see it ...
that is continuous improvement ?

But why ?
Strange behaviour of
peeping the zodiac signs..
like an addiction ..
To see what is there for me today ...
Am I not my own destiny ?
Why a confident person ..
still put his hope on stars ?
Strange ....I wish to know ...too

keny (Sept - 2007 )