The Way to Follow a Guru

Hard enough to know how to choose a Guru,
Not to mention being turned off by a sour one.
Be truthful to Bodhicitta and practice solidly,
Approach gradually with eyes open, and dedicate oneself to the Dharma!   from Yutang Lin

FATE.....

There was a scholar who was to marry his fiancee, but on the day of marriage, his fiancee changed her mind and married someone else. The scholar was devastated and fell ill. His family seek all kinds of medical treatment for him, but still he showed no sign of recovery. They were
about to give up hope on him when a wandering monk passed by. After learning about the scholar's condition, the monk walked to the scholar's bed and took out a mirror for the dying man to see.

In the mirror, the scholar saw a vast ocean, and the naked body of a murdered woman lay on the beach. A man passed by, looked at the body, shook his head and left. Another man who passed by saw the body, took off his robes to cover the body and left.

Finally came a man passing by who saw the body, dug a hole and laid the body carefully to rest before burying it. The scene in the mirror suddenly changed. The scholar saw his fiancee in a nuptial chamber and another man was lifting her wedding veil... The scholar blinked at the monk,
confused. Slowly the monk explained,

"The woman whose body you saw on the beach was your fiancee in her previous life. In your previous life, you were the second man who gave her his robes to cover her body. To repay your kindness in this lifetime, she loved you for a period of time and became your fiancee. However, ultimately the man whose favor she has to return for the rest of her life is the third man who
buried her. And that man is now her husband."

Enlightened, the scholar sat up and recovered from his dispression. It is truly amazing -- this thing called "Fate". There was a movie in which the theme song went like this: "You can say it is a big world, you can say it is a small world. But for the promise of this lifetime, we shall spend our entire lives to fulfil."

All of us are in this big grand masquerade, among the throng of people, we seek expectantly... in that electrifying moment when our fingers touch, the masks are removed to reveal our true selves. Before this moment, we were drifting aimlessly, not knowing what we really wanted. Till you meet this particular person, you finally realize what you really want is not what you have wished for in the first place. It amazes you that standing in front of this person is a different you! You without any mask!

Fate is not something meant to be forced upon. What is yours Will eventually come to your arms; what is not yours will never come to be. In any case, we should not lose heart and give up on our hopes for love that is true, good and beautiful. The value of life, in a certain sense, is
determined by the maturity of how we love. Of how we give and accept love.

Treasure what you have...
                     Time is too slow for those who wait;
                     Too swift for those who fear;
                     Too long for those who grief;
                     Too short for those who rejoice;
                     But for those who love...
                     Time is Eternity!

Fifth Lay Precept: not to use intoxicants.

Keeping the Precepts

Once upon a time a Buddhist lama was traveling in the steppe as a "badarch," a holy man that brings blessings to the nomad families in exchange for food and lodging. It was close to sunset, and he came upon a lone ger [yurt] and some livestock. 

As he approached the ger, a young woman came out to greet him. She was the only person living there. 

He requested hospitality and she agreed, but said he could stay the night only under one condition. He had to choose to do one of three things. He could drink alcohol, sleep with her, or sacrifice a goat. 

Now the last was taboo for lamas since only shamans sacrifice goats. Since all three choices were in some degree sinful, he had a difficult decision. He decided that drinking alcohol would be the least harmful. 

He drank the alcohol, and while he was drunk, fed up with its bleating, he killed the goat.  When he woke up the next morning,  he found himself in bed with his hostess. 

He then learned that drinking alcohol is a small sin but it can easily make a man do bad things under its influence.

The Worm

There is a wonderful little story about two monks who lived together in a monastery for many years; they were great friends.

Then they died within a few months of one another. One of them got reborn in the heaven realms, the other monk got reborn as a worm in a dung pile. The one up in the heaven realms was having a wonderful time, enjoying all the heavenly pleasures.

But he started thinking about his friend,

"I wonder where my old mate has gone?" So he scanned all of the heaven realms, but could not find a trace of his friend. Then he scanned the realm of human beings, but he could not see any trace of his friend there, so he looked in the realm of animals and then of insects. Finally he found him, reborn as a worm in a dung pile... Wow!

He thought: "I am going to help my friend. I am going to go down there to that dung pile and take him up to the heavenly realm so he too can enjoy the heavenly pleasures and bliss of living in these wonderful realms."

So he went down to the dung pile and called his mate. And the little worm wriggled out and said:

"Who are you?",

"I am your friend. We used to be monks together in a past life, and I have come up to take you to the heaven realms where life is wonderful and blissful."

But the worm said: "Go away, get lost!" "But I am your friend, and I live in the heaven realms," and he described the heaven realms to him.

But the worm said: "No thank you, I am quite happy here in my dung pile. Please go away."

Then the heavenly being thought: "Well if I could only just grab hold of him and take him up to the heaven realms, he could see for himself." So he grabbed hold of the worm and started tugging at him; and the harder he tugged, the harder that worm clung to his pile of dung.

Do you get the moral of the story? How many of us are attached to our pile of dung?

fertilityfriend.com

If an egg was fertilized, implantation (when the embryo implants to the lining of her uterus) happens, on average, about 7 days past ovulation.

 

It can happen as early as five days past ovulation or as late as twelve days past ovulation.

 

Now is in the phase of cycle where implantation may occur. Although implantation may be visible on her chart (triphasic pattern, dip and/or spotting) it is not always visible even on pregnancy charts. This is the most stressful waiting phase. It is generally too early to test.

 

 

2 days has gone

Since yesterday, I re-start my diet plan again. Below is the my menu.

 

Breakfast is a cup of milk tea with 1 bread that is near my office.

 

Lunch .... guess what. From a full bowl of chicken rice reduce to a small plate of Luo-Mai-Kei + milk tea.

 

Dinner ? ?  Slight smaller than normal meal.

 

Of course all meal come with heavy intake of nicotine which we call it "Cow-Boy" blue color, cost me $9.60 in a normal coffee shop.

 

Hope that when I report back for my ICT can reduce the weight to 64 kg again. I dun wan to be called by anyone  . . "Fatty".

 

Wish me good luck.