Crumbs on the Table

lohwenjie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:30:47 +0000

lohwenjie — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:06:53 +0000

I was both appalled and disappointed when I saw this article approved and posted on the Buddhist Channel website (a prominent Buddhist website)

Ven. Ming Yi – Should he be disrobed for his financial misendeavour at Ren Ci Hospital?

It is indeed sad and disappointing that the once famous and inspiring Buddhist monk in Singapore has broken his precepts and break the hearts of his faithful lay disciples and supporters.

Ming Yi has already been punished for his mistakes. Should he still dorn the saffron robes of a Buddhist monk or should he renounce monkhood to prevent bringing the religion into disrepute?

Though regretful, Ming Yi’s actions have not tarnished the name of Buddhism in anyway. The Buddha taught human beings a method to achieve real and eternal happiness. The dhamma, or the teachings of the Buddha, is simply a path leading to the eventual goal.

I am not well versed in the Mahayana school to comment on whether Ming Yi should disrobe. In the Theravade school of Buddhism, to which I belong to, the monks are restrained under the Patimokkha, or a code of conduct comprising of 227 precepts formulated during the Buddha’s time more than 2,500 years ago

According to the Patimokkha, there are four parajikas (defeat) or rules entailing explusion from the Buddhist order or Sangha if they are broken by a monk: – engaging in sexual intercourse with a female, stealing, murder and “boasting of a superior human state without direct knowledge.”

As long as Ming Yi did not commit any of the above offences, he does not need to disrobe at least according to the Theravada school.

I do not see how embezzlement and the making of false accounts are not considered as stealing, and according to the Patimokkha (Theravadin Monastic Code of Conduct):

Accepting gold or money, having someone else accept it, or consenting to its being placed down as a gift for oneself, is a nissaggiya pacittiya offense. (NP18)

Obtaining gold or money through trade is a nissaggiya pacittiya offense. (NP 19)

The Vinaya Rules were set in place by the Buddha to serve 3 main purposes: First, to ensure peace and well-being within the Sangha (Monk) Community itself; Second, to foster and protect faith among the laity, on whom the monks depend for their support; Third, to help restrain and prevent mental defilements within the individual monks.

Though each of the above is a nissaggiya pacittiya offense (which does not entail disrobing, but requires the monk to forfeit the article obtained, and make a confession to a fellow bikkhu or group of bikkhus before he is absolved from the offense), under the Theravadin context, his dealings with money has not only rendered him irrelevant as a monk, whose primary purpose is to renounce the world and devote his time to the study and cultivation of the Dhamma, but it has most importantly eroded the faith (which the Vinaya outrightly sets out to protect) lay people have on the Sanghas.

I shall not be drawn into the polemic debate as to how and what he should be doing, but this post is written to underscore the flagrant mistakes made and to straighten out the wrong views some people might be harboring, since I could not reply/comment on the article posted on the website.

P.S. This post does not discount the fact that he should be forgiven albeit all his wrongdoings.

Second Chance

lohwenjie — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:57:40 +0000

At 17 I was captain of my high-school football team and on my way to college. But in November 1992 I went to a birthday party with friends. We were tussling around, and the chaperones threw us out. One of them knocked me to the ground, and I felt ashamed and angry. My friend had a gun in his car. I got it, came back, and fired three shots, killing one of the chaperones. I was convicted of murder and given 10 to 25 years in prison.

I grew up in an area known for gun violence and drugs. Like a lot of boys, I looked up to tough men who could fight and had been in prison. My first arrest came when I was 12: I stole my grandmother’s gun and took it to school. At 14 I was sent to a boys’ home. I studied hard and won a full scholarship to attend the University of Detroit high school. I excelled there, but my thinking was twisted. I didn’t know how to manage my anger. As a result, a man lost his life the night of that party.

On the day I was to begin Marygrove College, I started a prison term instead. I was 18 and had hope: I could be paroled when I was still a relatively young man. I spent six of my 12 years in prison in solitary confinement. I promised myself I would read 1,000 books. I read 1,300. I became certified as a carpenter, plumber, electrician, and paralegal.

I was released from prison in 2004 after my third parole hearing. I received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Detroit Mercy. I started a motivational-speaking and fitness-training company. As a community-reintegration coordinator, I help other ex-offenders start anew. I’m proof that people, especially teens, can’t be judged by the worst thing they ever did.

There are countless examples of former juvenile offenders like myself who, given the opportunity to be contributing members of society, have done great things. Former senator Alan Simpson committed a serious federal offense as a juvenile (destroying government property) but became a GOP leader. Terry Ray was a violent repeat offender but became an assistant U.S. attorney. Charles Dutton was convicted of manslaughter at 17 but became a respected actor and director. Dozens of studies show that overwhelming majorities of juvenile offenders mature out of committing crimes.

Next month the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Sullivan v. Florida and Graham v. Florida,two cases that will decide if it’s constitutional to sentence teens to life in prison without parole. The court should give people like me a reason to keep improving themselves. Individuals who have committed crimes as teens should be allowed to have their sentences reviewed. Teenagers change. Adolescents, even more than adults, have enormous capacity for redemption. I know.

In Singapore, Yong Vui Kong, a 21-year-old Malaysian is sentenced to death and will be executed for drug trafficking. He was 19 when he was caught for drug trafficking in June 2007.

Singapore is estimated to have one of the highest per capita execution rates in the world.

A mandatory death sentence in Singapore is a cruel and inhuman punishment because even if the defendant’s lawyer is able to adduce fresh evidence or canvass a new argument which has merits, in both situations, after an appeal has been heard by the Court of Appeal, the court system in Singapore, does not have the power to re-open a case where an appeal had already been heard and dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

Some may argue for the case on grounds of social expediency, while some may even be insouciant about it, but I think everyone would choose to stand for the abolishment of mandatory death penalty and support the call for the Courts to be granted revisionary powers over all cases which carry the death penalty IF THE PERSON FACING THE DEATH PENALTY WAS YOU!!

Your reticence is tantamount to a consent to kill.

The difficulty of the task (appeal against mandatory death penalty) does not annul the necessity. Everybody deserves a second chance.

Article Courtesy of Newsweek; Excerpts from “World Day Against the Death Penalty – A Singapore Forum“, theOnlineCitizen.

See the Contrast?

lohwenjie — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:31:50 +0000

I was looking through my friend’s blog and came across this photo, taken when he was in India.

See the contrast? (The little kid at the back is a beggar)

I think we do not need a photo with such strident contrast to remind us that the world we live in is indeed rifed with inequalities.

Whether it is an individual’s karma at work, or the world is as you see it as being marred with sin, I think its pertinent that each and everyone of us has our fair share of issues, inaptitude, set-backs, and idiosyncracies.

We all need to peel our eyes open and discard the parochial worldview we hold obstinately to.

Stop Judging and Start Understanding.

Afterall, everyone of us wants to be Understood; not Judged.

lohwenjie — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:24:18 +0000

Oh!! I have a girlfriend, and I love her too.

Pink Dot

lohwenjie — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:24:28 +0000

I’ve 3 gay friends, and I love them all.

AWARE

lohwenjie — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:27:18 +0000

I recently received this email.

To My Friends,

STOP A GROUP OF CHRISTIANS FROM HIJACKING A REPUTABLE, SUCCESSFUL AND SECULAR CIVIC ORGANISATION TO PUSH ITS CHRISTIAN AGENDA UNDER THE GUISE OF AWARE.

STOP THEM NOW BEFORE OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS DO SIMILARLY.

IF WE DO NOT, THEN WHEN IT IS OUR TURN, THERE WILL BE NO ONE LEFT TO HELP US.

If you are female, please sign up as member of AWARE and go to the EGM to vote out the new Ex-Co.

I think the person who started this chain of emails should be lauded for his/her fervour for defending the cause for secular plurality and diversity. It is easy for us to balk at their (new AWARE) actions and disprove the ideals they tout to stand for, which many of us only care to believe are built upon their fundamentalist beliefs, and as many of us would readily pick up the cudgels and plot a vehement riposte to the coup, righteously believing that we are the bastion of religious freedom and gay rights, we should not overlook the underlying motives these actions spring from.

I believe sternly that whether for or against the movement, we all share a common goal of doing what we all believe is for the betterment of the society, but the bitterest irony of this saga is that we have all jumped too quickly onto judging and chastising others’ intentions, while self presumptuously believing we are the vessels of truth (doing what is right), stoking the fire of discordance. We have officially degraded ourselves into the likes of a radical terrorist, stuck firmly onto one’s views and blinded from the commonalities that bind us all together – peace, love and happiness – things that we all strive for, things that matter most to us.

By scowling at their actions and browbeating them with accusations and threats, we are equally culpable of bigotry. We should instead heal the divide rather than resist the change. As Bikkhu Bodhi points out, we live in a world that thrives on conflict, and in which the forces that nurture conflict are pervasive; obstinate and terribly powerful. But what we can do and must do is to testify by our conduct to the supremacy of peace: to avoid words and actions that engender animosity, to heal divisions, to demonstrate the value of harmony and concord. The model we must emulate is that provided by the Buddha in his description of the true disciple: “He is one who unites the divided, who promotes friendships, enjoys concord, rejoices in concord, delights in concord, and who speaks words that promote concord.”

Live Right, Live Clearly, Live Heedfully

lohwenjie — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:56:11 +0000

Eliot Spitzer was called upon the state New York to serve his highest calling as the governor of the State and had everything in the making to be the 1st Jewish President of the United States, but then saw everything shattered into pieces, “Bill-Clinton-style”, when he was exposed for prostitution.

When asked if, when he hired a prostitute, he knew he was doing something wrong.

“Yes,” he said. “No question about that.”

Did he know what the risk was?

“Yes.”

Then why did he still do it??!!

But before we jump onto the bandwagon, joining the chorus of disapproval for his actions, we should all take a good look at ourselves.

When was the last time you had a piece of chocolate knowing well that its going to make you grow fat??!

When was the last time you went to sleep knowing at the back of your mind that you’ve got to study??!!

And when was the last time you have taken your mum or dad or someone whom you love for granted knowing deep down inside that you do infact love them and they could leave you anytime??!!

I think we all have treaded down the same path before, just that his was prostitution.

We ought to bring more clarity into our lives and stop being creatures of habits.

As Jason Mraz sings, “Live High, Live Mighty, Live Righteously”, I say we “Live Right, Live Clearly, Live Heedfully”.

lohwenjie — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:11:55 +0000

According to the World Bank, 80% of the world’s population live on less than $10 a day ($280 a month) and 50% less than $2.50 a day ($70 a month).

And according to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. Thats 9.13 million per year, 2 times the size of Singapore.

I think the figures speak for themselves.

*Please note that the figures are based on Purchasing Power Parity. That is, the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Hence if a poor person in a poor country living on a dollar a day moved to the U.S. with no changes to their income, they would still be living on a dollar a day.

Figures Courtesy of www.globalissues.org

Money makes the Heart go round

lohwenjie — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:13:02 +0000

As world leaders descended upon London, carrying the dull burden to coax the battered economy backinto life, the G20 summit seemed to be bordering on the precipice of irrelevance, with China wanting a greater say at things, France threatening to walk out of the meeting, Germany wanting greater financial regulation, and the US calling for larger fiscal stimulus, the only concerted note struck was the echoing of the all-too-obvious anti-protectionism pledge. At such a rate, the unfolding crisis will be spawning more problems at every turn of the way.

In the 18^th century, there was the “South Sea Bubble”; in the 1930s, there was the Great Depression; and now, this. The common theme that runs through these 3 periods of time is not just periods of economic slump, but periods riddled with human folly and greed. As we rest our fates (fate of the economy which inadvertently affects us) on the hands of world leaders trotting the globe,attending gobbledygook summits, we should also look into our hearts and seek for greater regulation in our lives.

Frugality, prudence, and renunciation, are virtues extolled by all great faiths and often overlooked, but it is at such a time when human greed has seen its limitations that their relevance seem even more pronounce.

Jesus said to [the rich young man],”If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.

And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, it will by hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Christianity, Matthew 19.21-24

Running after that cur, money, I have forgotten you, O Lord. What a shame! I have time only for making money, not for you. How can a dog who loves rotten meat, relish the nectar?

Hinduism, Basavanna Vachana 313

Woe is he… who has gathered riches and counted them over, thinking his riches have made him immortal!

Islam, Quran 104.1-3

I see men of wealth in the world-acquiring property, from delusion they give not away; out of greed a hoard of wealth they make, and hanker sorely after more sense pleasures…

Heirs carry off his wealth;but the being goes on according to kamma. Wealth does not follow him who is dying, nor child or wife, nor wealth or kingdom.

Long life is not gained by wealth, nor is old age banished by property. “For brief is this life,” the wise say, non-eternal, subject to change.

Rich and poor feel the touch [of death] fool and wise are touched alike. But the fool, as though struck down by folly, prostrate lies, While the wise touched by the touch trembles not.

Wherefore better then wealth is wisdom by which one here secures the Accomplishment.

Buddhism, Majjhima Nikaya ii 72-73, Rattapala Sutta.

But it must be noted that renunciation if pursued alone could lead inexorably to the death of human or even spiritual progress. Renunciation, as Bikkhu Bodhi points out, has to be balanced with compassion. It is like a bird in flight borne by its two wings, the practice is sustained by two contrasting qualities of renunciation and compassion whose balanced development is essential to straight and steady progress. At first there seem to be a deep chasm between the two, with renunciation directing one towards introspective solitude, while compassion leads you in another direction, driving one to reach out; but there can be no dichotomy between the two, as both these virtues mutually support each other along the path of practice. As how Bikhu Bodhi aptly puts it, compassion impels us toward greater renunciation, as we see how our own greed and attachment make us a danger to others. And renunciation impels us toward greater compassion, since the relinquishing of craving enables us to exchange the narrow perspectives of the ego for the wider perspectives of a mind of boundless sympathy. Held together in this mutually strengthening tension, renunciation and compassion will contribute to the wholesome balance of the path.

*DISCLAIMER: The above post was written on my self-perceived opinions. Please read with discretion.

Quotes were taken from http://www.unification.net/ws/theme133.htm, and excerpts extracted from Bikkhu Bodhi’s essay, “The Balanced Way”.