Kevin Lee

Happy Birthday to you
You are born in Penang
With the lotus and a bodhi heart
Happy Birthday to you.

Buddha bless you have a good year ahead. May you also grow in wisdom and compassion. Unleash your potential to the best!

this is home truly

Blessing to the World

Devo vassatu kalena
May the rains fall in due seasons;
Sassa sampatti hetuca
May there be a rich harvest
Phito bhavatu lokoca
May the world prosper
Raja bhavatu dhammiko
May the ruler be righteous

As the future of our Singapore, it is very important for us to serve our home country well. As our nation is besieged by the global economic downturn, you and me can do our part by playing a supportive role at home. Remember that one of the very important aspect of Total Defence is Psychological Defence.

The following is a beautiful music video from one of our National Day song favourite, Home. Do enjoy.

Whenever I am feeling low
I look around me and I know
There's a place that will stay within me
Wherever I may choose to go
I will always recall the city
Know every street and shore
Sail down the river which brings us life
Winding through my Singapore

Chorus:
This is home truly, where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me, where that river always flows
This is home surely, as my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone, for this is where I know it's home

When there are troubles to go through
We'll find a way to start anew
There is comfort in the knowledge
That home's about its people too
So we'll build our dreams together
Just like we've done before
Just like the river which brings us life
There'll always be Singapore

These photos are long overdued :x

SBM (Youth) Main Committee hosted leaders from other youth groups for a brainstorming event and also CNY dinner!

Due to the limited budget, we were unable to invite everyone. Thousand apologies!
- Brother Bear

Clorine's 21st Birthday

Take Picture Girl

Happy 21st Birthday to Clorine

Lao le...

Blow!

Make a Wish

Clorine and Mommy

It's not your birthday Cherise!

Posing

Phowr!

Singapore Pilgrim Centre

Bihar govt offers 2 plots of land to Singapore Buddhist Lodge for Pilgrim Centre
By Tan Lek Hwa, Channel NewsAsia, February 21, 2009

SINGAPORE -- The 5th Nalanda Mentor Group meeting in Bodh Gaya in the Indian state of Bihar has been concluded.
Foreign Minister George Yeo with members of the Nalanda Mentor Group and Singapore Buddhist Lodge in Bodh Gaya

The group, which included Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo, called on the state's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and updated him on details of the two-day meeting, which ended on Friday.

The Bihar government also offered for consideration two plots of land to the Singapore Buddhist Lodge to build a Pilgrim Centre for Singaporeans visiting Bodh Gaya.

The plots are near to where Lord Buddha gained enlightenment.

Mr Yeo accompanied the delegation to view the plots on Saturday.

He said: "The Chief Minister told me that we will then go through the procedures for the land that has been allocated to us. There is a hope that we can begin work on the Pilgrim Centre very quickly."

Valentine's Day

This is how some of us spent Valentine's Day this year, working hard as S-League's football teams' mascot!

The Dragon is Kevin.

Guess who is who?

Flying Eagle Hidden Dragon
Is that Mickey Mouse at the back?

All dressed up and ready to go!

The Men behind Welfare & Logistic Team.

Sparkling New!

The good bus...

One more angle.

Cleon spots the latest head wear in fashion

Luckily it was dark or not yet another unglam Kaiwen moment.

Cute Dog.

Hard Work.

Love: Reflection & Action

Maitreya* Bodhisattva, the loving one,
contemplates how to guide beings with love…
reminding us not to dread helping others,
that there’s no need to frown** when wondering how.

*’Maitreya’ (Sanskrit) or ‘Metteya’ (Pali) means the one with Metta (Loving-kindness).
** Frowning here is a sign of fret or aversion, which is the opposite of Metta.

- Brother Shian

Obama a Chimp? & Ven S Dhammika's response

This is the comic that appeared on the New York Times that have caused an uproar in the United States in the past week:

This is Ven S. Dhammika's response:

Making A Monkey Of Him

I have read a news item saying that some newspaper in America has published a cartoon comparing President Obama to a monkey or at least that the cartoon could be read in that way. Apparently some people are up in arms about this. I haven’t seen the cartoon but this is my thinking on such matters. When it comes to political humor, it's 'no holes barred.' Some humor might be tasteless, insulting, unfunny or downright moronic but that reflects on the comic or the cartoonist, not the target. I strongly disapprove of throwing shoes at politicians, but only if you miss. And as far as being likened to a monkey goes, I think that should be seen as anything but an insult. The Bodhisattva was often reborn as a monkey and in that embodiment he demonstrated resourcefulness, courage, self-sacrifice, loyalty, leadership and other good qualities. Monkeys are, depending on the species, intelligent, they have close family bonds, the females are caring mothers, the males will protect the troop with their life if necessary and all this is a lot more than some humans do. Monkeys have lots of sex too but that's not so much a virtue as a fringe benefit. If you really want to cause offence, call a monkey a human and see what happens.There are quite a few Jatakas that suggest that humans could and should learn a thing or two from animals, including monkeys. In the Garahita Jataka a monkey (the Bodhisattva) is captured, kept as a pet, eventually escapes and returns to his monkey companions. The other monkeys ask him what human society is like and he tells it as it is. '"This gold is mine!" "This money is mine!" Thus they wail both day and night. These stupid humans do not see the Noble Dhamma.' When the monkeys hear this and about the other things humans do they put their hands over their ears.' In the Tayodhamma Jataka the Bodhisattva as a monkey is praised in these words, which I would like to address to President Obama. 'One who has three things, as you have Oh Monkey King - skill, courage and wisdom - he will banish his critics.'

Ven. Anandajoti helped me translate these Jataka verses and any mistakes are purely his responsibility.

Be Like Water

Be Like Water

As water is calm and cool by nature, so too, the meditator, out of compassion for all creatures and seeking their welfare, should be possessed of patience, love and kindness.

As water makes the impure pure, so too, the meditator, whether in the village or the forest, should in all circumstances, never transgress or give reason to be reprimanded by his preceptor or teacher.

As water is desired by everyone, so too, the meditator should have few wishes, be content, aloof and solitary in his or her practice, thus being much desires by the whole world.

And finally, as water in itself harms no one, so too, the meditator should do nothing by body, speech or mind that produces strife, quarrels, contention, disputes, neglected meditation or dislike

(Milindapanha 383)

TO ALL OUR BROTHERS & SISTERS FROM THE POLYTECHNICS GOOD LUCK FOR YOUR EXAMINATIONS!

DO YOUR BEST, WORK HARD AND REAP THE HARVEST OF YOUR EFFORT. MAY THE BLESSINGS OF THE BUDDHA, DHAMMA & SANGHA
BE WITH ALL OF YOU! SADHU! SADHU! SADHU!

Special Feature:

The Legend of Grandmaster Du

"Pray, tell, how can I do well for my poly exams? I very kanjiong now because I never study."

And there appear in the middle of the night 5 mysterious boys.

And they say: Work hard, play hard, do your best and be contended. If not you would be as emo as we are.

Then, as quickly as they have arrived, they left with their stride.

But in a flash of lightning, there appears a man with little hair.

And he said, "If I can do it, you can do it too."

And then he left to serve his country by joining the Republic of Singapore Air Force. Grandmaster Du is after all the famous poly student whose face was plastered in the news for inventing a robot that lives in a drain (not as glam as transformer) and of course, his GPA is always 3.9. It is thus no wonder the great Nanyang Technological University has pleaded for Dudu to join them.

The End (of this lame story)

Community Service

COMMUNITY SERVICE FEBRUARY:
CLEAN UP @ LIM CHU KANG CRAB FARM

Dear friends, we will be having our first community service programme of the year 2009 and we will be doing a clean-up of our stores at Lim Chu Kang Crab Farm. Everyone is warmly welcomed and we need as much manpower as we can. Also, we will be bringing everyone on a tour around the farm too and you can see fishes and crabs of various species

Time: 11am
Date: 21 February, Saturday
Meeting Place: Singapore Buddhist Mission
To Bring: Water bottle, extra shirt, old rags for cleaning

There will be a bus to bring you guys there. So do come on down and join your friends, as we help clean up our storeroom at Crab Farm!

See you there this SATURDAY!

Three Perspectives of a Fatherly Buddha Image

Three Perspectives of a Fatherly Buddha Image

From Chapter Three of the Lotus Sutra:

I tell you, Shariputra,
I am like this, too,
The honored among many sages,
The father of the worlds.

All living beings
Are my children;
Deeply attached to worldly pleasures,
They have no wise thoughts at all.

In the Three Realms there is no peace;
They are like a burning house.
Filled with many sufferings,
And frightening indeed.
Ever present are the woes
Of birth, old age, sickness, death,
Fires such as these,
Raging without cease.

The Thus Come One has already left
The Three Realms burning house behind.
Quietly I dwell at ease,
In forest and field at peace.
And now it is, that the Three Realms,
Entirely belong to me,
And in them all the living beings
Are children of mine.
But now, this place
Is filled with calamities,
And I am the only one
Able to rescue them.

Notes: The Buddhas see themselves as the loving fathers of all beings;
not in the sense that they fathered them; but that they love them as the best fathers would.