Good day everyone,

While I was browsing through the internet, I happened to stumble upon two articles about the cruelty man has inflicted on black bears. One of story is about 'A Teary Mother Bear Killed Her baby and Committed Suicide'

You must be wondering why?


This incident was witness by the author whose friend needed his assistance to manage a bear farm for a few days. The mother bear strangled its own cub in order to save the cub from suffering for the next 10 years of bile extracting (a bear can produce 2000g of bile annually for 10 years, they will do bile extracting one or twice a day and The bear has to go through such deadly torture twice a day.)

Extracted from the article:'' It was an act of helpless motherly love. At that moment and place, she did not have the ability to help her child to escape from the twenty years of hellish torture. Under such helpless and desperate situation, she can only destroy the beloved child she has created. "
"She let out another cry, as if she has gone hysterical, and went towards the wall. “Bang!”. The wall collapsed."

You can read the full article here: http://hubpages.com/hub/A-Teary-Mother-Bear-Killed-Her-Baby-and-Committed-Suicide-A-Heart-Breaking-True-Story



Currently, 12,000 bears are being held captive in Asia. They are captive for their bile to use for traditional Chinese medicine. The most ironic thing about bile extraction is that he bile juice is not even precious or deemed for important uses. It is only used for high fever, flu or sore throat.


Workers extract bear bile from the gall bladder of a bear in Myanmar.

They are held captive in tiny cages and shocking conditions. The practice involves taking bile from a live bear. The wound from the bile extraction was never closed. So, the wound never recovered which causes disease, tumor, infection and cancer growth to them.

Bear bile is not a rare and precious traditional Chinese medicine. It can be completely replaced by herbal or synthetic medicine. If you want to do your part in helping to end bear farming, go to this website: http://www.endbearfarming.org/en/ and sign the appeal and join the campaign. It takes only less than a minute to sign up. Your signature can make a difference. I already did my part in signing up.

We must all be kind to all beings, whether it’s big, small, significant or insignificant. Everyone is born equal. Compassion should not be chosen to be provided, but compassion must be for all. Let’s all strive to help all beings in any way we can. Sign up now and be counted!

The Dhamma In Decline?

by Venerable S. Dhammika

Recently the statistics for Singapore’s 2010 censes were released. For local Buddhists they make sad but perhaps not surprising reading. In the 10 years between 2000 and 2010 the number of Buddhists dropped from 42.5% to 33.3%. A further breakdown of the figures also showed that the older a person was and the lower their education standard the more likely they are to be Buddhist. During the same period Christianity in the republic grew from 14.6% to 18.3% and the younger a person is and the better educated, the more likely they are to be Christian. The same was true for those who described themselves as having no religion. They grew from 14.8% to 17%. The trend is clear. Even having no religion is a better option that Buddhism. Sorry to say statistics from Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan show a similar trend. Buddhism is failing to speak to young, well-educated, modern people. A visit to a good number of temples and Buddhist societies will show the reasons for this trend; commercialized spirituality, absence of Dhamma education, lack of social engagement, poor leadership, etc. The almost complete absence of networking between Buddhists also doesn’t help either. ‘You do your thing. I’ll do mine’ is the norm for Buddhist groups, temples and organizations. In contrast to this Christian churches in Singapore (and everywhere else in Asia) are dynamic, socially engages, highly motivated and well-organized. Their outreach strategies are also highly effective, although some would describe them as intrusive and aggressive as well. Nonetheless, they bring in the converts. Trying to find out about Dhamma from the average Buddhist rarely works because they rarely know any. Temples and societies emphasise ritual activities rather than solid Dhamma education. During the 1980s the decline of Buddhism slowed somewhat probably because of the introduction of religious knowledge in schools. This meant that a generation of nominally Buddhist kids got from school what they never got from the temple – some basic knowledge of the Dhamma.

Of course the recent statistics could be read from another perspective. It is actually likely that there are more ‘real’ Buddhists (‘real’ in the sense that they are more than just nominal Buddhists) today than there were in 2000. It may be that nominal Buddhists are simply defining themselves differently, as non-religious or as Taoists. Whatever the case, there is no room for complacency, although I suspect that the complacency will persist.

Sharing Session: Arahant Anuruddha

This is what we do every week at our youth sharing session. Photo summary from Bro. Zeming's sharing on Arahant Anuruddha.

Behind-the-Scenes!

Camp Committee 2011 is currently producing their video drama. Sneak peak of what goes behind-the-scenes!

Master of Ceremony

The camera crew.

Latest Korean boy/girlband.

Paparazzzzzi!

BOTIF

Buddhist Youth Filmmaking Workshop

Shot by Mao Mao

Runaway Train

After our first Camp Ehi-Passiko committee meeting last Sunday, some of us decided to head down to the train tracks to see it for the last time. Enjoy the pictures!

Group Photo

Emo.

I'll stand by you.

Crikey!

Who is the Buddha?

Buddha in Sri Lanka, from Zeming & Shi Xiong's trip.

- by Venerable Chuan Guan

The Buddha is seen by some people as a philosopher. And in some ways he is. But in many ways he is not.

He is not just a philosopher for he lives out his teaching, achieves the goal pointed out by the teaching and further teaches the path to others.

The Buddha was asked by someone who he was, whether he is God, a God, a messenger of God or some other divine being, or going to become one. He replied that he is "Buddha" ... ie Awakened.

The Buddha is known as the Buddha, because he is awakened to how things truly are. Knowing thus, he has put an end to Suffering. He was once like us, but has fulfilled the highest potential of sentient beings, and reached Perfection, a Buddha.

The Buddha is known as the Teacher of Gods and man, for Gods came to him for advice and learnt from him. He is known as the peerless Teacher for in this time period, there is no one who teaches the unique path leading to a complete cessation of suffering as taught by him so comprehensively for 45 years.

The Buddha is also known as the Compassionate One for he knows truly the pain and agony we go through and has taught us a way to go beyond worldly happiness and sorrow to achieve the supreme form of happiness, that is Nirvana.

The Buddha is known as the Perfectly Enlightened One, SammasamBuddha, for he is completely free of craving and attachment, free of greed, anger and delusion. Like the Buddha, we wish to love and care for our family and loved ones. But often, we are bogged down by our emotions, our fears, frustrations and stress etc. The Buddha is perfectly free of these -ve emotions and is thus able to truly love and care for us completely without strings attached.

In Buddhism, we try to 學佛 learn to be like the Buddha, to one day become Buddha. Wouldn't it be good to grow and develop ourselves towards such Perfection, and become like Buddha? ^_^

8 ctivities of Happy people!!! - by Dr Tan Eng Kong

Out of the 8 happy activities, how many are you constantly involved in?

1. Devote time for relationships - family, friends
2. Enjoys expressing gratitude
3. First to offer a helping hand
4. Practice optimism when imagining future
5. Regular physical exercise
6. Savour life's pleasures and happy moments
7. Live in the present moment
8. Passionate about an ideal as a life goal

Dr Tan Eng Kong (MBBS, MPM, FRANZCP), a Sydney-based psychotherapist who currently chairs Metta Clinic, a group psychological practice in Pymble, Sydney came over to Singapore to give a talk, and during his engaging, charismatic 90-minute talk he got to mention to the audience the list of activities that happy people seem to be doing in their lives every day.

Try reading, pausing and appreciating all the points mentioned, line by line, and see if you can relate to them. May this simple note help those in search of happiness!

More on Dr Tan here http://www.bodhikusuma.com/metta/dr_eng_kong_tan.html

Happy Birthday Bante

This belated video is to celebrate SBM's resident Religious Advisor Venerable K. Dhammikha. Bante has been a source of motivation for many youths and throughout my years as a member in SBM, Bante has shown great compassion and metta towards everyone and all animals. His kind and gentle nature has brought alot of peace to many individuals!

Thank you Bante for all your kind guidance and support.

Happy 60th Birthday and 45 years of Monkhood.

Metta,
Ming

Busy like a bee

Been busy like a bee. What happened to my relaxing holidays!

As much as I have been getting less rest that I think I should be getting,
as much as I have been being home less than I thought I would be,

I feel like I'm finally back to the simplest reason that I started. Being grounded to it once again, not only do I feel immense joy, I feel immense peace with myself and with the world around me.

The reason I started to serve in SBM.
The reason I started to serve in the Y.

I might be very very busy, but I actually find my spiritual life more fulfilling-- because I am cherishing a lot of moments to cultivate myself and to practise the Dhamma.

Recently I've been thinking: how can I use the Dhamma to work with the volunteers?
How can I use to Dhamma to make an organisation grow?

And finding answers (not perfect, but still applicable) to these uestions further affirms my faith in the Triple Gems. It affirms me of our vision-- Bringing Joy to Oneself and Others through the Triple Gems.

The sense of joy actually stemmed from the realisation that the application of the Dhamma has made myself or someone else's life better, even if it is just a tiny bit.


I might be very very busy, but I find myself more aligned to my personal goals--
of wanting to cultivate myself spiritually,
of wanting to continuously learn with a humble heart,
of wanting to swim+run regularly,
of wanting to serve the Buddhist Community
of wanting to serve people with special needs.

I found a lot a lot of motivation in doing my research job-- it's seeing what I learn in Psychology being put into practice.

It is the exact same feeling when I see how the Dhamma can be applied into my daily life.

It is the exact same feeling when I see how the leaders from Lions could apply the workshop materials to their activities and reflections.

It's truly amazing, to see how the teachings of the Buddha-Dhamma impacts my life.

It's truly amazing, to see how the psychological theories can be applied to help an organisation grow.

It's truly amazing, to see how words don't stick as it is-- they are being put into actions. Being put into action, with commitment, results are REAL.

When we commit what we learn from the Buddha's teachings into actions, results are more than amazing.

community service

Helping out at a community service held around Aljunied area, my task was simple, to bring dry food and rice bag up to the senior's house. Being involved previously to tidy up old folk's houses, I was prepared for the worse. Broken furniture, untidy bed and dirty toilets. The worse part was the feeling the moment you enter; solitude.

However, what surprised me was that they were very humble and optimistic about what they have, or should i say contentment. Some of them even worried about us and it deeply moved me. Their wish is pretty simple, just someone who can spend a little time to chat with them or even hear their life stories.

In Buddhism, as much as you know how to literally expound the meaning of the 4 brahma vihara, it is still fruitless in comparison to practising them. Once a month is not too much time to ask for, getting connected to them is actually very rewarding.

Lastly, community service is not about how much time you give, but actually how much HEART you put in. It is a great way to practice compassion and appreciative joy. To give and not expect anything in return, to realize how fortunate your life has been.

Other then being tired and hungry, the reward, a big smile on their face and the praises they sing of us. What more can you wish for? There is some things in this world that money cannot buy, and one of it is love.

Can you see what I see?

Sneak peak....

This week's sharing will be conducted by our brother Zeming!

He will be doing on one of the disciples of the Buddha, Anuruddha. He is a skilled arahant and has the divine eyes that can see into the future, or thousand world systems away! Want to take a look into the wonders of this eye? Come on down now to SBM this saturday and sharing will start promptly at 2.15pm! Don't be late boys, the divine eye awaits! 




Mohawk Jagabee

Ginger Breadman

SBM (Youth)'s Main Committee have all agreed that whatever is written within the Gingerbread Man are what we are/ want to achieve/ want to maintain as a committee.

Whatever that has been written outside the Gingerbread man is the opposite of us (as a committee), what aren't/ do not want to be.

And before we start every monthly meeting we will take it out and review it :)

- Vicky.

Happy Youth Day to all the teenagers out there! Youth is a treasure and you should cherish it while you have it. Time will slowly sip away this treasure and in no time you will be like me - old!

How to spend your youth? Study hard, play hard, and also be filial to parents and honor the teachings of the Buddha!

For the bunch of us, we went to the Asian Civilization Museum to pay a visit to the Terra cottas! But along the way, we bumped into many Buddhist monuments and artifacts. There were truly breath-taking and inspiring.

Above is the statues of Buddha along with the first 4 disciple he accepted when he began turning the wheel of the dhamma. I have heard misconceptions from people saying Buddhists are idol prayers. The thing is that they fail to see the significance and beauty behind the statues which we pay reverence to. Each statue amplifies the serenity and characteristics of learning the dhama; mainly the 4 brahma viharas. ( You should know what are they :P )

Paying respects to this idol is a reminder to be humble, because you are before someone who had been capable of deciphering and living the dhamma. And also, the virtues that one should acquire to walk a calm and happy life as a lay person. 

And because Buddha was a Buddha. LOL! He was loved by all living beings. Above is a depiction of the Naga King sheltering him when Mara threw a huge downpour of rain on him while he is in meditation. In the karaniya metta sutta, some of the benefits of practising loving kindness are that one will be dear to humans and non-humans and devas will protect you. 

Other then practising good virtues, one should also arm himself with knowledge of Buddhism, so when people who are interested to know more can be satisfied. Being a Dhamma protector is hard at such times, but as young aspiring Buddhists i am sure everyone of us can do it! - Mohawk Jagabee

Grow Old With You

The Mission on Sunday...

Buddha Vacana

182. Just as the radiance of all stars in not worth one sixteenth part of the moon's radiance; just as in the last month of the rainy season, in autumn, when the sky is clear and free from clouds, the sun rises into the sky and drives away all darkness and shines, flashes and radiates; just as in the pre-dawn light, the healing star shines, flashes and radiates; so too, whatever good deeds one might do for the purpose of a good rebirth, none of them are worth one sixteenth part of that love which frees the mind. It is the love that frees the mind which shines, flashes and radiates forth out-surpassing all those good deeds.

Whoever makes love grow boundless,
And sets his mind for seeing the end of birth,
His fetters are worn thin.
If with a pure mind one feels love

Towards even a single being,
That alone makes him a good man.
Having a mind filled with compassion,
The Noble One does great good.

Itivuttaka 20

Link.