Armageddon, End of the world

End of the world is around the corner, many people say so.
Quite a number of people are scared to death; and they are scared of death.

I'm reminded of 2 ancient sayings of how we've looked at death:

轻如鸿毛，重如泰山。

[Qing ru hong mao, zhong ru Tai shan.]

Light-as-(swan goose)-feather, weighty-as-Tai-mountain.

十八年后又是一条好汉！

[Shi ba nian hou you shi yi tiao hao han.]
One-eight-years-later-again-is-a-piece-good-hero!

(18 years later I'm gonna be a solid person again!)

"Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather."
People all die for different reasons. Some reasons are noble; some are pathetic, some are non-existing...

Do the right things right. Not the right things? - Don't do. And admit our mistakes in the past and vow never to repeat them again. Keep doing good stuffs for the living beings to redeem our past mistakes... And to score even better!

Life and death; must be dealt with open minds; and that our lives will shine with great rainbows...

Grab this very moment. Live to the fullest now.

If we were to part this mortal world for now (hopefully because of doing the right things); we will be reincarnated into new born babies. And that 18 years later, we would be 18 years old and become strong adult, ready to serve the world again. (That is, if you believe in the idea of reborn-reincarnation.)

End of the world? Don't worry, everything will be just fine.

Ho ho ho~~

PS:
+) 《漢書》 司馬遷 報任少卿書：「人固有一死，或重于泰山，或輕于鴻毛。用之所趨異也。」 by the ancient Chinese writer SZUMA Chien / SIMA Qian.
+) "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather." -- http://www.dictall.com/



+) 用之所趨異也。Yong zhi suo qu yi ye. -- It all depends upon the reasons he or she dies for.

Mid Autumn and Mid Spring

Mid Autumn and Mid Spring

This time of the year the northern hemisphere is celebrating the period of mid autumn. The Chinese celebrates it on the 15th day of the 8th traditional farming calendar month (A bit like the lunar calendar too). The west will be welcoming the mid autumn roughly on late September. And I suppose many parts of the world where farming is still of importance will happily welcome the mid autumn in different ways and similar time. After all, everyone enjoys harvest during autumn time.

Seasonal change takes place roughly the same time everywhere. And seasonal change is such an important part of traditional farming.

Down at the southern hemisphere, few weeks down the road is the mid spring time. Not sure if there are many people celebrating it. It's more like a forgotten role yet most people are busy pruning and planting seeds ahead of this time to take advantage of the season's great potential growth.

Autumn is the harvesting time; spring is the cultivating time. The mood, of course, will be very different. Comparing to one's life span, it's like seeing someone appreciating harvest at the age of 55 and some others adventuring into adulthood at the age of 15.

So it takes turn. The teenager eventually will grow into 50s and 60s. And the elderly uncle will shred his piece of old body and move on to some other realms? And coming back as new born creature? That is, if you believe in reborn or reincarnation...

Spring, then summer, then autumn, then winter. Then what's next? Spring again... summer again, and the cycle goes on and on. It's been like this probably as long as lives existed. So it seems living creatures do come and go...

And we celebrate all things seasonal every year too.

Hmm...

What am I trying to say? I guess what I'm trying to bring across is: Things come and things go in a pattern of cycles. We human beings need to recognize them and live according to the law of nature. Ha.

Oh, before I really truly forget, some people believe the ultimate goal is to break free from the cycle of lives; to be free from seasonal change, for example. Ha.

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PS: Many times I myself don't know what and why I'm writing on something. This piece is most likely one of those. Thank you so much for your time.

Me and my past

Me and my past

What's left behind? All these photos?

I was so young and beautiful... Not anymore... old and ugly now...

Am I happy now? Did I make mistakes? Big? small?

Any regrets?

Have I fulfilled my own destiny? Or is there any destiny? At all?

The house's dying. This place is dying... and I'm dying, too...

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Oh... John... my husband... He was so sweet. He was a good man. At least he tried to be. And good men die early... How cruel he left me alone... for all these years?

My children... They lead their own lives. Are they going to be alright? Without me? Or better without me? I'm now a burden to them. It's better if I just vanish from their lives...

My sisters... I'm sorry for what I've done... I shouldn't have... Will they pardon me? Set me free? And set themselves free from rage of hatred?

My father... I'm sorry I ran away from home. I made mistakes. Had you pardoned me before you left this world? All these years...

Mom... I'm sorry about the tortures you had to suffer all these years. It's my fault.

I'm sorry...

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How am I going to be remembered? Will they remember me, at all? Or is it of any importance?

Will I ever meet John again? Where is he now? Heaven? Or hell? Where? Will I recognize him in next life? Is there next life? Reincarnation?

Is this what I have now? Memories of bitters and sweets? Questions unanswered?

What significant is my life? Or is it any important?

What now?...







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The house's dying. This place is dying... and I'm dying, too...








PS:
1) The story is about a lady; a lady in you and me.
2) Illustration taken from Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu. Info of artist by Miki. Thank you, Miki!

Eating meat is eating human beings?

Eating meat is eating human beings?

Chinese characters are combinations of symbols (pictographic: drawing), sounds (phono-semantic: shape and sound) and meanings (ideographic: ideology and concept). Of the three, what makes the characters stand out most visually interesting is the symbolic and artistic nature.

Take the word 肉(“rou”, meat / flesh) for example, the special thing about this word is how it's constructed from. There seems to be two 人(“ren”, man / human being) inside the character 门(“men”, door). Two men inside a door is meat? What does that mean?

The way I would interpret the character 肉(“rou”, meat) is quite similar but with a simple twist. My idea was inspired by the concept of universal love. You shall see why below:

人(“ren”, man / human being): The character looks like a man walking with two legs.
门(“men”, door): The character itself resembles a door with hinge.
內(“nei”, inside): A man inside a door means 'inside', quite graphical too.
肉(“rou”, meat / flesh): There is actually a 'human being' (the lower character 人) hidden 'inside' meat.

This is the conclusion: There is a human being inside meat. If you eat meat, you eat human beings. How do we come to comprehend this? This simple conclusion is in line with the concept of reincarnation, that all living beings keep incarnating to other living forms depending on how well (or how bad) they've contributed during their life time.

What we are really eating? This piece of chicken could have been a grandmother of your friends in previous lives. That piece of red meat (cow) could have been your own grandfather who passed away many years ago. Killing and eating each others have created deep hatred and curses. No wonder the world is full of vengeance wars of all kinds.


PS:
1. This is one perspective to look at why eating meat is wrong. If you find the idea comfortable and useful, you can help to spread the message or even translate it to your own language for a good cause.
2. The concept of 肉(“rou”, meat / flesh; 'Human beings' are 'inside' meat) includes beef, chicken, turkeys, pork, pigs, chicken eggs, cows, fish, lobsters, crabs, horses, sheep, dogs, cats, cattle, goats, swines, mules, birds, donkeys, rabbits, leopards, giant pandas, owls, pigeons, crayfish, octopus, deers, eagles, hawks, ostriches, penguins, gooses, salmon, tuna, eels, snakes, snails, frogs, turtles, ducks, calves, steaks, puppies, kittens, ponies and so on.

Life forms, souls, on earth.

Life forms come to material world with bodies wrapped around the soul. Using bodies as a tool or vehicle to carry out earthly activities to fulfill destinies, whether to pay debts or to seek debts, life forms shed the bodies when the time is up for another journey.


Lessons learned. Souls move on.

Coming from the earth, going back to the earth. This is what it is for material world.

Jobs done. Souls move on.


These ants help the fly to decompose the left-over body which is no longer necessary. The soul, which previously took the life form as fly on earth, has moved on to another journey. The soul has her path to go. All life forms help each other to progress and to alleviate to higher regions; some, unfortunately, get lost, confused and jeopardize the process, hurting oneself and therefore others.


Quick, hurry, come back to the righteous path.

Note:
1) Photograph by John Lew. All rights on photographs reserved. More nature shots at http://www.lews.info/wallpaper/index.html
2) Click on the Photo No. 2 for a complete 1024x768 wallpaper.
3) Photo No. 3, title “Beautiful Earth – What are we doing?” by David Lewis-Baker.

Reincarnation & Old Testaments

I was reading "Many Lives, Many Masters" by Brian L. Weiss one day and came upon the linkage of reincarnation with old testaments. I've known so before but Dr. Weiss put them so clearly and in a way that's really easy to comprehend:

"There were indeed references to reincarnation in the Old and New Testaments. In AD 325 the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, along with his mother, Helena, had deleted references to reincarnation contained in the NT. The 2nd Council of Constantinople, meeting in AD 553, confirmed this action and declared the concept of reincarnation a heresy. Apparently, they thought the concept would weaken the growing power of the Church by giving humans too much time to seek their salvation. Yet the original references had been there; the early Church fathers had accepted the concept of reincarnation. The early Gnostics - Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Saint Jerome, and many others - believed that they had lived before and would again." - Many Lives, Many Masters.

In life there are things regardless we believe or not - they exist. Believing in them in a right manner, we'll benefit from the belief. Believing in them in a wrong manner, we'll not enjoy the fruit. Not believing in them in a right manner, still there are plenty of benefits. Not believing in them in a wrong manner, the worst suffering.

So, what I'm saying is "Is your manner right?" "Are we getting the fundamentals right?"