How to be happy, healthy and wealthy?

Happy Chinese New Year 2017 of the Rooster!
2017 鸡年 新年快乐！雞年 新年快樂！
Selamat tahun baru Cina 2017 Tahun Ayam!

When you give, you'll get.

A genuine smile from a poor and pain-striken sick person is worth much more and lots more powerful than a fake smile from a rich and healthy money-driven millionaire.

Donation of 1 dollar from a poor, sick homeless person is probably 1 million times more powerful than 1 million dollars donation from a super rich and healthy person.

If we're sick, poor, sad and in pain, we need to know why? And we need to act accordingly to become healthy, rich, happy and in ease.

How? We ask...

The law of cause and effect... The manifestation of kindness in heart, speech and in actions... is one of the answers.

Good luck, humans. Enjoy the journey of discovery of sharing kindness as one.

Have a meaningful life!

# 当你有所付出, 你将有所回馈。
# 一个深受贫病交迫煎熬的贫民的真诚笑容, 远比一个安康富有的拜金富翁的虚伪笑容来得高尚和有力量。
# 来自贫疾且流离失所的人的一元捐献, 其力量也许是健康且腰缠万贯的人的一百万元捐献的一百万倍。
# 假若我们被疾病缠身、 陷入贫困、 经历悲惨事故而活在痛苦中, 那我们必须知其因。我们必须时时抱着善念去行事, 以实现健康、富足、 喜悦和安逸的人生。
# 也许你会问 ...  怎样做到这点?
# 其中一个答案就是：善心、善语和善行。这是因果法则、宇宙真理。
# 把祝福献给世人。亨受这趟发现之旅吧! 这趟透过彼此將心比心, 彼此以慈善相待的旅程。
# 愿你有个充实且有意义的人生!

Apabila anda memberi, anda akan mendapatnya semula.

Senyuman yang ikhlas dari seorang fakir, seorang yang tidak berdaya, jauh lebih bernilai dari senyuman palsu seorang kaya dan jutawan.

Sumbangan walau seringgit dari seorang miskin, mahupun gelandangan, sejuta kali lebih berkuasa dari sumbangan seorang kaya yang sihat.

Seandainya kita sakit, miskin, sedih dan sakit, perlulah kita tahu akan sebabnya. Agar kita dapat bertindak sewajarnya untuk menjadi sihat, kaya, gembira dan selesa.

Bagaimana? Kita bertanya...

Hukum "sebab dan akibat: ... Manifestasi kebaikan di dalam hati, kata-kata dan perlakuan ... merupakan salah satu jawapan.

Semoga berjaya, wahai manusia. Selamat menikmati perjalanan dalam menemukan perkongsian kebaikan sebagai satu.

Semoga kita menjalani kehidupan yang bermakna!

# 當你有所付出, 你將有所回饋。
# 一個深受貧病交迫煎熬的貧民的真誠笑容, 遠比一個安康富有的拜金富翁的虛偽笑容來得高尚和有力量。
# 來自貧疾且流離失所的人的一元捐獻, 其力量也許是健康且腰纏萬貫的人的一百萬元捐獻的一百萬倍。
# 假若我們被疾病纏身、 陷入貧困、 經歷悲慘事故而活在痛苦中, 那我們必須知其因。我們必須時時抱著善念去行事, 以實現健康、富足、 喜悅和安逸的人生。
# 也許你會問 ...  怎樣做到這點?
# 其中一個答案就是：善心、善語和善行。這是因果法則、宇宙真理。
# 把祝福獻給世人。亨受這趟發現之旅吧! 這趟透過彼此將心比心, 彼此以慈善相待的旅程。
# 願你有個充實且有意義的人生!

Dear world leaders

Dear world and national leaders,

This is what's happening.

Many countries are in a not-so-optimistic situation. People aren't comfortable about recent developments. Many rumours are wandering around as for the next move of certain world and national leaders that will affect people greatly. As this time of turmoil, people are suffering from loss of direction and disappointment of our governments and certain leaders.

Can we do something about it? Are we obliged to? As leaders of the nations?

With great power comes great responsibility. We hope our world and national leaders can do something positive, wise, and useful for the societies.

And we believe honesty, openness, truthfulness are traits of wisdom. And these traits can surely help us to move on better.

People are asking: Why are so many world and national leaders corrupted and irresponsible?
Too much power and desires. Power and desires make any human lose their minds. This is especially true when the power and desires in hands are deep-rooted.

So the people ask: How do we get more clean, honest and responsible leaders?
Go for a simple and dignified life we live. We live a righteous being. We die a righteous being. Everyone does that then all societies will have clean and just people and leaders.

Quick say about money: Money is a tool. Can do angels, can do evils. We can use it to buy mostly physical things. Unfortunately, we can use it to buy people too. When we do that, both parties are corrupt. Punishment will come in sooner or later.

Some people are easily bought with money, regardless if they think themselves poor or rich. It's again the issue of lacking of integrity, lacking of honesty, righteousness and self-respect.

How do we come back to the righteous way of living?
We pray to live a simple life with dignity. We beg for no one's money in bribery way. We pray for human's awakening. Naive but righteous. We pray for calmness and resilience.

We do all the right things right. In this world, too many people are doing the wrong things right. Show them the righteous ways, please, our leaders...

At the end of the day, when we go home and see our young children, our old parents, we hope to have made them proud. We hope to say we've done something righteous...

Would my granddad have been proud of me of my life? Have I made my family proud? Have I contributed to society peace? Have I been a good child to my mom? How do I want my children to have remembered me? "Dad, I want to be exactly like you!" "Dad, why people say you're a lousy leader?" "Son, what have you done to our nation?" "Son, could you have let the people down?" "Son, I'm proud of you."

Who are we in the eyes of people? Who are we in our own eyes?

Someone once said of this: "If our aim is to be rich financially, don't become a leader of a nation. If we become a leader of a nation, we shouldn't be rich financially."

There are so many ways of becoming rich. Why do we become rich by stealing money off poorer people than us? Stealing money off public resources? What's the meaning of "leader"?

Many so-called leaders claim they're exercising their power for the benefits of certain groups of people. We wonder if they mean the benefits of they themselves, or their relatives, or their personal friends, or their cronies...

The morality and integrity of leaders are pretty low in this world of desires. We can't help but wonder of their true sinister intentions.

By the way, a true human leader does good things for all human beings, not just for a particular group of humans based on race, colors, religions, languages, backgrounds...

Talking about race, was it about 500 millions years ago a chimpanzee-like and monkey-like mammal called Lucy the common ancestor of all modern human beings these days? Lucy or whatever the name, we human beings have a common ancestor. We should all be brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts in a family. Why are we not? 500 million years is quite likely a long time. We could have rightfully forgotten.

I see... All of us, red, yellow, blue, green, purple, indigo, orange, black, pink, white, grey, fluorescent or metallic; we are family! We need to pass on the message!

As of world religions, humans are born humans. Gautama wasn't born a Buddhist; he was born a human baby. Prophet Muhammad wasn't born a Muslim; he was born a human baby. Jesus wasn't born a Christian; he was born a human baby.  Lao Tzu wasn't born a Taoist; he was born a human baby.

Just merely 3000 years ago all major religions these days didn't exist. How exactly our human common ancestors lived their life? Honesty, kindness, integrity, truthfulness, righteousness have always been around before any religions. Can we become a better human first before becoming a better religion follower? The answer is surely YES.

Human beings die one day. Be it 1, 5, 10, 30, 50, 70, 80, 90, 100 years old... We all have to go away from this life one day. We can't bring with us big houses, luxury cars, diamond rings, fancy bags... What we may bring along are integrity, memories of our short journey on earth. People may remember us as good or bad leaders, or some good some bad. One thing most of us may not realize: the law of cause and effect is always true. We do good we'll be rewarded; we do bad we'll be punished. It's the matter of time and some other ingredients of life. Nobody wants to die tough. Go ahead and pay a visit at many big hospitals and see how old folks die dying slowly and miserably. And so many of us suffer everyday from chronic illnesses that never seem to go away. And these health issues will simply deteriorate when we get older. If we've been kind and helping and live a righteous life then the torture may reduce. Otherwise we see ourselves dying in great pain and insanity. Quite a number of people become insane and crazy toward the end stage of life.

We world and national leaders have bigger responsibility bestowed on us. How are going to die if we betray the trust of people? If we just rip money off tax payers' hard earned money how's the punishment of the law of the universe?

Ancient teachings of life before the existence of any religions already talks about heaven and hell. Then it's the hell waiting for us. Hell waiting for our children and our grand children because of our bad doings, our corruption, our irresponsibility...

Dear leaders, please do something righteous fast for the societies before it's too late. For our parents, our children and to redeem and salvage ourselves from endless miserable torture in hell.

We make the people living in hell on earth, then the real hell will surely be waiting for us.

Act quick. Redeem fast. For peace, truth, love on our societies.

Say sorry to people. Ask for forgiveness. Thank the people. Without people there are no leaders. And love the people as our children and family.

We wish all human beings dignified life to live.

- A world and national leader

Truth will prevail.

Setiap orang perlu membayar untuk kesalahan dan dosa yang dilakukannya. Karma adakalanya mengambil masa dan membabitkan insan lain. Bertenang dan yakin, sesungguhnya kebenaran akan tiba. - Choe

每个人都将为他们的罪恶和错误付出代价。因果报应或早或迟会发生，在这过程里，其他人或被牵涉其中。保持信心和冷静，真相终会取胜。- 曹

Everyone has to pay for their sins and mistakes. Sometimes it takes longer for karma to ripen and in the process other people are pulled along with it. Have faith and stay calm, truth will prevail. - Choe

Problems of Animals as Food

Animals, their characteristics and contra-indications as food:

It's common to talk about food and how her role plays an important part in human's health, in my daily practice. It's been a long while so I decided to put things a little in writing.

The following lists down the nature of certain animals and if consumed, how they may give rise to certain symptoms and illnesses.

---------------------------------------------------------

PORK/PIG/SWINE: Sour and sweet, neutral; May cause obesity/fatness/plummy body, diarrhea.



CATTLE/BEEF/COW: Sweet, neutral to warm; May cause over-craving, obesity and fat retention. Makes the blood warm, body odor.

MUTTON/GOAT/SHEEP/LAMB: Sweet, warm; Causes fever, body heat, severe constipation,lower pelvic inf, and body odour.

DEER: Sweet, warm; May cause fever and overheating.

DOG: Sweet, salty, and warm; May cause sore throat, bladder and lower abdomen inflammation, bladder retention.



CAT: Sweet, sour, warm; May elevate skin disorders, cause blood stasis.

RABBIT: Sweet, cool; May cause stomach wind, diarrhea, stomach indigestion.

CHICKEN/NUGGETS: Sweet,warm, dry; Over digestion, cough, constipation, skin disorders, dry skins, sore throat.



BLACK CHICKEN: Sweet, neutral; Causes constipation, indigestion/greasiness.

DUCK: Sweet, salty, neutral to a bit cool; Causes joints pain/stiffness, indigestion, water retention, vertigo.

GOOSE: Sweet, neutral; Obesity, heavy sensation, indigestion.

PIGEON: Sweet, salty, neutral to warm; May cause dragging period.

SPARROW: Sweet, warm; May cause lower pelvic inflammation, difficulty in urination, constipation.

SNAKE: Sweet, salty, warm: Feverish sensation, headache.

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FISH (Majority of them): Sweet, warm; Causes phlegm formation, vertigo, fatness, frequent urination.



SHRIMP: Sweet, warm; Allergic reaction, May cause fever, nipple discharge, asthma.

CRAB: Salty, cold; Induces early miscarriage, internal bleeding, skin allergies, asthmatic symptoms.

CLAM: Sweet, salty, cold; Indigestion, lower coldness.

ABALONE: Salty, neutral; May cause stomach upset, frequent urination.

---------------------------------------------------------

COW'S MILK: Sweet, neutral; May cause diarrhea, plain taste in mouth, skin allergy, stomach indigestion.



GOAT'S MILK: Sweet, warm; May cause diarrhea, mild body heat.



CHICKEN'S EGG: Sweet, neutral; May cause high cholesterol, cough, overall allergic reactions.



DUCK'S EGG: Sweet, cool; Causes cough (especially external cold type), heavy body, high cholesterol.

---------------------------------------------------------


It's easy to see why humans like to eat animals; they're almost all SWEET in nature. This has a great appeal to humans whose taste buds are strong. On top of that, good culinary cooking with herbal spices has enhanced the appetizing appeal of animals products, without which humans probably  won't eat animals raw and bloody fleshy. In clinical practice, however, animals as food poses as the MOST problematic contributing factor to illnesses and diseases. It's no surprise that illness and diseases these days are hard to be alleviated, treated, or cured.



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*Common skin disorders caused by eating animals: Hives, eczema, sensitive skin, dryness.

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.

Kill life to get long life?

****************

"杀生求生，去生远矣。"

sha sheng qiu sheng, qu sheng yuan yi.

"Kill lives get lives, near life far off."

****************

If we kill animals and eat them to nourish our own bodies, then we are actually further away from the righteous concept of  'life', and thus our health deteriorates and life gets shortened.

****************

In the preface of SUN Si Miao's book 《备急千金要方》 (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies), he said:

"Many great ancient physicians used animals to treat acute and dangerous illnesses of emergency. Even though it's said that animals are inferior and human beings are superior; when it comes to appreciating lives, humans and animals are the same. Hurting others and benefiting oneself is commonly disgusted by all animals; let alone human beings. When we save ourselves by killing animals, we're really departing away from the definition of 'life'. This is the reason why I don't use animal products as herbs/medicine in my prescriptions."

In short,

eating animals to nourish our bodies will simply make our health worse and shorten our lives... 

PS:

-- 孙思邈, SUN Si Miao, SUN SiMiao, 581-682, Tang dynasty, China. Renowned physician and Taoist. A great medical physician and herbalist. Well regarded as “药王” (Yao Wang, The king of medicines). Main achievement: Author of 《备急千金要方》 and 《千金翼方》.

-- The book 备急千金要方, Bei ji qian jin yao fang, Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold for Emergencies.

-- The book 千金翼方, Qian jin yi fang, Supplement to the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold.

-- By the way, he spent 10 years on 《千金要方》, from age 60-70 years old. And he spent another 30 years finishing 《千金翼方》, at the age of about 100 years old...

-- Original explanation: (simplifled characters): “自古名贤治病，多用生命以济危急，虽曰贱畜贵人，至于爱命,人畜一也。损彼益己，物情同患，况于人呼!夫杀生求生，去生更远。吾今此方所以不用生命为药者，良由此也。”(《备急千金要方》)

-- Original explanation: (original characters): "自古名賢治病，多用生命以濟危急，雖曰賤畜貴人，至於愛命，人畜一也。損彼益己，物情同患，況於人乎！夫殺生求生，去生更遠。吾今此方所以不用生命為藥者，良由此也。"(《备急千金要方》)

Harmony of home and nature

Harmony of home and nature

家住夕陽江上邨，一彎流水遶柴门。
種来松樹高於屋，借与春禽養子孫。

Home at evening sun river up village,
one curvy flowing water coils wooden door.
Plant comes pine trees taller than house,
lend with spring animals raise children grandchildren.

jia zhu xi yang jiang shang cun,
yi wan liu shui rao chai men.
zhong lai song shu gao yu wu,
jie yu chun qin yang zi sun.

* * * * *

My dream home is the one located at the upper part of river in the village. Preferably with beautiful sunset view too.


The river flows just nearby and it's convenient to get the fresh river water through the wooden door of the house.

Next, there are a few pine trees taller than the house; providing good foods for animals in the spring to raise and nourish their next generations. What a dream home this is!

(Click on the picture for detail viewing)

* * * * *

PS:

+) Comic: Comic drawn and poem written by the late Mr. 丰子恺 / 豐子愷 (FENG Zi Kai / FENG Zikai).
+) Mr. Feng's comics are simple and neat, not so much color tones yet the concepts are well represented. I hope those who like his comics will also read more of his writings; quite many are sympathetic and caring about the world and beings. People like him, who settles for nothingness and simple life, are scarse these days.
+) Translation: John Lew.

We're ALL chained.

We're ALL chained.

“I'm so tired...”

“...but I can't stop...”

“I can only go with the flow...”

-----------------------------------------------------------

People are caught in cycle, a vicious cycle that goes round and round without kind exits. We can only move on; because there are people in front of us (they drag us forward) and there are people behind us (they push us forward) that keep moving on. We're all the same; for we're all caught in line.

CHAINED. An invisible chain. CHORES. Many meaningless chores.

Like it or not, we can only move on.

Oh, is this the right thing to do? Or are they just bad habits? Unpleasant but necessary? I have a feeling something isn't very right. Why do I keep doing THIS? And THAT? And all so many of THESE? And THOSE?

This goes on until the day we go away from our pathetic lives... And probably even then, we're still caught the same.

You can slow down. You can be sick. You can complain and curse. You can even be dead.

But our bodies and souls will move on – in line. For our bodies, and minds, and souls are already long chained on together with the rest of the people around us.

How many sunrises and sunsets to be leveled?
How many new moons and full moons to be silhouetted?
How many more springs and autumns to be witnessed? - before we can be set free.

MOST forms of resistance are useless.

Most? Ya. Most. There are very few solutions.

Now the question: How do I break this bad cycle? How do I free myself?

My head spins... And good luck to all of us!

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PS: It surely sounds like a very sad story, doesn't it? No, it's not! It's actually meant to be a positive comical reminder of what we're doing everyday – that some of us may have doubts about the directions of things going.

Survival of Life: Einstein and Hawking

Survival of Life: Einstein and Hawking

My family and I were at a vegetarian restaurant a month ago and I came across a quote that got my attention very much. It was actually printed on the restaurant menu, most likely to convince people to try out vegetarinism. Is it powerful and convincing enough? And how it got my attention that much? Simply because it's quoted from Albert Einsterin and it goes:

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet." - Albert Einstein

And I went online to check if it's truly from Albert Einstein and, it seems it is; Many websites acknowledge that but none so far gives the detail source of the quote. A few more checkings show that many websites and organisations have used the quote for encouraging vegetarian diet or simply kept it as their quote database. I was thinking how I could make the quote more marketable and meaningful.

So I decided to highlight the two aspects in the quote:

1. Human health: Basically the statement means if we take vegetarian diet, our health will be kept very optimal. Vegetarianism is the number one contributing factor to good health and guess what, nothing else beats that, i.e., if you believe in Mr. Einstein's wisdom.

2. Chances for survival of life on earth: Are human beings and other life forms going to survive on earth? Are we using science and technology for creation or destruction? Are we living in harmony with all creatures? Is our enviroment getting better or getting worse? Has the earth got enough resources for everybody to live materialistically happy? Why do we seem to pollute our mother earth all the time?... How will vegetarian diet do good for survival of life? Again, if you have faith in Mr. Einstein, vegetarianism is also the number one helping factor to survival of life on Earth.

To put it in short, if you are a person who care about your health and our mother Earth, come and become a vegetarian.

And interestingly enough, Stephen Hawking wrote about survival of human beings on Earth roughly 2 weeks ago:

“We are entering an increasingly dangerous period of our history. Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially, along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill. But our genetic code still carries the selfish and aggressive instincts that were of survival advantage in the past. It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million." And he continued: “Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space."

Mr. Hawking is talking about survival of human life from the physical perspective, I presume. Venturing out into outer space helps create more resources for human consumptions. When more resources are available people will be busy venturing out rather than fighting over limited resource back home on Earth. But it most likely doesn't help with the 'selfish and aggresive instincts' of human beings. As long as this 'selfish and aggressive instincts' are still with us, we'll always use force to solve conflicts and problems. And 'it will be difficult to avoid disaster' in the remote future too.

Many people believe, and I believe, that vegetarian diet helps cultivate love for all living beings, thus helps diminishing 'selfish and aggressive instincts'. It's all so important to recognise the root cause: the selfish and aggressive instincts of human beings. Thank you, Mr. Hawking.

Mr. Einstein and Mr. Hawking have both provided their insights and solutions as to the survival of life on Earth. Mr. Einstein's approach seems covering all life forms and more of a change of personal actualization; whereas Mr. Hawking's idea is more outward and in line with scientific adventure.

If you ask me (well, nobody asks though, ha!), I'll say: "What about both? And many others too." Many times we human beings are looking for just one answer to a complex question and situation. There are many methods and approaches to solve many things. I'm sure many people are quietly and brilliantly doing their parts for the people and mother Earth they love.

We should all become vegetarians to preserve more natural resources and protect all life forms.

And at the same time some of those more adventurous people will go to the outer space for resources on other planets. There is no contradiction whatsoever.

PS: --------------------------------

+) Albert Einstein (1879-1955), widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century and a lifelong promoter of peace, who said, “Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet.” On a similar note he stated, “Our task must be to [widen] our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” And on the day he became a vegetarian, Einstein wrote in his diary, “So I am living without fats, without meat, without fish, but am feeling quite well this way. It always seems to me that man was not born to be a carnivore.” - Info from the Florida News Group, USA

+) Mr. Hawking's excerpts published by the Winnipeg Free Press: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/human-survival-depends-on-space-exploration-says-stephen-hawking-134135238.html

+) More about Stephen Hawking at here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking

+) “Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.” - Albert Einstein. I find this quote very amusing and can't help laughing after reading it for the first time and everytime! I'm laughing because it's very sure that human beings are stupid and those that are smart enough will know that humans are stupid; these smart people are humans too and therefore stupid too. And those that are stupid will believe they are very smart indeed. Human beings' stupidity is infinite! Ha ha!

Moon is here

Moon is here.

Welcome to the jungle Earth, Moon. To be exact, 刘(LEW) 歆月(Xinyue) Moon, welcome to the chaotic life!

On November 15th, 2011 my wife and I welcomed the arrival of our baby daughter Moon. It was in a way as exciting as the arrival of Rain, Moon's elder sister by 2 years plus. But my wife said I seemed to be more care-free this time. Probably with a bit more experience, people become less anxious; so did I. Anyway, I'm equally thankful to all beings who make this happen. The forces of the universe work in a way that deserve respect and much must be learned so that we live in line with the messages of life.

Moon's arrival inspired me to write about Jaundice and the importance of confinement in certain ladies. I hope very soon I will be able to have time to write about the two topics. There seems to be some different views about how yellow jaundice comes about, physiologically or pathologically. As for confinement, many people may not realize how different human bodies can be from one race to another. So some say it's necessary to consolidate the body and some say no need. I say confinement is very necessary, yet the details differ depending on one's body type.

Looking back the past 2 years since Rain was born, I realized I still make mistakes. And some very big mistakes! I thought nearing 40 should be a good age nothing stirs my mind anymore; but it's not like that at all. I'm still being controlled by my emotional changes, hormonal raging and old bad habits. And things I said and wrote about improving myself as a son and husband and brother didn't materialize well. Still much hard work has to pour in.

Moon, and Rain, it's a much harder world than we think it is. Having said that though, let's admit the mistakes and vow never to repeat them again. Let's all calm our minds and do the right things right!


Bravo!

Thank you.

John LEW

Releasing lives gets fortune

Releasing lives gets fortune

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http://www.lews.info/blog/Releasing-lives-gets-fortune-100-sparrows.html

http://www.lews.info/blog/Releasing-lives-gets-fortune-100-sparrows.html

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One hundred sparrows: Benefits of protecting lives

During the Qing dynasty in the city of Jing Kou, Jiang Su province, China, lived a ministry councilman, Fan.

One day, Mr Fan got back home excitedly.

Mr Fan: "Chun Mei, is madam's illness getting better today?"

Chun Mei: "Madam isn't eating anything at all."

Mr Fan: "Oh!... Never mind, tell madam I'll be seeing her soon."

Chun Mei: "Yes, master."

Shortly after, 5 cages of sparrows were sent in by a bird shop.

Mr Fan: "A-Cai, bring these sparrows to the backyard."

A-Cai: "Yes, master."

A-Cai was wondering: "Why is master buying so many sparrows?"

After which Mr Fan rushed to see his wife in her room.

"Sweetheart! Good news! Dr Wang told me a secret ingredient of treating Lung TB this morning," said Mr Fan excitedly.

"He taught me to make medication from brain marrows of 100 sparrows, and to be consumed in 21 days."

"Then your illness will all be healed."

"I've already bought 100 sparrows and they're at the backyard now."

After hearing what her husband said, Mrs Fan got up angrily.

She started talking but can't help coughing breathlessly:

"In order to save my life, that's to sacrifice the lives of 100 sparrows."

"Hmm!" Mr Fan exclaimed.

Mrs Fan: "I'd rather die of the illness than to do this."

"Chun Mei, help me to the backyard."

Chun Mei: "Yes, madam."

Mr Fan: "Sweetheart, what are you doing?!"

"I just don't want 100 sparrows die because of me," said Mrs Fan.

Chun Mei helped Mrs Fan to the backyard; Mr Fan followed closely.

Mr Fan: "Sweetheart, please don't be angry. Okay, I promise I won't kill them."

Mrs Fan: "No. I have to set them free myself or I'll be worrying about them."

Mrs Fan opened the cages and talked to the sparrows with full of compassion: "Go fly! Go fly! Don't let people catch you again."

One hundred sparrows flew out from cages, chirping loudly and cheerfully.

Mrs Fan saw them leaving; and her face smiling.

They all witnessed the magnificent vibrancy of life forms.

Mr Fan was a bit disappointed:

"Sweetheart, let's get in the house, or you'll get cold again.”

“Please take a good rest. I'm going to the doctor for other medication.”

Mrs Fan: “Hmm, thank you.”

But Mr Fan was worried there might not be better medication to treat her wife.

“Chun Mei! Take special care of madam!”

Chun Mei: “Yes, master.”

As time went by, surprisingly, Mrs Fan got better and was eventually completely healed.

Furthermore, she gave birth to a baby boy the following year.

Mr Fan: “Ha! Look at this baby, smart look with clear eyebrows and sparkling eyes, he must be somebody one day.”

Mrs Fan: “Darling, you see here. There is a birthmark on his arm. Does it look like a sparrow?”

Mr Fan: “Ya! It's so much like a sparrow!”

And Mr Fan said, thoughtfully: "Sweetheart! Do you remember what we did with some sparrows 2 years ago?"

Mrs Fan: "Of course I do."

Mr Fan: "Did this baby come as a result of your kindness to living beings?"

Mrs Fan: "Maybe!"

"I deeply believe in "Accumulate-kindness-one's-family, sure-have-extra-celebration". We must do more good deeds from now on."

The couple looked deeply at the baby in their hands. And they smiled happily.

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积善之家，
必有余庆。

ji shan zhi jia,
bi you yu qing.

Accumulate-kindness-one's-family,

sure-have-extra-celebrations.

A family that accumulates good deeds will always have extra good health, wealth and happiness.

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人人咸欲达期颐，
不必寻思觅巧医。
戒杀放生若作得，
愈汝顽疾添麟儿。

ren ren xian yu da qi yi,
bu bi xun si mi qiao yi.
jie sha fang sheng ruo zuo de,
yu ru wan ji tian lin er.

Men women all desire reaching expected health,
No need search worry look-for talented doctors.
Abstain killing freeing lives if doing so,
Cure your tough illness getting kirin baby.

Everybody wants to heal and cure their illnesses fast and have a healthy body. There is no need trying so hard to look for talented doctors. If you can stay away from killing living beings and promote freeing lives, you can then cure your illnesses and even be able to bear intelligent and beautiful children.

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The message is simple:

Be kind to animals and all living beings,
good fortunes will bestow on you.

Whenever possible, spare and release lives.
Good fortunes and more lives will come back to you.

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PS:

+) Contributors: Story adapted by 慧长(Hui Zhang); comics drawn by 牧谷(Mu Gu); Comic version presented in 护生漫画集 (Hu Sheng Man Hua Ji, Protect-Lives-Casual-Drawing-Collection or Protection for living beings). English translation by www.lews.info.

+) Story: adapted from 故事图说(Gu Shi Tu Shuo; Past stories illustration narration).

+) Quote: "Accumulate-kindness-one's-family, sure-have-extra-celebrations." is from "积善之家,必有余庆." in the book of 周易(Zhou Yi) or 易经(Yi Jing), more known as "I Ching" in the west; an ancient philosophical book in Dynasty Zhou, BC 1066 - BC 256.

+) Names of people/places/events involved: 范(Fan), 清朝(Qing Chao; Qing dynasty, 1644-1911), 京口(Jing Kou) city, 江苏(Jiang Su) province, 放生得福(Fan Shang De Fu; Releasing-lives-gets-fortune).

+) Right and wrong? To seek help or not? It seems I'm going to be in trouble by translating and publishing the poem here in my blog; it will then mean I agree to what it says about not necessary to look for good doctors for medical complications. The fact is that I believe in doing the right things right. The right thing to do in this story is we must not kill the sparrows for their brain marrows as medication. All lives are precious; it's not like we can take others' lives to save ours (Even if we can, that's a bigger price to pay ahead). And the other right thing to do is to seek for medication which is herbal based or which we don't harm living animals. Therefore, at the time we're looking for medical help, we need to ask ourselves: "Am I doing the right things right?" If the initial approach has been wrong and inhumane, how can we expect the outcome be right and beneficial to humanity?

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.

Ants move house

Ants move house

This is children's naughty act? Small stools lined up as road barriers blocking pedestrians? Or some sorts of children games? The boy and the girl use stools acting like daytime soap series? For behaviours of children, many adults who are busy making a living usually don't care, don't notice, don't understand about what children do.

Oh you, busy walking by, please bend down your body and take a good look. Underneath the row of stools is a team of living life force full of discipline and marching spirits. Ants are moving family/house! Up front are leaders with sharp destination in mind; no distractions get in the way. And follow by soldier ants of strong forces, many of whom carry heavy loads of grains.

These two children are setting up corridors from stools in order to protect the ants crossing the middle of the street safely. In the world of tens of thousands of climatic scenarios, there are many 'normal scenes' which get ignored by human beings. And thus many small and minute lives get jeopardized. In the journey of life, the weak life forms need to be protected. And that the sacred hearts of children, and children's behaviours that are full of love and care, need more nurture and encouragement!

Please praise and encourage children games such as this one that helps ants move house!

NOTE:
+) Comic: Comic drawn by the late Mr. 丰子恺 / 豐子愷 (FENG Zi Kai) in his book 《护生画集》; hu sheng hua ji; Protecting-lives-drawing-collections. Original writing in the comic: 蚂蚁搬家, Ma-Yi Ban Jia, "Ants Move Family/House".
+) Writing: Original writing in Chinese edited by 宋慧燕 (SONG Hui Yan), Sin Chew Plus， July 20th, 2011, of Sin Chew Daily, a Malaysian daily newspaper in Chinese language.
+) Translation: By John Lew, trying to keep the original tones and grammar patterns intact.

Materialism versus Idealism

Materialism versus Idealism

Life's short. Time passed fast. Before Johnny knew it, he had to, in a way, decide if he should opt for the passion of his life, which was music, or the cruel reality of sustainable living, in a big monetary city.

In fact, he wasn't given a choice. Coming from a relatively underprivileged family meant that he could only give in to the reality.

He would have very much liked to strive for a balance. He tried, but he was too young to be skillful in it. He failed miserably. In the end, he became so stressful and turned insane...

... ...

Stress is a phenomena taking place everywhere, all the time. We should learn to understand how it arises and deal with it.

Do you know how your stress comes around? The nature of it? And what are your solutions?

Note:
Comic strip from Johnny the Moron, http://www.lews.info/johnnythemoron/index-e.html

Six patterns not treatable

In my practice of traditional medicine, I've come to realize quite many factors are involved in the recovery of sickness and illnesses. We all know there are many illnesses and sicknesses about body of human beings. How diseases develop and change is getting more and more complicated. Methods to treat or cure, however, are not that many and far reaching. Therefore if factors such as attitude, mindset, living lifestyle, diets and others can be of positive and appropriate ones, recovery of course will turn out to be better, and faster.

If certain factors are not cooperative, it will be difficult to help/treat/cure...

According to 扁鵲(Bian Que), there are six scenarios/situations/patterns in which it's not easy to treat and must be approached with great care:

Title: 六不治, Liu Bu Zhi, Six-(patterns/traits)-not-(easily)-treatable

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驕恣不論於理，一不治也；

輕身重財，二不治也；

衣食不能適，三不治也；

陰陽并，藏氣不定，四不治也；

形羸不能服藥，五不治也；

信巫不信醫，六不治也。

有此一者，則重難治也。

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In PinYin pronunciation:

1. Jiao Zi Bu Lun Yu Li, Yi Bu Zhi Ye;

2. Qing Shen Zhong Cai, Er Bu Zhi Ye;

3. Yi Shi Bu Neng Shi, San Bu Zhi Ye;

4. Yin Yang Bing, Zang Qi Bu Ding, Si Bu Zhi Ye;

5. Xing Lei Bu Neng Fu Yao, Wu Bu Zhi Ye;

6. Xin Wu Bu Xin Yi, Liu Bu Zhi Ye.

You Ci Yi Zhe, Ze Zhong Nan Zhi Ye.

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1. Arrogant attitude not rationalized on truth, one not (easily) treatable thus;

2. Ignore body emphasize money, two not (easily) treatable thus;

3. Clothes diets not able suitable, three not (easily) treatable thus;

4. Yin Yang conflict, organs energy not stable, four not (easily) treatable thus;

5. Shape weak can not take herbs, five not (easily) treatable thus;

6. Trust witchcraft not trust medicine, six not (easily) treatable thus;

Got any one these, then hard difficult treatable thus.

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Explanations/Interpretations:

1. People who are arrogant, stubborn and spoilt and who refuse to be rational; it's not easy to treat them. These people may not cooperate in changes of lifestyle and diets. And their mindset so strongly fixed it's hard to share with them some other useful perspectives. Some could have been taking modern chemicals for many years and walk in to ask if the traditional medicine can 'fix' their chronic illnesses in two weeks, for example. Some always believe branded names and luxurious presentations; many ended up over doing surgery or operations, and some having their organs removed at some 5-star public-listed hospitals. And after which they turn to traditional medicine for help after all the invasive and removal surgeries... And many times they expect the side effects or the original illnesses can be 'fixed'in two weeks..., for example. For such people, with lack of rationale, it's not easy to treat them.

2. People who ignore their bodies but emphasize on making money; it's not easy to treat them. There are quite a number of people who craze with materialistic possessions to the extend they may not know the value behind physical possessions and therefore they don't know how to use money as tools for something more useful than physical world. Being too busy with making money and thus having too little time to listen to their bodies need (or family's or friends' need) is always a problem itself. There are also some people who are too stingy to spend money on medical need; an extra figure in their banks make more sense than a healthy body. For such people, a discount of 50 percents of the medical cost may be more helpful than the actual treatment itself. For such people, who don't know the true value of monetary sense, their illnesses are difficult to treat.

3. People who don't wear appropriate clothing or eat proper diets and herbs (and live a proper lifestyle); it's not easy to treat their diseases and illnesses. Revealing too much body parts can be more prone to windness and coldness, especially during autumn and winter, for example. People are also conditioned to take cold and icy drinks; and some women don't bother to reduce them before and during menstruation and thus menstrual pain and some pre-menstrual syndrome persist, for another example. Some work in the evening and at night shifts; the body clock has some hard time adjusting to activity at night. People who work at night will bound to have heaty liver and low immune system. Some inappropriateness is due to ignorance, some due to free will to indulgence, some due to the hardship of making ends meet...

4. People whose body have conflicts in Yin and Yang, plus whose energy of internal organs isn't stable; it's not easy to treat them. There are people with lots of conflicts among internal organs in terms of physical substances and functionality. And some organs can be weak too from chronic battles with illnesses and with each other. It's analogous to a person whose family members are fighting each other and lots of enemies outside too. It's chaotic and it's obviously a difficult situation. When the equilibrium between physical substances and their functionality is broken, plus the invasion of external pathogens, it's difficult to treat the problem.

5. People whose body are too weak to take herbs; it's not easy to treat them. This happens to people whose stomach and spleen functions are so weak they can't help to take it and digest and absorb the efficacy of foods or herbs. It'll take a very long time to treat such cases. It can be equally long to use acupuncture/tuina to treat because the body, too, reacts very slowly to external stimulants into the body. For such people, they have to start taking very original, simple and organic foods to have a good start to recover their spleen and stomach functions, before other organs can benefit from it.

6. People who believe in witchcraft but not in medicine; it's not easy to treat them. There are people who believe much more in deities or spirits, be they up there in heaven or down there in hell. Even though I talk about the relationship of body, mind and soul with my patients, I tend not to get into the soul part. I believe we are who we are by the way we think, talk, interact, and act with choice. And therefore we should just do our parts well on earth. There are situations, however, I do share my thoughts on souls with someone I suspect involves beyond physical or mental problems.

For anyone who's found to have one of the scenario, it's quite difficult to treat and must be approached with great care.

In short, those that aren't rational and don't take care of their bodies well are not easy to treat.

If I may add some of my own ideas of 'difficult cases' or 'not-easily-treatable cases', I'd say:

7. People that indulge themselves in desires (Seeing beauty, tasting great foods, smelling sweet scents, hearing sexy voices, touching softness and sophistication) especially the sexual pleasure; it's not easy to treat their illnesses. All indulgence in senses exhaust energy, depending which organs is more responsible over which senses. Over activity in sex reduces original kidney qi, the kidney energy, which is the ultimate reservoir of all energies. When it's not sufficient, all functions of other organs go down dramatically.

8. People who want only fast relief or simple ways out; it's not easy to treat their medical problems. Fast reliefs are usually symptomatic relief, they hardly target on the real internal problems that give rise to the illnesses. Similarly, people who are impatient or just look for 'miraculous' cure; it's difficult to help either.

9. People who have yet to find a balance of things and issues; it's not easy to treat their diseases. These people tend to blame most things on others and create unnecessary conflicts and dismays in life. They may also over worry or be lustful over materialistic items. There are also people who think they can plan most things like 20 years ahead but then ignore how to live to the fullest these very days. When a balance isn't there, the mind will be occupied by tedious things in life and lose her main direction. Mind is more powerful than the body... in a way. Please strive to strike a balance of things and issues.

10. The list goes on; but the not-so crucial ones let's not worry about them. And some of them overlap too. Remember, live at this very moment.

Now, do we still wonder why there are so many difficult-to-treat illnesses in the world?

Or care to shed your own ideas of how things can be better dealt with?

PS:

- The writing's from 六不治(Liu Bu Zhi; Six-Not-Treatable) of 扁鵲(Bian Que), recorded by 司馬遷(SiMa Qian) in his historical records of 《史記》(Shi Ji; History Record; Historical and literature records from roughly 3000 B.C. to 122 B.C., in China). According to what Mr. SiMa wrote, Bian Que lived during the era of 春秋(Chun Qiu; Spring Autumn; 770 B.C. - 476 B.C.), practiced medicine in countries of 齊(Qi) and 趙(Zhao). Bian Que's stories span a time frame of a few hundred years (A debate questioned by many scholars to be comprising of many reasons). A small section of the the book 《史記》 recorded Bian Que's exceptional (and miraculous and unbelievable) therapeutic skills.

- The Chinese characters are in old/complicated versions to reflect the original feel.