Credit Crisis Made Simple

Not making sense about the Financial Crisis? Have a look at this 2 videos by Jonathan Jarvis, very well explained in a layman terms.

Greed killed the system.

Can Sufi Islam counter the Taleban?

From BBC news website… Can Sufi Islam counter the Taleban?

An American think tank, the Rand Corporation, has advocated this, suggesting support for Sufism as an “open, intellectual interpretation of Islam”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7896943.stm?lss

Have you ever wonder how much CIA money is in Evangelical groups? How much CIA money is in 台独Taiwanese Independent movements？Is it likely that the Tibetan Buddhist activists have been infiltrated?

sigh… how good it is if the world is simple.

Disclaimer: These innocent kids have nothing to do with todays topic. They are just enjoying simple life.

Idol Worshiping

This is a response to an article with the title “Help Wanted- god stolen” by Steven Wong, a CHINESE who claimed to be Christian.

http://exposingchineseancestorworship.blogspot.com/2007/09/help-wanted-god-stolen.html

QUOTE from his article is in brown… Please follow link above to read the full article.

“…Buddha statue stolen again. 1000-year-old idol missing since September 14. A priceless brass statue of Buddha said to be over 1000 years old has been stolen from the Buppharam Thai Buddhist Temple in Perak Road here…”

The Chinese people have always worshiped idols…..

Back to this idol, it is ironical to read that a god can be stolen eventhough a god’s aim is to protect the people who worship him. It this case, it can be assumed that the thief saw a greater value in the brass content of the statue, due to the high price of brass in the reseller’s junk yard, rather than the protection of the idol.

Why do people worship a god that can be stolen? What do you think?

Are people worshiping blindly? Do they comprehend logically their actions toward this idol?

Images of Gods in a Chinese Temple, Sydney

Sze Yup GuanTi Temple, Sydney

After reading his article I can’t help but being mischief.  A quick google search on “Stolen Jesus“, lead me to this news report.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Baby-Jesus-Stolen-From-Center-City-Nativity-Scene.html

“Why do people worship a god that can be stolen?” I left a message on Steven Wong’s blog page, hoping for an answer from him. I don’t think he would ever publish my comment on his blog.

How unfortunate that this Chinese man STEVEN WONG has such a misconception about his own cultural heritage. The Chinese are traditionally Taoist or Buddhist.  Yes, there are statues of the Buddha, Guanyin Bodhisattva, The Jade Emperor,etc in the Chinese temples or Buddhist temples; just like the Christians have statues of Jesus and Mary etc in the Churches/Cathedral. Having the images or statues of Gods/Buddha/Bodhisattva/Ancestors/religious teachers in the temple ground does not mean that we worship the statues as GODs; it does not mean that we believe the statues are GODs or GODs are the statues.

A Buddha statue, served as a reminder of the teaching of the Buddha.   The Buddha image can also be the object of focus during meditation. Observing the change, deterioration of the condition of Buddha statue, can also remind us on the teaching of impermanence. Just a few examples of the functions of Buddha image.

The image of our Ancestors on the altar  served a similar function; to remind us about their love for us, the suffering and sacrifices that they have gone through to give us the best. Ancestor Worshiping祭祖, in the Chinese Cultural context, is the way the we show respect and honor our ancestors.

Be proud of our cultural heritage! Our roots are what make us the person we are today. If we do not respect our own culture, no one else would. If we do not strive to preserve our identity, it would just fade away. How boring the world would be without all these colourful traditional cultures. How boring the world would be, if it is dominated by one popular culture.

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But I have heard people say that Buddhists worship idols.

Such statements only reflect the misunderstanding of the persons who make them. The dictionary defines an idol as “an image or statue worshipped as a god”. As we have seen, Buddhist do not believe that the Buddha was a god, so how could they possibly believe that a piece of wood or metal is a god? All religions use symbols to express various concepts. In Taoism, the ying-yang is used to symbolise the harmony between opposites. In Sikhism, the sword is used to symbolise spiritual struggle. In Christianity, the fish is used to symbolise his sacrifice. And in Buddhism, the statue of the Buddha also reminds us of the human dimension in Buddhist teaching, the fact that Buddhism is man-centred, not god-centred, that we must look within not without to find perfection and understanding. So to say that Buddhist worship idols is not correct.

Quote from Good Questions Good Answers by Ven. S Dhammika

Kids during Chinese New Years

Bless with lots of little cousins, nephews and nieces around, there is always photo opportunities.

Lion dance

Full of energy, full of imagination. That is childhood.

Lion Dance

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Sisterly love

Love does not need to be spoken, the gaze says it all.

Yum Seng!

Took some photos during Jerry and PeiWern’s wedding… This is a collection of some of the interesting YumSeng photos.  Selected photos can be seen here. Thank you PW and Jerry for giving me the opportunity to snap.

Happiness.

I like this photo of PeiWern’s auntie the best.  Such a natural smile, you can feel her happiness.

Toast from a lady...

YumSeng! The bride and the groom.

YUM SENG! 飲勝

More of my photos here…

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Added:9/2/09

For those  of you interested to see how 3 photographers have a different ways of capturing the moments of these same event, please visit http://picasaweb.google.com/peiwding.

SamLeong is the official photographer of the night and his is a professional wedding photographer. http://samleongportfolio.blogspot.com/

David Lieu is a friend of PeiWern. He is a professional freelance photographer. http://davidlieu.com/

And there is little me, the only amateur photographer.

I personally like David’s photo the best. Sam’s strong point is the staged pre-wedding session. What do you think?

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Note to myself and maybe some other photographers who happens to drop by.

I bought the Canon 24-70 F2.8L lens with the intention to use it for indoor events like this. Before I bought this lens, I was struggling to choose between the 24-70 F2.8L and the 24-105 F4 L IS lens.  I later decided to go with the 24-70L, since it offer a bigger apperture size, which I thought would be useful for shooting in low light condition.

However using it for the first time in this event, I found out that,  most of the time I was using F4 and F5.6. The bigger aperture of F2.8 was not really applicable, since the depth of field was too shallow for any group portrait.

Besides I a few occasions where I would wish to have a slightly longer reach, where the 105mm could be handy.

No wonder the 24-105 has been promoted as Canon’s wedding photographer’s lens.

Upholding traditions

I did not attend my medical school graduation. My parents did not attend my brother’s graduation too. However, we always have a very meaningful ceremony at home, marking the successful completion of our studies and remembering the guidance and sacrifice of our ancestors.

This is KH first trip home since graduation. Soon after he arrived home, dad played the CD of a traditional TeowChew  opera   潮剧. Apparently, granddad loved Teow Chew Opera and he used to play the TeowChew Opera cassette during prayer ceremonies and ancestors remembrance ceremonies.

KH offering incense

Offering of incense to the Jade Emperor 太平普度皇靈中天至聖仁義古佛玉皇大天尊, thanking him for his blessing.  Btw, according to Wiki, the Chinese characters above is the formal title of the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor is believed to be the ruler of heaven, man and hell. For generations, the Chinese has been worshiping him.  This practice is part of Taoism, it has grown together with the Chinese culture and it is very much an inseparable part of the Chinese culture.

In the background, the red cloth decoration is called 门彩 (“Cai” in short.) It is a tradition to hang it over the door, during Chinese New Year, wedding, and other happy occasions.  The red lanterns are traditional decorations for happy occasions as well.

Offering Incense to Ancestors

Offering incense to the ancestor, showing our gratitude for their guidance, sacrifices and hard work. Without their contribution, we will not have our success today.  The offering of incense is a show of respect and remembrance.

Offering to the ancestors.

The offerings to the ancestors. Most of the offerings on the table cannot be classified as traditional offerings. The tradition is evolving, but the core idea is still preserved. I see this ceremony as sharing the fruit of our success with our loved ones. With the influence of Mahayana Buddhism on my family, the offerings are all vegetarian. We try not to cause more suffering to other living beings, while we celebrate our success.

Tangyuan

TangYuan 湯圓, is a traditional offering. This round glutenous rice balls symbolized the reunion of family members and harmony in the family. The soup is sweet, symbolizing the sweetness of success. The cheerful colour of the TangYuan reflect the happy occasion.

All in red

The family photo, missing LH. In the background the family ancestor urn and the family hall-of-fame. This hall is the centre piece of the family home, we are a family that hold dearly to our cultural roots and encourage excellence in all our endeavours.