Noble Eightfold Path? A game to remember.

My son is a student of the Sunday Dhamma School at the Sungai Long Buddhist Society. He told me today that he could not remember the Noble Eightfold Path, which is a simple practical guideline of moral paths one has to take to be free of dissatisfactions in life and be enlightened.

I taught him to recall them by the acronym "SALEM MUT" to represent perfect:

Speech
Action
Livelihood
Efforts
Mindfulness

Meditation
Understanding
Thoughts

When he still could not recall some of the points, I decided to use a Socratic method to help him recall better by asking him some simple questions about "The Tumble Down" game, which he has played before.



Q) What must you do before you play this game?
A) You must know the rules.

Q) It's called "The Tumble Down" game. That means that you win when you are first to tumble down the stacks, right?
A) No (He laughed). You must understand the game. (Recalls Perfect Understanding)

Q) Can you simply stack up the bricks?
A) No, I must stack them up neatly. (Recalls Perfect Efforts)

Q) Can you play the game while doing something else?
A) No I must concentrate on the game and aim to win. (Recalls Perfect Meditation)

Q) What is your most treasured toy?
A) Playstation.

Q) Imagine that the brick you are going to move is your Playstation would you handle it with more care?
A) Yes. (Recalls Perfect Mindfulness)

Let us change the name of this game to the "Enlightening Game" and imagine that each brick represents people you care and love and each colour represents the issues and problems you face in your life.

Q) Now imagine that each time you move a colour and re-stack it, you are working on solving the problem. The gap where the brick was represents your morality based on the way you have solved your problems. What kind of "branding" of yourself do you want to leave behind? Do you want people to remember you as someone who cannot be trusted or who is rude and a bully?
A) I want to leave a good impression. (Recall Perfect Thoughts, Perfect Speech and Perfect Actions)

Q) Now imagine that you have a problem making a living how would you solve your problem? Remember the impression you said you want to leave behind and that in the "Enlightenment Game", the bricks represents people you care and love. When you make a mistake and stumble you bring them down with you.
A) I will not do anything immoral. (Recall Perfect Livelihood).

What else can you teach with "The Tumble Down" game? How about teamwork?.

DON'T PAY KOPI RM AGAIN

I do not know if this information is true but better be wary ans "DON'T PAY KOPI RM AGAIN" than be sorry.
===================================================================================

>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> If you are used to paying 'Kopi Money' when stopped
>> for traffic offences, DON'T Do This Again.
>>
>> The traffic department has recently started a
>> campaign to be rid of corruption. The officers on
>> duty will be rewarded RM100.00 when they report each
>> case to the department. This is how they do ( trick
>> you into) it. They will note down the details of
>> your IC/MyKad, and ask you how you want to settle
>> (Paying Kopi Money?). They will then report the
>> incident by passing up the 'Kopi Money' and get the
>> RM100.00 in
>> return for their good deed. You will end up having a
>> summon issued to you.
>>
>> DON'T PAY KOPI RM AGAIN, especially if you hope to
>> go free with RM20 kopi money. They rather have a
>> 'good' name than to take your kopi money. Just
>> beware of their trick because the cops are now
>> clocking up 'cookies' points for their promotion and
>> pay increment.
>>
>> They should have done this to stop corruption long
>> time ago, anyway better late than never...
>>
>> SPREAD THIS MESSAGE AROUND TO EDUCATE OTHERS ON THIS

In a limbo? Try international volunteering.

Are you in a limbo wondering which career path you should hop on? Maybe you are still wondering on the courses you should take up. Maybe you would like a change in lifestyle and wondering how, when and where to start.

In that case, it is time for you to explore the world of international volunteering and add some sparks and directions into your life.

Thinking of migrating? First do a search and check out if the country you are interested in is in UniversalGiving's project list and offer to go on an enriching volunteer trip and learn more about the country.

UniversalGiving works with trusted U.S. based and independent NGO (non-governmental organizations) partners and their services are free to individuals and NGOs.

Mom's the greatest.

Interview With God

This presentation can be seen off the following website:

The Interview With God

Don't take sweets from strangers.

Need help reminding your children not to take sweets offered by strangers no matter how cute they look? Get them this T-shirt. Best worn in crowded places.

Latte? Not for drinking only.

The Japanese are famous for their lovely product packaging. Here is how they deliver their latte.

The pastor's visit

Miss Beatrice, the church organist, was in her eighties and had never been married.


She was admired for her sweetness and kindness to all.
One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint sitting room.
She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea.
As he sat facing her old Hammond organ, the young minister noticed a
CUT -glass bowl sitting on top of it.
The bowl was filled with water, and in the water floated, of all things, a condom!



When she returned with tea and scones, they began to chat.

The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist.


'Miss Beatrice', he said, 'I wonder if you would tell me about this?' pointing to the bowl.
'Oh, yes,' she replied, 'Isn't it wonderful? I was walking through the Park a few months ago and I found this little package on the ground.
The directions said to place it on the organ,
keep it wet and that it would prevent the spread of disease.
Do you know I haven't had the flu all winter.'

NEW METHOD adopted by snatch thieves

Dear All

We have been reading about snatch thieves incidents. I witnessed for myself today a new method adopted by them.

Please pass this on to friends -
Alert them of this NEW METHOD adopted by snatch thieves.

I was driving along SS2/22, Petaling Jaya going towards Damansara Jaya. This street is totally residential one street off the main road.

About 10 houses in front of me was this young lady walking by a car parked along the grass patch outside one of the terrace houses. As she was reaching the rear end of this clean decent looking Silver Proton Waja , I noticed the engine started and the left rear passenger doors window was being wound down.

Suddenly a man emerged out of the rear passenger doors window his entire torso! and making a grab of this ladys handbag!!!! As this man emerged from the cars window, the Silver Proton Waja was pulling out of its parking position slowly not in a hurry with the man from within just dragging the lady and her handbag along until she gave it up!! Then they drove off slowly no hurry!!!

All the above happened in front of my eyes in less than 30 seconds!!!!!

Her screams and cries did not help! No one came to her rescue in fact a middle age woman ran into her house upon seeing this happening right in front of her house only to come back out to lock her gates after the car has driven away! Do you blame her? The thieves were so bold!!!!

By the time my car reached her, the Silver Proton Waja had turned the corner. She was very shaken but thankfully only slightly hurt her pants were torn as were her slippers bloody knees, shins, palms and elbows. On the way to the police station, she told me that she had noticed that there were 3 men she identified them as Malay men in the car.

I could not believe my eyes when I saw what was happening thus did not have the instinct to take note of the cars registration number. Ive always thought that would be the first thing I would look out in an incident like this but NO I was too shocked simply watching this scene being played out right in front of me!!!

So please beware when you are walking by parked cars with men inside. Pass this on to as many friends as you can to alert them.

Hey! I give a damn!

I discovered this video clip from YouTube on recycling but could not share it with the children of the Sunday Dhamma School during their holiday camp workshop. Why? See for yourself and find out if you give a damn!

YouTube Video Download Tool

There are many times I saved links to websites that I appreciate but later, when I refer to them again, the information that I am interested in are no longer there. I can take notes or write about what I have learned on my blogs for future references but what about the movies posted on great websites like YouTube?

TechCrunch has the answer with this very useful tool for downloading YouTube movies on their website and here are the steps:

1) Copy the link to the YouTube movie you are interested in. Example, if you would like to save a cartoon titled "Human" posted on the following link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlY-TNsbcMI. Copy that link.

2) Click on link to YouTube Video Download Tool and paste saved link into a blank box provided at "Enter YouTube URL"

3) Then click on "Get Video" and decide what you want to name it and where you want to save it.

In order to view it, you have to download the player at the following link

VLC Media Player

To view movies you have saved, click on the "VLC Media Player" icon on your desktop. Click on "Quick Open File" to locate the file you saved and enjoy it.

What should I do to marry a rich guy?

A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:

Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?

I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York. My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden (?), $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:
1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)
2) Which age group should I target?
3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I've
met a few girls who doesn't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys
4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)

Ms. Pretty


Awesome reply:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here. From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you. The answer is very simple, so let me explain. Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of "beauty" and "money": Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a "trading position". If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same
goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or "leased". Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool.

Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in "leasing" services, do contact me?

signed,
J.P. Morgan