Earlier at school, my class watched a Chinese TV series called Dangerous Mind. Although it sounds like a "Criminal Minds" Chinese knock-off, it is a show that actually had a lot of substance and allowed me to think rather deeply.

The main theme of the show is that education is not determined by a certificate, exams or just good grades. People should not go to school just to get a piece of paper that tells you that you are an excellent student because that does not make you a great student. What makes a good student is the will to learn.

Another theme in the series is how one person can influence another and how influence can be a dangerous thing. This is completely true as most revolutions were started by the thoughts of one man, then those thoughts are spread quicker than Ebola.

I thought that the main theme is very applicable, especially in schools like mine. Teachers NEVER teach so that the students can learn and benefit from the teachings. The teachers just tell us which questions will probably be coming out in the exam and where to memorize the answer. Emphasis on memorize.

Furthermore, if you were to overhear the students in my school around the school year, they never ask, "What have you learned?". Instead, they ask, "What have you memorized?" This is very bad. Especially since after the exam, everything that was "memorized" does not remain in the head. They are temporarily stored until the end of the exam when they are dumped.

Thus, all students are just blindly memorizing. Sure, it will improve their memory but it does not teach them anything. This completely defeats the purpose of an education.

So, how can we fix this? Make classes more experiential instead of just reading from a book and copying textbooks. Instead of writing down how a scientific experiment works, do it! Instead of sitting down and read about the Islamic influence on our country's history, bring us to museums and teach us with the actual artifacts. Not only our memory of the topic will improve but we will also learn. Everything learned via an experiential method will be imprinted deeply in your mind, especially if the teacher makes it interesting for the students.

Let's take this theory into test with a normal situation. John went to the cinema 2 weeks ago, he still remembers it today because he enjoyed it and experienced it. But John also copied a page of text a week ago, he has no idea what he wrote about, because there was no experience, he was blindly copying.

In conclusion, if a student wants to have a good education, the student should not just be educated for the grades but the student should actually learn and imprint the knowledge in their minds. How? By experiencing the topic of study firsthand.

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When we are born, we are naked. When we die, we are naked. When I say we are naked when we die, I am not referring to our clothes, I am referring to whatever we have strived to achieve in life.

When we are born, we start fresh and anew, we have no gains, no accomplishments, nothing in this life. We are just a baby fresh out a womb, soon to be taught the harshness of life.

After birth, we are taught basic knowledge to survive before going to more advance knowledge, ie School. We study for about 12 years and then we work, we go through a lot of suffering before we end up dropping dead.  Then, it continues on in our future lives. It is a vicious cycle. A cycle of birth and death.

However, there is a way out of this cycle, Enlightenment. Freedom from suffering and attachments. Eternal bliss fueled by compassion. Enlightenment, of course, is no easy feat. Thus, this is the goal we must strive to attain, not wealth or material gains. Those are all lost at the point of death.

When I say that we die naked, everything we once known to care for and treasure, our wealth is all stripped off us, except for one thing - our mind. Our mind remains with us even after death and our karma and merits follow suit.

Karma is like a shadow. You can't easily get rid of it. So, we must be detached from all material attachments and focus on clearing our negative karma and gain merits. This can be done by practising the Dharma and practising compassion (If you are not religious).

In conclusion, if you do not wish to die a meaningless life, put some meaning into your life through having unconditional care for others. Everything you would work hard for in this life is impermanent, it does not really exist. They are merely illusions. Your Buddha nature is the true nature of your mind. The naked body is your mind and in that body there is a Buddha.

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Hello my fellow readers, here is a treasure trove of cute videos on my youtube channel.




The kitten in the video was called Mini and is now called Tara. She was taken care of by my household until she was adopted into a loving family.




This cat is Mani. I tried to see whether she would do anything cute for the video but she failed to impress me, hence the title.




This doggy is Yogi  (Mumu). He is H.E. Tsem Rinpoche's miniature schnauzer. Mumu is a very lovely and friendly dog. I like him a lot.




What happens when you mix a very butch dog and a very lazy one to play tug-of-war? This.




This very random thing happened to me at 6 in the morning. I could not resist sharing it.

 

Brush is super cute. I really like her. She is the first cat I ever got and she has been with me for the longest time.

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Recently, I have been re-introduced to Magic: The Gathering. I was introduced to the game early in the year. Then, I stopped playing for a bit due to there being no one to play with. I was re-introduced to it again about a week ago by a very close friend of mine who also gave me some of his spare cards.

What is Magic: The Gathering? You ask? Well, each game represents a battle between mighty wizards, known as "planeswalkers", who employ spells, items, and creatures depicted on individual Magic cards to defeat their opponents. Although the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, the gameplay of Magic bears little similarity to pencil-and-paper adventure games, while having substantially more cards and more complex rules than many other card games.

The game is a fusion of both luck and skill. Luck in the sense that you have to draw the right cards or even be lucky when you buy booster packs. Skill in the sense that you need to be very analytical of your cards to ensure that they are played at their best.

Furthermore, Magic The Gathering is a rather cost-efficient game in comparison to other card games like Pokemon. Here is the comparison:

MAGIC THE GATHERING THEROS BOOSTERS (15 cards) - RM12
POKEMON TCG PLASMA FREEZE BOOSTERS   (10 cards) - RM 10

Furthermore, MTG has a larger fanbase than other card games. The age range for MTG is not all children but rather mostly adults.

Also, MTG improves decision making skills and social skills due to interaction with other players while playing.

I hope that one day, I will be able to master the game and go for tournaments. It will be very fun.

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