Tomorrow is Malaysia Day. A holiday that has never been celebrated until this year.

I do not really know what is Malaysia Day about and I am not really interested but just to show I am a bit patriotic about my country, I will copy paste the jalur gemilang song and link to a video.

Original lyrics

Merahmu bara semangat waja

Putihmu bersih budi pekerti

Kuning berdaulat payung negara

Biru perpaduan kami semua

Puncak dunia telah kautawan

Lautan luas telah kauredah

Membawa semangat jiwa Merdeka

Semarak jaya kami warganya

Empat belas melintang jalurnya

Semua negeri dalam Malaysia

Satu suara satu semangat

Itu sumpah warga berdaulat

Jalur Gemilang di bawah naunganmu

Jalur Gemilang kami semua bersatu

Perpaduan ketaatan

Amalan murni rakyat Malaysia

Jalur Gemilang megah kami terasa

Jalur Gemilang kibarkanlah wawasan

Merah, putih, biru, kuning

Jalur semangat kami semua

(2x)

Berkibarlah!, berkibarlah!, berkibarlah!,

Jalur Gemilang!

[edit] English translation

Your Red represents steely will

Your White represents clean and kind character

Yellow of the Sovereign, the country's protector

Blue for all of us in unity

You have reached the heights of the world

You have traveled the wide waters

Bearing the spirit of Merdeka ('independence')

We are members of its successful will

Fourteen stripes across

For each of the states of Malaysia

One voice, one spirit

So its sovereign citizens solemnly swear

Jalur Gemilang, beneath your care

Jalur Gemilang, we unite

Sovereign unity

Malaysian citizens' good charity

Jalur Gemilang, how proud we feel

Jalur Gemilang, proclaim our vision

Red, white, blue, yellow

Are the stripes of our resolve

(2x)

Flutter-on, flutter-on, flutter-on

Jalur Gemilang!

copied from wikipedia.org

Thank you!

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You see the picture above. What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

What I think.

I would visualize the car as a person such as myself. The sheep would represent all things that would be distracting me or upsetting me etc.

Even though, the car would be stuck driving against the current of sheep. The SHEEP WILL GO BY.

Nothing is permanent. Even emotions and such. I know this is a very abstract angle to view that picture. Well, I am quite an odd person myself.

Suffering is not permanent. You just make it seem as if though it is.

Thank you.

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I most likely would not be a poet of any sort but I just thought of writing this. Do not blame me for any bad poetry skills.

The Guru is so great,
Learning from one would be the greatest fate.
The Buddhas are so kind,
Creating a beautiful treasure to find.
The Dharma is so wonderful,
It is a treasure so beautiful.
The Sangha are so wise,
They will help you rise.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I bet some people out there may not think it is good. But to me it is good enough. This is actually the first original poem that I composed.

Well, at least I am not telling you the days of the week like Rebecca Black. Oh, is that outdated. Never mind.

The thing that inspired this poem was this refuge prayer:

Namo Guru Beh,
Namo Buddhaya,
Namo Dharmaya,
Namo Sanghaya.

As you might have figured it out by now that I placed the Guru, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha top to bottom respectfully.

I hope you guys like it. May everyone have a good day!

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The Kechara Tea House in Shanghai has finally been opened to the public. That is really cool.

Rinpoche posted an article on it on his blog:

http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/kechara-13-depts/official-opening-of-kechara-tea-house-shanghai.html

The exterior was so mesmerizing. I think many people will be attracted to go and dine in the Tea House just through its exterior design. Then, I saw the images on its beautiful interior.

Pictured above is the exterior


I think that all of the designing were mostly due to Aunty Li Kheng.

This is another great feat of Kechara to spread two things. Buddhism and Vegetarianism. Now, people as far as China will be able to experience Dharma the Kechara Way.

I would like to say congratulations to Kechara Tea House. I hope that business will go well. I am sure it will because everything Kechara Tea House is doing is very meritorious and many people will benefit.

May the flower of Kechara continue to bloom,
May its Dharma spread far and wide!



For those who don't know, here is the address and info:

Red Town, G113, Building 28, 570 Huaihai (W) Road, Shanghai.
It is opened from 8am to 9.30pm
contact: +86 21 5237 1716.

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I read a post on Rinpoche's blog on Concentration.

http://blog.tsemtulku.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/great-lamas-masters/the-perfection-of-concentration-by-geshe-rabten-rinpoche.html

Our mind is like a monkey always moving, always busy. Here are some ways to help generate concentration.

The practice of concentration requires sitting in your proper posture, to which there are seven points:

1. Legs crossed and feet resting on the thighs, with soles turned upward. If this causes too much pain, it distracts from concentration. In which case, sit with the left foot tucked under the right thigh and the right foot resting on the left thigh.
2. The trunk set as straight and erect as possible.
3. Arms formed into a bow-shape, with elbows neither resting against the sides of the body nor protruding outward. The right hand rests in the left palm, with the thumbs touching lightly to form an oval.
4. The neck straight but slightly hooked, with the chin drawn in.
5. Eyes focused downward at the same angle as the line of the nose.
6. Mouth and lips relaxed, neither drooping nor shut tightly.
7. Tongue lightly held against the palate.

It works! I just tried it. I manage to concentrate for at least 5 seconds (the amount of time I tested it). I bet that if I did it longer it would work longer.

I need to tame my mind or else I will end up in the three lower realms.

There is also a "chart" showing the stages of the mind.

It is so cool.

The person who taught this form of meditation is Geshe Rabten (Pictured Below)

He looks cool.

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Recently, I entered a school essay competition. I doubt I would win because the thing I wrote about was about Buddhism and I bet that none of the teachers would understand.

The question of the essay was to end the essay with this sentence, "I shall not forget this day for the rest of my life."

I wrote about taking refuge under my wonderful spiritual guide, H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche. It was the first thing that popped into my mind.

Here is the essay (I modified it a bit for more detail as there are no word limits here and I also forgot certain parts of what I had written) :

Out of all the memorable things that happened in my life, there is only one day that would stay in my mind forever, because that day changed my once worthless life into something worth living for. That was the day I took refuge under my spiritual guide, His Eminence Tsem Tulku Rinpoche.

I took refuge a few years ago. It was an auspicious day and it so happened to be my birthday!

I was so nervous that day. I remember I did not know the first thing to do.

Then, H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche walked in the prayer hall. I settled down on a cozy cushion in front of the throne and followed the instructions to take refuge.

After that, Rinpoche said out the names of all those who have received refuge and gave out their refuge names. I was there but I did not have any refuge name. Mama asked Rinpoche about my status of refuge because I did not get my refuge name. Rinpoche said, "Okay, Lets do it now."

I sat down in front of Rinpoche while Rinpoche sat on a chair. I did all the instructions as I have done them before earlier that night. Then, Rinpoche gave me my refuge name, "Tenzin Khenchen" which means bringing up the Buddhist Teachings intelligently.

Because of the amazing feeling I had that day, I thought to myself, "I shall not forget this day for the rest of my life."

That concludes my essay.

Thus, ever since that day, I am a student of H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and my refuge name is Tenzin Khenchen.

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Last sunday, i went to choir. We sang a few songs. I think that we were okay but not exactly perfect.

After singing in the Kechara choir class, uncle James took me to the flea market and we had a lunch of kuay teow (chinese noodles) at a coffeeshop called ka fei dian ( which is chinese for the word coffee shop). Uncle Chris followed us. He specifically asked for the kuay teow to be vegetarian, asking for no meat at all. Guess what? They even gave us extra meat. The soup was extremely bland, i had to add some soya sauce.

After that, we went to the third floor. It was unusually quiet today. When people came to our stand, all the clothes would be messed up. So, my job was to folf the clothes.

My usual day at the flea market would include selling the toys to raise funds for the youth group. The amcorp mall has this wierd rule stating that you can only sell thinfs that are placed on the table. Also, no one is interested in buying the toys. We also do not have much good looking toys that many would want to buy. If any of the readers of this post would like to donate some toys or some cash to the youth group, just sms at this number 012-2018491. Thanks.

After the flea market, I followed uncle David to the Tropicana city mall.

First, we went to a restraunt called Kimchi. I bet by the name you could already guess it is a korean restrsunt. Haha. Uncle David had a Dolsot Bim Bim Bab. The Dolsot Bim Bim Bab is basically a combination of rice and veggies cooked in a stone pot and you have to mix everything then it will taste good.

I had korean potato pancakes. Rinpoche showed Melissa, Edward, Beatrix and I how to eat korean potato pancakes when he took us out to watch Narnia:Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Man, that was a great memory.

Oops, i am trailing of in the wrong direction. Sorry. Back to the part of on how to eat korean potato pancakes. First, smear some white sauce and some chilly flake sauce/oil thingy on it and eat.

It is extremely delicious. If any of the readers would like to go, it is a pink restraunt on the second floor.

After eating, Uncle David and I went to Borders bookstores. Here is a little confession. We arranged all the kmp books to a more noticable location. Well, i bet you would if you were promoting your favourite books. Haha.

After book arranging, we went to the arcade. We used up a few ringgit worth of coins playing a shooting game. Then, we played coin dozer. We scored jackpot and we got double our moneys worth in arcade tokens.

After playing in the arcade, we went to the cinema. We bought popcorn and drinks and waited for everyone else to arrive. The people who came included Jean Ai Jie Jie, Uncle Jeffrey and Aunty Carmen.

Then, we entered the cinema.

The synopsis of the movie can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern_%28film%29

I really liked it.

I think that Ryan Reynolds looks pretty good looking. The only problem for the movie was that the end boss was pathetically defeated by the sun.

I hope the sequel will have better fight scenes with the Sinestro Corps.

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