Dorje Shugden is HERE!!!

I just received this package in the mail today. My mum received the package for me while I was at work. She didn't know what it was of course! I was expecting it but I didn't think it would arrive so soon. I had an exceptionally stressful time at work today with team members that were playing silly games with each other. I had to settle that and I came home totally exhausted. This was truly a sight for sore eyes.  

Thank Buddha, Dorje Shugden was all intact with no missing parts. Isn't he just gorgeous? I never thought I would be this excited for a Buddha statue. The finishing is just fantastic and I just love the antique finishing. Thank you dorjeshugden.com for making this available for all of us to invite and be the object of our prayers. 

This is my little altar in my room with a printout of Trijang Rinpoche, a stupa and some offerings of crystals, tealights and Tibetan incense. I love Tibetan incense and what a perfect offering to Dorje Shugden. I did a small puja to Dorje Shugden to welcome him into my life. I took these pictures to share with the world. I dedicate this statue to Trijang Rinpoche (may I be able to have the honor to meet you and gain a blessing directly from His Holiness), my parents,colleagues, friends and ex relationships. May they be happy always and gain the blessings and assistance of wrathful Manjushri. 

Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha!

Executive-focused society in Singapore 'is bizarre'

 

Yeah right! Tell that to your traditional Chinese parents and all the nasty relatives during Chinese New Year's and family gatherings. Imagine me telling my mum that I wanna be a high-paying bus driver or a carpanter. This is ridiculous. This development is inevitable considering the high expectations and social pressure. I guess, it ain't so bad if I was a sales assistant in a posh Sincere Watch Boutique or a waiter at a nice Italian restaurant at Holland Village. Come on!

What am I talking about?

Read this....

and have a good laugh...


( http://news.asiaone.com/A1Business/News/Story/A1Story20130325-411027.html )

Joy Fang 
My Paper 
Monday, Mar 25, 2013

SINGAPORE - Singapore is too fixated on producing professional, managerial, executive and technician (PMET) jobs for Singaporeans, and this mindset creates a problem, said economics professor Linda Lim yesterday at a population-policy forum.

Prof Lim,
who is a University of Michigan business-school professor, said that if so much emphasis is placed on such high-skilled jobs, the prestige of lower-skilled occupations, such as bus drivers and carpenters, would be low.

So, citizens would typically not take up these jobs, as is the case, with foreigners filling in instead.

"It is bizarre to have a society where we have only PMETs and everyone wants to be a PMET. If you have that kind of society, of course you would need foreigners," she said.

Pointing out a sentence in the Government's January Population White Paper, which said that Singaporeans "aspire to be in higher-skilled and more rewarding work", Prof Lim said that this is already a value judgment by the authorities.

It suggests that being a bus driver is low-skilled, unrewarding and a job for foreigners, she said.

"Why is it only us who cannot do our own low-skilled work?'

She further questioned why it was that only Singaporeans considered these jobs low-skilled and not deserving of good pay or respect.

The forum was organised by the University of Michigan Alumni in Singapore. Held at The American Club, it was attended by 120 academics, business owners and alumni members.
Prof Lim noted that Singapore currently sets a maximum-growth target and works towards that, pumping in foreigners when the country comes up short on labour. But she questioned why there was a need to set "unrealistic" growth targets and try to attain them.

On Singapore's fertility issues, demography expert and former chief statistician Paul Cheung, who also spoke, said it is vital to tackle it by starting with the perceptions of Singaporeans first.
He said: "People in Singapore may be too caught up with their own careers and the trappings of urban living. I think they have forgotten about certain basic elements, such as human relationships and family values. We need to go back to the basics."

A Beer a Day Keeps the Blues Away

I don't think I am an alcoholic but sometimes do feel a beer or 2 keeps me sane and happy after a stressful day at work. There are a few issues that cropped up at work and I am not a liberty to share here on my blog. But anyway, I do like my beer and a cigarette or 2. Well Actually more like 6 glasses and half a pack of cigarettes does make me a very happy man.

Beer does not make me drunk but it does get me a little tipsy. And in the past, I do get into some pretty 'nasty' business and last night, I had 2 propositions. I dunno why but ladies (and some men) always try to chat me up when I am in that state. I usually don't mind. Last night 2 girls were very friendly with me and I can't remember the silly conversation I had with them. When I went to take a leak, a man followed me and at the urinal, he gave me his number. I do vaguely remember he is pretty good looking but I have his number and needless to say, I found my way back, finished my drinks and got home. Of course, I got the girls' numbers as well.

Now, which number should I call? The girl or the guy? I know this would shock the reader but I am in a quandary. I am glad I am not Christian or I would be branded an abomination. Haha!

Paranormal Accident

I received this picture and explanation from a colleague and I am extremely intrigued by it. Apparently, a few days ago,  a Singaporean lady was driving her car late at night and she suddenly saw a black shadowy shape right ahead of her.

Before she knew it, she crashed into the mysterious black shape. So, she quickly alighted from her car only to discover that there was nothing in front. There was no trace of any other cars at that time and not even an animal. There were just bits and pieces that fell out from her car. This baffled the lady and all who witnessed the damages on her car. She felt that it was a paranormal accident as she could not explain what was it that she crashed into that night.

Now, that's real scary and I wonder if you she had a Dorje Shugden chakra, would she have avoided the accident. I have read a lot of amazing abilities of this Protector deity to repel negativities and malevolent spirits and such. After reading this, I am going to order a Dorje Shugden chakra to hang in my car.

Setting up a new shrine.

I have been doing a lot golden drink offerings to Dorje Shugden lately for a project to go through smoothly. And although it was not exactly smooth sailing, I must say that the client is very happy with the project that I have done. He will personally recommend me to his higher management for other works. I am basically over the top about this and I do feel it is the blessings of Dorje Shugden. Over time, he seems to be a play a bigger and bigger role in my life through his rituals and blessings. I am very happy and glad. 

Hence, I decided to invite an blessed image of Dorje Shugden from the online store. Actually, I would like to get the 39 inch statue but I am not sure I have place in my HDB flat because my parents are actually Christian and I am self-professed Dorje Shugden practitioner. Anyway, I am excited to set up my altar. I guess there's this traditional Buddhist streak in me for making offerings and setting up altars. I am no Lama but I do enjoy the merit-making process. When I am done with my altar, I would post up some pictures here. 

The Greatest Story Ever Told!

This is what I have been watching over and over again lately. I am not really a fan of cartoons and illustrations. But I am watching this because it does a wonderful job at presenting this amazing story of one of Tibet's most controversial protector deities - Dorje Shugden. There's actually not much on the net except from this one website called Dorjeshugden.com and it was the team behind that website that produced this amazing cartoon. The cartoon avoids the controversy surrounding the deity and goes straight to explaining the origins of this deity from scriptural sources and none that explains so well, the background story of how Dorje Shugden arose. So, I highly recommend everyone to watch this and if its not for the story, you can enjoy it for the artwork.

About 4 years ago, I came across the aforementioned website on Dorje Shugden and I was reading up on the controversy and I became more and more intrigued. I read up a lot on Buddhism, especially on Tibetan Buddhism. That's how I got into worshipping Dorje Shugden although I have not met a Lama yet. I have been on the lookout and have been to the NKT center on Neil Road but only to buy their books. I loved the teachings but I am really not up to joining their center just yet because I am content with learning from the website and through books.  

A Sunday Stroll to the Gardens

I finally had a free Sunday after a whole week of completing this project. I am glad I had some time to relax and I didn't want to spend it at one of the crazy busy malls at Suntec or Orchard. Don't people want to just relax on Sunday, which is the only day off for most people. Believe it or not, I have never actually step foot at the Gardens. Well, I went once but it started to rain on the way there the last time I tried to go and I had to detour to a mall because my relatives didn't want to get wet. Anyway, I decided to go yesterday and I had a nice time look at the greens. It was a kinda futuristic and weird but nice. 

This is the Moon gate entrance overlooking the monstrous Marina Bay Sands. It has a most spectacular eternity pool overlooking Singapore but I really hate the architecture. It reminds me of the ATAT walker from Star Wars. I wonder if the architect was some kind of Star Wars buff. Anyway, I took the picture to berate it a little but that's not the whole journey.

This giant man-made hill at the Cloud Forest has green things growing all over with little simulated water falls to irrigate the hill. I was impressed with the sheer immensity of the hill and loved the concept along with the little platform from which people can climb up to in order to enjoy various views of the plants and of Singapore through the glass panels. Impressive organic fused with futuristic elements. 

The Supertree grove is futuristic cathedral of rainforest trees. I think the little bridges does add a nice novelty view of the gardens but I am not too much a fan of the man-made structures. I think real lush rainforest trees would have been a more apt organic 'structure' to crown the gardens. Anyway, it was lazy Sunday and although the crowd was thick but I guess I can't escape crowds in small Singapore but at least it is not the same malls upon malls that I am used to dread here in sunny Singapore. 

Don't get me wrong, it was nice and green, the Gardens is a huge complex but I just chose to feature the few special memorable structures. There were plenty of beautiful flowers and plants but I will leave that to your imagination and I didn't want to spoil it for you if you had plans to visit. 

I splurged this evening.

I have been eying this silver beauty for awhile now. It was to replace my again laptop and all I needed was an excuse that came today. My laptop had a nasty hard disk failure. @#$&%! But never mind, I took stroll on company time to Sim Lim Square.

When compared with my old IBM, this one is soooo much smaller. I am not really a tech guy but I really appreciate not lugging a brick around all day. I love the fact that its so light and yet, the keyboard is still the standard size. The MacBook's finishing is always top-notch but I just slowly getting used to the Mac OS. Everything is beautiful but functions quite different than in Windows.

I just spent hours configuring my emails and transferring important documents from the recovered portable hard disk. Folks, never forget to backup everything especially when your laptop is 7 years old. Now, I am just playing around with it. I love the brilliant screen and the clarity of the pictures on it. Don't you?

Here's a good review of the MacBook:-