Journal

Holiday (2)

• Journal

25 May 2014

This week was much eventful and pretty packed. The week started with boot camp, continued with preparation for Awaken Challenge trial quiz, and ended with a NTUBS “secret” project meeting. …

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Holiday (1)

• Journal

19 May 2014

Well, after a long streak of posting a blog post every Sunday, it was broken as I watched movie yesterday instead of writing this. Last week was the first official vacation term of NTU Students. It was quite an eventful one. …

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Buddhism and Modern Psychology: Mid-term Assignment

• Journal, Notes

I have been following the course Buddhism and Modern Psychology on Coursera since March 2014. On the third week, the mid-term assignment was released and I submitted an essay. Well, it turned out to be a good one as I received 11/12 total score. This post contains the instructions, the questions, my essay, and the summary of the peer evaluation feedback. …

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Vesak 2558 BE

• Journal

13 April 2014

Today is Vesak Day in Singapore. I went to NTUBS Vesak Day Temple Tour, which travels through 4 temples in a day.

On 8.30 am we started to gather at Boon Lay MRT Station where we visited Buddhist Fellowship first. Buddhist Fellowship held a family Vesak carnival (including bathing of baby Prince Siddharta) and we joined them until 10.30 am to start moving to Poh Ming Tse (PMT).

At PMT, we attended the book launching event by Sister Sylvia Bay. After that, there was sharing of merits and bathing of baby Prince Siddharta. Then we had a lunch there first before getting the book that is just launched by Sis Sylvia Bay, titled “Between the Lines: An Analytical Appreciation of the Buddha’s Life”. This book is the first volume of Buddha’s life that told us about the scholarly views on his life, which in reality, was quite boring, have ups and downs, and all other problems a normal monk have. The book is said to clear the distinction between what are myths and factual truths.

We then went to KMSPKS (Kong Meng San Phor Kark See), which is a Mahayana-Chinese temple. At Ven Hong Memorial Hall there, we were greeted by Ven Chuan Guan where he gave us a mini talk about the Vesak celebration at KMSPKS. This year, their theme is gratitude, which are towards: parents, nations, sentient beings, Triple Gem, and the planet. Next, we went around and watched a short movie screening there. Before we left, Bro. Seng Yip (and Bro. Hong Seng) gave us a little temple tour of KMSPKS.

We went to Sri Lankaramaya Temple after that and met Bhante Rathanasara, who gave us a little talk, basically just consisting of questions and answers. He answered some basic questions like: What is Buddhism? [ans: teaching which goals is to reduce evil doings, increase good doings, and purify heart and minds] Why Vesak day is celebrated on different days? [ans: the differences between calendar system used and the uncertainty of when is the exact date] After this, we were done and went to Jurong Point to have dinner first before going back. Overall, it was very nice to have visited Vesak celebrations in 4 temples but it was very tiring especially in transportation.

Happy Vesak Day :)