Amazing Vista Walk Hunt

It was quite a happening Microsoft Vista launch at Low Yat Plaza today. My friends, Sis, Bro and I were there to participate in the Amazing Vista Walk Hunt.

However, the registration sucked. There were too many people (about 675 participants altogether!) and very unsystematic. The so-called Hunt Kit was even worse. Well, perhaps my expectation was high. I expect more than just a can of carbonated drink, a wafer bar, a mineral water, a brochure and an ugly sissy black coloured Window Vista bag. Yep, not even a pen or note pad. I know this Walk Hunt is free, but this is the biggest launch by Microsoft, the richest company in the world. Not to mentioned there were only 8 winning teams out of 188 teams. With so many so-called big sponsors like Maxis, Samsung, Toshiba, Intel, Acer, etc, they could only offer so few prizes and freebies. I joined a free AXN mall challenge before and the sponsor (Brylcreem) was so generous we had lots of freebies apart from so many free games like rock climbing, baseball, terror ride, etc.

Despite the lack of system by Time Out Solutions during the briefing, the kedekut-ness of Microsoft and the simplicity (in another word, no uuumph) of the hunt (which only took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete and the questions are less challenging), my teams enjoyed ourselves very much. We enjoyed the fact that we were able to participate together in two teams. We did so much better this time eventhough half of us are newbies. It would be impossible to answer all questions with only one team going from sector to sector.

Although majority of the participants are young people, in their teens or early 20s, the winners are mostly 'old people' (read: pro hunters) with familiar faces like The Lucky Ones and Hunters 'R' Us who won in every single hunt. I have great respect for them and I wish I knew their strategies and how long they took to be where they are now. How do they do it?

After the race, a couple of my team members and I joined the Microsoft Vista Movie Maker contest. The results will be out tomorrow at 5 p.m. Anyway, I'm pretty intimidated by the huge crowd. So I'm not going back to Low Yat Plaza tomorrow.

Q&A about Buddhism - part 4

Disclaimer: For non-Muslims or Buddhists only unless if you are reading this for knowledge purpose. This is a Q&A with HH Sakya Trizin.

This is a continuation from part 3.

Q: Is animal rebirth really possible for a human?

A: Yes, definitely. There are many stories of animals being reborn as humans as a result of good actions and of humans being reborn as animals, too, as a result of bad actions. Some animals are extremely kind, especially to their offspring, and by working very hard they can create enough causes to achieve human birth.

Q: Why is human birth so important?

A: Human birth is extremely precious because, through human life, one can achieve not only high rebirth and Nirvana, but also one can practice Dharma and get Enlightenment.

Q: Does it really help us to think a great deal about impermanence? We always know we are impermanent, and thinking about it too much might make us miserable.

A: Yes, it does help. Tsongkhapa said, “A prisoner has only one thought: When can I get out of this prison? This thought arises constantly in his mind. Your thought on impermanence should be like this; meditate on impermanence until this state of mind arises.”

Q: Are we really in the position of prisoners? We often do find things pleasant in Worldly Existence.

A: But that pleasure isn’t permanent, is it? That very pleasure can lead to disaster, can’t it? So we are happy now, but we never know what might happen in the next hour. There may be a complete disaster. Since pleasure is impermanent, since it is very uncertain, you are not actually happy because your pleasure is colored with anxiety. In fact, you are never happy because you don’t know what will come and thus anxiety is inevitable there.

In the next part, we will get to know from HH about suffering.

Disclaimer: This interview was taken from the book "Pointing Towards Vajrayana" published by The Singapore Buddha Sasana Society Sakya Tenphel Ling. The Palden Sakya Centres of American Buddhism Sakya Shei Drup Ling actually holds the right of this text.

adam neate - the unusual street artist

I watched the CNN news yesterday and they featured the story about an unusual street artist, Adam Neate. What differentiate him from other graffiti artists is he leaves his canvases in the streets.

Adam used recycled cardboard boxes as canvases. Most people on the streets do not bother (or perhaps I should say appreciate) his artworks until they were told that Adam's work worth ₤10,000 a piece.

Despite his new found fame, he will continue to do what he normally do (leaving his artworks on the streets).

Here's a video of him at the HYPE exhibition.

Q&A about Buddhism - part 3

This is a continuation from part 2.

Q: How does this help us? The practice of Buddhism will not make us less impermanent.

A: It will not make us less impermanent, but it will give us the certainty that, in our coming lives, we will have less suffering. The practice of Dharma, of religion, means – briefly speaking; avoiding non-virtuous acts; and performing virtuous acts. When you behave in this way, it is obvious that you will be happier in the future.

Q: Does it mean that, since we expect less from this life, we will also suffer less?

A: Yes, that too, but more important, by thinking about impermanence we will be moved to practice Dharma quickly. The thought of impermanence helps us to speed up our path a great deal.

Q: What are the six realms and their sufferings?

A: As I said before, no matter where you are in Worldly Existence, you are suffering. Suffering is of three kinds: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the suffering of conditioned existence. The suffering of suffering is when you have a headache or something like that. It is simply suffering which everyone accepts and thinks of as suffering. Then the suffering of change is the suffering undergone through perception of change. You are with friends today but you have to depart; when you go, you meet enemies. Nothing stays, and seeing this, we experience the suffering of change. The suffering of conditioned existence means the unsatisfactoriness of worldly activity. We do many things in the world but are never really satisfied. There are always more things to be done, which we cannot do and this frustration is suffering.

The lowest of the six realms are the Hell-realms, of excessive heat and cold, and the 'neighbouring hells' which are also states of great suffering, and which last for incredible periods of time. The cause of these states of suffering is hatred. Then there is the realm of hungry spirits who are tantalized by food and drink they cannot swallow. This is the result of desire and stinginess. The animal realm is well known to us and birth there is caused by ignorance. The human realm, too, we know. The fifth realm is of the demi-gods who are constantly engaged in war with the gods, out of jealousy and who will thus naturally suffer in their next lives. The gods seem very comfortable. They enjoy great pleasures and immensely long lives, but sooner or later experience old age and death. As they have done nothing but enjoy themselves, they will not have created the merit to achieve high rebirth and will fall into states of great suffering. The three lower worlds' beings experience the suffering of suffering exclusively; humans experience all three, but chiefly the first two, while the gods suffer mainly the last two.

The last of the Four Recollections is of Karma, the law of Cause and Effect. In the Buddhist view, everything we have today and everything we do has a cause in the past. In fact it is said that if you want to know what you did in the past, you should look at your present situation; whether you are rich or poor, ugly or beautiful, this is the result of past actions, as the future, whether happy or otherwise depends on what you do today. Everything you do today will produce a result in the future. If a tree's root is medicinal, the flowers, the leaves, the bark and everything that grows on the tree, will be medicinal, and like this, an act that grows out of the opposite of desire, aversion and ignorance will produce happiness. If the root of the tree is poisonous, then everything that grows on the tree will be poison, just as acts of desire, aversion and ignorance produce suffering.

In the next part, I will extract a simpler Q&A about the importance of human rebirth. We'll also look at whether we should think a great deal about impermanence.

Disclaimer: This interview was taken from the book "Pointing Towards Vajrayana" published by The Singapore Buddha Sasana Society Sakya Tenphel Ling. The Palden Sakya Centres of American Buddhism Sakya Shei Drup Ling actually holds the right of this text.