Yesterday,
I attended a splendid sharing by Sis Sunanda in the Nalanda Centre. She shared
about the five types of wealth, and these wealth is beyond the worldly
materialistic wealth, the wealth of spirituality that contributes to the
achievement of the ultimate human potential.
1) The wealth of right faith
This faith is not meant by the typical faith that everyone
defines, but something that is beyond that, the faith that can be achieved
through the right understanding (sammā-ditthi),
the faith that develops one’s confidence to believe that the enlightenment can
be attained. Saddhā is a Pāli that
best describes this kind of faith.
2) The wealth of good virtue
Having a good virtue means to have a good behaviour and
morality. To gain this wealth, one should simple observe the five precepts (panca silā) properly, which includes the
precepts to abstain from killing living beings, from taking things not given,
from sexual misconduct, from false speech and from consuming anything that
causes intoxication or heedlessness. Many are afraid to observe the precepts as
they are afraid of breaking the precepts. In fact, this precepts serve as a
protective net that protect us from doing evil through the training of wholesome
act, speech and thoughts. This will as well protect others from being harmed,
hence promoting harmonious relationships.
3) The wealth of learning
There’s a saying in Chinese, “learning has to be like a
flowing stream.” Learning is not a one-day process, but it is a continuous,
lifetime process. We are not born to be perfectly talented, and that’s why we
need to learn. In the context of Dhamma, learning means not to just understand,
but also put it into practical. That’s why the wise would say, Dhamma is not
just theoretical, but also pragmatic.
4) The wealth of generosity
Also known as the wealth of giving or dāna, the wealth of generosity develops one’s loving-kindness and
compassion, and eliminates greed and covetousness. Giving is not easy as it
needs time-sacrifice and effort. Hence, it is a wealth to be able to give.
5) The wealth of wisdom
This is the greatest wealth among the five
mentioned categories. This wealth is gained through right understanding (sammā-ditthi) and the continuous
straightening of one’s right view (ditthiju-kamma)
on the Noble Truths. This wealth strengthens one’s faith in the Dhamma and
aspiration towards liberation from samsara.
After
the sharing, we had our own sharing in a small group about our aspirations this
year. Resolutions is the bucket list set by many for them to achieve within
that particular year while aspiration are meant for wholesome objective or in
my own context, the spiritual resolutions. I set fifteen resolutions for this
year, and five of them are spiritually related.
1. Organise a family trip
Since the passing away of my gung gung, we tend to value more on our nuclear family bonding,
especially with my maternal grandma (po
po). We opened a wechat family group and even taught po po to use smartphone so that we can constantly keep in touch. As
we are not able to celebrate Chinese New Year (CNY) this year due to
traditions, we plan to have a family-bonding trip during the CNY period. I was
assigned by my mom as the main coordinator. Hence, I hope that this trip would
be a successful ones.
2. Call home at least twice a month
Since I move to Kuala Lumpur to study until now, I seldom
phone home as there is no necessity for me to do that frequently. But for now,
it’s high time for me to do this as it is part of the action to bond us family
members together.
3. Meditate at least three times per week
Meditation has been a very important activity in developing
mindfulness and strengthening the concentration towards wholesome thought.
Therefore, I aspire to meditate at least three time per week regardless of
meditation methods.
4. Read at least ten Buddhist books
Buddha-sasana has been a very important guidance in my life.
Hence, I aspire to read at least ten Buddhist books for this years. Another
reason for me to set this resolution is to promote my reading habits as I
seldom read as I rather listen than read.
5. Study on at least one sutta
Suttas the primary documents of the Buddha’s teaching. I’ve been
making approaches and studying suttas since my university life, but I failed to
consistently maintain the enthusiasm towards the study, hence being incomplete.
Therefore, I aspire to carry out study on one of the sutta this year and
hopefully I could make it into a thesis-like report. The sutta that I’ve
selected shall be the Mangala Sutta.
6. Be open-hearted and mindful of others
Since the experience of being rejected in relationships, I
tend to lock myself up instead of being open to others. At the end of last
year, I’ve start to open myself up bit by bit but the wound would eventually
shuts me up. Hence, I aspire to take the effort to be open so that I could
learn to be mindful of others while reducing on self-centeredness.
7. Make myself available for Sunday service if able
I aspire not to put my Sunday morning into waste, but to make
it into a wholesome, fruitful morning. Hence, I aspire to attend the Sunday
service, mostly will be in the Nalanda Centre when no other plans interrupts
that Sunday.
8. Publish at least two posts per month on Blogspot
I’ve put on a resolution to open a Blogspot
for sharing purposes last year, but only during November I’m able to open it.
Hence, I pledge to publish at least two posts per month on the Blogspot. This
shall serve as the first post of this month and year.
9. Take up intermediate level Japanese course
Learning Japanese has been my interest since I’m
undergraduate. I even took the challenge to take the N4 Level JLPT Test.
However, I failed to pass the test. This year, I aspire to enrol in an
intermediate Japanese course in a hope to improve on my Japanese Language as
well as to qualify myself for a pass in the N3 Level JLPT Test.
10. Learn up about photography
Aside from astronomy, I have a keen interest in photography, but
I still lack of the photography basics. Today, I’ve invested on the 750D and I
aspire to learn up all the necessary skills required in photography. I’m glad
that Bro Gan willing to help and guide me in honing my photography skills. The
next step is to make myself available for him. Hopefully in the future, I could
contribute in conveying meaningful messages through the photos taken. If there’s
chance, I would like to learn on astrophotography as well.
11. Develop healthy sleeping and waking habits
I’ve been sleeping late and waking up early in the past few
years. As I grew older, my health would start to deteriorate. I understand it’s
too early to mention that, but nothing stays permanent. Hence, I planned to pick
up the habit on 10pm-sleep and 5am-wake this year and aspire to make it a habit.
12. Improve on fruits & vegetables diet
Fruits and vegetables are essential for a healthy man’s diet
as they provides necessary nutrients and fibres. However, I seldom consume
these for some reasons. For fruits, they are too expensive. For vegetables, I’m
afraid of those bugs that would emerge from them all of a sudden. I knew I have
to overcome these for my good health. Hence, I aspire to improve on my fruits
and vegetables intake and should change my mind-set on the fruits are expensive
and vegetables are inedible due to bugs.
13. Exercise thrice a week for at least 30 minutes
Last year, I’ve made a resolution to run a full-marathon of
42km. I accomplished the run, but at the meantime suffered from serious cramps
and injuries. This year, I would not make that resolution again, but will
pledge to keep physically fit. Here, I aspire to exercise at least thrice a
week for at least 30 minutes per session. So, if you’re having any badminton
matches or jogging sessions, please do tag me along.
14. Open up an alternative savings account for
emergency purposes
It is essential to save a sum of money for any emergency
purpose. I’ve successfully done it last year. Hence, for this year, I would
like to open an alternative account to store that emergency fund. Who knows
that one day I might be shifting to another company or someone related to me
needs help financially in the future.
15. Execute the trip to Hokkaido successfully
This
Hokkaido trip was early planned last year. The flight ticket has been bought.
All I have to do now is to planned and execute the trip. I’m glad that I’m able
to make friend with some Japanese from Hokkaido thanks to Bro. Kai Wen.
Hopefully, this trip of four would be a success one.
I’m
looking forward to the realization of these resolutions. Of course, it better
to act than say. My life journey continues…
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