【明月幾時有，把餅問清天】
I sometimes ask myself, what will I do, if I'm caught in a mass disaster?
Will I, like the passengers in United Flight 93, revolt against the 911 terrorists and drive the plane away from their intended target?
Will I do what the 22-year-old Park Ji Young did in the Sewol ferry disaster, refusing to leave the sinking ship as long as there is a passenger onboard?
Or will I just run and flee, and maybe regret for the rest of my life for not doing more to save my fellow humans from dying in vain?
I read reports of the Las Vegas shooting and think about love.
The lack of love that make a person think it is okay to take away the life of another human being.
Leaving behind orphans, broken families, shattered hearts and bloodied bodies.
Few nights ago, a client was lamenting to me.
She couldn't understand why life was happening so badly for her, in her marriage and career.
She was aware of her bad temper but other than that, she didn't think she was that bad a person to deserve such a destiny.
I asked her:
A mother who can murder an innocent child, and have not done any great compensation or repentance for her aborted baby, after 20 years.
Despite me telling her the sins of abortion early this year.
How can a person like this have a good heart?
Just saying that you didn't feel good is not sufficient when you make a deliberate decision to kill.
It's lame.
In the mortal world, murder calls for either lifetime imprisonment or death penalty.
That's just the mortal world.
In the netherworld, when your baby goes screaming and crying to the King of Hades, you pay for your sin with your destiny.
She said I was very blunt to make her understand.
I replied that she has been living in a cloak of self deceit.
Sure I can talk nicely to you, if making money from you is what I care more than your karmic debts.
But I do not see my clients as my ATM machines.
When the notion of self-benefit is non-existent, it is easier to speak the honest truth.
After all, you come to me to change your destiny, not to hear sweet nothings.
Many women aborting doesn't justify it to be a normal or harmless thing to do.
Many people killing senselessly and selfishly doesn't make it right.
It's not easy to be reborn as a human.
In the six realms of reincarnation, the human realm is the most precious as it is most conducive for cultivation towards Buddhahood.
If my memory serves me right, once in a conversation with his disciple, Buddha remarked that the number of sentient beings in this Samsara world is as vast as the number of sand grains in a desert.
With His bare hand, He picked up a handful of sand from the ground.
And said, but the number of people who get to be reborn as humans are only as little as the amount of sand grains in His hand.
Even that little amount is slowly slipping through his fingers as He spoke.
It's even harder to be born as a healthy human who gets a decent education and comprehends what I am writing here.
I like what James Altucher inferred about life: Life is not something given or taken at a whim.
Nobody has the right to take away another person's life.
During CNY this year, Shifu did a Learning Session telling us his world analysis. Which countries we should avoid Travelling to and how there will be many fires around the world, particularly in which countries, that includes bombing and shooting.
I hope the attendees took it to heart.
My Grandmaster, Living Buddha Lian-Sheng has summed the world outlook with a Chinese character "亂" (Messy).
PM Lee has said it's not a matter of whether, but when, a terriost attack may launch in Singapore.
There is darkness in every one of us.
We all had bad thoughts that we never utter.
We all had ugly acts that we don't want others to know about.
But I believe succumbing to darkness never make anyone happy permanently.
In my unhappiest and darkest days, I still hope that someone out there will be happier than me, living a life more fulfilled than mine.
It is so painful that I hope nobody has to go through what I went through.
That is why I take time to write.
While the eventual goal of learning the Dharma is to become a Buddha, there are many ways to start off in a less lofty manner for the uninitiated.
One way would be not to harm others with your words, intent and actions.
That is why our precepts tell us not to kill, not to take what doesn't belong to you, not to deceive, not to engage in sexual misconduct and not to consume intoxicants.
On the surface, it seems we are doing it for ourselves, not wanting more bad karma.
Fact is, we are learning how not to hurt other sentient beings, how to love and live life in a wholesome and meaningful way.
I don't think such thinking is exclusive to Buddhists.
It should be the cornerstone of any human being.
I am an advocate that the good will always triumph over evil.
I always affirm that the Light will prevail over Darkness.
Before we start pointing our fingers at the attackers, let's take an insightful look into ourselves.
Are we acting like a terrorist to our loved ones?
Killing off their happiness and meaning to living by cheating on them or treating them like dirt?
Or killing innocent children we call our flesh and blood?
Are we killing ourselves by living irresponsibly, letting our desires rule over our humanity and never contributing to others?
It is ridiculous to ask love from others when we don't have the capability to love well.
If we have failed before, it is never too late to repent.
This Mid-Autumn Festival, I wish for you to have a heart like the full moon, radiant and bright, dispelling the gloomy clouds of greed, ignorance and hatred.
And wherever or whoever you may be, please be well, kind and happy.
For the ones who died too soon, may you be reborn in a better realm.
往生淨土，超生出苦，
南無阿彌陀佛，
南無阿彌陀佛，
南無阿彌陀佛。
