Simple life is our Dharma 简单的生活就是我们的佛法

Today is the end of the Daylight Saving Time (DST), which marks the beginning of winter time as we shifted our clocks 1 hour forward this year. In another words, it is currently 7 hours difference between the time zone in Malaysia and Sweden.


The idea of Daylight Saving Time was actually mulled by a British entomologist by the name of George Hudson, with the reason to conserve energy as well needing more daylight hours during the summer in order to capture bugs for his collection. Malaysia does not implement DST as we are situated at the Equator, while Sweden, on the other hand, is situated at the northern hemisphere which has been observing DST for 40 years.


As starters, I was actually 1-hour awake from bed "too early" due to the time change on a Sunday morning. I lazily got myself out of bed to drink some water in the kitchen. As I peeped through the window blinds, I noticed a thin mantle of snow covering the car park and the garden surrounding the apartment. The morning was calm, and the white powdery snow seemed to add an extra tranquility to the atmosphere.


Linda and I had no specific plans today. She decided to stay at home to continue watching some Chinese soap-operas while I decided to perform Dana at the Buddhist temple at Säve. I usually prepare fried noodles to the temple. So today was no exception.


As a norm in this Buddhist temple in Gothenburg, the ceremony starts when the monks take their seats in a row on the altar. Foods are offered by the devotees to the chief monk, and the chief monk will subsequently pass the food offerings down to the next monk in the row. Today, I was instructed to accept the foods from the last monk to pass down to the subsequent practitioners. As I thanked and passed down the food offerings, a sense of appreciation was brewing inside my heart.


After lunch at the temple, I decided the take a scroll at a recreational park called Hisingsparken. The leaves on the trees have already turned yellow and there was hardly any breeze as I scrolled around the lake. It was sunny and the lake mirrored the picturesque image of the trees and clouds from the sky. I could not help but to stop in order to take pictures of them.


I went for some grocery shopping later on. When I reached home, I was surprise to discover Linda and her mother were making dumplings for dinner! The atmosphere was warm and joyful, and I took some pictures of the dumplings making process :)


As the topic says, a simple life is our Dharma. To be honest, our lives these days have been clouded by slight mishaps due to some circumstances. A little happiness and appreciation here and there are perhaps the best remedy during the period.


"A few bad chapters in life does not mean it will be a bad story."


These were the wise words I read from one of the facebook post a few days ago :)


As usual, let me share some pictures from today!


今天是夏令时（DST）的结束，这也意味着冬天的开始。住在瑞典的我们都会把时钟调早1小时，这时，马来西亚和瑞典的时差将会是7个小时。


夏令时实际上是由英国昆虫学家George Hudson提倡的，最主要的目的是节约能量，其次是想在夏天时有更多的时间来捕捉昆虫。马来西亚没有实施夏令时，因为我们位于赤道，而瑞典位于北半球，已经实施了夏令时将40年。


今天早上，我实际上是“太早”醒来了。我懒洋洋地从床上起身，走去厨房喝点水。当我透过百叶窗窥视时，我注意到白雪薄薄地覆盖着停车场和公寓周围的花园。早晨很平静，粉状的白雪似乎为大地增添了一丝宁静。


琳达和我今天没有具体的计划。我决定去佛庙布施，而她决定留在家里继续追剧。我经常会带炒面去布施，所以今天也不例外。


在庙堂里，当一排的僧侣们在坛上就坐时，我们会将带来的食物供奉给第一个僧侣，而食物会随后送到下一位僧侣。今天，我被指示接受最后一位僧侣的食物，再传给居士们。当我答谢和传递食物时，我内心酝酿着法喜。


在庙里用完午餐后，我决定去Hisingsparken的公园里散步。散步时，我注意到树上的叶子都变黄了。这时几乎都没风，而且阳光明媚，湖面上映照着树上的黄叶和蓝天的白云。我忍不住停下了脚步来拍下在这个景色。


我后来还去超市买了一些食物。当我到家时，我惊讶地发现琳达和她的母亲正在准备晚餐- 饺子！家里气氛非常温暖而愉快，我不禁又拍了一些照片:)


正如话题所说，简单的生活就是我们的佛法。说实话，这些天我们的生活因某些情况而蒙上了阴影，今天到处的小幸福正好就是我们需要的。


“生活中的一些不好的章节并不意味着它将是一个糟糕的故事。”


这些是我几天前在facebook帖子中读到的明智之语 :)


像往常一样，让我分享一些照片吧！

Story 2 故事 2

面對批評

有一天，墨子嚴厲的責罵他的弟子耕柱子，耕柱子聽了很難過，他委屈的說：「我犯的錯誤沒有比別人多，為什麼老師這般指責我？」

墨子聽了便說：「假使你要上太行山，有一匹馬和一隻羊，你會選擇鞭打馬還是鞭打羊呢？」耕柱子回答：「我當然要鞭打馬。」墨子便問：「你為什麼不鞭打羊呢？」耕柱子說：「因為馬兒跑的快，才值得鞭策，而羊卻沒有這種特質。」

墨子說：「我責罵你正因為你像馬而不像羊，值得批評啊！」

故事寓意：每個人在成長過程中，難免會因為環境及週遭人事的影響而形成固有的觀念，當偏差的觀念遭到別人批評時，往往容易生出負面的情緒而不自知：或是怨懟、或是憤恨、或是委屈。

如果能衝出舊有的思維逆向思考，謙虛的對批評的人充滿感激，願意承認自己的不足，那麼你將成為一匹馳騁於人生坦途的千里馬，成長的路上必然有一番飛躍與進步。

Facing criticism

One day, Mo-Tzu was scolding his student Zhuang-Tzu.  Zhuang-Tzu felt that he was wronged and said to his teacher: "The errors I made are similar with the others. Why do you reprimand me more than the others?"

Mo-Tzu asked: "If you were to travel up to the Mountains of Taihang with a horse and a goat, which would you choose the whip?" Zhuang-Tzu replied: "I would certainly whip the horse." Mo-Tzu asked: "Why not whipping the goat?" Zhuang-Tzu again replied: "It is because the horse runs fast, and it is worthy of encouragement, whereas the goat has no such qualities."

Mo-Tzu said: "I reprimand you more because you are like a horse rather than a goat!"

The moral of the story: In our lives, it is inevitable that we feel resentment when we receive criticism. If we are able to humbly and gratefully accept others’ criticism via admitting our own mistakes, it is certain that we will progress further and be successful in our lives.

Hantera kritik

En gång var Mo-Tzu väldigt arg på en av sina elever som hette Zhuang-Tzu. Zhuang-Tzu tyckte att det var orättvist och sade det till honom: De andra gjorde samma misstag som jag gjorde.  Varför kritiserar du bara mig? Då frågade Mo-Tzu: Om du skulle resa upp till Taihangsberg med en häst och en get, vilken av dem skulle du piska? Zhuang-Tzu svarade: Jag skulle piska hästen. Då frågade Mo-Tzu : Varför piskar du inte geten? Då svarade Zhuang-Tzu: Hästen går snabbt, och därför går det att uppmuntra den. Men geten saknar hästens egenskaper och därför går det inte att uppmuntra den.  Då förklarade Mo-Tzu för sin elev: Jag kritiserar dig mer än de andra eftersom du är mer som en häst än en get!

Syftet är att i våra liv mår vi ofta dåligt när vi får kritik från andra men tyvärr är det oundvikligt. Om vi ​​har ett stort hjärta kan vi vara tacksamma och ta emot kritiken och kan lära oss av våra misstag. Detta kommer säkert att göra oss framgångsrika i våra liv.

Tanum Petroglyphs 塔努姆的岩画

Petroglyphs are images carved on rocks, which are also called rock carvings (or rock arts). There are such rock carvings in the municipal of Tanum, Sweden which the carvings may trace back to the Bronze Age (1800 to 500 BCE). In 1994, the site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage due to its high concentration.


Last weekend, Linda and I took the opportunity to visit the site in Tanum. It was about 1.5hr drive away from Gothenburg, closed to the border of Norway. I was a bit unsure what to set in Google Maps, as to my surprise the rock carvings are clustered in different places in Tanum, although they are not very far away from each other by car. Anyway, Vitlycke Museum in Tanum caught my attention and it was immediately set as our destination.


The drive was smooth and relaxing, and we were soon at the entrance of Vitlycke Museum to make our first encounter of the Scandinavian Bronze Age. When we entered the museum, we were greeted by a friendly manager who handed us some brochures in Chinese. And we exchanged warm laughter when she learned that we could communicate in Swedish :)


The Museum was small, cozy, minimalistic but jam-packed with historic information. We learned about the lifestyles and cultures during the Nordic Bronze Age. There were some replicas of the musical instrument displayed in one of the museum sections, and we liked the sound recordings of the musical instrument which you could listen via the headphones. There were also books and photographs explaining the different petroglyphs. Many of the glyphs depicted boats, rituals, people and animals. And I must say, it was really easy to differentiate the gender from the glyphs (if you know my drift)  I will definitely share some pictures at the end of the blog :)


Beside the Museum, there were some replicas of the straw-made houses in the Bronze Age. We did not spend too much time on them as we were anxious to visit and take a look at the actual rock carvings with our own eyes.


As I mentioned before, there are different rock carvings sites in Tanum. They are called Vitlycke, Litsleby, Aspeberget and Fossum panels. The one we visited was Vitlycke, which has the largest collections of petroglyphs, and it took us only a 10-minute walk from Vitlycke Museum.


It was indeed a spectacular sight. The flat rock is around 6 meter wide and is filled with multitude of vivid, beautiful images. There are images of ships, boats (Hjortspring), people, animals and Gods. While adoring the rock carvings and all the history, I was amused by the image depicting a man fearing a huge snake. Later, I learned that the image of the snake symbolizes lightning, thunder and rain. Consequently, the raised arms of the man to the left signifies a rain-making ritual rather than the fear of the beast.


Let me share some photos from the trip!




岩画是刻在岩石上的图像，也称为岩石雕刻。在瑞典Tanum市有这样的岩画，可追溯到青铜时代（公元前1800年至500年）。 1994年，该遗址被宣布为联合国世界遗产之一。上周末，Linda和我借机参观了这个遗址。地方距离哥德堡不太远，只需要大约1.5小时的车程，靠近挪威的边境。起程前，我不太确定应该在谷歌地图上设置什么地点，因为岩画分布在Tanum不同的地方，尽管彼此的距离并不算远。无论如何，Tanum的Vitlycke博物馆吸引了我的注意力，所以我就立刻把它设置成了我们的目的地。


整个车程还算是蛮顺利的，我们很快就到达Vitlycke博物馆的入口处。当我们进入博物馆时，有一位女经理和蔼的欢迎我们，还递给我们一些中文的介绍册子。当她得知我们可以用瑞典语沟通时，我们互换了有欢畅的笑声 :)这博物馆小巧，舒适，简约，但充满了历史信息。我们从中了解了北欧青铜时代的生活方式和文化。其中一个地方还展示了一些古代乐器的复制品和录音，让我们可以通过博物馆准备的耳机聆听这些古代乐器所发出的声音。除此之外，这里还有一些书籍和照片来解释不同的岩画。这些岩画描绘了古代的船只，仪式，人物和动物。老实说，分辨岩画中人物的性别并不难 (如果你明白我的意思)，我稍候会分享照片给你们看 :-)


在博物馆旁边，有一些模仿青铜时代稻草屋的复制品。我们并没有花太多时间在那里逗留，因为我们急于参观并想亲眼目睹岩画的遗址。我之前有提到，Tanum的岩画分布在不同的地方。它们被称为Vitlycke，Litsleby，Aspeberget和Fossum岩画块。我们参观的是Vitlycke，它拥有最多的岩画。从Vitlycke博物馆，我们只需要步行10分钟即可到达Vitlycke的岩画块。


Vitlycke岩画块确实是一个壮观的景象。平坦的岩石大约6米宽，上面充满了生动，美丽的图像。有船，舟（Hjortspring），人物，动物和神明。在欣赏和陶醉的同时，我被一幅岩画吸引了，并且还被逗得笑了起来。这岩画描绘一只巨蛇正要攻击一个男人，这男人吓得双手和"棍子"都举了起来。后来，我了解到岩画里的蛇象征着闪电，雷雨，而举起手臂的男人是在进行求雨的仪式，而不是对巨蛇的恐惧。


让我分享一些照片吧！

Story 1 故事 1

前世，谁埋葬了你？

从前有个书生, 和未婚妻约好在某年某月某日结婚。到那一天，未婚妻却嫁给了别人。书生受此打击, 一病不起。这时, 路过一游方僧人，从怀里摸出一面镜子叫书生看。

书生看到茫茫大海，一名遇害的女子一丝不挂地躺在海滩上。路过一人, 看一眼，摇摇头, 走了。又路过一人, 将衣服脱下,给女尸盖上, 走了。再路过一人,过去, 挖个坑, 小心翼翼把尸体掩埋了。

僧人解释道, 那具海滩上的女尸，就是你未婚妻的前世。你是第二个路过的人，曾给过他一件衣服. 她今生和你相恋, 只为还你一个情。但是她最终要报答一生一世的人, 是最后那个把她掩埋的人, 那人就是他现在的丈夫.。

书生大悟。

前世，是谁埋的你?

Ever wonder who buried you in your past life?

Once upon a time there was a scholar, who had decided to get married with his fiancée one day. On the day of marriage, his fiancée had married someone else instead. It was a huge blow to this scholar. He fell sick and was bedridden. One day, there came a travelling monk and asked the scholar to look at his magic mirror.

In the mirror, the scholar saw the sea, and noticed a murdered woman lying naked on the beach. A passerby came, took a glance, shook his head and walked away. A second passerby came, took down his clothes to cover the body, and walked away.  Later, came another passerby and saw the body. He dug a hole, carefully and respectfully buried the body.

The travelling monk explained to the scholar: That was what happened to your fiancée in her past life. She was murdered and left on the beach. As for you, you are the second passerby, who gave her your clothes to cover her body. In this life, karma would lead both of you to fall in love, but not enough to be husband and wife. As at the end of the day, she would fall in love and marry the man who buried her body in her past life, whom she had been grateful to for a life time.

Have you ever wondered who buried you in your past life?

Har du någonsin undrat vem som gravde dig i ditt tidigare liv?

En gång i tiden fanns det en lärd man som bestämde sig för att gifta sig med sin fästmö. I stället gifte sig lärde mannens fästmö med någon annan. Det blev plötsligt tuff för honom. Han blev mycket sjuk och sängliggande. En dag kom en resande munk på besök. Den lärde mannen bad munken att titta i hans magiska spegel.

I spegeln såg den lärde mannen ett hav, sen lag det en mördad kvinna naken på stranden. En förbipasserande kom och kastade en blick, skakade på huvudet och gick därifrån. En annan förbipasserande kom och täckte kroppen med sina kläder och lämnade platsen. Sen kom en tredje förbipasserande och han grävde en grav åt henne. Omsorgsfullt och respektfullt begravde mannen hennes kropp.

Den resande munken förklarade för den lärde mannen: När hon mördades och kroppen lämnades på stranden gav lärde mannen hennes kropp bara kläderna att täcka på. Det var därför karman tillät att de båda upplevde kärlerken i detta liv men det var inte tillräckligt för att de skulle gifta sig med varandra. I stället blev hon kär i en annan man. Det var han som begravde hennes kropp och då blev hennes man i nästa liv. Det förklade allt som hände.


Har du någonsin undrat vem som begravde dig i ditt tidigare liv?

A small reflection 一个小小的反思

The past few weeks has been kind of hectic for me. I had been away for job assignment and Linda had not been feeling well for the past 1 month due to lingering cough. In short, I felt slightly exhausted and at the same time, felt sorry and worried of Linda.


Linda had finally felt much better last week. This Saturday, we decided to go out and treat ourselves a sumptuous brunch buffet at Kungsbacka (a city 30km away from Gothenburg). The restaurant is called Rum 35, which literally means "Room 35" in Swedish. The food varieties were good and I will later share some pictures from the brunch buffet.


Well, the weekend did not end here :) This Sunday morning, we fried some noodles and decided to perform Dana at the Thai temple in Gothenburg, which brings us to the topic of today -  a small reflection.


Perhaps it was the serene atmosphere in the temple? Or perhaps it was the blessings from the Sangha? While I immersed myself in the peaceful serenity, I suddenly remembered a small task which I was working on a few years ago. The small task was simple - collect ten meaningful stories and share them in 3 languages (Chinese, English and Swedish).


The stories are originally in Chinese, which I saved them from a Chinese Buddhist Website. I translated the stories in English. And good friends from Falköping, Ove and Eng Yong helped me with the Swedish translation :)


The next post will be one of the ten stories. The rest of stories will be subsequently shared in other posts in the future.


Stay tuned and meanwhile, let me share some photos of the brunch buffet from Rum 35.


过去几周对我来说太忙了。因工作岗位的需要，我需要经常出差，而琳达这1个月来也被咳嗽折磨。简而言之，因工作的繁重，还有担心琳达的健康，让我身心多少感到有些疲惫。


琳达上周终于感觉好多了。这个星期六，我们决定放松下去Kungsbacka（一个距离哥德堡30公里的城市）享用丰盛的自助早午餐。餐厅名为Rum 35，瑞典语字面意思是“35号房”。食物的种类很多，我稍后会分享一些自助早午餐的照片给大家瞧瞧。


周末并没有在这里结束 :) 星期天早上，我们炒了一盘面，决定在哥德堡的泰国寺庙布施，这让进入今天的主题 - 一个小小的反思。


也许是寺庙的宁静？或许是僧侣们的祈福？我突然想起以前我设给自己的一个小任务。任务很简单 - 收集十个小故事并用3种语言（中文，英文和瑞典语）来分享。


这十个小故事是我从中国佛教网站上保存下来的。我用英语来翻译这些小故事。而瑞典语就由我 住在Falköping的好朋友 Ove和 Eng Yong来帮我翻译:)


我会在下一篇文章发表第一个小故事。 剩下的故事我会陆续在下次发表。


还请你们敬请关注，这里就让我先分享早午餐的照片吧!