Sunday, April 06, 2008

Updates

Errr, yes I know this is lame. Sorry for not keeping in touch but this is what I've been up to and by blogging it, you are not obliged to reply me :).

Work: Doing work at the clients place with half the team based in Melbourne and the other half in Hyderabad. Enterprise system with wide scope of MS technology, good team of colleagues; smart and pleasant to work with.

Home: We're really trying to get things built around the house; fence, flooring, garden, furnishing the place. It's both time and $$ consuming. Haven't got much time to work on it really, a couple of hours during weekends. Started mortgage payment for the land I purchased last year and putting a hold on building. I've got some marigolds, chillies, lilies and basil growing :).. hehe.. really happy about it. Hosted a couple of dinner (not exactly party) parties. Hope to do more of those but most friends live too far from us.

Lifestyle: One of us is a strict vegetarian; non rennet, gelatin, coloring from lady bugs etc. makes me half vegetarian. That means, less meat and more legume, fruits, veges, vegetarian restaurants. I'm cooking, cooking "REAL" dishes, mostly vegetarian but I can now make a decent 3 course meal. I'm starting to run again.. URGH! hate it.. absolutely hate it..urgghhh. Reading my first Issac Asimov book and totally enjoying it. If and when the public transport comes, I might finish half a chapter each day. I've also started some discussion classes about ..mmhmm.. becoming a better person?; a bit philosophical but mostly practical stuff, not attached to any religion.

Travelling: No plans to travel outside the country, maybe Ayers Rocks or Top End sometime August, not sure. Malaysia beginning next year for Chinese New Year.

Thats it..

What have I got planned...John Moloney in the Melb Comedy Festival soon and Melb Symphony Orchestra next month, Bright for Autumn Festival and Greek Orthodox Easter end of this month.


The Heart Sutra (from the Perfection of Wistom)

I wanted to keep this stored somewhere on my blog as some kind of checkpoint of my progress. Right now, this whole script is too profound, I'm sure that one day some of this will make some sense….

link

Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, meditating deeply on Perfection of Wisdom, saw clearly that the five aspects of human existence are empty*, and so released himself from suffering. Answering the monk Sariputra, he said this:

Body is nothing more than emptiness,
emptiness is nothing more than body.
The body is exactly empty,
and emptiness is exactly body.

The other four aspects of human existence --
feeling, thought, will, and consciousness --
are likewise nothing more than emptiness,
and emptiness nothing more than they.

All things are empty:
Nothing is born, nothing dies,
nothing is pure, nothing is stained,
nothing increases and nothing decreases.

So, in emptiness, there is no body,
no feeling, no thought,
no will, no consciousness.
There are no eyes, no ears,
no nose, no tongue,
no body, no mind.
There is no seeing, no hearing,
no smelling, no tasting,
no touching, no imagining.
There is nothing seen, nor heard,
nor smelled, nor tasted,
nor touched, nor imagined.

There is no ignorance,
and no end to ignorance.
There is no old age and death,
and no end to old age and death.
There is no suffering, no cause of suffering,
no end to suffering, no path to follow.
There is no attainment of wisdom,
and no wisdom to attain.

The Bodhisattvas rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and so with no delusions,
they feel no fear,
and have Nirvana here and now.

All the Buddhas,
past, present, and future,
rely on the Perfection of Wisdom,
and live in full enlightenment.

The Perfection of Wisdom is the greatest mantra.
It is the clearest mantra,
the highest mantra,
the mantra that removes all suffering.


* Emptiness is the usual translation for the Buddhist term Sunyata (or Shunyata). It refers to the fact that no thing -- including human existence -- has ultimate substantiality, which in turn means that no thing is permanent and no thing is totally independent of everything else. In other words, everything in this world is interconnected and in constant flux. A deep appreciation of this idea of emptiness thus saves us from the suffering caused by our egos, our attachments, and our resistance to change and loss.

Note: Perfection of Wisdom is a translation of Prajnaparamita. The full title of this sutra is The Heart of Prajnaparamita Sutra.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Another entry using Word 2007

Post from word, doing some work with MOSS and testing if this works.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Fitzroy Gardens


Spring is here
Originally uploaded by kaipinggan
Getting some sun back, spring is here.