By Yongkok

From time to time, I often find myself asking what is next after death? Being brought up in a traditional Chinese family, it is ingrained in us that if we perform good deeds, our karma will elevate us to heaven. On the contrary, if we are involved in atrocities, we will be weighed down to hell – the abyss of eternal suffering. However, is heaven and hell really that far-fetched that we will only experience it only upon death?

In fact, if we start to reflect internally, we live our lives cruising through heaven and enduring hell every day. Every arising thought is a remnant of our past. If left unobserved, these thoughts have the potential of evolving into action or speech based on our likes and dislikes. Especially if these words or actions are uttered or performed during a moment of impulse, it often results in regret and guilt. This emotional state of unease is in fact, or at least what I think it is, a taste of what hell will feel like. On the other hand, one may gleam with pride and satisfaction after being praised by our bosses for a job well done in front of our colleagues. For that moment, one may seem to be in heaven. 

I have come to realise that whatever is presented before us is an aggregation of conditions and it is non-permanent in nature. We begin our life with nothing and leave with nothing. In between, it is a roller coaster ride of heavenly peaks and tormenting troughs. If we are not aware of our thoughts and continuing to dwell on them without realising it, we are amplifying the highs and lows during this ride of life. Thus, strive for neither heaven nor hell. Be at ease as heaven and hell is all but an illusion generated by conditions.

By 智扬

On the bus or MRT trains, we see almost everyone constantly glued to their mobile devices, myself included. We have grown into a habit of checking our handphones either just before we sleep or when we awaken.

Upon reflecting on why we easily become addicted to social media, I realized that part of its appeal lies in the fact that it allows us to feed our greed and curiosity of information, our inner ‘kaypohness’ (Singlish for being a busybody). We want to know what our friends and family are doing or are busy with. We feel a need to compare with our peers; are we doing better or worse off than them? We want to be in the know of the most happening event or the latest trend to follow. Most times, what we are surfing for is actually not the information that we really need. It’s unlike watching the news where the news editor decides what news to report in terms of severity and priority. In social media, we choose what we want to read according to our interest at that moment. It often takes only a split-second decision to click on the next link when we get bored with what we are currently reading about or watching on social media.

I came across this phrase in a local news article about the use of social media; “… we ignore what we dislike and we will share what we like and feel strongly for”. This struck a chord to what I had been thinking recently about the pervasiveness of social media in almost every aspect of our lives. Hence I believe that the popularity of social media is pushing us towards extremism.

The Internet has brought us closer with immediate news and information sharing. Though fast improving technological advances have brought us many tremendous positives and benefits, we are seeing that it is also causing us to develop more varying and differing viewpoints. Social media sharing has allowed anyone with an internet connection a platform to voice out their own views and opinions to the public. This can be as harmless as diehard supporting rival football teams halfway around the world to dangerous views that advocate extremism with regard to racial, religions, politics and nationalism.

A recent news headlines was that of the spreading of false news or information. While I am not an expert to comment on the measures and policies the authorities are planning to implement to deal with this, I am constantly reminding myself and those around me that we need to be more mindful of what we type and comment online or even just that one simple click to share someone’s link or comment.

We should strive to be mindful and constantly check and  remind ourselves to be very careful with what we write or post on social media as there could be terrible consequences as a result of a thoughtless word or post. We also have to be aware and know clearly if we consciously browsing social media for a clear purpose or if we are doing it as part of our routine, which is a clear sign of addiction.

By Yang Miang

I used to love trekking when I was younger and fitter. I trekked several Malaysian mountains during my University days. I enjoyed trekking because of the physical challenge, the closeness with nature, and the friendship with fellow trekkers. I also learned a lot about myself when I trekked.

Whenever I trekked, I realised that I was satisfied more easily. I was happy when there was no rain. I was relieved when I had a simple tent to sleep in. I was glad whenever I got to eat warm food. I was delighted when we got to see the sunrise. Although these can be easily achieved when I am in the city, in the comfort of my usual environment, being on a trek in the wilderness made these often taken-for-granted simple pleasures so precious and precarious. Such was the power of nature. 

Our man-made environment frequently causes us to have the illusion that we have control over so many things in life. We assume that we will wake up in the morning and that the air we breathe will always be breathable. We assume that the ground below us will always hold us. The reality is that we live because nature has provided the right set of conditions for us to live. The illusion of control makes us take things for granted and desire for more than we need. Being in the wild reminded me of the importance of being grateful for what we already have.

After becoming a Buddhist, I have realised to an even greater extent that many things are beyond our control and nothing lasts forever. This is the concept of impermanence, which also applies to our own mind. As I observe my mind, I have come to the realisation that it is constantly shifting and, at the same time, it tries to grab things that it has no real control over. One moment I can be very happy because of some positive remarks made by someone, and in the next moment, a negative remark can cause my mood to change almost instantaneously. I have learned that the internal impermanence of the mind and its tendency to grab and expect desired outcomes is a key reason for much of my unhappiness, frustration and suffering. 

We cannot take our physical well-being for granted. Similarly, we cannot take our inner peace for granted. True happiness and bliss come from the ability to observe the mind and not be led astray by the endless stream of thoughts. Hence, even though I seldom trek nowadays, I continue to experience the same sense of challenge. However, the sense of challenge is now spiritual in nature.

By Yong Kok

New year resolution – An annual activity that some of us do at the turn of the new year. How many a times these resolutions are actually followed through and achieved? That’s a nil for me almost all the time. It was only last week it dawned on me that on many occasions, we often set our goals too high thus not able to overcome these entrenched bad habits, or form good habits . For the latter, it is usually coupled by breaking the old habits to form better ones. Thus, this article serves to share my recent new found perspective.

Bad Habits – they are formed as a result of greed, anger, ignorance, conceit or suspicion. They often start small. If we do not nip them in the bud when they first sprouted, they will flourish and eventually become poisonous fruits. Seeds from these toxic fruits will be sowed and more of such fruits will be bore. Conversely, the reverse is true as well.

Advent of Facebook. When it was first launched, I recalled checking the website once every few days. Initially, it was just pure curiosity. Eventually, without realizing my growing attachment to Facebook, I started to post pictures, comments and also ‘like’ comments and pictures posted by friends on the social media platform. More often than not, pictures chosen are often the better ones – in hope that I will receive more thumb ups / compliments. Looking back, this was to feed my developing pride. The desire to be recognized leads to an addiction to the social media. The cycle just repeats itself. And now I am stuck in this vicious cycle of habits. Getting out will not be as easy as treading into it initially. 

Something I read recently changed my perspective on breaking habits. Though it may sound simple, it took me 30 years to understand it. This works for someone like me, who has quite a low level of discipline to see through my new action plans. Our habitual tendencies are developed over countless of lifetimes.  Hence to break bad habits once and for all, you got to be kidding me! So what we can do is to start small and the effect of the good habits forming will compound with time. 

Starting small –> we are all equipped with survival instinct. In the face of danger, we will either ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ from the situation. If the task or challenge proves to be insurmountable, we will often run away from it rather than going head on with it. Similarly for our bad habits. To create a plan to break the old habits — you will have to do it such that it does not trigger such a response from the brain. Thus, introducing gradual change will ease you out of your old and bad habits by forming new and good ones to negate it. This is what I experienced this morning:

After coming back from a holiday , I realised that I have added some centimetres to the waist line. It is of a concern to me as I will probably need to change my wardrobe –> too much of a hassle to me. It spurred me to do something. Running. However, putting on running shoes and hitting the road will take a lot from me, especially so when the bed is so enticing. My past experiences of running are often painful, as I am working against my body to push for better timings and longer distances. Usually, I will set a target of a certain distance to run. Thereafter I will bite the bullet and complete the run despite it being painful. This triggered the ‘flight’ mechanism within me. It made me dread going for another painful run subsequently. Hence, as I was lazy and scared of pain, the running regimes did not survive by the end of the schedule month.

Today, I have decided to take a different tack. I ran at a comfortable pace. After running for 15 minutes, I decided to reward myself with a 15 minutes walk home. No stress, just enjoy the process. This is a little different from what I used to do. I had started small, by running at a comfortable pace and did not set high expectations for myself. This made the run enjoyable. So, as long as I continue to enjoy the run, I will not dread the next run and not come up with excuses (i.e. being lazy) to stop exercising. Overtime through consistent exercise (i.e. forming good habits), I will build stamina and strength and thus will be able to endure and manage pain better.

With today’s experience, I am looking forward to the next run – and it will be a good start to getting my fitness back to shape again!