Warm (or hot?) weather returns. Enjoy the light reading from Internet below:
—– From Internet —–
An American tourist in London decides to skip his tour group and explore the city on his own. He wanders around, seeing the sights, occasionally stopping at a quaint pub to soak up the local culture, chat with the locals, and have a pint of bitter.
After a while, he finds himself in a very nice neighborhood with big, stately residences…no pubs, no stores, no restaurants, and worst of all NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS.
He really, really has to go, after all those Guinnesses. He finds a narrow side street, with high walls surrounding the adjacent buildings and decides to use the wall to solve his problem.
As he is unzipping, he is tapped on the shoulder by a London police officer, who says, “I say, sir, you simply cannot do that here, you know.”
“I’m very sorry, officer,” replies the American, “but I really, really have to go, and I just can’t find a public restroom.”
I was once a stubborn beliver that there are justifiable human life “sacrifices” for higher state aim and was once a strong supporter of the late Chairman Mao. My haphazard wandering into the realm of religious studies converted me totally to become a human being once again. The words of Medvedev, present president of Russia, are remarkable when he commented about the doings of Stalin. Russians are lucky enough now to live under a humanitarian leadership.
———-
From Internet:
“I am convinced that the memory of national tragedies is as sacred as those of victories,” Medvedev said in a posting on his videoblog to mark Friday’s national day of remembrance for the victims of political repression.
“Even now, you hear it said that the huge losses were justified by some kind of higher state aim,” Medvedev said.
“No development of a country, none of its successes or ambitions can be reached at the price of human losses and grief. Nothing can be put higher than the value of human life.
“For repressions there is no justification,” he said.
妙湛總持不動尊 首楞嚴王世稀有
銷我億劫顛倒想 不歷僧祇獲法身
願今得果成寶王 還度如是恆沙眾
將此深心奉塵剎 是則名為報佛恩
伏請世尊為證明 五濁惡世誓先入
如一眾生未成佛 終不於此取泥洹
大雄大力大慈悲 希更審除微細惑
令我早登無上覺 於十方界坐道場
舜若多性可銷亡 爍迦羅心無動轉
南無常住十方佛 南無常住十方法
南無常住十方僧 南無釋迦牟尼佛
南無佛頂首楞嚴 南無觀世音菩薩
南無金剛藏菩薩
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曾幾何時，這是我所追求的理想。曾幾何時，這又在無聲無息間消失得無影無踪。敢問仁者，這是風動？幡動？還是仁者的心動？我是否真的明白了？真的信受奉行？
午飯的時候和一些朋友討論了有關甚麼是「真實」？和他們分享了我在課堂上給學生們講的一些看法。世俗的所謂真實其實是建立在一個經驗的常識世界，與（感官）經驗合的便理所當然的以之為真，反之則偽。事實上，世俗世界的經驗也不是一成不變的。比如說，人類的視覺世界（雙眼）與幪面超人的視覺世界（複眼）肯定是兩種不同的經驗，任誰也不能說服對方他們的視覺世界才是唯一的「真實」。科學上比如物理學上的真實其實是不可以直接放進我們的感官世界，在這個世界上有沒有方法可以證明每一個人（又或者生命體）所感覺的顏色，比如紅色，都是同樣的紅色？恐怕沒有吧？我們只是從小被教育成用我們的經驗和常識來推定都是同樣的紅色而已。古人很早就明白了這種虛幻，所以才「發明」了各種各樣的方法讓我們直接的去感受甚麼是真。
又甚麼是我呢（這裡可以把「我」變成一個代名詞，用其它世俗的事物來取代）？嬰兒時的我是不是我？老年後的我又是不是我？如果答案是肯定的話，那麼現在在這個時空的我就肯是不是一個完全的我！如果答案是否定的話，那麼現在的我也自然不復存在。換句話說，雖然在當下這個時空，「我」是存在的，但它並不是一個獨立的實體，就這個意義上，它並非真實的我。這就是佛教所說的「諸法無我」（世俗世界一切事物都沒有獨立不變的本性），也就是它所說的「空」的本義。
