And also, contrary to what has been taken literally from some of its pages (and used regrettably by fundamentalists to further their own personal agendas of fear, guilt and hate), I believe that the central and abiding message of the Bible is of one of selfless love, of God and neighbour, that enables us to transcend the pain and suffering of our own mortality.

The last part where Paul condemned anyone who has a lack of faith contradicts the earlier part where this chap says we shouldn’t judge or condemn anyone. Also, it doesn’t sound quite saintly, though, coming from a man with a “saint” in his honorific.

By the way, I don’t think we should just eat anything that is edible. As a Chinese, I know the awful attitude of many Chinese who will cook and eat anything that moves, whether it’s a pig or puppy, a snake or a centipede.

There is a sickening practice of almost all Chinese restaurants keeping tanks of live fish, lobsters, crabs, shrimps and frogs. Customers go to the restaurant, pick the live creatures that they want, and the creatures are then scooped up and thrown into a heated wok to be cooked alive so as to provide absolutely fresh meat.

My young son was so distressed by what he saw in the restaurants that he eventually became a vegetarian. Personally I think a diet of purely plant food is the healthiest, considering how tough, agile and strong are those vegetarians in nature — the elephant, rhino, hippo, horse, buffalo, deer, giraffe, etc.

You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling-block or obstacle in your brother’s way.

…I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother…
Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness…
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.
But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.

Yes, I still remember you. I hope that you are doing well in Perak. Perhaps we can meet up if I make a holiday trip to Perak next time. I thought you are still on the Heartland email list?

Glad to know that with the Internet, everyone can attend and hear Ajahn Brahm’s talk anytime and anywhere.

Metta
Kelvin Wong

Are you still living in Perak, or moved elsewhere?

I know for a fact that Buddhism meditation practice, especially Burmese-based Vipassana, is very active and vigorous in Malaysia. I follow the Vipassana approach although I believe all forms of Buddhism are correct. After all, in the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says there are 84,000 expedient means to lead us, poor creatures, to enlightenment.

There’s no mention of sexual preferences as far as I can remember of my own reading of the sutras.

In fact, the key advice is to refrain from sexual misconduct which is usually taken to be having a relationship with another person’s spouse.

Last Thursday (June 1), Ajahn Brahm was in Singapore giving a talk on “What is Enlightenment”, a most enlightening talk indeed. His key point can be summarised thus:

“Just keep two precepts — not doing harm to another being, and not doing harm to oneself.

“By refraining from doing anything in thought or conduct that will result in harm or hurt (whether to another living being or to oneself), we help to create more happiness.

“The precepts are there for happiness, and people who actually keep the precepts are happy people.”

I couldn’t agree more with Ajahn Bhram on this.

Hsiaoshuang (Francis Chin)

Personally, whether it’s the Dalai Lama or Ajahn Brahm, I think they are all men who have given their lives to the Dharma, and for that we should be deeply grateful. The Buddha is not physically with us, but thankfully we have such leaders who are willing to teach and propagate the Dharma and share their insight. Sure, there may be an occasional difference on a point of view, but we lay people should concentrate on only the essential Dharma.

In Buddha’s days, people used to pester him with all kinds of questions. As long as these questions are not related to the essential teaching of the Four Noble Truths, he refused to waste his time answering them. Life is short.

Hsiao Shuang