Autumn in Australia

last week kevin went to mittagong, 1 hr drive south of sydney and he said he saw some marvellous autumn colours , just like canada.

 

on thur, i decided to drive down and experience (after working full 5 days during easter for andrew helping emergency patients from all over sydney, i decided to give myself a treat).

 

in the morning, it was raining heavily but i decided to go and have a good time, no matter what.  the rain started to get heavier and heavier and as i was driving, i was 'talking to the gohonzon' and said: 'this is really not fun!'.  interestingly enough, as soon as i got out of M5, i saw clear skies and even had sunshine.

 

i drove around mittagong, bowral, berrima,   stopping every five minutes to drink in the beautify scenery and took hundreds of photos.

 

then i went back to the hotel and had a rest.  in the evening i went out for dinner, and had salmon fillet, cooked to perfection, skin crispy, inside pink and juicy, and i had a glass of locally produced shiraz.  then i went back to the hotel, soaked in a hot bath and had a very good sleep.

 

the next morning, i continued my (colour) seeing and drove to bundanoon, during which time there were a few drizzles, but they only made the whole atmosphere more romantic.  i then had a country style delicious lunch (vegie frittata with salmon and salad), a cup of cuppacino, and then i went home, feeling GREAT.

 

later  at night, i found that dog dog had shit on the floor, showing his disappointment that i went away.  andrew then said: if i can, i would also like to shit on the floor too

 

anyway, a few years ago, i went to canada, USA (Vermont where i was bitten by a fox, i mean a fox with rabbi.  hey anyone interested in the story pls let me know and i will send you the write up) to catch a glimpse of the autumn colours, little did i know that all the things i had been looking for, travelling long distances, are right at my door step.

 

am going to share some photos with u.

 

lydia

 

 這個旅程給我的啟示是:我們千方百計老遠四周的去尋找某人(伴侶)或某事(景物等), 怎知那人或那事就在咫尺天涯在眼前

i was depressed

for a couple of days last week, i was depressed.  what happened was: because of my back injury last month, i decided to take things easy and not work so hard.

guess i had gone over-board, resulting in my not wanting to do anything;  even when i did my chanting, i was always thinking of 'what should i cook for dinner;".

because i did not achieve anything, i got depressed, it was so bad that for one whole day, i just sat there, not wanting to do anything, not doing anything, and not happy.

very soon i knew i could not go on like this, and started chanting vigorously to change my life state.  glad to tell u that now i am back to normal.

still a lot for me to learn: the middle way in buddhism, which i am not there yet. for me, there is either 'black' or 'white', no grey area, and is either 'do everything at once' or 'not do anything at all'.

i will chant for the wisdom to know how to organize my daily life and time better.

cheers

lydia

上週有兩天我覺得很沮喪鬱悶.。事情的經過是：因為我上個月的背傷，我決定不要這麼拼命工作。

想我不懂平衡之這，導致我不想做任何事，甚至當我唱題唸經時，我也一直想著'今晚食乜餸, 而沒有專心唸經.

因為我沒有做妥任何事，我覺得非常沮喪，整整一天，我只是坐在那裡，不想做任何事情，也沒有做任何事情，但我是那麼的不快樂。
很快我知道我不能再這樣下去，並開始努力唱題去改變我的心態。高興地告訴你們，現在我己恢復正常。

我知道我還有很多東西要學習：例如佛法所說的中間道。對我來說，要么是'黑'或'白'，沒有灰色地帶，而且是'一係就不做, 一做就拚命'。

我會努力唱題祈求有智慧知道如何更好的安排我的日常生活和時間。

Key to sucess

Key to Success

No matter what we do or say, we need to possess,like a magnet to iron,  very strong attraction to others, failing that, we will have no future at all.

SGI President Ikeda said: "if you chant nam myo ho renge kyo sincerely and do buddhist practice well, you will shine from within, you will be so attractive that tens and thousands of people will want to marry you."

成功的關鍵

人不管從事任何工作或與人交談, 一定要具備強烈吸引對方的魅力, 如果無法做到這一點, 將來也就沒有任何前途可言.  我看過一本書，發現上面的句子，我認為這是我們'成功的關鍵'.

我記得很久以前我讀了池田先生的指導。他說：如果你唸經和修行得好, 你內在會發光, 你的光芒會很吸引, 成千上万的的人都想和你結婚呀。

problems

hi

for months we have had problems with a leading services provider.  they made a mistake and they were unable to correct this mistake. i did not pay too much attention until yesterday, the situation has become very critical.

i immediately called them up and talked very strongly to someone who said he can fix the problem in a few hours and got back to me this morning. (i was very skeptical as this had happened many many times in the past, and the problem was still not fixed.)

andrew and i both chanted to find a solution,  then i tried to put it off my mind and i went to sleep. this morning when i woke up, this situation came back to me and i felt uneasy, so i did two things:

1) started to think of nice things, ie good food  , lunch with a friend etc to cheer me up (remember the song in the 'sound of music"?)  and

2) i went to the gohonzon and started chanting. and as soon as i looked at the gohonzon, i started to feel calm again.

afterwards i turned on my computer to check my email, BINGO!! i got an email saying that this problem, which had been left pending for more than 3 months, has been solved!!!

yesterday i said: " we will not feel bad when things are not going well, but rather roll up our sleeves and tackle the problems, and in the end, we win."  

so i am not just saying it, i do try to put this philosophy into practice!.

cheers

lydia

過去幾個月以來，我們有一家服務提供商們犯了一個錯誤，他們無法糾正這個錯誤。但我沒太在意，直到昨天，情況已變得十分危急。

我馬上就給他們打電話，很強烈的告訴他們情況的緊急, 替我通話的職員說他可以幾個小時內解決問題, 並會今天早上复我。 （我只是半信半疑，因為這在過去他們承諾了很多次，但問題仍然沒有解決。）

andrew 和我一齊唸經要找到解決辦法，然後我盡量不令想它影響我的睡眠. 今天早上我醒來時，這種情況又浮現腦中，令我感到不安，所以我做了兩件事情：

1）開始想想美好的事情，如良好的食物，和朋友午餐等，去令我開心（還記得一首在sound of music 的歌曲嗎?)
2）然後我去了康座前，開始誦經。 我看著康座唸經，開始感到平靜了。

之後我去開电腦！ 真不能相信: 我收到一封電子郵件說，這個超過 3個月的問題，已經解決了！

昨天我說：“當事情不順利時, 我們將不會感到難過，，而是挽起袖子，解決我們的問題，在最後，我們贏了。“
所以我不只是說說，我會盡力把這指示付諸行動啊！。

good or bad

today i read an article written by a sgi member in australia.  am sharing the following excerpt:

'All aspects of our life are neither good nor bad, but rather, opportunities to create value.  This is the ultimate benefit in Buddhism. '

'發生在我們生活裹所有的事情, 在佛法的角度看, 既不是好也不是壞，而是創造價值的機會。如果我們能用這角度去看事情, 那就是得到佛法最大的福德.'

i fully agree.  yeah, if we can adopt this attitude, then we will not feel bad when things are not going well, but rather roll up our sleeves and tackle the problems, and in the end, we win.  是啊，如果我們可以採取這樣的態度處事，那麼當事情不順利時,我們將不會感到難過, 而是挽起袖子，決心及有信心的去解決我們的問題，在最後，我們一定會贏。

cheers

lydia

a black president

i am re-reading a book written by sidney sheldon in 1994 called: Nothing lasts forever.

it talks about a black female doctor who, when young, was abused and raped by her step father and went to her aunt for rescue, saying that she sees no future being a black person.   her aunt said to her:

"you can become anybody you want to be.  you may be black and poor, but so were some of our congresswomen, movie starts, scientist and sports legend.   one day we're going to have a black president.  you can be anything you want to be.  it's up to you."

incredible, isnt it: the book was written in 1994,  and in 2010  the US does have a black president, obama.  so, in this universe, anything is possible.

so, lets start thinking what we want to be, say, in one year, two years or five years time,  have goals and dreams, and chant nam myo ho renge kyo to have your dreams come true. cheers

lydia

我正在重讀一本由sidney sheldon 於 1994年寫的書,名為：沒有什麼是永遠。
它講述一個黑人女醫生，在她年輕的時候，被她的繼父虐待和強姦, 她到她的姑姑去救援。她說身為黑人是沒有任何前途可言. 她的姑姑說：
“你可以成為任何你想成為的人。您可能是黑人和貧困，但我們很多議員，影片大享，科學家和體育家等也都是黑人。說不定將來我們會有一個黑人總統呢。你可以成為任何你想成為的人。這完全取決於你。“
真是令人難以置信的，這本書是寫於 1994年，在2010年，美國確實有一位黑人總統，奧巴馬。所以，在這個宇宙中，任何事情都是可能的。
因此，讓我們開始思考我們想要的，也就是說，在一年，二年或五年後我們想達到的目標和夢想，並高唱南無妙法蓮華經去帮你的夢想成真。

a stroll in the park (公園散步)

today in the afternoon i took dog dog for a walk  along the lake in a nearby park, the centennial parklands.

i felt very good, the sky was clear, the air fresh, ducks swimming in the pond and birds flying in the sky.  (see photos). when michele and kevin were small, i used to take them to the parks on sunday afternoons, now that they are all grown, i still have dog dog, so life is good to me, right?

as i was going to go home feeling happy and relaxed, a cyclist passed by and yelled at me: stupid woman!  i was stunned!  yeah, i had been called names before but never 'STUPID WOMAN' . guess he thought i was in his way (but i was not).

well, life is :  just as u think you are happy and doing fine, then something hits you.  it took me a couple of minutes to recover , then i decided not to let this affect me and arr home still feeling good - thanks to my years of buddhist practice,  i have been taught not to be affected by adversities, it really helps.

cheers

lydia

今天下午我帶狗狗到附近的一個公園裡裹沿湖散步。 

我感覺非常好, 輕鬆愉快，天空晴朗，空氣清新，鴨子在池塘裡游泳，鳥兒在天空飛翔。 （見附圖）。我記得當michele 和kevin小的時候，我常帶他們在星期天下午去公園玩耍，現在他們都已經長大了，我還有狗狗，所以我的人生是很好的了，對不對？ 

正當我要回家時，一個騎單車的男人經過，並罵我：笨女人！我驚呆了！是啊，我以前都有被人罵過, 但從來沒有被稱為'愚蠢的女人'。我猜他是以為我阻路（但我不是啊）。 

這正好告訴我們現實生活是：正當你好開心之時, 就會遇到考驗。我花了一兩分鐘的時間去恢復，然後我決定不讓這影響到我的快樂, 之後我高高興興的回家 - 感謝我多年的佛法修行，教導我不要被逆境打倒, 真的有用!

heaven on earth (人間天堂)

Today after breakfast and chanting, i did gardening.  there is a hedge of jasmine (see photo1)  in the front which has gone bizarre, growing into our neighbours garage, blocking our back door, etc.

This has been haunting me since i got back in feb., but because both andrew and kevin does not do gardening, and wendy and sid are busy, so i had to do so myself.  i bought an electric trimmer  and a long extension cord (see photo2) and started cutting (can u imagine a woman cutting trees with an electric trimmer? must be a good scene hahaha ) .  this time, after i hurt my back, i learned my lesson and did things slow, using my knees instead of my back.

i then cut the 'old birds'  from the bird of paradise shrubs (see photo3).  interestingly enough, right after the cutting, the new trimmer stopped working (i must had very very rough with it ).  tomorrow i will have to take it back for a refund or return, but at least it helped me do my job hehehe.  this is the mystic law.

then i went grocery shopping and bought myself a bunch of 'forget me nots' (see photo4).  now i feel very happy and relaxed.

you know what, after going thru soooo much ups and downs and struggles in life (since childhood), a quiet, non-eventful and peaceful life is heavens to me.

cheers

lydia

  

今天早餐後，我到屋前的花園修剪一排矮矮的茉莉花（見附圖1）它長得己經去到的鄰居車庫，並封鎖我們的後門.

我在二月回到悉尼之後, 這一直困擾我，但因為andrew 和kevin都不肯做園藝，而wendy和sid都很忙，所以我不得不自己樣。我買了一個電動修剪器（見附圖2），並開始切割（哈 哈能你能想像一個女人用電動剪剪樹嗎？這一定是一個好看的場景哈哈哈）。這一次，我因為背傷吸取了教訓，做事情慢慢的做，用我的膝蓋支持，而不是我的背部。

之後我更剪掉一些乾了的天堂鳥(老雀, 嘻嘻).（見附圖3）。有趣的是，在所有工作完成之後，那个修剪器死了火, 壽中正寢了. (可能我對它不夠温柔吧 嘻嘻。)明天我將不得不把它收回退款或退貨，但至少它替我完成了我的工作呵。吓這就是妙法了.

接着我去超市購物，給自己買了一束淺紫色的'忘了我'花（見附圖4）。現在我感到非常高興, 滿足和輕鬆。

你知道嗎，我從小經歷 了那麼多波折和奮鬥, 一份平淡,平靜, 平凡的生活，對我來說己經是天堂了。

see photo/ 見附圖 -1

see photo/ 見附圖 - 2

see photo/ 見附圖 -3

see photo/ 見附圖 -4