Friday, December 23, 2011

Food preparation tip....


I thought maybe it would be very appropriate to share an important food preparation tip for the forth coming festivities at this time of the year. I read about this tip from the Art of Dharma blog. They aren't the only one who had talked about this, I had heard about the same thing from several other sources in the past as well (one other source is from Reverend Jing Kung, and another source would be from a chef at a vegetarian restaurant).

What they are all saying is that when we prepare food for consumption, we pass on our energy into the food we are preparing. As the Art of Dharma blog puts it :-

"If a woman could see the sparks of light going forth from her fingertips when she is cooking, and the energy that goes into the food she handles, she would realize how much of herself she imbues into the meals that she prepares for her family and friends."

Basically, what this is saying is as we prepare the food, we bless/enchant the food with our energy. So, if you feel sad, upset, angry, or any gamut of negative emotions at all, that goes into the food that you prepare. And those who ingested the food also took in all that energy. That energy is like a form of slow acting "poison" to all of us. I don't think there is any need to explain what does poison do to our physical body. But I can offer an example that poisonous emotion such as hate can cause cancer (You can either choose to believe it, or not. There is no scientific proof to this claim, only theoretical proof. Negative emotions causes stress, stress causes the release of hormones into our body. Long term exposure to these hormones can wreck havoc with our immune system. That is a scientifically proven fact. It is also known that stress causes our bodies both inside and outside to age prematurely. Oxidation is a form of aging, and the health community has been harking over the taking of anti-oxidants to help slow or prevent the oxidation of any carcinogens or free radicals that are already in the body. And we know that carcinogens can trigger cancer given the right conditions, therefore prolonged exposure to negative emotions can possibly lead to cancer, or some other type of stress related illness.)

Conversely, if during preparation of the food, you were feeling happy, blessed, loved, or any form of positive and healthy emotion, you are essentially blessing the food with positive energy for the recipients of your dishes. Those who ingest the food will also feel better, not to mention it will also be tastier.

In short, dear readers, when you do prepare food for others or yourself, do it with a light heart. Do it with much love, respect, happiness, peace, and compassion, so that those who come to eat your food would feel it too and be touched by it.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Do we really know what "LOVE" is ?


Let me share a short story here, which for all intensive purposes maybe a true story that happened many years ago, before any readers of this blog was even born.

In a distant land, nestled within the cradle of a range of mountains, rests an idyllic agrarian village that seemed many times removed from the outside world. The houses were mostly made out of rocks, mud, sticks, and hay. The village was by no means small, and quite highly populated. At the base of the closest mountain sits a building that was more grand than the rest of the village. The building was made out of timber and stones, with white clay used as plaster for the walls. It was taller and more ornately designed and decorated than any other building in the village. This was the village temple dedicated to the Earth Spirit that was said to roam the area. In this temple lived the priest who takes care of the temple, who offers comfort and advise to all the visitors and devotees. Much peace can be felt from within the walls of this temple. In fact this temple was built to cater to those villagers or visitors who find it too hard and arduous a climb up to the Grand Temple of the Earth Spirit that was at the end of a long winding path that starts right behind the temple.

The path to the Grand Temple was a winding long path to walk/climb, yet many devotees make that journey once a year on a specific time period of the year to visit it. To those who make that journey, they are rewarded with a beautiful view of the land. A sweeping view of the village and all the activities that happens within it; and a view of the surrounding mountain range as far as the eye could see. The special feast for the eye came in the form of a Grand Temple built out entirely of marble and timber, complete with brightly colored clay roofing tiles. A marble wall fenced the main temple itself. Auspicious celestial animals, and cloud symbols adorn the wall as carvings. The temple was easily several houses tall with huge pillars made out of great tree trunks as main supports for the Grand Temple. The floor was paved with huge slabs of white marble. The walls of the temple were also made out of white marble with carvings very similar to the marble wall outside the temple. In the grand hall of the temple stands the statue of the purported Earth Spirit who wonders amongst the people to bring peace, and love to all. Perhaps this building was built in appreciation to this very spirit for bringing many many generations of peace to all who lived in the village. Yet, no one lives within the walls of this Grand Temple, but the entire building remains spotlessly clean, as if it had a cleaning crew who does the cleaning everyday. Perhaps, this is another of the Spirit's manifestation of his divine powers.

Every year the path to the Grand Temple would be decorated with streamers and lanterns in celebration that it is yet time again to pay the temple a visit with offerings. Like every other year, the path would be packed with people streaming up slowly from the village. The village temple would be packed as well with many devotees and visitors. This year a lonely old man who is dressed like any other villager, wanders up the path towards the Grand Temple with his gnarled staff for support. We walks very slowly as if he had to drag his foot up the path one at a time reluctantly. His face showed an expression of sadness and reluctance. He would let out a sigh every few steps of the way, not because he was tired. Everyone else hurried around him on their way up the temple. There he sees many mothers with kids in tow making their way up to the temple. Kids would skip happily up the path, while many grown ups would bring some offerings to the temple. When this old man had reached the mouth of the temple compound, he stopped for a very long while. He turned around to survey the beautiful scenery before him, and spied the devotees streaming up the path towards the temple. He flashed a half smile with an expression of content showing on his face, but his eyes was starting to water up. As devotees streamed passed him, everyone would greet him with a smile and a half bow to show respect to an elderly. Some would even come shake his hand. The longer the old man stood at the entrance to the compound, the more he seemed reluctant to enter. He kept shaking his head from time to time with teary eyes at all that was going on around as he spied the entire scene. Finally, he turned towards the temple to take his last step into the temple.

As the old man entered the compound the Grand Temple, all the people that was around him disappeared. The temple was suddenly enveloped in a light mist. His tattered old clothes was suddenly transformed into into grand ornately decorated robes in gold. His head was suddenly adorned with some head gear that looked fit of the emperor of china himself. The only thing that remained the same was the gnarled staff still in his hands. His whole body is now covered with a faint golden aura that emanates peace and compassion. The Grand Temple looked even grander now, decorated in all manners of precious gems and gold trimmings, just devoid of any other devotees. Still standing in the same spot as he took his last step, he gripped his staff tightly and looked down as the first earth rumbling was heard. Tears were now streaming out from his eyes uncontrollably.

A terrible and devastating earthquake has just gripped the idyllic village town. Falling stones from the mountain side would fall and crush some devotees on the path, the buildings in the village all topple one by one burying all that were unable to get out. Some of the buildings were crushed by the huge boulders that toppled off the mountain face. After the thunderous roar from the angry earth, came the loud wails and cries of the survivors of the quake. As the last of the stone fell to the ground, the Earth Spirit turned to rush out of the temple compound to see what had happened to the people whom he had loved and cherished for such a longtime. As he peered through the mist covered surrounding to the valley below, he cried even louder as if to try and drown out the loud wails of the survivors. "Why did this happened? You were supposed to be here to protect us! Why?! .... sob...." As he heard those words, he sobbed even more uncontrollably. A disembodied voice then spoke to the Earth Spirit, "You know it needed to happen." The Earth Spirit then replied, "but they could have all been saved from this suffering if I had not left the location. I only needed to be present! It wasn't that hard to be just THERE!" Again the voice said "In order for these people to ascend further, it has to happen, and you know it." "Even though that maybe so, it still hurts a lot, and does not make it any better." "Be comforted to know that even though it may cause you pain, but you have saved many times more souls than you could have by remaining there. You loved them enough to leave them and let it all happened, so they could all become better. See past your hurt and rejoice at their ascension." With much sadness, the Earth Spirit departed from that plane of existence.


I shall let you the reader decipher what you think the moral behind the story is. Thank you very much for reading this far, and I hope it was as much therapeutic and enlightening for you as it was for me.