Thanks to the government of a particular country, I cannot access YouTube & Blogspot unless I use YunLi's computer as her network is not exactly under Ch*na. And so here I am in her room blogging for most probably the last time for the next 2 months to come. I guess in the meantime I shall switch to Facebook notes function for the time being. And the photos will be uploaded there too I guess. 

Life is so fragile... So fragile... I just received a phone call from my daddy, informing me that my uncle died while in China to visit my cousin. He died from heart failure. I broke down after I ended the phone call, I cannot control or hold it back any longer, lucky my room mate not in room... It just seems so surreal, so unbelievable as I was still talking to him during CNY this year at his house when house-visiting... I can only pray for him and hope that he has gone to a good place where his wife may be waiting for him... This really unsettled me as I thought about the possibility of more deaths back home when I am still far away at Ch*na... I am really scared... I can only pray that such tragic events do not take place for the next 2 months plus... I do not think I can handle it if it happens... 慈悲伟大的佛陀，希望您听到弟子的祈愿...

Celebrated Vesak Day with my Dharma class at a P*U lecturer's house. I think it was the 1st time I really celebrated this special day so elaborately. We chanted together, cleaned the Buddha sculpture with spoonfuls of water, and had a special skit performance too. The skit performance really was not easy as I was somehow arrow-ed to be the main lead so have to memorise script, and whatever else. Loved the songs which one of the seniors, Ivonne, composed to fit into the skit. They are like inside my head permanently already. :P Will post pictures as soon as I got them from other people as my camera ran out of battery. :(

It so happened to be Mother's Day also. As our shifu and the lecturer (female, a mother too) spoke with regards to this special day and the 2 occasions, I was deeply shaken. I suddenly missed my mummy very much and wished I was back in S*pore to wish her Happy Mother's Day. I fought hard to control tears that welled up in my eyes. I really have no idea what is wrong with me. I seem to have become more teary easily whenever Buddhism comes into the picture now. Do not really like me behaving this way. Maybe it is just the spirit of the religion that touches me, and not me being weak and emotional. Anyway, I feel that my faith is getting stronger. :)

1. The 西方极乐世界 in Buddhism is actually Utopia as we know in today's language, there is no definite form or image of the place. It is just the place where people want to be, away from the realistic world. It is where people can have what they want, and can not have what they do not want in the real world. It is to aid people in their securing of religion. As for the place, it is only in existence if you believe in it.
   



2. It is rather amazing how things work when something spreads to another area. The acknowledgement of beauty in the sound of Chinese words strung together arises when Buddhism spread from India to China. This is because the Buddhist believers in China wanted to translate the scriptures and thus realised that the way scriptures are chanted is nice on the ear. The scholars wondered about the workings behind the beauty of chanted scriptures and discovered that words (due to their different ways of pronounciation) put together in different manners can bring about different effects upon reading out.
   



3. In the long time ago past, there is no such thing as burial for the dead. It only started to develop when past sage feel that it is just too much to leave the dead body out in the open like that. And there is an evolution process from just covering it up until the soil is on par with the ground, to making sure there is a small hill of soil over the body. This is to help in identifying the burial ground of the dead, where the next generation can then visit to pay respects.
   
   


4. Now we only have 姓 and 名, unlike the people in the past with their 字 and 号. This is because 姓 and 名 is very important to a person, and it is disrespectful to call a person by their 名. Thus after the parents come up with the 名, they will come up with 字 which other people will address the person by. When the person grows up, he/she can come up with 号 which is what they hope people to call them by instead.
   
   


5. I believe most of us have come to realise the fact that our brain normally likes to take the less taxing way out of new things, thus we link confusing and difficult concepts with the easier and simpler concepts which we already know. This can also explains the formation of prototypes (aka stereotypes). The way our brain works is good in the scientific sense as things can be more effective and efficient but the down side of this is the negative connotations which people associate with certain prototypes (like cancer equates to death thus should be shunned), bad impact on the emotional landscape among people.

Craziness.. I woke up to a S*pore 7am sky look-a-like & saw from my watch that it is only 5am! Had the intention to wake up earlier after sleeping in at 12mn last night but not so much! Anyway, was expecting the whole hostel to be dead silent, instead to my surprise found out that there are some people who are also awake already! Amazing. For the first time since arriving at Beijing, I witnessed the sunrise! Haha, okok, me shall go continue with my revision for the coming examinations!!!

Time flies!!! I suddenly realised that there is only 3-4 more weeks of lesson plus 2 weeks of examinations before my academic exchange in P*U ends! Oh man, and I feel like I have not learnt as much as I would love to as yet! Although not all lessons are interesting and enriching everytime, it felt so generally most of the time! How I wish I can stay here on exchange for one more semester but I know that it is not possible and I have to return back to N*S eventually. Even though the stress level here is higher, work is harder to complete and comprehend, grades only barely making the mark, I enjoyed my learning journey here. It is an experience of an lifetime and I will never regret coming to exchange despite all the things I missed out. Shall go rush my assignments, deadlines and revision for 2 examinations in the coming week, people back in S*pore, enjoy your long holidays!!!

1. The world famous teacher Confucious did not have it easy when he first started out. As he was in the time where there are teachers of other beliefs, not all people can accept what he teaches. Thus, he used to have to be chased around from one place to another when doing his teachings. His students will follow him wherever he goes everytime to listen to him.
   


2. As we know now that a lot of Chinese words have more than one meaning, some of which was inferred from the basic and original meaning. The way words developed to have different and inferred meanings is due to the way humans expressed ourselves creatively at times, making inferences when describing or talking about things. Some of these ways become popular and people do not get tired of them even after hearing it said that way for many times. After some time, these new meanings of words get recognised and is included into the dictionary. For example 硬件 and 软件, no longer meaning the computer parts and software but also of the infrastructure/facilities and people/human resource of company/organisations.
   


3. In the past the Chinese have special ceremony when a child comes of age. For males, it is wearing of 帽子 during 加冠礼; for females, it is wearing of 发钗 during 加笄礼. The wedding ceremony is seen with utmost importance as it is perceived as the first step towards continuation of the human species (reproduction), unlike what we see in society nowadays.
   


4. At the time of 毛主席 leadership, as he wants to totally abolish all superstitions in China, the 拜天地 during 拜堂 was changed to 拜毛主席 instead! So the newly married couple will bow towards a portrait of 毛主席 during the ceremony, quite corny when we come to think of it now but that is how powerful and extensive his leadership was at that time.
   


5. 闹房 during marriage is a common practice which we may do so now too. In the past, it is mainly done to make the bride embarassed but there are also instances where it is the groom who gets embarassed. This may seem like a fun thing now, but in the past there have been instances when it is overdone and the bride gets killed in the process.