Book: Chan Master Miao Tian’s Book of Wisdom (3rd Edition)

Thanks to the help from our friend, who is a writer of a published book and a creative writing major, we have further improved the 2nd edition of the book by correcting some grammatical things. The result is this 3rd edition. (I don’t think there will be further editions!) The content itself remains largely unchanged, [...]

2009 Easter Egg Contest

2009 Easter Egg contest was held at my wife’s workplace. There were two winners. Most Creative — Black Hawk helicopter, and The Prettiest — Mr. Peacock. The pictures of all entries from all the participants are included below. Can you tell which were the two winners? (should be pretty obvious!)
Enjoy.

What Do I Envision World Peace to Be Like?

– World Leadership Education Foundation (WLEF)
In answering this question, we often have an image popped up in the mind: world peace is a state of no-war; a free, democratic, and prosperous world; and a place where human and all other beings coexist in harmony. These are all good, but however are only the result of [...]

Do I Truly Believe in World Peace?

– World Leadership Education Foundation (WLEF)

The answer to this question is not a naive “yes” or a cynical “no.” To answer this question you first need to tell what is peace from what is not. Then after rational assessment you can give a more rational answer.
For a long time, war has been considered the antonym [...]

Daily Wisdom — Taking Exams with a Peaceful Mind

– Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tian
For students, taking exams is a challenge. In our life journey, we face various challenges — from the environment, relationships, and obligations. If you can overcome those challenges, you will gain strength and experience. But first you must have the will of overcoming.
The essence of Chan is balance. Its [...]

A Few Things That the Past Few Days Have Taught me

In this world we always encounter and deal with people different from us. They are different in ethnicity, culture, language, education level, political stand, and so on. We as mature modern citizens have learned to respect these differences, some of which in fact have greatly enriched the society and humanity. Yet, some people are different [...]

Daily Wisdom — Sutra-opening Verse

– Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tian
In the beginning of all our formal sessions, we recite the Sutra-opening Verse. Sutra-opening Verse is a poetic verse or stanza that is taken from the Buddhist scriptures, and is a summary of the Buddhist teachings. In our Chan School, which teaches without words and formalities, reciting the Sutra-opening [...]

Daily Wisdom — Fruitful Realization

– Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tian
We can apply the wisdom of Chan to our everyday life. Over a decade ago, there was a period of time when I was on fruit diet. One day, when I was meditating, the image of a papaya appeared in my mind. I then realized that it was because [...]

Looking up in the Sky

We joined a group of other people in a school event to go to the Griffith Observatory in LA yesterday. We did not drive. We all took the bus and the trolley to the observatory. It took about one hour or so. This is my first time to the observatory, as it was under construction [...]

World Peace Initiative (7/7) — Foundation of World Peace: Global Citizenship

– World Leadership Education Foundation (WLEF)

Global citizenship refers to people who self-identify as a global citizen, instead of a citizen of any particular country. U Thant, the former UN Secretary-General, urged modern people to have double loyalty — both to their country and local community and to all human beings. He made the statement in [...]

World Peace Initiative (6/7) — Guidelines for Practicing World Peace: Six Principles

– World Leadership Education Foundation (WLEF)

Creating a world government and building a one-country world form the mechanism for lasting peace. The mechanism is based upon six essential principles: global democracy, military centralization, economic justice, monetary unification, human rights protection, and sustainable development.
1. Global Democracy
In the global community, we must make sure that the voice of [...]

World Peace Initiative (5/7) — Goal of World Peace: Creating a World Government, Building a One-Country World

– World Leadership Education Foundation (WLEF)
To achieve world peace we need to embrace the active peace approach. We hope to create a world government that paves the road to the vision of a one-country world.
When the world no longer has so many countries, and when countries have all transferred their sovereignty to a higher authority [...]