8th Gathering

Selfless giving as a formal religious act is directed specifically to a spiritually-developed person. In Buddhist thought, it has the effect of purifying and transforming the mind of the giver. Buddhists believe that giving, without seeking something in return, leads to greater spiritual wealth. As Dr. Chan quoted from a famous writer, W.H. Auden in her previous Dhamma Talk "We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know."

The theme for this week's gathering is

SELFLESS GIVING

Dāna, the pali for giving, is one of the Ten Pāramī (Ten Perfections), known in Chinese as 波罗蜜 stated in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist scriptures (Buddhavamsa and Lotus Sutra respectively). The best example of selfless giving is the recent IMU Blood Donation Drive that was coordinated by new members of the society. We do not know who we are donating to, but despite that, we contribute a pint of blood to save that unknown's life. It is also shown in the great effort of the organizing committee for giving everyone the opportunity to perform Dāna. That is the great spirit of Dāna. Of course this is just the start of perfecting this virtue.

Venue: SR3

Time: 1.15pm-2.15pm

Date: 2 October 2009

As usual, please have your lunch before the event and please be punctual.

Blood Donation Drive

The biannual Blood Donation Drive is here again. The SRC has collaborated with the IMU Buddhist Society to usher this huge event. As everyone know, the Puasa Month has just past and the blood bank is having a shortage situation due to the inability of fasting individuals to donate.

In order to help them through this difficult times, we hope that all IMU students can help donate "The Gift that cost nothing, But means everything".

The Blood Donation Drive organizing committee has prepared a video to promote this event. Check out the video at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=138654514901 or the one below.

4th Dhamma Talk @ IMU

Buddhism, being a 2500 years old teaching, is finding itself in all parts of the world today. In answering the needs of the different masses out there, many external influence and also local practices has comfortably made its mark in the different traditions of Buddhism around the world. This dhamma talk, aims to enlighten the audience on the subject, correcting some of the commonly mistaken practices, and also shed a new light on some misunderstood practices. The talk also aims to create a sense of appreciation for the different “colors” in Buddhism in the audience with the appropriate understanding.

We have specially invited Bro. Ananda Fong as our Dhamma speaker to address this topic.

Bro. Ananda Fong

Biodata:

Bro. Ananda Fong hails from Kuala Lumpur, and is a graduate from the UK. He was a student, facilitator and former Deputy Principal of the Buddhist Institute Sunday Dhamma School (BISDS) at the Buddhist Maha Vihara (BMV), Brickfields, KL He was also a facilitator and former Principal and President of Bandar Utama Buddhist Society (BUBS), PJ. During his service in BISDS and BUBS, he also helped as the co-organizer and facilitator of Dhamma School Teachers Training Program.

Besides that, he was also invited as a facilitator in Dhamma Speakers Training Program in BMV and Buddhist Gem Fellowship (BGF), PJ. Later, he also helped as a facilitator in the Diploma in Buddhism program (Buddhist And Pali University (BAPU), Sri Lanka).

He currently gives Dhamma talks regularly at Buddhist Societies in the Klang Valley.

The topic focuses on the various aspects of superstitious practices which are either labeled wrongly as part of Buddhism, or Buddhist practices misunderstood as superstitious. Practices such as fortune telling, wearing amulets, making offerings to the Buddha, vegetarianism and many more fall under these categories. As Buddhists, we should learn to identify and understand the concepts behind various Buddhist practices and also expel those which are not appropriate. Bro. Ananda will not only answer your questions of "which is true?", but more importantly, put you on the right track to be able to identify true practices by yourself based on the teachings of the Buddha.

As said in the poster above, this talk will be held from 7.15pm to 9.30pm on 29 September 2009 (Tuesday) at SR3 1.09.

Please be punctual as we will be having a video sharing session before the start of the talk

Third Talk

Due to some technical errors, the second talk could not be posted here. This is the recording of the third talk entitled "Bad Relationships, Bad Friendships, Bad Marriages" by Dr. Chan Kar Yein held on 13 August 2009.
*Please turn your volume higher, the recording quality is slightly low

*The song Always There by Secret Garden was shared just before she ended the talk.

When I’m less than I should be
When I just can’t face the day
When darkness falls around me
And I just can’t find my way
When my eyes don’t clearly see
And I stumble through it all
You I lean upon, you keep me strong
And you rise me when I fall
(chorus)

You are there when I most need you
You are there so constantly
You come shining through, you always do
You are always there for me

When life brings me to my knees
When my back’s against the wall
You are standing there right with me
Just to keep me standing tall
Though a burden I might be
You don’t weary, you don’t rest
You are reaching out to carry me
And I know I’m heaven-blest
(Repeat chorus)

Semester Gathering !!!

As all of you know, IMU has many intakes a year and as a society in IMU, we are always getting new members but have not much time to socialize with each other. The Friday Gathering idea was created with that in mind.

However, IMU Buddhist Society has another bigger event, a gathering known as the Semester Gathering which is held biannually to welcome new members to our society as well as to welcome current members back to foster fellowship between all members of the society. As usual, there will be having dinner and games together.

Venue: SR5

Time: 6.30pm

Date: 17 September 2009 (Thursday)

Please get more of your friends to join us and please be punctual.

***Note that this Friday's gathering will be canceled.***

3rd Dhamma Talk @ IMU

Relationships, friendships and even marriages, are some of the on-going concerns of average young adults who are pursuing their dream careers in IMU and later in working life. The Buddha has stressed the importance of good spiritual partners, the kalyana mitras, for being instrumental in one's journey to peace, happiness and enlightenment. We will often find ourselves being in Bad Friendships, Bad Relationships and Bad Marriages. Therefore one must be diligent to make the necessary moves to improve things. Understanding the cause and nature of how things can go wrong in anyone of the above will often make one more aware and wiser, and perhaps a better lover, friend and soul mate.

We have specially invited Dr. Chan Kah Yein as our Dhamma speaker to address this topic. Her biodata can be found in an earlier post of her talk entitled "Why give it for free when others take it for granted?".

As said in the poster above, this talk will be held from 7.15pm to 10.00pm on 14 September 2009 (Monday) at SR5 3.06.

See You There!

7th Gathering

Life, as a word, has a great meaning to everyone. But the meaning of the word does not defines its value.

As IMU students, we would normally relate Life to its structure, functions and many others biological aspects. But Buddhism views Life from another prospective. There are many parts of Life that we have great achievements and success stories, but we often neglect certain minute achievements. Perhaps some of these are not even achievements, for example, walking, talking, listening and so on.

These so-called achievements can be considered as marvels to those who do not have the capacity to do it. Those without limbs cannot walk properly, mutes cannot speak, deaf people cannot hear, but generally everyone in IMU Buddhist Society can do all of this. Ask yourselves, are you grateful for all that?

Unlike other religions who often utter the words "Thank God!" when good things happen, we Buddhist "count our blessings" knowing that we have suitable environmental conditions, emotional and physical competence and ability whenever we have made a great effort by ourselves, thus seeing it as a luxury(through your effort & efforts of other people) rather than a gift. For this week, our theme will be

GRATITUDE

For this week, we will be sharing a very touching video with everyone regarding this topic so that everyone can reflect on the values and try to notice every achievement in Life so that we are grateful and contented all the time, and that makes us HAPPY!

Venue: SR5

Time: 1.15pm-2.15pm

Date: 11 September 2009

As usual, please have your lunch before the event and please be punctual.

New Buddhist Society T-Shirt

The society has been having the reputation of having the cutest T-shirt in IMU since it was introduced years ago. But that orange T-shirt is now a classic, special limited edition version.

We will be introducing a new society T-shirt to replace it soon.... probably and hopefully cuter than the previous version!!! Bro. New has released a few designs, among which may be the T-shirt you will be wearing soon...

We will be letting YOU vote for the design you like while considering a few factors in this checklist:

• must represent the society and its members
• must contain Buddhism related elements (this is BS mah!!!)
• must be different from other societies
• must be.....CUTE and ATTRACTIVE !!! :P

After looking through these points, we would like you vote for your favourite T-shirt at the polling site on the right side --->>>>>>

Note*
> the 5 designs from the two rows are for the front
> the cloud-shaped thing is the design for the sleeve
> the bottom 3 are for the back

If you have other constructive ideas for the T-shirt, you can leave a comment in the chatbox or contact Bro. New.

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu

2nd Dhamma Talk @ IMU for sem 2 2009

The topic of the talk is “Relaxing body, Transforming mind”. We students of IMU are always facing stressful situations when class test/EoS comes, PBLs and reports still not prepared and so on. Have you every wondered, Why does "#$%&" keep happening to me...!!!!!

We have specially invited Dr. Phang Cheng Kar as our Dhamma speaker to address this topic.

Dr. Phang Cheng Kar

Biodata:

Dr. Phang Cheng Kar is a psychiatrist with special interest in mindfulness-based psychotherapies. He’s currently practicing in Kuala Lumpur Hospital, and also lecturing in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Medical School. He is the author of the book, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy – a medical student’s motivational and inspirational guide”. Subsequently, he compiled three volumes of “Don’t Worry, Be Healthy – A Buddhist Guide for Health and Healing”. He’s also the President of Kuala Lumpur Buddhist Mental Health Association (BMHA), and a volunteer at the Sentul Buddhist Temple Free Medical Clinic.

The topic focuses on stress, whether from a stressful IMU student's point of view, from the days of a practicing clinical student, and even from the point where some students finally put what they learn to the test, in the harsh reality. With Dr Phang’s background in psychology, students will be able to benefit from his knowledge in the field. Dr Phang intends to cover issues like recognizing stressful thoughts and methods to relax the body, which contributes to a person overall well being.

Dr Phang, being a practicing doctor/psychiatrist, will also be able to share and relate some of his personal experiences as a medical student to medical and healthcare student in IMU, giving our dhamma talk a little extra as food for thoughts.

As said in the poster above, this talk will be held from 7.15pm to 10.00pm on 8 September 2009 (Tuesday) at SR2 1.08.

See You There!

September '09 Newsletter

6th Gathering

Seen these lotus foldings before????

If you are guessing that we are teaching you how to make it, you are completely right!!!

We have got requests from members to teach them the way to fold a beautiful lotus flower. For this gathering, you will not only get to fold lotus flowers, we will be guiding you with many other Buddhist symbolic Origami...

The theme for the week is

D.I.Y

Venue: SR5

Time: 1.15pm to 2.15pm

Date: 4 September 2009

See you there!