April '10 Newsletter

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EHIPASSIKO

Wesak Day is approaching very soon. Wesak Day is a very special day which commemorates the three important events in the life of the Buddha- His Birth, Enlightenment and Passing Away. These events took place on the full moon day in the lunar month of Vesakha, which falls between April and May in our calendar. For the month of April and May, the newsletters will be illustrating the significance of Wesak by showing the story, the Life of the Buddha, in a graphical story.

This is the first part of the animated movie, The Legend of the Buddha.

Taken from the 1994 movie Little Buddha, starring Keanu Reeves

The story began more than 2500 years ago, in an small ancient kingdom of Sākya, located at the border of modern India and Nepal. The ruler of the kingdom, King Suddhodana and his queen, Maya did not have children after twenty years into their marriage. Until one night, according to legend,
Queen Maya dreamt of a white elephant, holding a white lotus flower in its trunk, appearing and went round her three times, entering her womb through her right side. Finally the elephant disappeared and the queen awoke, knowing she had been delivered an important message. She was getting pregnant.

Months after that incident, the Queen was very pregnant and was brought back to her hometown of Koliya because of the custom at that period. Along the journey from Kapilavattu, the Queen ordered the procession to stop for a rest at Lumbini Park. As she was resting under a sala tree, her birth began and a baby boy was born.
According to legend, the child began to walk seven steps forward and at each step a lotus flower appeared on the ground. Then, at the seventh stride, he stopped and with a noble voice shouted: "I am chief of the world, Eldest am I in the world, Foremost am I in the world. This is the last birth. There is now no more coming to be." After that, the Queen returned to Kapilavattu to share the joy with her husband with their newborn son, Siddhartha Gotama.
It all happened on the full moon day of the Vesakha month, Wesak Day.

The story will be continued in the next posting...

5th Ehipassiko Camp

The IMU Buddhist Society will be organising an annual camp this coming June 2010. There'll be fun games, inspiring talks, leadership workshops. Not forgetting good food and a fully air-conditioned venue as well.


The details are:
Date: 24-27 June 2010
Venue : Sau Seng Lam Temple, Petaling Jaya (transportation will be provided)
Fee: RM 40 only! (includes accomodation, transportation, food, and a camp t-shirt!)

So grab a place before 25th May 2010!
If you're interested, please email or contact us for the registration form:
Chen Yeh: 012-7177411 > scy88@hotmail.com
Eng Hong: 012-2824550 > nicholas_4550@hotmail.com

The form is also available online! Just click the link below:

REGISTRATION FORM

***What you need to do is to print it out and fill in your details. Then you can submit the form together with the fees to Chen Yeh or Eng Hong.

If you have a Facebook account, it would be nice to make an RSVP at this link so that we can estimate the number of participants.

RSVP

4th Dhamma Sharing Session

"What is the cause, what is the reason, O Lord," questioned he, "that we find amongst mankind the short-lived and long-lived, the healthy and the diseased, the ugly and beautiful, those lacking influence and the powerful, the poor and the rich, the low-born and the high-born, and the ignorant and the wise?"

The Buddha’s reply was:

"All living beings have actions (Karma) as their own, their inheritance, their congenital cause, their kinsman, their refuge. It is Karma that differentiates beings into low and high states."

Have no idea what all these means?
It means u should come for this talk ! XD
B'cos Contentment is The Way to True Happiness~

3rd Dhamma Sharing Session

Life is a complex mechanism.

However like most mechanisms, there is a SOLUTION to it. The Buddha discovered this sophisticated mechanism through ages of practice over 2500 years ago and this ancient teachings are still around till today.

Life is governed by many laws, amongst them are the Law of Karma and Law of Conditioning. Through these laws, the Buddha found a breakthrough, the eternal bliss of Nibanna.

To learn more about this breakthrough, join us in this upcoming sharing session hosted by Sis. Guet Cheng.

Who Am I?

Hi members,
It has been some time since the last time I told you all about Friday Gathering.... and I'm glad to tell you all..

Friday Gathering is BACK~~~

Date: 12 March 2010

Time: 1.15 - 2.30pm

Venue: 3.06 (SR5)

Theme: Who am I?
Activities: Games and hymn singing

Grab this opportunities as there is not much Friday Gathering in this Semester..

Please do join us despite your packed schedule. Meet some new friends, enjoy yourself at that 1 hour and 15 minutes. Hope to see you all in this friday then... Spread around especially to those new members of IMU, our new medical, dental, and chiro students...

All our activities need your support, without your support, it will never be a success one!!!

Come join us.. just for that day.. if it is not great, tell us so that we can improve. if it is great, come for more... and spread around...

We are participating in...

Feeling new in IMU?

Think you are a Buddhist and wanna know more?

We will be participating this the recruitment drive and you can ask us

What?

Where?

When?

Who?

Why?

How?

We will answer your questions at our booth...

First Dhamma Talk of 2010

This is a start of a series of four sharing that aim to bring better understanding of the dhamma to the IMU buddhist population.

The topics of the day are The Triple Gem, Threefold Refuge, Four Noble Truth and Noble Eightfold Path.
Everyone is invited. Please join us.. and bring your friends along..

The dhamma sharing speakers are Brother Kian Foh and Sister Guat Cheng.

Venue: SR3 (1.09)

Time: 7.50pm - 9.30pm

Date: 2 March 2010 (Tuesday)

Happy Chinese New Year

Hey everyone!

Today is Chinese New Year eve and also Valentines eve. So on behalf of the IMU Buddhist Society, I would to wish everyone of you,

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
GET LOTS OF ANGPOWS!
EAT LOTS OF COOKIES!

GET LOTS OF FLOWERS!

EAT LOTS OF CHOCOLATES!

May you be well and happy
RenYi

February '10 Newsletter

Ehipassiko

“Just as rust, arisen out of the iron, so do his own deeds lead the transgressor to an evil state.” –Mala Vaggo –Dhammapada

Starting on a very realistic note, the February Newsletter has a different twist. This month we will be looking at various Buddha Statues worshipped in various countries.

First and foremost what does a Buddha statue represent?

Statues or models of the Buddha is called Buddharupa in Sanskrit which literally means “Form of the Awakened One”. There are two major schools of thought regarding the absolute purpose of the Buddha Statue, Theravada Buddhists do not believe in worshipping the Buddha Statue but show respect towards it. Mahayana Buddhists believe that worshipping the Buddha Statue brings them closer to enlightenment.

Across cultures there are various depictions of the Buddha:

A well proportioned figure is depicted in Indian, Tibetan and other South-asian cultures.

Buddharupa found in Japan are square and stolid.

The “laughing” or “Happy” Buddharupa is most often confused with Gautama Buddha. The “laughing” Buddharupa is one of a Chinese Buddhist monk Budei, who considered himself to embody the Buddha.

The Buddha preached the Dhamma for 45 years of His life with many hardships and obstacles out of compassion and love towards the suffering beings of this world. And the best way to appreciate the Blessed one, our Teacher, the incomparable one is to see him through the Dhamma. Understand the Dhamma and live accordingly. When you go about this and worship the Blessed one, when you look at him you will realize who he was, and what he did for this world. It will bring new meaning to the word “worship” as now you will see beyond a mere statue venerate the Buddha for his qualities and teachings which will ultimately lead you to the state of highest Bliss, Nibbana .

Sukhi Hotu

Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu to Chathu for writing this wonderful article.

Blood Donation Drive

Hello guys =)
May I ask if you all can help me in getting volunteers for our coming Blood Donation Drive? The details are as follow..

Date: 9-11 February 2010
Venue: 4th floor (outside LT3)
Time: 10am - 5pm

So far we are still lack of volunteers helping out from 10am to 1pm. Of course, you are welcome to help out at any other time too =)
And...we would need a cameraman to snap a few shots. Anyone available?? Can you please let me know by this friday? I'd need to compile them into a list =)
All I need are just name, phone number and time slot where they're free to help out.
Thanks a lot ya !!! Have a nice day !!

Kaizia