• LUMBINI – Lord Buddha’s birth place
  BODHGAYA – Where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment
  SARNATH – Where Lord Buddha delivered His first sermon
  KUSHINAGAR – The holy place of Mahaparinirvana

It’s important to register your interest early so that the team can make booking arrangements, so talk to Vivien at the Vesak site (if she gets her voice back), or drop her an email.

There’s a poster at the site with the full itinerary and a map of the journey.

As we gather to rejoice in His Teachings, we are reminded of the impermanence of life. The rain that relieved us of the heat is now gone. Likewise, as the voices of the chanters fill the cool evening air, that too slowly fades away. The five days of prayers will inevitably end, what is important is to Cherish the present with a One Heart,and be mindful of the intentions that drives our action.

with metta,Liang

NParks Website has an interactive map, bus instructions and a downloadable guide to Pasir Ris Park.

The first of five days of continuous prayers is coming to a close. The final prayer tonight asks for Bodhisattva Kishigrabha for his guidance to lighten our negative karamic energy. While we embark and prepare ourselves for this event, its time to take stock. Take stock of our past actions, especially over the past twelve months. Were they steeped in desires, illwill or harmful intentions? Have our actions been largely reactionary rather than after careful deliberation? Do we regret our actions now that we have a better understanding of our journey and see the consequences of our actions? Will we repeat them all over again? Have we not learnt?

with metta, liang

There are many ways to think about the theme for this year, Right Intention. Sign up for one of the Dharma Discussion groups during the Vesak celebration to get a deeper understanding of Master’s 2013 Vesak Message and share thoughts.

Cultivating Awareness & Understanding Right Intention discussions are at 10am and 2pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (May 22 – 24). There is no evening session on Thursday (May 23) due to the Vegetarian Dinner.

Sign up on the sheet behind the buffet area.

By developing mindfulness, we are more aware of our intentions and able to control the course of action that follows. Awareness is a critical part of Buddhist practice. Our actions are driven by thought and intention, and they can be harmful or beneficial to ourselves and those around us. With mindfulness, we are more able to measure and discern if our intention behind a potential action is appropriate.  According to the Buddha, “Right Intention”, which is my theme for you this year, contains three kinds. On His journey towards enlightenment, the Buddha discovered that thoughts could be categorized into 2 groups – one contains the thoughts of desire, ill will, and harmfulness. The other contains thoughts of renunciation, goodwill, and harmlessness. When thoughts from the first group arouse, He understood they were impediment to the attainment of enlightenment and so abandoned such thoughts. While thoughts of the second group developed, He recognized them as beneficial and supports the development of wisdom and enlightenment; He nurtured and brought them to completion.
通过发展正念,我们对自己的思维更有所意识，并且也更能够控制之后所采取的行动。觉悟是佛教非常重要的一部分。我们的行动是由意念与思维所推动，而两者则可对我们本身及周围其他人有害或有益。有了正念，我们更能够分析及辨别我们行动背后的思维是否正确。根据佛祖教诲，正思维，也就是今年的主题，则有三种。佛祖在修成正果的旅途中发现思维可分为两组。一组包括欲望之念、恶意以及伤害。另一组则包括克己、善意以及无害。当第一组的意念被唤 起时，佛祖明白它们是修成正果的阻碍，于是摒弃了这些意念。当产生第二组的意念时，佛祖意识到它们是有益处的，支持智慧与觉悟的增长；佛祖培养了这些意念，并将它们带向圆满。

In short, right intention comprises
简短来说，正思维由以下几点所组成：

1)    the intention of renunciation;
克己的思维

2)    the intention of good will; and
善意的思维

3)    the intention of harmlessness.
无害的思维

These three positive intentions are used to counter the negative intentions of desires; ill will and harmfulness. The Buddha’s method of cultivating right intention is based on a substitution rather than suppression of the negative intentions.  To be mindful, we must not be rash; it is good to pause before speaking or acting.
这三个正思维是用于克制欲望的负思维，即恶意和伤害。佛祖培养正思维的方法是基于替代负思维，而非抑制负思维。要有正念，我们不可冲动行事，而需在说话或行动之前先停顿一下，三思而后行。

With mindfulness, we are aware of our thoughts and intentions and so before adopting a course of action, we evaluate these intentions and shift them towards wholesome, good will if not harmless ones.  While we may not be able to control our thoughts, we can control our intentions and the actions that we take. Reacting mindlessly is often without awareness of our intentions, can lead to harmful outcomes that we may later regret.
有了正念，我们会更加注意自己的意念与思维，所以在采取任何行动之前，我们需先检讨这些思维，转向无害、健康与善意的思维。虽然无法控制我们的意念，我们仍然能够控制思维以及所采取的行动。我们经常是在对自己的思维没有意识的情况下盲目愚昧地做出反应的，而这可能使我们后悔莫及。

Master’s 2012 Vesak Message on The Way is here.

Here are the healing lists for Wednesday 22nd May and Thursday 23rd May. If you have any enquiries, please drop Emily a line.

The containers went to our site at Bishan Street 11 yesterday, which I always think of as the bat-signal that Vesak is really here.

If you couldn’t attend the AGM a couple of weeks ago, there’s some exciting changes this year. Amongst other things, Jeffrey and his hard working team of clever construction guys are putting the finishing touches on beautiful new pillars.

There’s also a fresh new theme. Take some time to think about what it means to you. Over the Vesak week there will be some discussion about it, starting with Master’s message. The first reading of that will be on Sunday, 19th May during the handover.

Everyone is invited to come to the site for the handover, and there’ll be music. It’s always a moving and uplifting feeling to see the site finished and mark the start of the celebration. If you’ve never come down for the handover, try to make it this year around 6pm, it’s really quite magical. Chants and other activities kick off around 8pm.

The next opening on 21 April is also our AGM at 3pm. Find out what’s new for Vesak this year (including a new theme). See you there!