Study Astrology

After having lost and been lazy for one and half year, i think i have collected more information and experiences especially about meditation and everything about Buddhism to share with friends. Therefore, i come back to write it again.

If you are close enough to me, you would know that i have studied astrology since last year. The course was just three months. But i study more with my master (with a small group of friends). There are a lot of kinds of astrology, but i study the one that is originally from Burma. What I need to know is a birthday - day, month and year and the time you were born.

Some people ask me why do i study this, instead of having a rest at home or saving money. I told them that i like to see the fortune teller and ask about my future. To save money is to learn how to predict it and then i don't need to see any fortune teller anymore. This is only one reason.....The other reason is i always think the reason of something incredible happening in our lives. For example, why two people from far different places have a chance to meet each other. Or why a millionaire becomes the poor within a night. I guess that some of you might have the same question - but I need an answer.

The answer for all above questions is our Kamma (กรรม). It is what we have done in our last last last lives. We can never say exactly what (until you reach Buppenivasanusatiyana - the spiritual power to know the last life). Astrology is like a map of our old Kamma. As your Kamma determines your life, your birthday can roughly tell that what will your childhood like, what happen with your present life and what is the future - which depends on your kamma . It can also tell about your love life, your future children, your work, your illness or even your death. There are always some friends argue that this means people who were born on the same day will have the same life. I told them that...'no' - some part of your life might be similar, but not everything. The reason is your kamma leads you to be born in a different family. Then when you are growing up, it is the duty of your old kamma plus the new kamma. For instance, a twin who were born on the same day but a few different time have different life as they got their own kamma. They might share stg together before, but each of them have their own way.

Some people ask me 'is it believable?' I told then that it is 70-80% or even 100%. But it 's not everyone. My master said that a person who will never follow this rule is a person who meditates and chants a lot because it is a big merit that can reduce the effect of bad kamma, though not all. The Buddha said (somewhere) that if we put some amount of salt in a little bowl of water, water will be very salty. But if it is a container is a tank, water might be a bit salty. And if it is a river, water will never be salty as there is a plenty of water. Salt is our bad Kamma. Water is merit. The more merit we have, the less effect the bad kamma will give. However, we have to receive all consequences of our kamma more or less.

I wanna finish this post by talking about the benefit of studying astrology. It provides me the understanding of suffering, Anijja and the law of Kamma. According to all stars, everyone, no matter who, will have their own weak and good points. These will exist in any part of yourlife such as love, friend, work, yourself, family etc - depending on your kamma. If you have ever noticed, some people are very successful at work, but fail for family. Some have very great friends, but poor parents. Some are very pretty, but have nothing more than that. After i realize this point, I am no longer feel bad about my own disadvantage anymore. Because it's my own kammas that have brought me here. I'd better accept what happen and then do the best at the present. Why anijja? This is because each star has their own time and place. According to astrology, there is always some stars controlling your life. It takes some period and then it will be changed to other star. This can be seen from some people who have a good (or bad) life for a while. Then there is something changes/pushes them to be at the other stage of life. It reflects the influence of the star that controls your life at that time. This means nothing is last forever. When you are successful, it will be for a while, accoring to all factors that support the success. When you fail, it will also be for a while too. That's why we always say something like 'everything will be better one day' when you have a problem ,cos everything is very impermanent. They change all the time. We have to accept and prepare for it.

I hope this post will give you some understanding about me - my idea, astrology and some Buddhist concepts. Hope everyone enjoys reading it.

At Sydney 

Somewhere in NZ 

My Graduation Day 

At Christchurch 

Why do I study Buddhism? (2)

I have talked about my interest in Buddhism in the last post. I will continue it in this one. The important point that really turned my life to study Buddhism is when I went to study at Australia. There are many events happening during these 2 years (so amazing...). Firstly, I got a chance to study Critical System Thinking which is the Subject about the interrelation of each idea in our thinking system. We can't think of just only 1-2 sides of it, but the whole. I stuied it in the aspect of Public Policy. When the government needs to have any policy, they need to think of all the stakeholders, not just 1-2 groups. And they need to solve a problem at the real point. Otherwise, more problems might be arose. When I studied this subject, I got a chance to do the paper-then I linked the Critical System Thinking with one way of Buddhist thinking : Yonisomanasikara. Surprisingly, both ideas are similar with each other. Buddhism which is the eastern idea is similar with Critacal System Think which is the Western Idea. The similarity is to think of the cause of a problem and to think of every aspect of the problem. Therefore, I really enjoyed studying Buddhism. I feel that it's very useful and applicable with the real life.

Secondly, as the part of my study, I need to do the research at the end of my first and second year. The first year, I have done the research about Buddhist Economics. The most important paper (the biggest one) , which is in the second year, is about the application of Buddhist Ethics (the Four Noble Truths) to the administration of the autonomous university (which is my workplace). I have found that the ethical idea of the Western is based on 'Force' or 'Fear'. It doesn't come from the internal feeling. But Buddhist ethics which is the moral come from our willingness. If everyone has their own moral in their minds (at least 5 precepts) , we don't need to have laws. The next idea is how can we build the moral society or stg that people always have ethics in their minds, or at least the principles in the organization. I mean I hope that more people will pay attention to this idea, rather than just want to do stg that more effectively or more efficiently.

The final point (which is the main point that turns me to the temple) is I have broken up with my boyfriend. As you know that I have the boyfriend when I was in Australia and we broke up just a few months before I finished my study. This event really makes me think and understand stg clearly esp. 'IMPERMANENCE' which is one of the three charactertics of Buddhism (Impermanence, Suffering and Selflessness). The first impermanence is the feeling of the human. At first, we might feel like we love someone so so much. But one day, when the factors of love have changed i.e. time, place and environment, that kind of feeling has been changed incredibly just within a few months. The second impermanence is my feeling. At that time, I was badly hurt. I have lost weight. I could not eat and sleep. I cried my tear most of the time. It is like the world is always grey. I asked myself all the time 'why why??' I also hoped that he would come back to love me again. (He didn't) But when the time passed, everything is better. I have noticed myself that - at the first month after separation, I cried almost everyday. The second month after, i cried once a week. The third month after, I cried only a few times. Fortunately, I have got so many things to do at that time and I have good friends, a good family and good teachers who always supported me at that time. When I came back, I was still sad and cried sometime. Anyway, gradually I have found that I feel better and better. One year has passed, I forgot to count anymore : how long have we separated and how long have we been together? During this time, it's almost 100% recovery. I won't cry anymore. Also, I used to feel very angry and hate him so much. But I don't feel anything now. I think he is just a normal person who, based on the nature of the world, can change his idea, mind and feeling as other people. I couldn't expect that he will never change or he will be more extraordinary than other people.

What I really intend to tell you in this post is everything in this world is so impermanent. Something is easy to see i.e. to get older, to be born and to die. But the internal side i.e. the feeling of love, hate, like and opinion for anything are also impermanent. When time passes, it just changes. One of my friends said that 'Time heals all wounds'. I just realize this from this event. If now you have some conflicts with people around you, you just notice your feeling and then be mindful with it. Try to realize what we are doing and what we are going to do.

Why do I study Buddhism (1)

I have intended to have my own website (or stg like that) a long time ago. But I have no time and I don't know how to do it. But last month, my close friend let me read his blog which is the website (or stg) that is easy to write our own idea. SO it's a good chance to create one for myself.
The next thing is to think of the 'theme' of my blog....And I think my blog should be stg about BUddhism and meditation which are my interests at the moment. The particular field will be about Buddhism applied with other fields esp Public Management and Economics which are my educational background. Most people around me always say that it's useless to study Buddhism, but what I might do is to apply the new knowledge with the old one. It would be useful (I guess!!!).
I have been interested in Buddhism since I was young. I don't know why...What I remember is my dad taught me to meditate. My mom told me to chant. But I rarely meditated when I was young cos I was so lazy and I had many things to do (as we always say). Anyway, the turning point is when I studied Buddhist Economics at Thammasart University with Pro.Dr.Apichai Panthasen who has tried to applied Buddhist ideas with Economics field. For me, the good thing was I got a chance to read 'Buddha Dhamma' written By Ven.Payutto. This book introduces me a lot of Buddhist ideas.....