Hahahahaha!
I'm a little depressed actually. So am in need of some loving.
Tomorrow is April 6. Indonesians working in Malaysia will come out to cast their votes for the 2014 Indonesian legislative election on April 9 to elect members of both national and regional legislatures.
Tomorrow my story on the Tanjung Kupang crash is expected to come out in the New Sunday Times. The interview brought back sad memories for the mother of one of the victims of MH653. It upset her quite a bit. My intention was never to cause her any pain. Hope she can forgive me.
Tomorrow is also Qingming Festival. The actual day is actually today but Qingming, aka "Tomb Sweeping Day" can be observed two weeks before and after the day of the festival. Tomorrow being a Sunday, the Chinese community, namely Taoists, is expected to be at the graveyards (even though Sunday is not a rest day in Johor).
To Taoist believers, the burning of the paper-made items and "paper money" meant that the departed will be able to receive the items in the other realms or wherever they are right now.
However, Buddhist practitioners believe differently.
"There is a Chinese saying that ‘no possessions can be brought along to
the next existence; the only thing that follows one is his deeds, or
‘karma’ ‘ ( 万般带不去，唯有业随身 ). Furthermore, his relatives and friends only
follow the deceased up to the grave, but soon turn to go home, leaving
the dead alone in his tomb!
Thus, the burning of cheaply-produced paper models and effigies served as an effective educational tool. Witnessing how fire consumes every ‘former possession’ of the deceased, even an illiterate peasant or young child was able to understand this sense of total relinquishment at death.
Today, this practice is completely misunderstood by the majority of Chinese. Instead of the original meaning, paper-made models have been turned into “paper offerings” – with the mistaken thought that whatever one burns, his departed relatives will obtain in the netherworld!
Hence people nowadays burn paper models of the latest i-Pads, smartphones, LED screens, and “paper money” in inflated sums in order to please the dead. All these will not help the departed ones at all. In fact, this misunderstanding will only harm the living by maintaining their ignorance and delusions.
Instead of burning “paper offerings”, one can perform ‘Dedication of Merits’ (Pāli, ‘Pattidāna’) to help their departed relatives." - source Nalanda Buddhist Society.
Thus, the burning of cheaply-produced paper models and effigies served as an effective educational tool. Witnessing how fire consumes every ‘former possession’ of the deceased, even an illiterate peasant or young child was able to understand this sense of total relinquishment at death.
Today, this practice is completely misunderstood by the majority of Chinese. Instead of the original meaning, paper-made models have been turned into “paper offerings” – with the mistaken thought that whatever one burns, his departed relatives will obtain in the netherworld!
Hence people nowadays burn paper models of the latest i-Pads, smartphones, LED screens, and “paper money” in inflated sums in order to please the dead. All these will not help the departed ones at all. In fact, this misunderstanding will only harm the living by maintaining their ignorance and delusions.
Instead of burning “paper offerings”, one can perform ‘Dedication of Merits’ (Pāli, ‘Pattidāna’) to help their departed relatives." - source Nalanda Buddhist Society.
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