Religions

Today, I watched a sobem production of the destruction of the financial centre during 9/11, and how a Christian family has to cope with a deceased loved one, and unable to find the body in the destruction. I witnessed their difficulties to cope because they are unable to recover the body, so it’s difficult to put a period, or to have a “finality” feel about the ending of this life; yet the family is comforted by the thought that their loved one is waiting for them in heaven.

From this production, I started thinking about the various religions in the world, and remember an episode of the Chinese version of “deal or no deal” that recently aired. The player works in the funeral field, acting as one of those masters that perform Buddhist rites during the funeral service. When I watched him in the episode, I was so uncomfortable because he sends off signal of lies and untruths, it seems to me it’s a technique to pull in business, yet at the same time, he dug his own grave. Let me elaborate… He was to pick a box in the beginning that might very well contain the $3 million #1 prize, and he said his friend has done various “feng shui” math and decided number X is the right box for him. The host then said, “What if this is not the $3 million box, are you saying then your calculation is wrong”? He then replied, “This is not my calculation, it’s my friend’s, my business won’t be affected”. It turned out to be a box containing $100, so no, those feng shui calculations are not true. Then he started talking about his business, how different charges are offered to family based on how “wealthy” or “willing” the family will spend on the deceased. He pretty much implied that the more money you spend hiring a huge number of monks for the ritual, the more “goodness” your family will get, and I was just beyond flabbergasted at his ridiculousness. The burning of paper goods for the deceased, sigh, business venture manipulation. I remembered reading this book that said something along the line that the paper industry back in the days is so not profitable, the owner decided to fake his own death and have his wife burn him paper goods, then he popped out of the coffin insisting he has returned from the dead because people in hell are so impressed with all his riches they decided to let him live longer. Then he said when your loved ones die, if you burn him all these paper goods, it will be easier for them as they journey in the underworld. Now, I don’t know how credible my book is, but whenever I walk by those paper good stores selling incense and various paper computer, paper ipod, paper clothes, I just feel like they are insulting the Buddhist religion.

This brings me back to 9/11 and the terrorists…they are in fact ruining the Islam faith. I am not familiar with this religion, but when the terrorists are hiding behind this mask of devoted faith, it too, is in fact insulting the Islam religion. I am scared of terrorists, appalled by how little they value human lives; however, I also wonder why these terrorists are on a mission to destroy and demolish Western ideals. Before George Bush hurl armies into the Middle East and hide under the pretense of fighting against terrorism, he too, should question why terrorists are attacking the USA. If the USA is not an aggressor, trying to dominate everyone, trying to take oil from other countries and ignite dissatisfaction everywhere, perhaps the “terrorist” trend would not arise. Today, I learned that before we start blaming other people for the things that have happened, perhaps we should look back on our own actions, to reflect on what we have done.

I carry this burden with me, two people I just seem unable to forgive, no matter how many times I tell myself to let go. I try, when I cannot, I just bury it back inside and move on, to forget it for the time being. I understand that when you are able to let go, you become free, but it is so difficult, everytime I remember the pain and the anger, I just cannot say I have forgiven. Anger is such an evil, I remember someone saying that to truly forgive is a saintly act. Could I achieve this? "To think bad thoughts is the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever-increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort". -James Clavell, Shogun