Wise Philosophy.....silent mind....

Buddha was sitting under a banyan tree.  
One day, a furious Brahman came to him and started abusing him.      
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
The Brahmin thought that Lord Buddha would reciprocate in the same manner,
but to his utter surprise, there was not the slightest change in the expression on his face.                                                                
                                                                                                                     
Now, the Brahmin became more furious. He hurled more and more abuses at Buddha.
However, Lord Buddha was completely unmoved. Actually there was a look of compassion on his face.
Ultimately the Brahmin was tired of abusing him.    
                                                                                                                     
He asked, "I have been abusing you, but why are you not angry at all ?"                                            
                                                                                                                     
Lord Buddha calmly replied, "My dear brother, I have not accepted a single abuse from you."                        
                                                                                                                     
"But you heard all of them, didn't you?" The Brahmin argued half-heartedly.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                     
Buddha said, "I do not need the abuses, so why should I even hear them?"                                            
                                                                                                                     
Now the Brahmin was even more puzzled. He could not understand the calm reply from Lord Buddha.                    
                                                                                                                     
Looking at his disturbed face, Buddha further explained, "All those abuses remain with you."                        
                                                                                                                     
"It cannot be possible. I have hurled all of them at you," the Brahmin persisted.                                  
                                                                                                                     
Buddha calmly repeated his reply, "But I have not accepted even a single abuse from you!
Dear brother, suppose you give some coins to somebody, and if he does not accept them,
with whom will those coins remain?"                    
                                                                                                                     
The Brahman replied, "If I have given the coins and not needed by someone,
then naturally they would remain with me."                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                     
With a meaningful smile on his face, Buddha said, "Now you are right.  
The same has happened with your abuses. You came here and hurled abuses at me,
but I have not accepted a single abuse from you. Hence, all those abuses remain  
with you only. So there is no reason to be angry with you."                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                     
The Brahmin remained speechless. He was ashamed of his behavior and begged for Buddha's forgiveness.                
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                     

The Little things~

...after New York 9/11...this message was circulated...good reminder...   ~The ' L I T T L E ' Things~ As you might remember, the head of a company survived 9/11 Because his son started kindergarten. Another fellow was alive because it was His turn to bring donuts. One woman was late because her Alarm clock didn't go off in time. One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike Because of an auto accident. One of them Missed his bus. One spilled food on her clothes and had to take Time to change. One's Car wouldn't start. One couldn't Get a taxi. The one that struck me was the man Who put on a new pair of shoes that morning, Took the various means to get to work But before he got there, he developed A  blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive today.. Now when I am Stuck in traffic, Miss an elevator, Turn back to answer a ringing telephone... All the little things that annoy me. I think to myself, This is exactly where God wants me to be At this very moment.. Next time your morning seems to be Going wrong, The children are slow getting dressed, You can't seem to find the car keys, You hit every traffic light, Don't get mad or frustrated; It May be just that God is at work watching over you. May God continue to bless you With all those annoying little things And may you remember their possible purpose.   Pass this on to someone else, if you'd like. There is NO LUCK attached. If you delete this, it's okay: God's Love Is Not Dependent On E-Mail!! (that's  the cool part)                     God Bless All

Children

Children learn what they live
Dorothy Law Neite

If a child lives with criticism
He learns to condemn

If a child lives with hostility
He learns to fight

If a child lives with ridicule
He learns to be shy

If a child lives with shame
He learns to feel guilty

If a child lives with tolerance
He learns to be patient

If a child lives with encouragement
He learns confidence

If a child lives with praise
He learns to appreciate

If a child lives with fairness
He learns justice

If a child lives with security
He learns to have faith

If a child lives with approval
He learns to like himself

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship
He learns to find love in the world

Happiness

Happiness is right here when you make an effort to achieve it.

Happy, indeed, we live, friendly amidst the hateful. Amidst hostile men, we dwell free from hatred.

Happy, indeed, we live, in good (mental) health amidst the ailing.  Amidst ailing men, we dwell free from I'll.

Happy, indeed, we live, free from greed amidst the greedy.  Amidst greedy men, we dwell free from greed.

--- Dhammapada 197-199

thoughts

went swimming at downtown east and had really great experience. checked with the girl at the gate about when is the best time to visit the pool and she told be to avoid early morning before 9am as those old folks come in a group of about 10 to use the pool.  when i asked the lifeguard the same question (need to double check on things or might kannar Madoffed) and he told me the same thing.  all the time i did not get the feeling that they see me as one of the old folks!  that's reassuring .... unlike those kopi tiam people, kept calling me Uncle!!

told that to wife and she said since i am getting sensitive to being term OLD.  me sensitive? hardly right? i associate sensitive to Mimosa plant.  you touch the leaves and they close up.  Nah! i am not sensitive.  come to think of it, if anything like the mimosa, it will have to be the colour of the flower.  pinkish, bright.  see, i don't see RED when someone call me uncle.  i see mimosa pink only.  me sensitive? nah!

human beings are just funny creatures.  

you go swimming for relaxation and exercise.  then, you see someone swimming beside you.  if the person swims slower than you, you feel gooood.  if the person swims faster than you, you try to catch up and kick harder.  if you still can't catch up, you console yourself that you are long distance swimmer and the person beside you are just sprinting for a few laps and will soon 'pon chiag'.  then you realize that the person not only swims fast but also has great stamina.  you ended up with not so good a swim session.  Why are we so competitive?

i am just retired recently.  kind of retired.  call it provisional retirement.  you know, something like i have to wear this Triangle sign to tell me people that while i am retired, i am still learning to.  come to think of it, i did not get a cert or license, unlike passing driving test and you get a license, a provisional one.  you get proper license after one year of good behaviour.  all our life we get some sort of Proof that we have done something. you get yearly class photos even when in kindergarten.  you then get graduation photos and off course your parents go ga-ga on your K2 graduation day. then every year in primary school you get CAs SAs and report cards. PSLE.  O levels, A levels, now IB and what else...when you start working you get new name cards everytime you get promotions or when you change to a new job.  BUT, you don't get anything when you retire.  no certificate, no new name card.  I think i am going to design my own name card.  

HENG CHEE MENG

Retired -- provisional

The Good News -- Thich Ngat Hanh

They don't publish

the good news.

The good news is published

by us.

We have a special edition every moment,

and we need you to read it.

The good news is that you are alive,

and the linden tree is still there,

standing firm in the harsh Winter.

The good news is that you have wonderful eyes

to touch the blue sky.

The good news is that your child is there before you,

and your arms are available:

hugging is possible.

They only print what is wrong.

Look at each of our special editions.

We always offer the things that are not wrong.

We want you to benefit from them

and help protect them.

The dandelion is there by the sidewalk,

smiling its wondrous smile,

singing the song of eternity.

Listen! You have ears that can hear it.

Bow your head.

Listen to it.

Leave behind the world of sorrow

and preoccupation

and get free.

The latest good news 

is that you can do it.

Secret of Health

 

The Secret of Health is to be sick of sickness -- 71st verse of Tao Te Ching

LIVE

懂得看破的人不会计较
懂得欣赏的人不会嫉妒
懂得放下的人不会贪心
懂得开心的人不会生气
懂得快乐的人不在意失败
人生未必很累,
看你如何品味?
每天多寻快乐,
烦恼别去理会.
短短数十寒署,
何不潇洒面对!
大家经常联系,
别管电话消费.
闲时发个信息,
伴你开心开胃!

Words

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him. In court the old man told the Judge: 'They were just comments, didn't harm anyone..' The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: 'Write all the things you said about him on a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.' The next day, the judge told the old man: 'Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.' The old man said: 'I can't do that! The wind spread them and I won't know where to find them.' The judge then replied: 'The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not able to fix it. If you can't speak well of someone, rather don't say anything. 'Let's all be masters of our mouths, so that we won't be slaves of our words.'

Work

By Kahlil Gibran --

 

If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

Let it flow

Witter Bynner, inspired by Lao Tzu's 15th verse of Tao De Ching:

 

"How can a man's life keep its course IF he will not let it flow?

Those who flow as life flows know THEY need no other force:

They feel no wear, they feel no tear,

They need no mending, no repair."

 

 

Journey to Ixtlan

"Personal history must be constantly renewed by telling parents, relatives,and friends everything one does. On the other hand, for the warrior who has no personal history, no explanations are needed; nobody is angry or disillusioned with his acts.  And above all, no one pins him down with their thoughts and their expectations."

 

----- Journey to Ixltan, Carlos Castaneda

The Real thing

"My teaching is like finger pointing towards the moon.  Don't mistaken the finger for the moon." --- Buddha

Dancing in the rain

A blind girl hated herself because she was blind.

She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend.

He was always there for her.

She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world,
I would marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her.

When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?'

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind..

The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her.

She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying:
'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, before they were yours, they were mine. '

This is how the human brain often works when our 'status changes'.

Only a very few remember what life was like before and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

Life Is a Gift

Today before you say an unkind word -Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out for a companion.

Today before you complain about life -
Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you argue about your dirty house that someone didn't clean or
sweep -Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who must walk the same distance.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

Before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without error.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and thank God you're alive and still around.

 

 

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to
                           dance in the rain.'

Have a fruitful day, my friends . . .

Epicurus by Alain de Botton

 

Greek philosopher Epicurus on being HAPPY

 

• Friends
• Freedom (from money, rules, deadlines, )
• Analyzed live (self-audit)

Valuation of stocks -- Vitaliy N. Katsenelson

 

Q-G-V

 

Quality --

• competitive advantage
• Management
• Predictable Earnings
• Strong Balance Sheet
• Significance of Free Cash Flows
• High Return of Capital

Growth --

• Sources of earning growth and dividends -- the past
• Future engines of growth
• Dividends

Valuation --

• DCF models
• Relative valuation versus absolute valuation
• False precision
• Margin of Safety
• Absolute P/E
• P/E compression

Valuation and Growth are joint at the hip -- Warren Buffet

Quality makes sure the company is still around to collect the fruit of its work.

 

 

Good quality and good growth but expensive valuation --- great company does not mean great stock

 

Good quality company with reasonable valuation but low on growth -- increase Margin of Safety

 

Good growth story with reasonable valuation but low on quality -- the MOST dangerous kind of stock to own

 

 

Thinking

 

The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority.  The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority.  The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking. --- A.A. Milne

 

 

You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you.  You are right because your data and reasoning are right. -- Benjamin Graham

The Seed

The Seed

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.

Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. "The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.."

One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.

Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.   Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.  By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however.  He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - He so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.

Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.

Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees,and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"

All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"

When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer!

His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.

Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.

All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust

* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends

* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness

* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment

* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective

* If you plant hard work, you will reap success

* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation

* If you plant faith, you will reap a harvest

Truth

 

Likeness to truth is NOT truth -- Socrates

 

Moral certainty is LESS than certainty -- J Bernoulli

 

 

Today

Look to this day

For it is life, the very life of life

For yesterday is already a dream,

and tomorrow is only a vision

But today, well lived,

makes every yesterday a dream of contentment,

and omorrow a vision a hope

 

 --- Sanskrit poem

Strategy

In a strict sense, there wasn't any risk -- if the world had behaved as it did in the past.

 

 ----- Merton Miller, Nobel laureate

 

 

Every strategy should be evaluated not just on a "benefit of being right", but at least as importantly on a "cost of being wrong" basis

 

 ---   Vitaliy N. Katsenelson in Acitive Value Investing

Being Happy -- Benjamin Franklin

There are two ways of being happy: We may either diminish our wants or augment our means - either will do - the result is the same; and it is for each man to decide for himself, and do that which happens to be the easiest. If you are idle or sick or poor, however hard it may be to diminish your wants, it will be harder to augment your means. If you are active and prosperous or young and in good health, it may be easier for you to augment your means than to diminish your wants. But if you are wise, you will do both at the same time, young or old, rich or poor, sick or well; and if you are very wise you will do both in such a way as to augment the general happiness of society.

- Benjamin Franklin, statesman,

author, and inventor (1706-1790)

If you don't

If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it.

If you don't ask, the answer is always no.

If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.

Go Not to the Temple

For those who think they have crossed mid-life

1. Focus on enjoying people, not on indulging in or
accumulating material things.

2. Plan to spend whatever you have saved.. You
deserve to enjoy it and the healthy years you have
left. Travel if you can afford it.

Don't leave anything for your children or loved
ones to quarrel about.
By leaving too much, you may even cause more
trouble when y ou are gone.

3. Live in the here and now, not in the yesterdays
and tomorrows. It is only today that you can handle.
Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may not even happen.

4. Enjoy your grandchildren (if blessed with any)
but don't be their full time baby sitter.
You have no moral obligation to take care of them.
Don't have any guilt about refusing to baby sit
anyone's kids, including your own grandkids.
Your parental obligation is to your children.
After you have raised them into responsible adults,
your duties of child-rearing and babysitting are
finished. Let your children raise their own off-springs.

5. Accept physical weakness, sickness and other
physical pains. It is a part of the ageing process.
Enjoy whatever your health can allow.

6. Enjoy what you are and what you have right now.
Stop working hard for what you do not have.
If you don't have them, it's probably too late.

7. Enjoy your life with your spouse, children,
grandchildren and friends. People, who truly love
you, love you for yourself, not for what you
have. Anyone who loves you for what you have will just
give you misery. And you'd probably know that by now.

8. Forgive and accept forgiveness. Forgive yourself
and others. Enjoy peace of mind and peace of soul.

9. Not trying to be morbid, but befriend death.
It's a natural part of the life cycle.
Don't be afraid of it. Death is the beginning of
a new and better life.
So, prepare yourself not for death but for a new
life with the Almighty.

10. Be at peace with your Creator. For ..... He is
all you have after you leave this sojourn on Earth.

Slow Dance

Slow Dance
By David L. Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed,
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time, to call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

Image and conflict -- Krishnamurthi

“It is easy to smile at people outside your own home. It is so easy to take care of the people that you don’t know well. It is difficult to be thoughtful and kind and to smile and be loving to your own in the house day after day, especially when we are tired and in a bad temper or bad mood. We all have these moments and that is the time that Christ comes to us in a distressing disguise.”

“It is one thing to say I am a sinner, but let someone else say that about me and then I feel it – I am up in arms. If I am falsely accused I may suffer, whereas if correction be founded on even a small reality – something in me having deserved it – then often it hurts more. We must be happy that our faults are known as they are.”

Both above from Mother Theresa

It is interesting to me because they are consistent with Krisnamurthi’s view on conflicts.

It is easy to smile at people you don’t know because you do not have an image of the person. To someone you know, you have already formed an image – and that you are expecting that image to be consistent. But the image is not the person. So inconsistency is almost guaranteed.

If I am falsely accused I may suffer – that is again due to the image. My image of myself is being challenged by someone else, who has a different image of me. I feel hurt because I sense that the image I have is not me, and that it is painful to change that image because it introduces uncertainty.

The Five Silences -- Mother Theresa

Silence is the beautiful fruit of prayer.

We must learn not only the silence of the mouth

but also the silence of the heart,

of the eyes,

of the ears

and of the mind.

Maxims of Warren Buffet

Spending: If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you
need.

Savings: Don't save what is left after spending; spend what is left
after saving.

Hard work: All hard work brings profit; but mere talk leads only to
poverty.

Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.

Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income.

Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender's slave.

Accounting: It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking.

Auditing: Beware of little expenses; a small leak can sink a large ship.

Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet.

Investment: Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Mindful Living

Mindfulness -- quality and power of mind that is aware of what's happening but without judgement and without interference

Imagine a beautiful snow mountain behind a lake. The water in the lake perfectly calm, like a mirror, reflecting the mountain. One can not tell which is the real mountain. You are there, watching the mountain and the lake. But you leave no trace of being there. There is no breathing, no foot prints, no shadow.

Buddhist teachings

We are always responsible for our conscious choices

We should always put ourselves in the other person's place

All beings are worthy of respect

We should regard those wh point out our faults as if they were pointing out treasure

There are NO higher purposes that excuse breaking the basic precepts of ethical behaviour