malacca.....
I'm back.... missed me much?
hmm, went to malacca over the long weekend. and i currently have a grand total of 19 mosquito bites (yes i counted) friggin mosquitoes ought to go to hell.
malacca is a sleepy town where most shops are closed by 8.30pm especially on weekdays. The only places to go to shop is jaya jusco and mahkoto parade which are basically your cookie-cutter shopping malls. and then there's some pasar malams that basically sell the same things down the whole street. hai. quite boring, just go back to visit relatives...
but at least there was the vesak day procession on saturday which consisted of various buddhist organisations marching down the street pushing mini floats with buddha and some chanting buddhist sutras. quite a surprise to see so many people in the procession considering that well, you hardly see crowds in malacca.
sometimes i really hate going to malacca. so strange to have to keep reacquainting myself with relatives that i see on an average of twice a year. i'm always a guest there while all my cousins are so at home, so malaysian while i'm known as the visitor from singapore. and not forgetting the long bus rides. but once the reacquainting is over i feel that i could live there forever. things are always static back in malacca, they hardly seemed to have changed with every visit. the only thing that reminds me that time has passed is how my little cousins have grown with each year. zhong zhong is getting to be quite the brat. haha but he's quite an entertainer for a 6 year old kid.
on vesak day we went to the temple. had to stand throughout the service because it started before it left and it seemed rude to leave while everyone was praying. its remarkably similar to the scene you would see in a church, just that the medium of worship is different. the atmosphere of reverence is omniscient. religion is a strange thing. chinese devotees chanting buddhist scriptures in pali, monks from sri lanka dousing us with holy water and tying blessed bands on our wrists. and then the act of kneeling and then donating rice to barefooted buddhists walking round with their arms(?) bowls. its all so ritualised. but what is the ultimated aim of all such ceremonious gestures? in the temple there was one quote on the wall that said something along the line of achieving deathlessness.
indeed it seems that most religion advocates deathlessness. in christianity, it is said that if one believes in christ, one can have everlasting life. in buddhism, it is said that nirvana can help one escape from the cycle of birth, old age, sickness and death. but is death a thing to be feared? I think not, I rather welcome the nothingness that I feel comes with death, the termination of all bodily mechanisms and an end to mortal worries. A final, lasting peace. embrace death, I say, embrace it.
hmm, went to malacca over the long weekend. and i currently have a grand total of 19 mosquito bites (yes i counted) friggin mosquitoes ought to go to hell.
malacca is a sleepy town where most shops are closed by 8.30pm especially on weekdays. The only places to go to shop is jaya jusco and mahkoto parade which are basically your cookie-cutter shopping malls. and then there's some pasar malams that basically sell the same things down the whole street. hai. quite boring, just go back to visit relatives...
but at least there was the vesak day procession on saturday which consisted of various buddhist organisations marching down the street pushing mini floats with buddha and some chanting buddhist sutras. quite a surprise to see so many people in the procession considering that well, you hardly see crowds in malacca.
sometimes i really hate going to malacca. so strange to have to keep reacquainting myself with relatives that i see on an average of twice a year. i'm always a guest there while all my cousins are so at home, so malaysian while i'm known as the visitor from singapore. and not forgetting the long bus rides. but once the reacquainting is over i feel that i could live there forever. things are always static back in malacca, they hardly seemed to have changed with every visit. the only thing that reminds me that time has passed is how my little cousins have grown with each year. zhong zhong is getting to be quite the brat. haha but he's quite an entertainer for a 6 year old kid.
on vesak day we went to the temple. had to stand throughout the service because it started before it left and it seemed rude to leave while everyone was praying. its remarkably similar to the scene you would see in a church, just that the medium of worship is different. the atmosphere of reverence is omniscient. religion is a strange thing. chinese devotees chanting buddhist scriptures in pali, monks from sri lanka dousing us with holy water and tying blessed bands on our wrists. and then the act of kneeling and then donating rice to barefooted buddhists walking round with their arms(?) bowls. its all so ritualised. but what is the ultimated aim of all such ceremonious gestures? in the temple there was one quote on the wall that said something along the line of achieving deathlessness.
indeed it seems that most religion advocates deathlessness. in christianity, it is said that if one believes in christ, one can have everlasting life. in buddhism, it is said that nirvana can help one escape from the cycle of birth, old age, sickness and death. but is death a thing to be feared? I think not, I rather welcome the nothingness that I feel comes with death, the termination of all bodily mechanisms and an end to mortal worries. A final, lasting peace. embrace death, I say, embrace it.
posted by cosmo_surfer at 2:19 AM
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