Spread Peace, Not War

Okay, I had a great snack last night. Sour Sally. Sour Sally here has no green tea flavor, so I had to pick the original one, I don’t like strawberry (but, one of my friend does, and he is a male). Original flavor was too sour (then my cousin said, “That’s why they called it SOUR Sally!!). Make sense.

So, I still awake in my bed, with my cousin. The two of us couldn’t sleep, so each of us took a book to read. She took a novel about the pumpkin, which I read yesterday. I took my book, which I bought during the Central Park Gramedia opening sale.

Horeee! Guru Si Cacing Datang by Ajahn Brahm.

Since my auntie borrowed me her book, I’m so in live with this bule monk’s writing. It was just so simply refreshing, yet meaningful. Every joke he tells contain a something. So, if you have a lot of spare times, his books are highly recommended to be read. Not only to fill your time, but also to fill your mind with something useful. Something that can really change your view for life.

So today, I had spent most of my day to read this book (beside eating, having snacks or just walking around---I really mean round and round, my uncle’s house), and I did it. I read the whole book in just a single day. So, I’m free enough to write this post. Okay, I’ll tell you, I’m writing this on my Microsoft Word and saving it to be copied then pasted on the blog tomorrow (if only I lucky enough to access internet).

Back to my last post, about the plan of Quran burning by Father Jones in Florida. They do this to revenge the9/11 tragedy, that the suspects were Moslem, and so they are evils. Then, people (yeah, include me!) were so busy with this kind of thing, SBY wrote letter to warn Obama about this. So do people around the world are trying to fail this plan in their own ways (I hear from my auntie, that the people from F*I are going to replay the May ’98 tragedy here in Bandung).

By reading Ajahn Brahm’s book today, I found something really relevant with this issue. I’ll wrote it down, but so sorry, in Indonesia. LOL! I wish I can find the English version sson to be posted here.

Beberapa tahun lalu, ada kejadian di mana seorang serdadu Amerika tanpa sengaja membuang sobekan lembaran Al-Quran ke dalam lubang kloset. Berita ini masuk Koran-koran di seluruh dunia. Waktu itu saya ditelepon seorang wartawan di Australia. Ia berkata bahwa ia sudah menanyai semua pemimpin agama pertanyaan yang sama, “Ajahn Brahm, apa yang akan Anda lakukan seandainya ada orang yang merobek lembaran Tipitaka dan membuangnya ke dalam kloset?”

Tanpa ragu, saya menjawab, “Kalau ada orang yang membuang sobekan Tipitaka ke dalam kloset, pertama-tama yang akan saya lakukan adalah memanggil tukang ledeng.”

Sebagai bikkhu, kami ini sangat praktis. Saya berkata, “Pak, Anda bias saja membuang Tipitaka ke dalam kloset, atau menghancurkan areca Buddha, atau membakari wihara dan membunuh para bikkhu. Tapi saya tidak akan perkenankan Anda menghancurkan ‘ajaran’ Buddha. Saya tidak akan pernah membiarkan Anda membuang perdamaian, pemaafan, belas kasihan, dan kebijaksanaan ke dalam kloset.”

Buku adalah bungkus luarnya. Arca Buddha, bikkhu dan wihara juga hanya bungkus luarnya. Apa yang ada di dalamnya, yaitu perdamaian, pemaafan, Dhamma, itulah yang terpenting. Jadi ingatlah, bahwa Buddha itu hanyalah bungkus luarnya. Apa yang diajarkan beliau adalah Ajaran Buddha.

So let’s just make peace, not war. It’s not about which religion is good, and which is evil. Every religion is good, they are all teaching truth and kindness. The problem is the people who claim themselves as people with certain religion but never show what their religion teach them. We call them ‘oknum’. They provoke people for their own ego.

I’m happy I’m a Buddhist, though I haven’t live my life 100% like what I’ve been taught, at least I know that Buddhist never made such serious religious fight with others.

Sabbe Satta Bhavanthu Sukhitatta

semoga semua makhluk berbahagia

Okay, I’m done with my writing and better away from this place. The smokes are annoying. Why do people smoke, when they can read the warning on every cigarette box about how smoking endanger our health??? Smoking people are dumb!