Reflections

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year! Qong Xi Fa Cai everyone and during this festive season, perhaps we should take the opportunity to reflect on the blur line between religion and custom or culture. For the Chinese especially, many profess to be Buddhists but many people, Buddhists or otherwise often take for granted that the many practices by the Chinese are religious in nature when they are actually customs of the Chinese people. Forget for a moment the custom of burning paper money where even learned holy people of other religions condemned as the idiotic practices of Buddhists - Chinese often offer food to the Chinese Gods and on Chinese New Year especially an assortment of food including pineapples will be offered. Now, pineapples are a must indeed in many instances as the Hokkien word for pineapple, Ong Lai means luck come and the fruit thus is thought to bring luck. Now, is there anything wrong in having a good thought, I wonder. There is the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism which is prescribed to end dukkha or suffering. The Eightfold Path advocates right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, right knowledge and right liberation. The good thought of having good luck surely must have a place somewhere here...Chew on this will you and on the various types of pineapples currently sold in the wet market in Taiping...

Pineapples galore...