Living Lucky

Read to me :

Dreams are mirrors of our minds, especially our subconscious mind. Our dreams tells about our deep rooted desire for money and riches, as well as aversion to poverty.

• Coins : Dream about gold coins symbolized prosperity. Dreaming about silver coins foretell trouble coming your way. Dreaming about copper coins warn us about physical difficulties.
• Gold : If you dream about yourself receiving gold, money will soon come to you. If you are a woman and dream about receiving jewellery, you may soon marry into a wealthy family. If you dream about loosing gold, one of your golden opportunities will slip by you.
• Inheritance : If you dream about receiving inheritance, it means that you will reach your goal soon.
• Jewellery : If you dream about sparking jewellery or dream about wearing them, it is a good omen. If the jewellery is broken, your goals may be delayed. If you dream about inherit jewels, you will gain through unconventional means.
• Money : A dream about finding money means your little problems will soon disappear and you will be happier. If you dream about saving money, it is a good omen. If you dream about giving money, there may be a mishap. But if you dream about stealing money, some kind of danger may come to you.
• Riches : This is a good sign meaning you will gain wealth though hard work.
• Silver : If you dream about finding a silver coin, you are judgemental of other people and hasty in making decision. If you dream about a silverware, you are unhappy with your ongoing projects.
• Yellow : If you dream about yellow clothing, it means you are in good financial status. But if the yellow clothing are in fading light, it means the reverse.

A true story

I know of a man who dream about many people giving him money. His wife was so happy that she told everyone that her husband is getting rich soon. A few weeks later, the man met a car accident and died. During his funeral, his friends and relatives came to his wake and give them some money. His dream of receiving money from many people came true. Perhaps dreaming of money is not so auspicious after all.

Previously I mentioned about a program by History Channel about Nostradamu’s lost book. In that program, it is said that he predicted that the world will end in the year 2012.

There is another program that talks about the dooms day in 2012. The exact day is said to be 21st December 2012.

Part 1/5

Part 2/5

Part 3/5

Part 4/5

Part 5/5

Read to me :

Yesterday, my uncle passed away. As I see him lying motionless in the coffin, suddenly I realise that death is the definite thing that comes to all living things. I know that death comes to all but I always think that death will happens to others but not people around me. How foolish of me?

As my uncle lies there, I notice that he is no different from the coffin, the tables and the chairs in the room. My uncle is lifeless. Like a electrical television that was turned on previously and response to the remote control you pressed, now the television is suddenly unplugged and looked like the rest of the furniture in your house. The dead is no different from a unplugged electrical appliance.

Souls

Living beings are said to have souls. The Taoists beleive that every human has 3 souls. Loosing any one of the souls will make the person insane and loosing all the three souls will declare the person dead. When a person passed away, one soul will reside in the grave, the other one will reside in the house while the third one is allowed to wonder about.

The Buddhists believe that all living beings have souls. The plants has one soul, the soul of life. The animals are said to have two souls; the soul of life and the soul of feeling. Humans on the other hand, have 3 souls; the soul of life, the soul of feeling and the soul of wisdom. Perhaps the reason for not killing animals and humans in Buddhism may be because both human and animals have the soul of feeling and therefore will suffer in pain when being killed.

The Christians also believe that there is a soul in every human and the Devil likes collecting human souls.

Death Comes In Waves

I live in a city and when I see one funeral, I am bounded to see another funeral soon in close distance. There are times when there is no funeral, you cannot find one anywhere at all. It seems that death comes in waves.

Yesterday, I confirmed this findings with the undertakers in my uncle’s funeral. They too found that death seems to swipe through one region at a time, like a wave. They joked that the God Of Death ride a carriage and where ever He goes, he scoopes up the souls of those whose death is near. Then He leaves the region and goes elsewhere to fulfill His duties.

Some Chinese believes that any dying person who is suppose to die, will not live beyond any of the 4 major festivals. If they live beyond this major festival, the next obstacle will be the next festival. The 4 major festivals are dummping festival, hungry ghost festival, moon cake festival and Dong Ji.

Lesson

You cannot be sure you will be rich. You cannot be 100% sure your job will be the same forever. But one thing for sure in the changing world is that death will comes to you one day.

We must learn to value and enjoy everything we have now. We need to learn about what is really important in our life and put more time in them. Instead of keep thinking about tomorrow, we need to think about living today as if it is the last day of our life.

Live today. Learn to enjoy every bit of today now.

Read to me :

Today is the start of Hungry Ghost Festival 2008.

The hungry ghost festival starts on the 1st day of 7th month in the Chinese lunar calendar and ends on the 30th of the same lunar month. For this year, the hungry ghost festival starts on 1st August 2008 and ends on 30th August 2008.

It is said that the hungry ghosts are released from the lower realm onto the earth for a whole month. They will come and eat as much as they can before returning back to their suffering.

What are hungry ghosts?

The Tibetan Buddhism describes these ghost as tear-drop shaped, thin neck with bloated stomach. These ghosts are forever hungry because it is very painful for them to pass food through their thin necks. Some even describe their mouths the size of a needle’s eye and a stomach the size of a mountain.

Both Hinduism and Japanese Buddhism describe hungry ghosts as spirits cursed with an insatiable hunger for a particular substance or object.

How to ask for lottery numbers?

People like to ask the hungry ghosts for lottery numbers. The usual practice is to write the numbers on to pieces of paper about 1cm by 1cm. If you are asking for 3D or 4D numbers, just include 10 pieces of paper numbered 0 to 9. If you asking for other lottery numbers, just write the numbers 1 to the largest possible numbers onto the papers. Fold each piece of paper as many times as possible and place them in a cup. Circle the cup around the joss sticks on the altar, 3 times in clockwise direction. Kneel in front of the hungry ghost altar. Shake the cup back and forth as if you are praying, until a piece of paper drop out of the cup. Unfold that piece of paper and note the number written on it. Place that piece of paper back into the cup and repeat until you have all the numbers you wanted.

To make your lottery number really come out in the coming draws, you need to do the following as well.

• Never reveal the numbers to those around you, especially the ones next to you when you asked for the number. You don’t want to get their bad luck, especially if they never strike lottery for some time.
• Always tempt the hungry ghost by saying that you will buy delicious food like roast duck for offering if you strike the lottery. Don’t make promises you can’t keep like dancing naked in front of them if you win first prize. If you strike lottery with that number, remember to fulfill your promise.
• Always ask for your numbers after sun set. Ghosts are said to roam the street after sun set. Your numbers are more accurate when there are ghosts around you.
• Some hungry ghosts are not good with time. You may have to buy the same number for a few draws to see any result. Other ghosts may not be good with numbers and you may have to buy the same number in different combination.

How do you know the ghost have eaten the food.

When we eat food, the combination of taste and smell makes us feel the food is delicious or not. You can try eating your food while holding your nose and the food will taste "tasteless".

Hungry ghosts can’t eat the food physically. They are said to inhale the smell of the food. If you ever taste the food used in any hungry ghost prayer session, you will find the food is a bit tasteless, just like eating food while holding your nose.

Dos and Don’ts In 7th Month

To prevent problems, people who celebrate hungry ghost festival observe certain rules.

• Always address the hungry ghost as "Good Brothers". Never address them as ghosts.
• If there is a prayer session for the hungry ghosts, the tables usually are covered with red table cloth. Never look under the table. You may be shock of what you will see. The hungry ghosts are said to be eating the food under these tables.
• If there is any outdoor stages during the festival, the front row is reserved for the hungry ghosts. Never sit on the empty chairs in the front row. You definitely don’t want to sit onto some hungry ghost.
• Go home before sun set to avoid meeting the hungry ghosts on the street.
• Many people also avoid holding any marriage, overseas trip or even moving of house in this month because this month is considered as inauspicious.

As long as you observed the dos and don’ts, the 7th month is just like any other month, except more lively at night.