Archive for August, 2006
I have finally decided the name for this Blog instead of calling it "Vincent Lai Blog"! Here is the reason why I want to name it "Impermanence".
Impermanence - 無常 Here are the reasons for choosing this name.
Firstly, the meaning of impermanence. Everything we see, everything here is impermanent. Just like this blog you are seeing, we know it's impermanent. It's only some data you receive through the cable and the monitor decode that to form an image. Well, don't want to get to far here, you know what I mean.
Secondly, if we can really understand impermanence, we will have a lot less worries. Say if we lose something that we really like or treasure, we will feel upset. But if we look longer, everything will go, will break, nothing we can own forever. Including this "me", biologically first, we know that our body is changing all the time. Cells are dying and new ones are form, so what's the real me. Even some may believe in a permanent soul or mind. But our mind is changing all the time too. We learn, see, experience new things every moment. Our mind is changing all the time too. We suffer because we tends to think they are permanent. What is there to be upset about when something is lost? It's just natural. So what really is permanent? Where's the Reality?
The question that we should be thinking would be finding what really is about life, point of life some may say. I don't want to get too religious here, the answer is up to everyone to find out and different method suit everyone. I am sure many of us think we have found our answer, but it doesn't hurt to understand what other people feel and say as well as teaching of other religion.
If you are interested to find out why I pick the Chinese name to be 萬法唯心, please have a look at the About & Credits page.
Namo Amituofo
Categories: Weblog, Buddhism
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I have been doing some updates this week for the websites and these include:
AMTB.co.uk - Added more content under the English Pure Land section including:
This Blog - A few posts including some on the DE2 board, k800i and an interesting one on World Peace - 天下太平. Other than that , also some photos and update on the google map. Here are some of the updated photos:
  
Other News - For something different, a Buddhist website call 報佛恩網 is currently upgrading their sever fo us to download video, books, mp3… The section which I like most is the book section where it collect most of Buddhist book that you can find in a book store written recently and thousand years ago. Their comic section is also very interesting and educational too. To find out more about donation for this upgrade, please visit 報佛恩網頻寬捐助計畫. (Note: in traditional and simplified Chinese only)
Namo Amituofo
Categories: Weblog, Buddhism, Technology, Internet
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Got a K800i for free upgrade, initially was just going to sell it. But knowing that it has a good camera and I really need a camera, I decided to give it a try. And after a few days I have decided to keep it as it would save me money for a getting a camera. And the quality of the camera is quite impressive. Although not as good as a standard digital camera, it’s good enough for me.
The design of the K800i is quite good overall, although it’s a bit big and the lens cover can get a bit annoying as it slicks out. Therefore I have decided to get it a case. After looking around eBay, have decided to go for a (plastic) crystal case instead of a silicon case. There are mainly two type that they are selling, one protect the sliding cover of the lens more and the other doesn’t. At the end I got the one that covers the lens cover which you can see below. (more pics)
This arrive quite quickly and I’m quite impressive with it. My main concern is that the case doesn’t make the phone any more buky and fit well. I have to say it does the job quite well.
3G banner - If you bought your phone from 3G as well, I am sure you know what I mean. They put a scrolling ad banner at the bottom of the screen, took me a while to find out how to get rid of it. For this paticular phone, go to
- Menu > Settings > General > Instant Viewer
and disable it. If you are using other phone, you should also be able to find it under the Instand Viewer settings possibly in a different menu. Can try
- Menu > Settings > Display > Standby Mode Settings > Instant Viewer
Overall I’m quite happy with the phone and here are some sample of the photos taken with this phone.
Tags: k800i, mobile, Technology, Weblog
Categories: Weblog, Technology
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Spent the whole of yesterday to try and fix one error. What I am doing is using to build a Handel-C project (in Celoxica DK) to create a .edf output file for the Quartus. Then using Quartus to load this design on to the DE2 board. Interface with the VHDL module works fine, but when I try to assign a input say x=0b1010 to the VHDL module, for some reason the Quartus would not recognise this input. Search everywhere I can on the internet and couldn't find a solution. At the end of the day with some luck find out how to fix it. Here is why just in case you are having the same problem as me.
In DK, the .edf file created uses VCC as the default power. However Altera Quartus expect VDD instead, hence giving the following warning when the project is being compiled.
Warning: Net "VCC" has no sources. Ignoring net during synthesis.
Solution: Go to Assignments>Design Entry/Synthesis, change tool name to custom and add the library mapping file installed in DK/Lmf/celoxica.lmf
Vincent
Categories: Weblog, Technology, Internship, EEE
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As many of you would have read the news, another terror plot!!! A lot of us would think what is this world coming to and is there any hope for world peace. This topic has been discussed many times and I would just like to bring your attention to what some Buddhist teachers/monks said about it. And also why there are wars and disaster in the world.
I’m sorry that the articles is only Chinese, basically it talks about the importance of Family Education and the understanding of “cause and effect” on World Peace.
現時國家危難‧已至千鈞一髮之 際。余以為今日欲言治國‧需標本兼治。兼治之法‧莫善于先能念佛力善‧戒殺吃素‧且能深明三世因果之理。蓋現在世界之劫運‧ 吾人所受各種災難‧皆由過去多作惡業‧以致現在感受苦果。故知此種惡果‧即是過去惡因之所造成。欲免苦果‧須去苦因。過去已種之苦因‧念佛懺悔‧乃能消 除。現在若不再種苦因‧將來即可免受苦果。何謂苦因‧貪瞋癡三毒是。何謂善因‧濟人利物是。若人人能明此因果之理‧則諸惡莫作‧眾善奉行‧災禍自無從起 矣。 (印光大師護國息災法語)
天下的治與亂，就在每一個家庭是不是著重道德，著重品德的修養。每一個家庭都健 全，這個社會自然是健康的。 社會出了問題，那就是家庭出了問題。所以在中國，古聖先賢建立國家社會，用什麼方法呢？用五倫。五倫第一個是夫婦，第二是父子，第三是兄弟，第四是朋友， 第五是君臣。由內向外。夫婦同室，同一個房間；父子兄弟，同一個家庭。由此可知，如果夫婦不和，家就亂；家不和，社會就動亂。所以中國古聖先賢他瞭解、他 明白，要把一個國家治理好，要想這個社會安定繁榮，從那裏起呢？從家庭起。家庭從那裏起呢？從夫婦起。這才以五倫十義，為教育的大根大本。家庭是以這個為 根本，社會也是以這個為根本，國家還是以這個為根本，這是中國幾千年傳下來的道統。世界聞名古國有幾個？早就都滅亡了。唯一中國這個古國，到今天還存在。 你要問存在的理由是什麼？就是這一個道統在維繫著。如果這個道統喪失掉了，這個聞名古國恐怕也有問題，它的基礎就動搖了。老和尚這些教誨、這些議論，都是 根本、切實的說法。 (種善因得善果 - 淨空法師講述)
吾故曰，教子為天下太平之根本，而教女為 尤要。以人之幼時，專賴母教。父不能常在家內，母則常不離子。母若賢慧，則所行所言，皆足為法。見聞已熟，心中已有成規。再加以常常訓誨，則習已成性。如 鎔金鑄器，模型若好，器決不會不好，以故教女比教子尤為緊要也。以賢母由賢女而來，若無賢女，何由而有賢母。無賢母，又何由而得賢子女哉。此種極平常之道 理，人人皆能為之。
所痛惜者，絕少提倡之人。俾為母者，唯知溺愛，為父者，亦無善教。及至入塾讀書，為師者亦由幼時未聞此義，故亦不知讀書為學聖賢，不教生徒躬行實踐聖賢所 說之道。但只學其文字，以為謀利祿計。而不知學聖賢有莫大之利益，自己與子孫，生生世世，受用不盡。謀利祿，謀之善，不過現生得小富貴而已。諫之不善，現 生身敗名裂，子夭孫絕者，比比皆是。 (天下太平之根本)
今人每稱婦人曰太太‧需知此太太二字之意義‧甚為尊大。蓋此二字之淵源‧遠起周代 ‧太姜‧太任‧太姒‧皆是女中聖人‧皆能相夫教子。太姜生泰伯‧仲雍‧季歷‧三聖人‧太任生文王‧太姒生武王‧周公。此祖孫三代女聖‧生祖孫三代數聖王‧ 為千古最美之盛治。後世之稱婦人為太太者‧即以其人比之三太也。由此觀之 ‧太太實為婦女無上之尊稱‧婦女需確有三太之德‧方足當之而無愧。甚願當代諸女賢‧均能實行相夫教子之道‧使所生子女‧皆成賢善‧庶不負此優崇之稱號焉。 (印光大師護國息災法語)
Lastly a quote from an interesting article “World peace - ideal or fantasy?”
The three motives The Buddha was very clear about the causes of rivalries, conflicts, quarrels and wars. These, he explained, resulted from three kinds of motives:
- TANHA - selfish desire for pleasure and acquisition.
- MANA - Egotistical lust for power and dominance.
- DITTHI - clinging to opinions, faiths and ideologies.
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Tags: Buddhism, 素食, Weblog, 印光大師, 吃素, 戒殺, 佛教
Categories: Weblog, Buddhism, 佛教
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