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This email provides a unique description of what life is like for quake and tsunami survivors in Japan on the ground now. When tragedy strikes, it reminds us of what is really important in life and the little things we once felt we had lost, such as community solidarity and the sight of a carpetful of twinkling stars in the night sky.
Life Lessons from Japan 
First email sent by Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist Master and founder of Plum Village, France, to friends in Japan. Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh is the author of the book “The Miracle of Mindfulness”, and promotes engaged Buddhism.
Dear friends in Japan,
As we contemplate the great number of people who have died in this tragedy, we may feel very strongly that we ourselves, in some part or manner, also have died.
The pain of one part of humankind is the pain of the whole of humankind. And the human species and the planet Earth are one body. What happens to one part of the body happens to the whole body.
An event such as this reminds us of the impermanent nature of our lives. It helps us remember that what’s most important is to love each other, to be there for each other, and to treasure each moment we have that we are alive. That is the best we can do for the dead. We can live in such a way that they feel they are continuing to live with us more beautifully, mindfully and deeply in each of us, tasting every minute every second that we are still alive and living for them.
Here, at our centres in France and many countries around the world, all of us will continue to chant and send you energies of peace and healing to offer support. We are praying for you with our heart, breath and with the daily actions with more compassion and understanding and to treat each other with more respect. Thank you for reminding us this lesson.
The second email sent by a Japanese lady to the Plum Village sangha (community of practitioners) in HK
Hello My Lovely Family and Friends, 
First I want to thank you so very much for your concern for me. I am very touched. I also wish to apologise for a generic message to you all. But it seems the best way at the moment to get my message to you.
Things here in Sendai have been rather surreal. But I am very blessed to have wonderful friends who are helping me a lot. Since my shack is even more worthy of that name, I am now staying at a friend’s home. We share supplies like water, food and a kerosene heater. We sleep lined up in one room, eat by candlelight, share stories. It is warm, friendly, and beautiful. During the day we help each other clean up the mess in our homes. People sit in their cars, looking at news on their navigation screens, or line up to get drinking water when a source is open. If someone has water running in their home, they put out sign so people can come to fill up their jugs and buckets. Utterly amazingly where I am there has been no looting, no pushing in lines. People leave their front door open, as it is safer when an earthquake strikes. People keep saying, “Oh, this is how it used to be in the old days when everyone helped one another.” Quakes keep coming. Last night they struck about every 15 minutes. Sirens are constant and helicopters pass overhead often. We got water for a few hours in our homes last night, and now it is for half a day. Electricity came on this afternoon. Gas has not yet come on. But all of this is by area. Some people have these things, others do not.
No one has washed for several days. We feel grubby, but there are so much more important concerns than that for us now. I love this peeling away of non-essentials. Living fully on the level of instinct, of intuition, of caring, of what is needed for survival, not just of me, but of the entire group.
There are strange parallel universes happening. Houses a mess in some places, yet then a house with futons or laundry out drying in the sun. People lining up for water and food, and yet a few people out walking their dogs. All happening at the same time.
Other unexpected touches of beauty are first, the silence at night. No cars. No one out on the streets. And the heavens at night are scattered with stars. I usually can see about two, but now the whole sky is filled. The mountains are Sendai are solid and with the crisp air we can see them silhouetted against the sky magnificently.
And the Japanese themselves are so wonderful. I come back to my shack to check on it each day, now to send this e-mail since the electricity is on, and I find food and water left in my entranceway. I have no idea from whom, but it is there. Old men in green hats go from door to door checking to see if everyone is OK. People talk to complete strangers asking if they need help. I see no signs of fear. Resignation, yes, but fear or panic, no.
They tell us we can expect aftershocks, and even other major quakes, for another month or more. And we are getting constant tremors, rolls, shaking, rumbling. I am blessed in that I live in a part of Sendai that is a bit elevated, a bit more solid than other parts. So, so far this area is better off than others. Last night my friend’s husband came in from the country, bringing food and water. Blessed again.
Somehow at this time I realise from direct experience that there is indeed an enormous Cosmic evolutionary step that is occurring all over the world right at this moment. And somehow as I experience the events happening now in Japan, I can feel my heart opening very wide. My brother asked me if I felt so small because of all that is happening. I don’t. Rather, I feel as part of something happening that is much larger than myself. This wave of birthing (worldwide) is hard, and yet magnificent.
Thank you again for your care and Love of me,
With Love in return, to you all,
Anne
Can I live and die without regret?
Birth and Death is a grave event;
How transient is life!
Every minute is to be grasped.
Time waits for nobody.
 The Rain of Dhamma: The Secret of Happiness
One day, a man asked a Venerable, "How is it that you are always so happy? You have so much energy, and you never seem to get down."
With his eyes smiling, he said, "I know the Secret. I'll tell you all about it, but you have to promise to share the Secret with others."
"The Secret is this: All I do is live a very simple life,
 keeping to the Precepts,
have some wise friends and teachers, and enjoy nature.
A simple walk in the forest, a simple meal, a quiet place, that's all I need.
And yet, I have learned THAT most of the time I don't need even half of what I think I do. Be content, for Greed only brings PAIN. Whether someone praise me or censure me, I am equanimous, for such is life, we can never ever please everyone, so just BE!
With the above thoughts, I learned that the 'Secret' to a happy life is NO SECRET at all. Someone called the Buddha taught us all these 2600 years ago"
If "I WANT HAPPINESS", JUST DROP THE "I", THEN CEASE THE "WANT", WHAT IS LEFT IS "HAPPINESS".
The questioner's first thought was, "That's too simple!" But upon reflecting over his own life, he recalled how he thought a bigger house would make him happy, but it didn't. Instead it brought more payments, more stress, more maintainance.
He thought a better paying job would make him happy, but it hadn't. Instead it brought more stress.
When WAS he happy? Sitting on the floor with family and friends, just talking, sharing the Dhamma, or playing games, eating yiu tiow or reading a story
That's happiness, a happiness from contentment, from having NO WANTS. IT IS NOT THE HAPPINESS OF THE SATISFACTION OF WANTS,
BUT THE HAPPINESS OF NOT WANTING ANYTHING.
Now you know it too! And now THAT YOU HAVE THE SECRET, Once you get it, what will you do? Please tell someone the Secret too. Help a friend be happy.
 The average man's life consists of:
Twenty years of having his mother ask him where he is going, Forty years of having his wife ask the same question; and at the end, the mourners wondering too.
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WE BELIEVE or WE KNOW?
The world suffers from belief and is in great need of Gnosis/Insight. Most people take Belief and Faith as synonymous, and the dictionaries describe them as synonyms.
But Belief and Faith exists where there is no knowledge, no direct, personal experience of the object of Belief, while Gnosis or Insight, on the contrary, arises from knowledge, from direct contact with and experience of the object,whatever it might be.
Thus, the old saying: "Seeing is believing", is not true; seeing is knowing; believing is not knowing!
During the Middle Ages, most people believed that sickness was caused by demons, and Satan—the Devil—was a very real person to them. Nowadays, although many people still believe in Satan as a person, they would hardly answer "Yes" if asked: "Do you believe that your Flu/cancer/diabetes is caused by the Devil?"
In this way, we will recognize the difference between Belief and KNOWING. We now have direct Gnosis of what causes diseases, we do NOT believe anymore, we KNOW!
We believe when we do not know. When we know, we do not believe.
................................
From the foreword of the book ‘What Buddhists believe’:
“On one occasion a Christian delegation visited Ven Dhammananda to have a dialogue. A member of the delegation saw the book on his desk and asked,
“Venerable, What do Buddhists believe?”
He replied, “Buddhists do not believe anything!”
Puzzled, the man asked,
“ Then why did you write this book?”
Ven Dhammananda smiled and said,
“Well, read the book and see for yourself whether there is anything in Buddhism simply to believe.”
The man then asked
“Alright then, what do Buddhists do?”
Ven Dhammananda replied,
“Well, first they study, then they practice and finally they experience”
.............................................
Brother Yin Onn, Faith is blind belief. Hence, when people talk of blind faith, the word "blind" in this context is redundant, because faith is blind belief. Thus Faith is belief without substantiation, whether that of knowing or seeing ... it is blind, and so just put the hand on the heart, and swear by it.
 Dear Prof Wong,
I attended some of your talks in Singapore, and work as a volunteer with
hospice patients and would like to find out your views on
The Terminally Ill patient and Medical Futility
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May you be well, happy, peaceful.
With Gratitude,
..................................
Dear Bro,
The basic principle behind treatment is
1. To Comfort ALWAYS
2. To Relieve OFTEN
3. To Cure Sometimes
Hence in the treatment of the terminally ill patients, WE MUST ALWAYS ASSURE THE PATIENT AND FAMILY THAT EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO MAKE THE PATIENT MORE COMFORTABLE *PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY* WILL BE DONE. All patients must be assured right from the start that they will NOT be in terrible pain, this is a common BIG fear. Wisdom must always come next.... are we prolonging LIFE or are we
prolonging the DYING process??With terminal illness, nature lets you die withabbreviated suffering, medicine (doctors) lets you suffer with protracted dying.
PROF KK Toh
When further attempts at chemotherapy is obviously and statistically futile, common sense must take over, however we MUST NEVER destroy Hope.... always give the patient HOPE for a better tomorrow even if it is comfort in
the arms of morphia.
Doctors and attending medical personal are NOT TECHNICIANS, the late Professor TJ Danaraj used to teach us that while it is likely possible that we can even train a monkey to do brain surgery, we cannot train it when to do it and even more important "when NOT to do it". Medicine is first and foremost an ART.... and the issues of dealing with the terminally ill patient requires the ART of Medicine at its finest!
Doctors had been practising in awareness of
1. *quantitative futility*, where the likelihood that an intervention will benefit the patient is exceedingly poor, and 2. *qualitative futility*, where the quality of benefit an intervention will produce is exceedingly poor. "
for a long time. It requires Wisdom, Compassion and Knowledge.
The most important aspect is the Peace and Comfort of the Mind; while the Body will inevitably be sick, the Mind need NOT be.
metta,
dr wong
Impermanent is all conditioned things, All things rise and fall away, Conditions give us birth, Conditions give us death. This body and mind of ours, will soon be lying on the ground Like a useless piece of drift wood, washed upon the shore. Our consciousness will vanish, the mind will not be there, Just like a bubble bursting on the water, turning into air. We came into this world without an invitation, and We don't need to ask permission when its time for us to leave. We rise to birth that always ends in death; we come just as we go. Does the candle shed a tear when the flame goes out? Don't be sad, be mindful. "In the Dhamma well expounded by me thus, which is clear, open, evident and free of patchwork, those monks who have sufficient faith in me, sufficient love for me, are all headed for heaven". The Buddha, MN22.47
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