Self-improvement and preparations for the future success of ...

Self-improvement and preparations for the future?success

Where there is hatred, let me sow Love.

Where there is doubt, let me sow Faith.

Where there is darkness, let me sow Light.

Where there is despair, let me sow Hope.

Where there is injury, let me sow Pardon.

For it is in Giving that we receive.

It is in Pardoning that we are pardoned.

It is in dying that we are born to Eternal life.

(St. Prancis.)

The best revenge is forgiveness.

• We must try to forgive and forget.
• Yes, our anger, hatred and grievance would definitely burn our own heart.
• Animosity burns and destroys not only the enemy and the innocent surroundings and the immediate neighbours but also one?s own-self.
• Animosity and the desire of revenge blind a person and may even unintentionally leads to a self-destructive course.
• Hatred incites and grows reciprocal hatred from the opposite side.
• Only if we discard and stop our hatred ? the reciprocal hatred will diminish and disappear.
• Viscous circle of the hatred, revenge, animosity could be stopped by forgiveness followed by love.
• We must not even secretly or quietly keep hatred and desire for revenge even in our heart. We should not just pretend to be magnanimous from outside appearances only.
• Forgiveness is more effective and sweet?when we are winning or when we are in a position to revenge. That is the best time to forgive, forget the bitter feelings, start a new friendship, do something your enemy never expected?by just try to be nice, gentle and good on him.
• This is the best way to cut the vicious circle of revenge. In this way, we can change our enemy in to one of our best friends. Redemption resulted to transform him in to your saviour. He could be changed totallty and will be even?possible to sacrifice his life for us if really necessary.
• It is very easy to push your small minor enemy in to a life long fore by a simple, stupid revenge.
• There is a saying that even if we have a thousand of friends, it is not enough. But even if we have one enemy, it is too much.

It?s all too easy to play the victim and complain about institutionalised racism and discrimination when one is not bothered to help oneself and one?s family to deal with and overcome the vicissitudes of life that is never fair on us as Muslims.

Very few of us are born with a silver or golden spoon in our mouths. But for most of us, a good education is key to social mobility and increased earning power.

Simply put, we play with the cards that we were dealt with instead of bemoaning our fate and demonstrating noisily about the unfairness of it all although it is true that we are unfairly discriminated. But just look at the realty, who will help us? Our Muslim brothers around the world? They are all selfish, greedy and?totally useless. Christians or others? We need to help ourselves! That?s the truth.

? We must cultivate mutual respect, trust and understanding among all the religions.

• We must search, point out, and promote the common virtues and good points from our various religions.
• We must ignore the controversial, potential igniting differences in various religions.
• Actually, non of us can easily prove that the other religions are totally wrong and our religion is absolutely true and right. Religion depends on our faiths.
• All of the religions some times need blind faith without any question.
• We are not arguing here that any religion or all the religions are not true. Actually I am a practising Muslim and absolutely believe in Islam.
• But I would never say or try to prove that other religions are wrong.
• According to Islam, Allah had send more than?124,000 prophets to our world.
• There is a strong possibility that the various religions are just the various forms of a common faith with different approaches.
• There may be gradual degradation or slow changes because of prolonged time factor but we should not blindly accuse that other old religions are wrong.

In spite of serious instances of abuse of various religions by some of their claimed followers so as to justify or instigate acts of brutality and bloodshed, there are positive and helpful common themes in these religions. Therefore, peaceful and candid intra-faith and inter-faith dialogues are important tools in working for such goals. (Read more)

Dear Buddhist brothers, please don?t take it as an insult. Even if you could not accept my following idea, please forgive and forget about this. I am not degrading your Lord Buddha in to a Prophet.

• Lord Buddha had revealed that there are a lot of Buddhas as much as the number of the sands on the Ganges River. And all of them could not avoid the ?nature? of Kama (Kan) and must at last die or end at Parinivarna or Nivarna (of nothing or free from all the sufferings of life i.e. the circle of Sansara- birth, old age, disease and death.)
• I do not think that it is just a coincidence?in the?enormous numbers of Buddhas and our prophets.
• I deeply believed that all of them are the same honourable great Holy personalities, whether we accepted as God or Prophets.
• I hope God would definitely forgive me for telling this fact that even if you or I could get some superpower of God, we would definitely send our representative (Prophet) or go ourself (e.g. forgive me God) to the strategic place, Nepal, which is located between the two early great civilizations, China and India.
• Accoprding to Islamic the prophets were sent by God to every nation.
• In Islam, only Muhammad was sent to convey God?s message for the whole of mankind, whereas other prophets were sent to convey a message to a specific group of people or nation.
  • ?And certainly We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you?? [Qur'an?40:78]
  • ?For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger??[Qur'an?16:36]

Muslims believe in other prophets other than those mentioned by name in the Quran as ther are many verses in the Quran that speak about this:

Additional numerous historical religious figures may have been prophets, but this is a source of debate and contention, among them: Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha and Rama.?The Islamic Hadith and Qur?an support such claims that say that a messenger was sent to every people.

Allow me to quote the venerable Thubten Chondron?s Home page. Here the article by Dr. Alexander Berzin was really wonderful. It is titled, Islamic-Buddhist Dialogue.

?? Historically, Islamic law has accepted Buddhism as a ?religion of the Book.? Because ?Dharma? was translated as ?law,? and ?law? referred to ?book,? Buddhists as ?people of the Dharma? were understood to be ?people of the Book? throughout medieval Central Asia. Islam tolerates all ?people of the Book.?

Indonesian Buddhists posit Adibuddha, the primordial Buddha of the Kalachakra Tantra, as the ?creator.? I had several interesting discussions with Buddhist monks in Indonesia about the issue of God in Buddhism. Since Adibuddha can be interpreted as the clear light primordial consciousness, and since all appearances of samsara and nirvana are the play or ?creation? of that mind, we concluded that it could be said that Buddhism accepts a ?creator God.? The fact that Buddhism asserts Adibuddha not to be an individual, separate being who created the universe, but something present in each sentient being, can be seen as a theological difference concerning the nature of God. That is, Buddhism does accept a ?creator God? but with its own unique interpretation. As the Muslims say, ?Allah has many names,? and many Christian, Islamic, Hindu, and Jewish thinkers assert that God is abstract and present in all beings. Taken from_

Dear Buddhist brothers, don?t angry with me, I hereby apologize all of you from the bottom of my heart for copying and publishing the above paragraph. I just wish to show that we are not far apart. Not totally different.

I am not telling that you and your religion is wrong. I just want to highlight the similarities. If we look at the virtues or goodness of teachings of all the religions, all are same, advising to do good and to avoid the evil or bad.

? modern Islamic scholars have asserted that the Prophet Dh?ul Kifl?the ?man from Kifl??mentioned twice in the Qur?an, refers to the Buddha, with Kifl being the Arabic rendering of the name of Buddha?s native kingdom, Kapilavastu. The Qur?an stated that the followers of Dh?ul Kifl are righteous people. Secondly, al-Biruni and Sehristan, two eleventh century Islamic scholars who visited India and wrote about its religions, called Buddha a ?Prophet ??

?Dispute not with the People of the Book save in the fairer manner, except for those of them that do wrong; and say, ?We believe in what has been sent down to us, and what has been sent down to you: Our God and your God is One, and to Him we have surrendered?.? (XXIX: The Spider: 45)

In other places the Qur?an says:

Not all of them are alike; a party of the people of the Scripture stand for the right, they recite the Verses of God during the hours of the night, prostrating themselves in prayer. They believe in God and the Last Day; they enjoin Al-Ma?r?f and forbid Al-Munkar?; and they hasten in (all) good works; and they are among the righteous. And whatever good they do, nothing will be rejected of them; for God knows well those who are Al-Muttaq?n .(3:113-115)

Muhammad (pbuh) in Buddhist Scriptures: 1. Buddha prophesised the advent of a Maitreya:???

A. Almost all Buddhist books contain this prophecy. It is in Chakkavatti Sinhnad Suttanta D. III, 76:

?There will arise in the world a Buddha named Maitreya (the benevolent one) a holy one, a supreme one, an enlightened one, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe:?

What he has realized by his own supernatural knowledge he will publish to this universe. He will preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at its climax, glorious at the goal, in the spirit and the letter. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and thoroughly pure; even as I now preach my religion and a like life do proclaim. He will keep up the society of monks numbering many thousands, even as now I keep up a society of monks numbering many hundreds?.????????

B. According to Sacred Books of the East volume 35 pg. 225:

?It is said that I am not an only Buddha upon whom the leadership and order is dependent. After me another Buddha maitreya of such and such virtues will come. I am now the leader of hundreds, he will be the leader of thousands.??????

C. According to the Gospel of Buddha by Carus pg. 217 and 218 (From Ceylon sources):

?Ananda said to the Blessed One, ?Who shall teach us when thou art gone??

And the Blessed one replied, ?I am not the first Buddha who came upon the earth nor shall I be the last. In due time another Buddha will arise in the world, a holy one, a supremely enlightened one, endowed with wisdom in conduct, auspicious, knowing the universe, an incomparable leader of men, a master of angels and mortals. He will reveal to you the same eternal truths, which I have taught you. He will preach his religion, glorious in its origin, glorious at the climax and glorious at the goal. He will proclaim a religious life, wholly perfect and pure such as I now proclaim. His disciples will number many thousands while mine number many hundreds.?

Ananda said, ?How shall we know him??

The Blessed one replied, ?He will be known as Maitreya?.

i. The Sanskrit word ?Maitreya? or its equivalent in Pali ?Metteyya? means loving, compassionate, merciful and benevolent. It also means kindness and friendliness, sympathy, etc.

One Arabic word which is equivalent to all these words is ?Rahmat?.

In Surah Al-Anbiya:

?We sent thee not, but as a mercy for all creatures.?
[Al-Qur?an 21:107]

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was called the merciful, which is ?Maitri?.?

ii. The words Mercy and Merciful are mentioned in the Holy Qur?an no less than 409 times.

iii. Every chapter of the Glorious Qur?an, except Chapter 9, i.e. Surah Taubah begins with the beautiful formula, ?Bismillah Hir-Rahman Nir-Rahim?, which means ?In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful?.

iv. The Word Muhammad is also spelt as ?Mahamet? or ?Mahomet? and in various other ways in different languages. The word ?Maho? or ?Maha? in Pali and Sanskrit mean Great and Illustrious and ?Metta? means mercy. Therefore ?Mahomet? means ?Great Mercy?.Here are some other links regarding Gautama Buddha?s Prophecy about Muhammad being another Buddha (Maitreya Buddha):

http://www.irf.net/irf/comparativereligion/middle/buddhism/dawahtobudhhists.htm

Comparative analysis:
http://www.irf.net/irf/comparativereligion/index.htm

Dear Buddhist brothers, after reading the above, if I were in your place, I would think that this Muslim is trying to put our God, Buddha under his Islamic Prophet and trying to put his Prophet as next Buddha.

No, no, no. I am just trying to rationalize that we all are the same. All the religions are same. We cannot or should try to run down, looked down as false on other religions.?

Not only the Muslims, but other religious persons could?say or prove that the following teachings of Buddha?are wrong. I personally could accept the following teachings of Buddha? as the absolute truth!?

But I am born in a Muslim family. So I decided to stay as a Muslim but would never look down on Buddhism as a wrong religion. I had learnt a lot of Buddhist teachings and also Scripture of Christians in the mission school. ?And later read about other religions, Hindu, Jews etc.

But we understand that Buddhism does not explicitly recognize a God, or the concept of prophethood. However, there is no official Buddhist view of God, and Buddhism does not specifically oppose monotheism.

Buddhism is usually regarded as a religion (or a spiritual philosophy) without an Absolute Creator God (who created the universe ex nihilo and to whom worship and adoration are due). Even though an Absolute Creator God is absent in most forms of Buddhism, veneration and worship of Gautama Buddha (and other Buddhas) do play a major role in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. In Mahayana Buddhism there is the notion of the Buddha as the omnipresent, omniscient, liberative essence of Reality, and the idea of the Buddhas as generators of vast ?Buddha lands? or Buddha Paradises, in which beings will unfailingly attain Nirvana. (Wikipedia)

In Buddhism, there is no Supreme Being named that is the creator of all. However Gautama Buddha does state that our thoughts make the world. The Buddha considers thought as the creator of the world.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.

?Dhammapada, 1.1-3

All the religions? virtues or values or the essence of are good, same and we differ in practice only. I think the covering outside form and the way we practice are?the things dividing all of us. The Essence of all the religions? are ?the same.?

Even we, humans used to like new models of cars and?chased the new fashions. I believe that God Himself purposely avoid the creation of assembly line product HUMAN ROBOTS.?

In every religion we believe in Angels. God create Humans different from Angels. If all the humans are same it may be boring. God given us the choice, we could choose Good or EVIL. And God had given promise that the good persons?will be rewarded and the bad would be punished.?

Buddha never taught that all other good persons from other religions would be punished or are going to HELL.

Jesus also never preached that.

And Allah also clearly said that those GOOD Non-Muslims could enter HEAVEN.?

The Five Precepts?

The Five Precepts constitute the basic Buddhist code of ethics, undertaken by lay followers of the Buddha Gautama in the Theravada and Mahayana traditions.

The Five Precepts are commitments to_

1. abstain from killing,
2. stealing,
3. sexual misconduct,
4. lying and
5. intoxication.

The laity undertake to follow these training rules at the same time as they become Buddhists, taking refuge in the Triple Gem: In the Buddha (teacher), in the Dharma (teaching) and thirdly in the Sangha (community of monks and nuns).

The following are the five precepts rendered in English and then Pali:

1. I undertake the precept to refrain from taking the life (killing) of living beings.
   P?n?tip?t? veramani sikkh?padam sam?diy?mi
2. I undertake the precept to refrain from stealing. (lit. ?taking what is not offered?)
   Adinn?d?n? veramani sikkh?padam sam?diy?mi
3. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery, rape, exploitation, etc).
   K?mesu micch?c?ra veramani sikkh?padam sam?diy?mi
4. I undertake the precept to refrain from false speech (lying).
   Mus?v?da veramani sikkh?padam sam?diy?mi
5. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to heedlessness. (Can include intoxicating ideas)
   Sur? meraya majja pam?datth?n? veramani sikkh?padam sam?diy?mi

??Noble Eightfold Path?

Noble Eightfold Path is, in the teachings of the Buddha, declared to be the way that leads to the end of dukkha, or suffering. Essentially a practical guide of bringing about ethical and meditative discipline, the Noble Eightfold Path forms the fourth part of the Four Noble Truths, which have informed and driven much of the Buddhist tradition.?

These are divided into three basic categories as follows:

A.Wisdom (Sanskrit: praj??, P?li: pa???)

1. Right view

2. Right intention

B.Ethical conduct (Sanskrit: ??la, P?li: s?la)

3. Right speech

4. Right action

5. Right livelihood

C.Mental discipline (Sanskrit and P?li: sam?dhi)

6. Right effort

7. Right mindfulness

8. Right concentration

In all of the elements of the Noble Eightfold Path, the word ?right? is a translation of the word samya?c (Sanskrit) or samm? (P?li), which denotes completion, togetherness, and coherence, and which can also carry the sense of ?perfect? or ?ideal?.?

And if we look at the HINDU religion,?we all could be surprized as starting from the basic concepts of life, sansara, nivarna, kamma to the vocabulary, glossary, terminology and jargon, all are almost the same.

Just look at the Christian Tritiny. God, Father and the Son. I am ashamed when some non-Christians mocked this vague or different concept as I believed in the GREATNESS of JESUS. Yes, whether we believed that he was a Prophet as Islam taught us or one of the Trinity or all, it is beyound our human?s knowledge. Why should we argue uselessly?

In Islam, we have to believe those facts which are beyond our common sense or knowledge. We must believe in all the prophets send by Allah.

It is clear that although we believe in Jesus and Moses, we cannot accept all the teachings of present Christianity and Judaism.?But I also never believe that?it is right to tell that they are?wrong. This is not my point or idea to argue the different concepts and beliefs of the religions.

• I here by want to promote mutual understanding and respect of all the religions.
• Let us not provoke each other.
• Let us promote mutual understanding, mutual love and mutual respect for each other.
• All the religions have common good virtues and teachings.
• Let us highlight the common and similar teachings and leave the differences to practice personally in our own homes and in the premise of the religious worshipping places. We must fulfil our religious rituals and prayers in our own houses and in worshipping places.
• We should avoid argues, debates, quarrels and discussions on religious differences. These must be avoided in the public but it should be strictly done? in the confines of our own religious community.
• We should have a communication hot line open always to discuss any social and religious problems among the different faiths as we are staying together and the potential problems will crop up any time.

Engaged Islam is the path we, Muslims in Myanmar should choose, in this modern world of multiethnic society.

• As we are staying in a non-Islamic country, it is more important for us not to isolate our-selves.
• But we must communicate, relate, discuss and have a dialogue with or Buddhist Burmese friends.
• No man is an island. We should not just stay in our own religious atmosphere.
• We have a lot of things to do in unity despite of our differences in religions.
• We have to build our beloved country.
• We have to work together to eradicate hard core poor. Many social and welfare works. World peace and more important than that, peace, stability and progress of Myanmar etc.

We should cooperage extensively in various social and welfare works.

• We all should look after and work together for the less privileged of our country.
• The poor, the aged, ill patients, orphans and people out of job, drug addicts, ex-addicts, ex-criminals, socially out cast people like beggars, prostitutes, HIV positives, school drop outs, delinquent children, domestic violent victims are few of the people we want to mention here.
• Works of merits like building schools, extension of schools, opening free or subsidised clinics and hospitals, rehabilitation centres, rest-houses and resting places for the travellers, digging wells, building ponds, cleaning the streets and city etc could be co-ordinated and done together by the various social and welfare groups regardless of the difference of religion.
• Those voluntary works should become the regular meeting centres of co-operation for the people of different religions.
• By working closely together, we can build mutual trust and understanding.

Don?t let our-selves become religious fanatic.

• Extremism is always bad. Islam teaches us to practice moderation.Buddha also advised the followers to choose the moderate, middle path.
• Acting extremely is always bad, especially in religious matters.
• Siddhartha(563-483 BC) followed the extreme path for many years in meditating but could not get enlightenment until he changed to the moderate path.

Mutual trust is important.

• We must try to understand the other faiths.
• If we have no interest, we cannot know others? feelings.
• Only if we know and understand the others, we will have a faith and trust.
• From that we could sow and grow tolerance.
• Stop pointing fingers, finding faults regarding the past mistakes.
• Whether right or wrong, forget the past. Try to forgive others.

Try to change our-selves to be more effective, efficient and faultless.

• Try to avoid committing the same mistakes.
• Look for the future.
• We must be considerate. Think and feel from the opposite side. We must reduce the confrontations and increase the dialogues base on common good virtues and teachings. We must cooperate extensively on social and welfare works.
• We must be sensitive with the feelings of our Buddhist brothers. We must never insult their beliefs.
• Jealousy and hatred are interrelated.
• There follows the fear of loosing out.
• Hatred is associated with fear.
• Love drive out fear.

There are two forms of love in Myanmar concept.

• 1500 is the hot love between the two lovers and among the husband and wife.
• 528 love is cool and it is a universal love between ? brothers and sisters, friends, parents and children etc.

In long term marriage, the couple develops both loves, extended from hot love into cool love of mutual friendship.

Loving-kindness is difficult to understand by non-Myanmars, who may have this but if I am not wrong, never categorised into a separate word.

This we called, Myitta, is the tender love and kindness for all the creatures even extended to the animals and to our enemy.

• Actually all kind of loves drives out fear.
• Love or more correctly loving-kindness leads to trust, content and peace of mind.
• Truth is not only necessary but also essential.
• We cannot achieve trust by deceiving others.
• If there is mistrust, the fear grows and leads to unwanted, undesirable preparations for the possible aggression.
• If we are truthful and reliable only, the others will trust us.
• Truth promotes confidence from both sides. Yes not only from the other side but our self-confidence also grows.
• Mutual confidence and trust break down our unnecessary shields. And friendships will prevail.
• I trust and strongly believe that with the good will and strong friendship, our Burmese Buddhists will even protect us or save us from the danger.
• Lack of trust, fear and insecurity by any side leads to mutual suspicion.
• The fear of loosing and suspicion of the other side might strike a surprised attack may lead to the plan of the early strike by one of the opposing party.
• That mutual preparation for a possible fight, attack may lead to unnecessary tensions, misunderstanding or even an eruption of accidentally starting a fight leading to a fullfledged war.

Let our Burmese-Buddhist friends that we love and trust them.

We must prove to them that we are trustworthy and reliable.

?The best defence is attack?. That was a very popular saying in football.

But the better defence than the attack is peace, mutual trust, love and friendship.

No war is good or desirable.

Victory is the illusion of the philosophers and the fools. In a battle or a war, no one wins. Both sides lost because both sides suffer.

So try to avoid all violence ? fights, arguments and wars.

Do not provoke others.

It is better to keep in silence. We should use our two ears given by God twice than the single mouth. Ears are solely meant for the hearing. Please kindly note that the mouth has other functions of eating, chewing, swallowing and breathings also.

It is better to stand up and talk, argue or present our views later after careful thinking.

Please always give some cooling off time. Give some amount of time for both sides to re-examine, re-evaluate. re-assess and re think. Try to avoid emotional immediate rebuttals.

• Even if we are right, some of the things are trivial and not worthy of pursuit further. Most of the time, the results we can achieve by remaining calm and stoic are better.
• In another way, we should never allow our-selves to be provoked.
• If we are provoked, we lost control of our-selves. We could not distinguish between the right and wrong response. We are at a disadvantage in an argument, negotiation, quarrel or fight.
• Anger blinds us and not only the enemy but also the neutral surroundings lost respect on us. We loose face also. We lost our composure and open up our weakness, the opposite side can easily take advantage. Some of the clever people will intentionally provoke us intentionally to exploit us and knock down us off balance. We must be clever and our mind must be strong enough not to become victim of provocation.

We are not promoting to abandon the preparing for the self-improvement to have all round strength and power.

• Non-poisonous snakes are not even respected by the children.
• If we are weak, we are always exposed to the exploitations of the bullies and thuds.
• We have to prepare and strengthen our-selves physically, intellectually, economically, socially, mentally, spiritually etc.
• We have to promote our health by living in a healthy way.
• Eating nutritious foods, avoid cigarettes, liquor and drugs. Avoid dangerous sexual behaviours.
• Do regular exercise, plays sports.
• Learn Martial arts for self defence and if get a chance try to learn by participating in civil defence and military training.

Learn and study hard

Malcom X told us that the education is the passport of the future.

• Islam promotes education.
• Islam encourages us to learn from the cradle to the graveyard.
• Islam advises us to even go to China (from Arabia) to learn.
• Actually Muslim town Bukhara, the famous for Islamic teachings, is in China and the most famous Islamic Scholar Imam Bukhari was educated there.

We have to work hard

• But it is more important to work smart.
• To be able to work smart, we need education, skills, modern technology and know how.
• Even after the schooling period of Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Education and had already entered the employment period, we always need to polish up or brush up our knowledge and skills.
• On job training, further studies, evening classes and R&D (Research and Development) are always needed to improve our-selves and to value added our products.
• Paper qualification is important in the advancement of the carrier ladder.
• Acquiring the relevant experience and skills are also very important for the promotion but lack of paper qualification may stop us at certain crucial step of promoting into the specialist, consultant or expert level. The status, parks, salary scales etc. are totally different at that top professional and management level from the simple oridinary workers.
• Other essential living skills like learning ? driving motor-bike and motor car, computer and Information Technology, swimming, at least one foreign language etc. is also very important.

We must maintain the high moral values

• Bad moral will destroy all of our achievements.
• Sex, corruption liquor and drugs have cause the downfall of many great personalities in the history.
• Reading habit is also very important value.
• Motivation books are the vitamins for the mind. These books could improve our communication skills. We want to recommend the book written by Dale Carnegie ? How to win friends and influence people? and translated by our late democratically elected Prime Minister U Nu.
• Actually nowadays there are a lot of books on these subjects and many have been translated in to Burmese.
• I want to recommend the ?Chicken soup for the mind? series also.
• We need to improve our mental power and communication skills as well as physical health and muscular power.

We must be thrifty and have the habit of saving for the rainy day.

Our Myanmar Muslims? traditional believe in hard work to survive and to gain status in life may be simply because our ancestors were immigrants and they always had to thrive very hard in the foreign hostile land.

• If they did not work hard, there was no one to rely or depend upon. Just do or die only.
• It is more important for us to work harder as we all had already cut off our umbilical cords from our ancient migrant ancestors? mother lands. Most of us even could not trace or even know our roots or from where they come from.
• We had burnt the bridges.
• Abandoned or destroyed the rafts or boats our ancestors had used to cross the oceans and rivers.
• There is no question of return or retreat. We must stay on forever.
• Myanmar or Burma is our new home-land.

We Myanmar Muslims? inherent character and habit of _?

• placing importance on hard work,
• education,
• thrift,
• family relationships,
• respect for elders are the precious assets for us to maintain.

Those individual skills and powers will be more effective and strengthened by the unity among the fellow Muslims and preferably extended to our Buddhist brothers.

We must always hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

If something went wrong and we failed ?

• don?t blame others.
• Accept it gracefully.
• There is a saying ? the success has a lot of fathers and the failure is an orphan.
• Almost all the people will deny their responsibility.
• We have to accept the failure with the open mind.
• No need to made a witch hunt or search for the scapegoat.
• After accepting the failure, we have to search for the real cause, without bias.
• What, where, when, why and how it fails.
• Who is responsible is not important.
• Even if some-one accidentally or intentionally triggered our downfall or failure, it is very difficult to blame or change that person. Don?t be a paranoid.
• It is our struggle. It is our interest to make sure that, that person could not damage our struggle, in any way. We have to make sure that, that won?t happen again. It is our responsibility to smooth out all because it is our own struggle for our success.

From all the failures and disasters, we must learn the lessons.

• These are blessings in disguise.
• Make those failures pillars for our success.
• Try! Try! Try! Again and again.
• Never give up the hope.
• Thomas Eddison had failed about five hundred thousand times before he successfully invented an electric bulb.
• Don?t stop trying. Think and analyse what went wrong. Correct it. Improve it. Prepare your-self.
• Try again. Victory is for those dare to try again and again.
• Perseverance is the key-word for success.
• Easy success is actually not very sweet nor precious.
• Victory gained after a lot of struggles are really sweat and gratifying.
• Easy to get Iron and Copper are cheap.
• Gold, Diamond and Ruby are precious because it is rare and difficult to get.

Actually power comes from within.

If we, Myanmar Muslims have_

• confidence,
• self respect,
• proud being a Muslim and
• if strongly believe that we are not a simple person,
• but one day will surely progress,
• there is definitely a very bright future of crowning with the success.
• Inner spiritual strength is more important and always guides the outer physical power.

• Even if we are weak physically, inner spiritual and mental strength and power will guide, train and convert it to become powerful.

And we must be ready to give a helping hand, to others, any time.

• If we have a chance, we should try to help any one we encounter at any time irrespective of race and religion.
• Mutual help promotes the friendship. One important thing is that we should not help just to get back immediate rewards or favour.
• Even if that person never thanks or betrayed us, we should never doubt about our helping spirit.
• It is our duty to help.
• It is a charity.
• That good will be never forgotten.
• We have to reap what we sow.
• We will reap the rewards of all the good that we have done.

We must not forget that we will have to pay for all the bad things that we have done.

Self-discipline is very important for us.

• We have to commit our-selves to improve the living standard of our-selves, our family, our relatives, our friends, our neighbours, our town, our country and our nation.
• Ultimate goodwill of brotherhood among the different races is very important.
• Muslims are ordered by Islam to be loyal to the nation and country they lived in even if the government is a non-Muslim ruler.

But if the ruler is very cruel, discriminate and commit tyranny and atrocities on Muslims, we are allowed to fight back a Holy war.

• If we are weak we must migrate from that place.
• We are ordered not to just die under the atrocities.
• God will condemn those died without doing any thing.
• God promised the paradise for those die during the religious struggle.

• And God also promised to fulfil the prayers of those suffering the un-justice.

It is very difficult to change the other people, whether they are right or wrong.

• It is easy to change our-selves.
• Yes, it is better, easier and more effective if we try to change our-selves.
• It is easier than fighting, quarrelling or arguing with others. Once you started to blame others, they will deny and start defending them-selves.
• The stone wall will be built, they will give all the excuses and will even point the finger back to us and start to blame us.
• We would not get the desired result but will make a new enemy.

We have to change our-selves to win over the hearts and minds of our Burmese Buddhists brothers and sisters.

If they believe that we are sincere, trustworthy, reliable and good they will definitely change their hearts and corporate and even help us.

In Islam, our most important duty as the citizens of the non-Islamic State is to obey the government and abide by the rules, regulations and the laws of the land.?

But if the government discriminate unjustly on us, we have some options to choose.?

The first and easiest thing is to perform special prayers to Allah.? And Allah had already promised to answer the prayers of victims of injustice.

Second choice is to resist or protest in a peaceful manner, if possible within the law.? At least we must have some courage for that protest.

Another step should be borrowed from the Mahattma Ghandi?s civil disobedience.

We could take a more peaceful and milder form by avoiding direct confrontation with the law or the authorities.? Even Ghandi?s ?Salt Protest? is direct confrontation.

That type of direct confrontation may be a little bit difficult in Burma?s political, social and economical life, because the APC dominance is still omnipresent and omnipotent.? Army, ex-army, SPCD, Swan Arrshinn and the USDA? or ?Kyant Phot? or the thuds of SPDC still dominate and influence our every-day?s life.? If we refuse to cooperate with them we, will suffer first.?

• So we should secretly try to avoid them, avoid cooperation with them secretly.? We should secretly always try to sabotage each and every activity of those tyrants.
• We can do in many forms, although APCs have all the permits to buy from the government, they still need to buy from the people.?
• If we refuse to sell we will get a very big revenge, so we have to sell them but with a little bit higher price.?
• If they forced us to work or donate, give low quality goods and service.? Try to delay, destroy their aims and objects.
• Socially, try to avoid them or treat as outcasts.?
• Refuse to make friend or marry them.?
• Try to sabotage all of their activities.

Another better way is to migrate to a better place.?

Some of the people only have a chance to do this because most of the host countries are not willing to accept us.?

• Although they claim to be Muslims, they created a lot of lame excuses to justify their hostile activities to us.?
• We are poor distant cousin brothers in Islam, in contrast to Bosnian and Indonesian real brothers in Islam for them.?
• Even non-Muslims from other Asean countries, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Arabs got more favourable treatment by Immigration and Home Ministries because of policies and laws which clearly discriminate on the citizens of Burma (Myanmar) irrespective of religion.?

The last option is to take armed rebellion.?

• It is not an easy option for each and every Muslims in Myanmar.?
• We have to sacrifice all.?
• And just look at the Rohingya rebels and other rebels including some Muslims.? Who is willing to support financially, politically, militarily and etc??
• And after all we do not want outside influence.?
• Power must come from inside the country only.?
• Even if Muslims could topple the present government, who could guarantee that the next government will stop all the discriminations and give us all the rights including the right of representation in the government.?
• Almost all of the prtsent opposition leaders from NLD, ABSDF, government in exile to the armed rebels have almost the same racial policy with the present military government.?

So what is the use of the Muslims? sacrifices.?

So I hereby want to advocate or promote the other alternative means of struggles for us.?

Power of the powerless.?

Muslims in Myanmar(Burma) must struggle to get the ?Power of the powerless instead of armed struggle.?

All kinds of violence, means more risks and less chance of success.?

As we are a minority only, we have to sacrifice a lot without any hope at all.

Instead of aiming to get the top executive administrative Power, we should aim to get the power to influence those in power!

To become a power broker, king maker, king breaker, or have the power to pull the strings from behind the curtain should be the target of Muslims in Myanmar.?

• Power of friendship,
• power of wisdom,
• power of intelligence,
• power of knowledge,
• power of wealth,
• power of good connections,
• power of goodwill,
• power of good tract record,
• power of trustworthiness,
• power of good moral and manners,
• power of unity and
• power of cooperation for mutual benefits and prosperity

are the main pillars of the POWER OF THE POWERLESS.??????

All of us know that power leads to corruption.?

And the absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Any one in power will corrupt.?

Even if we, Muslims have power, there is no way to guarantee that we would be able to avoid this totally.

And those corrupt leaders or rulers could not escape Sansara, or they may have to pay back later on the judgement day.

According to Buddhism, even Lord Buddha, was scared of becoming king, and tried many times to avoid or abdicate.

Actually if we look at the condition in our country, it is a blessing, in disguise for the Muslims.? Instead of wasting time and grooming ourselves to become a politi?cian, we could use, our time mainly on education, economy and of course on religious and social works.?

It is better, less controversy and is sure of good results.

If we become highly educated professionals, wealthy, good moral characters, no one could ignore us.?

Definitely we would be able to influence any politician in power.?

• So it is no need, for the Muslims in Burma to be jealous of our Burmese Buddhist friends in power.
• No need to fight them or sabotage them but we must slowly and steadily try to expend our influence and contacts with them.
• We must build a good relationship for the mutual benefit.
• We must aim at the win win situation.
• No need to make them poor or suffer.

We must increase the economic pie instead.

1. No need to rob or reduce their share. In Burmese, we have a well known saying: ?The water from the ocean could not dry up because of drinking by one person.?
2. Yes! If the economic pie is big enough or if we could magnify it to accommodate all of us, there is no need to fight for a bigger share.
3. So we all must work hard to improve our living standards,
4. reduced the poverty rates,
5. to improve our infrastructures,
6. to increase our literacy rates,
7. to promote peace and stability,
8. to reduce hatred and suspicions,
9. to catch up the economy and living standards of Asean tigers and Asia dragons.

10. Our country is poor and needs a lot of constructions and development.? If we continue to fight, we will suffer.

If we have no political power to abuse_

• we will have less sin,

• less enemy and

• will get more time to spend on more productive and useful things.

• We could use that valuable time for our-selves, our family, our religion and for our country.?

• Even if we use that time on recreation and health it will indirectly increase our productivity.

Please do not hate the Burmese Buddhists, ever if they happened to be monks or nuns.?

• Hate or not we are already ?trapped? in this one country, to stay, struggle, work and survive together.?

• Whether we like or not, we have to see and communicate every day.

• Hatred will only made our lives miserable.

• It will destroy our heart and body.

• Buddha had already said:?Hatred and anger will destroy or burn our own body and soul.?

• Mutual loving kindness will usher in the peace, development and prosperity.

When we speak we should avoid falsehood and lies, non-beneficial words and those words not easily acceptable to others.

• We should always tell the truth, if it is beneficial and if acceptable to the recipient.

• And for backbiting, Islam prohibited us to from telling the bad things about others at their back, even if those were the truths.

We should not give up hope.?

I would like to quote a poem of Rabindranath Tagore, (1861-1941) translated in to Burmese.? Because we, most of the Burmese knew him and his poems, I hereby like to translate in to English from the Burmese.

?If you miss the moon and waste the time with the sorrow and crying, you will miss the stars also.?

• I even want to add, that after the dark stormy night, the clear dawn will definitely follow.
• If we waste the time crying for the missed moon, we could also miss the beauty of the dawn.
• Please stop crying for the spilt milk.
• Nothing is really lost or priceless to be missed.
• The fish we failed to catch always seemed to be big.?
• Please, just accept the real fact or pretend that the forbidden grapes are sour.?
• Be content with the local fruits we got.?
• There are much more precious things on earth to achieve.?
• Don?t waste time on lost opportunities or things we could not get.

As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had rightly pointed out,?FEAR is the worst enemy in all of us, including Burmese Buddhists, other minorities, other races, other religions and Muslims in Burma.?

• Fear of extinction,
• fear of dominance,
• fear of total assimilation and
• disappearance of race and religions pushed us apart.?
• Like fear of unknown sounds and shadows in the dark.? If we just close our eyes, stay or hide under the blanket, the fear would never go off.
• We would never be able to overcome that fear.? If we switch on the lights, search with a torch light, we may find out the cause, leaking or dribbling water taps, moving tree branches scratching the window, a cat or a rat etc.

Because of the western propaganda?s bias reporting and illustration of Muslims as terrorists and extremists, many people have preformed bad images on us followed by fear.?

• This is our duty to try to change our image in them with our friendship, goodwill, generosity, loving kindness, co-operation and help etc.?
• Sports and social welfare are the easiest routes to approach others.
• Especially Muslims must establish a good relations with not only the civilian Burmese Buddhists but also?even with the monks.?
• We should learn how to communicate properly, respectfully and to behave correctly with the Buddhist Monks. We have to use some special words and phrases with respect.? Once we manage to ?talk? to them in a proper way or religious protocol, all of the difficulties will be over.? You will be surprised how helpful the monks ?are on us.?
• If there is no propaganda warfare or incitement and direct parti?cipation of the Military Intelligent spies, Swan Arrshins?and USDA thugs, no one will ever harm us.
• Even during the Military government sponsored anti-Muslim riots, true monks protected the Muslims.
• The very good relation of Buddhists and Burmese Muslims and especially the merchants?of Mandalay?Zeygyo (Zeycho)? Myanmar Muslims? skill to communicate with the Buddhist monks was mentioned and praised by one of the most famous lady journalist ?Ludu Daw Ah Mar? in one of the most famous Myanmar Magazine, ?Shwe Amu Tae? in 1998.
• So we need to grow and also show the loving kindness for all the citizens of Burma (Myanmar). They would definitely appreciate and return an appropriate reciprocal response.
• We need to use our mosques to base and expend our social and welfare works.
• Myanmar Muslims have enough manpower and Finance to start a health care works, education assis?tance works and legal aid works.
• We should extend our free or partially subsided clinics and hospitals.
• We should open and extend public libraries, tuition classes, religious classes, motivation and moral workshops, IT training, business and legal- aid bureaus, homes for the handicapped, orphanages, domestic violence victims and aged.? We could work toge?ther with our Burmese friends.
• Vocational training, sports activities and training, teaching English speaking and other foreign languages are also helpful for the youths.?
• Zakat funds and other funds also must be set up and use with transparency to aid the poor, for the education and to help to start small business.
• For the disaster and tragedy aids there should he donations without strings but for the education and business aid, we should strictly consider non-interest loans only.?
• Once graduated and get jobs or if business thrive and progress, they should be made to pay back the dues so that other needy persons could benefit from this scheme. Most of the successful people stay away from those organizations after they graduated or success because they are shy to? disclose their past.? That is the wrong idea.? They should be even proud of their success achieved from that pooer start.
• We should not only aid money to start a business but should advice and give training for that.
• And we should form a net work to help their business running. We should encourage to franchise our Muslim business.?
• We must organize business seminars and workshops and act as match makers for the Muslim would be investors, Muslim skilled and unskilled workers and professionals.?
• This could be extended to the foreign Muslim investors.
• We should set up Psychological and other professional consultants like, social and voluntary workers to assist the people with various problems, marriage counselors, drug and alcohol addicts, delinquent children and women etc.
• We should even consider a match making for Muslims.
• Job searching, job training aid for the retrenched workers must be considered.
• We should give advice when there is any dispute.
• We should even consider assistance between the various activities between landlords and the tenants, property buyers and sellers.
• We should even consider opening business of retail shops, restaurants etc, for on-job training for the Muslims.
• Printing press, motor car and motorcycle workshops are also good to provide on-job training.These should be open to the non-Muslims also.?
• By these activities we could build mutual understandind, mutual trust and it will lead to religious tolerance.?
• There should be noboundry. Not only inter racial and inter religious tolerance and understanding but we need intra racial and intra religious unity and co-ope?ration. So called pure Myanmar (Burmese) Muslims must work together with thoseMyanmar Muslims preserving or leaning towards Indian subcontinent.?
• The ?Council? or Burmannized, assimilated must co-operate with Tabligh side under the Mufti and Maulavis.? It is not the time to fight among our-selves.? I wish to point out one thing, even if we point the other side as Kalas or Indian Muslims, the Burmese government would never consider us as Burmese. Even if someone eat pork or enter the monkshood, they will call them ?pork eating Kala and Kala.? Phongyi.
• We should avoid extremism from both sides.? There must be a compromise. The other side must also shed the extremist views. Should avoid differences by restraining from patty fatwas. Islam is actually a social and family oriented religion. Even not like the Buddhism, which advocate the monkshood and ignore all the worldly things.
• I myself like Tabligh activities because it really cause the Islamic?revival and but always feel uneasy when they forced us to follow them for days or weeks.? They are forcing Muslims to ignore the real world of our business and families. Some of us even hate this and pointed to the ignored families leftbehind. Why should not we compromise. Islam never teaches us to ignore ourlove-ones, families and business.?
• Tabligh-Muslim groups go around the countries to call, invite, preach, teach and train Muslims.? Founded in 1927 by Maulana Mohd.? Ilyas (1886-1944), a Sufi from Delhi.? In 1934, he started a revivalist campaign, reminisce of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).? Invited to come and pray at mosques and participate in various religious activities.? Tabligh teaches that worldly affairs are subordinate to the religious duties.? Although no one could deny that Tabligh activities are good, these are little bit at one end of extremism.?
• If the Tabligh leaders could compromise, it will become a very good platform for Muslims in Myanmar. We all should change for the benefit of all the Muslims in Myanmar.
• Buddhism advocate the middle path, ?Myit Zima Padi Pada?. Confusious advised to take a moderate stand and to avoid the extremism, ?Zhong Yong?.? In Islam, Al Baihaqui Hadith relates:?The best way to conduct your affairs is to choose the middle path.??
• Muslims

  Source: http://drkokogyi.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/self-improvement-and-preparations-for-the-future-success-of-myanmar-muslims/

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