Moi at Musa

This is moi outside MUSA- Kuala Lumpur's latest fashion house located at Avenue K just across the KLCC Petronas Twin Towers. Looking at the pix, I can't blame you for thinking that I'm desecrating this chic "multi-brand" fashion house with my dowdy slacks and T-shirt. FYI, I was accompanying my daughter who has an art and fashion blog at http://berlin-fashionunplugged.blogspot.com. Since I was there I decided to also pop in to have a peek at the designer clothes:House of Holland, Peter Jensen,Cheap Monday; well, they mean nothing to a fashion dinosaur like me, unlike my daughter who went OOOHS and AAAHS over the clothes as well as the prices that are way beyond my shallow pocket. Besides designer clothes there are also accessories, watches and shoes. After trying out the clothes, you could adjourn to Musa's cafe which offers local favourites and selected dishes from around the world.

Peace Is Every Step

Whenever I am in the area, I like to stop by the Subang Jaya Buddhist Association to pick up some Buddhist literature. And I have picked up quite a few gems and they have a special place in my bookcase. One of the gems is world renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh's Peace Is Every Step with the subtitle - The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. This is what the blurb says: "Nhat Hanh provides exercises to increase our awareness of our own body and mind through conscious breathing, which can bring immediate joy and peace".

While the book gives exercises on mindfulness for the individual, what impresses me are the 14 Precepts of the Order of Interbeing.Take the first precept:

"Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory or ideology. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not the absolute truth".

I can see why this precept is placed at the very beginning. It's the nature of most religions to be idolatrous or to be bound by their religious doctrines or dogmas that is the cause of inter-religious conflicts.