BELANGA @ Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur

BELANGA,
LG230B THE GARDEN MIDVALLEY
TEL: 03-22875136
Ratings:
Food: 4/5
Cleanliness: 4/5
Services: 3/5
Visit reviewed: 28/05/2010

Happy Wesak Day! Today my off day, woke up around 7am. I walk over to the Celebrity Fitness Midvalley around 9:30am, chit chatting with gym friends while waiting for 10:40am Alex's Free-style cycling class. Feeling a bit exhausted today, tired, don't feel like talking now, I took shower then have my lunch at Belanga. I have a sudden feeling of loneliness, cause I always have Monica and Jack around me on my off day, we go eat and watch movie together, hmmmm wish they are here :-(
Paid RM19.58 for my lunch.

Sirap Selasih, RM3.90

This is my favourite drink if I'm having Malay food

Nasi Kerabu with Ayam Percik, RM13.90

Nasi Kuning was moisture and aromatic, the chicken gravy was exceptional nice but I find the chicken a bit dry, mixed up all those vegetables with rice taste even better.

Today's Meditation:

The Buddha spoke gently, "Once a person is caught by belief in a doctrine, one loses all one's freedom. When one becomes dogmatic, that person believes his or her doctrine is the only truth and that all other doctrines are heresy. Disputes and conflicts all arise from narrow views. They can extend endlessly, wasting precious time and sometimes even leading to war. Attachment to views is the greatest impediment to the spiritual path. Bound to narrow views, one becomes so entangled that it is no longer possible to let the door of truth open."

Thich Nhat Hanh

I'd love to write a book on this subject. It makes me sad to see just how many people limit their own perspectives by clinging to views and ideas that they've embraced just because someone else has taught them that they're true. It's like we're willing to sacrifice our own freedom just to hold on tightly to a belief that may or may not be true. Most dogma is based on the beliefs of people--Christian dogma, for example, is based on the interpretations of people, not on the words of Christ. Many churches hold on to interpretations that have been disproved by new translations, yet because someone hundreds of years ago interpreted the Bible in a certain way, the churches still cling to the ideas because they're now "tradition."

If we want to become truly spiritual beings, we must embark on our own journeys into our selves and our personal relationship with God or life. The answers to my spiritual questions are not in someone else's interpretation of anything--I must learn to trust myself and my own perspective on life.

Have you ever thought someone was mad at you, and it made you feel awful? This was a belief, and it held you back because you didn't like having someone angry with you. When you later found out that the person wasn't angry with you, your belief was shattered, and it no longer made you feel awful.

Likewise, if we keep ourselves open to learning and growing, we will find out that some of the beliefs that we hold on to are actually holding us back, making us feel awful, and if we were able to cast them aside we'd be able to move on and to grow more. We owe it to ourselves to walk on a clear path, one that's not overgrown with the dogma that other people have created, trying to get others to believe exactly what they believe.

There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths.

It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil.

Alfred North Whitehead