buddhists

"But once I got to America, I was like, 'I'm really a minority here, I have no representation.' One of the worst things was, every time there was a role to read, it was so stereotypical. It was of the Chinese girl from Chinatown or the waitress, you know, the old cliches. I fought against that for a very long time. I had the luxury of saying no, I won't endorse these kinds of roles. But I can totally understand that there are so many actors and actresses who (have to take on those roles) to work for a living."

"Yeah. Anything. We always have a feast. You know, the Chinese, we have so many things on the table. So it’s about being together and dining and wining and laughing. Just hanging out! That’s the most important thing. Who cares about that turkey?"

"I think all minorities are not happy to be whitewashed, or not happy that their stories are not told in a meaningful way. So that's why it's important. At the end of the day, if we don't have a beautiful, funny, amazing film, we can't make the statement. There's no movement. So, there is a lot riding on it, but we've done our part. We've put love and all the best ideas on how to make it as representational of the Asians. I hope it will make a strong impact, that Asians around the world will think, “I can tell my own stories because you guys wanna hear it. And you guys embrace it.”"

"I have been filming a lot away from home this year. So the minute I finish, I will dash home to be with my family and be surrounded by Christmas trees and Christmas cheer."

"When you are leaping without a safety net, people become your safety net. And you become theirs."

"For every winner, there doesn’t have to be a loser...In fact, most success stories are less about competition and more about collaboration."

"Learning how to fall teaches you how to land. And learning how to land gives you the courage to jump high."

"I knew I had made it [as an action star] when soon after, I joined Jet Li and Jackie Chan as the three people who Hong Kong insurance refused to cover."

"Don't speak about diversity and just have us there because you want to make it look like it's diverse. Meaningful representation, that's what it's all about, where the characters have real hopes and dreams and lives and it's very sincere to the culture."

"Internally, knowing your limits keeps you humble, motivated, and focused on a goal to point your finger toward. Externally, knowing the limits that are set to you by others gives you a place to point a different finger. And yes, I am talking about the middle one."

"Understanding what you can do is essential, understanding what you can’t do is pretty important too."

"The media is the quickest and most powerful way to speak out. Those of us who have the attention of the media are privileged, and we have the responsibility to put that privilege to good use! I am fortunate because I can draw public attention to HIV/AIDS and help people understand that this is a disease that can be eradicated. This work cannot stop until we have defeated the epidemic on every front around the world."

"Without leadership, it is difficult for a country to make real progress against the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. We need leadership to combat the discrimination that makes it hard for people to seek treatment if they become infected, hold a job, sustain relationships, and live active lives in their own communities."

"Perhaps because I have lived my life in the public eye, I believe that one of the most powerful ways to combat stigma is to speak out publicly about AIDS. A lot of people don’t know the basic facts about prevention, testing, how the virus is transmitted, and why they shouldn’t be afraid of someone with HIV. If we bring the subject out into the open, I hope that people will eventually realize that HIV should not be a mark of shame."

"We are given this amazing opportunity to take you to the other side of the world, where even if you’re not American-born Chinese, it’s like going to your roots and really knowing how it is back home. Because it is very, very different, whereby family values are much more important than personal ambitions and personal goals. So that self-sacrificing attitude and love for family is shown in very different ways"

"...children are our treasures. They hold the promise of the future and therefore, it is only right that they should be given every opportunity to develop their physical, mental and spiritual potential to the fullest extent in an environment free of want and free of fear...""

"All that our country has achieved are the accomplishments of our parents – not ours. Our work lies ahead of us – what we have to do has not been done before... People say that Bhutan is a small country. Yes, its true, but our size is our greatest strength... Some say we are a country landlocked between two giant neighbours – yes we all know that being landlocked has its disadvantages but in building a strong economy our geopolitical location is going to be our biggest advantage. Within a few decades India and China are expected to dominate the world economy. So, in the context of opportunities we are definitely not landlocked – I think we have the world at our doorstep!"

"Bhutan is a nation full of promise and potential. We have the security and confidence of our own culture and traditions, an unspoiled environment and most importantly, a young population full of dynamism and promise. My message to you, the young leaders of Bhutan is - we have everything it takes to build a strong economy and safeguard everything we cherish - but on one condition – that we start today - with big ambitions, and we work hard."

"The Oxford-educated Himalayan king maintains the ancient tradition of ‘Kidu’, which includes providing educational aid to poor students, medical aid to senior citizens, state land to farmers and assisting victims of natural disasters... Also known as the 'people's king', he has travelled through Bhutan extensively, on foot and on bicycle, and stayed in the homes of the locals and cooked for them."

"His Majesty the King is being recognized for three major human development achievements in Bhutan. His Majesty has championed Gross National Happiness as a holistic development paradigm; his leadership on the environment and climate action has ensured that Bhutan is the only carbon-neutral country in the world; and His Majesty’s guidance, which ensured a smooth transition of the system of governance and strong democratic foundations to be established in Bhutan."

"...as far as you, my people, are concerned, you should not adopt the attitude that whatever is required to be done for your welfare will be done entirely by the government. On the contrary, a little effort on your part will be much more effective than a great deal of effort on the part of the government...""

"Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product."

"We are convinced that we must aim for contentment and happiness. Whether we take five years or 10 to raise the per capita income and increase prosperity is not going to guarantee that happiness, which includes political stability, social harmony, and the Bhutanese culture and way of life."

"His Majesty ruled the country from 1972 to 2006 during which Bhutan saw an unprecedented peace, security, prosperity and happiness. His Majesty emerged as one of the greatest leaders in Asia; and for his leadership, he was named as one of the Time Magazine’s top 4 hundred ‘People Who Shape Our World’ in 2006. His Majesty was a humble and selfless leader for whom the welfare of the people always stood above his own."

"The king of the Himalayan state of Bhutan announced the end of a century of absolute royal rule yesterday with the publication of a draft constitution to establish a multiparty democracy. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck said that by the end of the year his 700,000 subjects would be given the right to elect two houses of parliament, whose members would be empowered to impeach the monarch by a two-thirds vote... The British-educated King Jigme, who succeeded at the age of 16 in 1972, said an absolute monarchy was an anachronism."

"Gross National Happiness, or GNH, evolved over centuries in Bhutan but was launched formally in 1972 as an economic alternative by then-King Jigme Singye Wangchuck. At the time, he was criticized for overseeing the stagnation of one of the world's smallest economies based mainly on agriculture and forestry. As a result, the former king shifted focus of development from productivity to human well-being in four areas: sustainable economic development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the environment, and good governance. Since then, government policy in Bhutan has been guided by GNH principles in a succession of five-year plans"

"His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck inadvertently christened his philosophy in 1979 at Bombay airport when he was returning from the sixth Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Havana. Giving a rare interview to group of Indian journalists, one reporter asked “We do not know anything about Bhutan. What is your Gross National Product?” His Majesty said “We do not believe in Gross National Product.” He added “because Gross National Happiness is more important.” The media reports that resulted from the interview did not really focus on a new development philosophy Bhutan was pursuing."

"His Majesty, as a young king, would engage in conversation with civil servants, policy makers, and the citizens very frequently... It was during these unrecorded and informal occasions, over campfires, during his travels throughout the country that His Majesty repeatedly alluded to the need for the government and the leaders to aspire to give to the people what they needed and desired most and that is happiness... At that time, it did not strike most of us as an extraordinarily wise and unique statement as it has now become. We all took it as something obvious and it wasn’t taken as an extraordinarily unique statement."

"All Bhutanese know about the king’s passion for cycling, to which he has increasingly devoted his spare time since December 2006, when he relinquished the crown to his eldest son. In Thimphu, many tell tales of close encounters, or near-misses — the time they pulled over their car to chat with the bicycling monarch, the time they spotted him, or someone who looked quite like him, on an early-morning ride... The fourth king is the most beloved figure in modern Bhutanese history, with a biography that has the flavor of myth. He became Bhutan’s head of state in 1972 when he was just 16 years old."

"In Malaysia, you cannot misrepresent yourself as an accountant unless you are a member of MIA (Malaysian Institute of Accountants)."

"We have to put more focus on them (younger members of MCA to run the party), because I know the next change of government might only happen after 10 years."

"As Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Tun M (Mahathir Mohamad) has left an indelible mark on the nation’s political landscape. While we may differ in our political views and approaches, his long-standing role in public service and national governance remains a significant part of Malaysia’s political history."

"You've got to be a very clever people to win a big war and to rule half the world -- but the Japanese didn't behave is clever people. In the first few weeks of conquering any town, they would hold marching exercises as part of their campaign to terrorize residents. They marched six to eight to twelve abreast, chanting Japanese martial songs and stamping on the ground in an exaggerated manner."

"I must say, the Japanese soldiers were stupid. Many of their actions made no sense. They really believed, like Hitler's Nazis, that they were a superior race, and that it was their sacred duty to uplift the poor, colonized Asians and to liberate them!"

"I realized that true human values and human worth have almost zero connection with money."

"Near the northern boundary of Malaya, Japanese took a sudden interest in taking photos and setting up easels to paint. The same thing happened in Johor Bahru. A causeway crosses the Straits of Johor. If you're facing Singapore island, on the left side of the causeway was Seletar. The Japanese would set up easels and paint Seletar. All of them were spies."

"Please finish every grain of rice in your bowl. Do not forget that each grain represents one drop of farmer's blood."

"Father was almost always short of cash. He borrowed money to start new businesses, only to see them fail. The tide of the Depression was against him, but he didn't realize it. He did not have enough education to sense that the tide was coming to drown him, and that he should take evasive measures and run to high ground like some of the wealthier, better-educated businessmen of Singapore, Penang and Malacca."

"Having all the cash suddenly siphoned out of a company is like draining all the blood from the body."

"He would start a business, lose money, close it and start another. That would make money for a while, and then the cycle would repeat."

"But such meanness can incite you to achieve great things. I take insults - insults to my physical being, to my mental being, to my pride - very deeply. I can't shake them off! I bear these insults to my sense of fair play and justice to this day. It's almost an inextinguishable flame, which is why I make a very bad enemy. I just felt "I want to show you. I will show you." From early on, I developed this strong anger which, in many ways, propelled me forward in life."

"In his researches, Grünendahl (2012:194) has checked Rhys-Davids’ writings and discovered a telling example of how the racialist “NS” worldview was already present in Britain earlier: “However, a more important factor seems to me to be Rhys Davids’s racialist—or more precisely Aryanist—bias, documented, for example, in statements to the effect that Gautama Buddha ‘was the only man of our own race, the only Aryan, who can rank as the founder of a great religion’ and that therefore ‘the whole intellectual and religious development of which Buddhism is the final outcome was distinctively Aryan, and Buddhism is the one essentially Aryan faith’ (1896:185), which ‘took its rise among an advancing and conquering people full of pride in their colour and their race... ‘(1896:187).”"

"We should never forget that Gautama was born and brought up a Hindu and lived and died a Hindu. His teaching, far-reaching and original as it was, and really subversive of the religion of the day, was Indian throughout. He was the greatest and wisest and best of the Hindus."

"[Gautama Buddha] ‘was the only man of our own race, the only Aryan, who can rank as the founder of a great religion’ [and that therefore] ‘the whole intellectual and religious development of which Buddhism is the final outcome was distinctively Aryan, and Buddhism is the one essentially Aryan faith’ (1896:185), [which] ‘took its rise among an advancing and conquering people full of pride in their colour and their race… ‘ (1896:187).”"

"I saw what made the Japanese tick. I admired their discipline. That's what made Japan what it is today: discipline - not brilliance, but discipline. You obeyed orders, even if the orders were wrong."

"Several of my classmates from my Chinese school in 1940 were from a lovely Chaozhou family. They had three or four sisters, and their father was a kind and generous man. Other Chinese schoolmates told me that this family was rounded up and taken to a field outside Johor Bahru town. The women were raped and killed, the men butchered, and all were buried in shallow graves. Many other Chinese families were likewise massacred, slaughtered."

"He's without doubt the most skilful number ten in the modern game, the archetypal playmaker, if you like, who can create chances and score goals."

"I remember when I was six years old and there was only one idol for me: Roberto Baggio."

"He's a fantastic guy, he can play football like few others can, without a doubt the best player I've played with."

"One of the greatest ever."