Buddhas lost children

A heart-warming story of a poor couple who returned a lost handbag with billions of Vietnamese dong inside has been inspiring Vietnam’s netizens throughout the first week of the Lunar New Year festival, whhich ended last week. Nguyen Van Long and his family live in a small house located within a close-knit community in Ward 1, Cao Lanh City, which is the capital of the Mekong Delta’s Dong Thap Province. For the three decades he has lived in Cao Lanh, Long has spent his mornings fishing in the nearby Dinh Trung River, hoping to reel enough fish for his family. While fishing was a steadfast part of Long’s daily routine, finding a billion Vietnamese dong was not. (VND1 billion = US$43,400) That changed when he saw a woman drop her handbag near the river while he was fishing. Unsure of what to do, Long picked up the bag and took it home. “I asked him whose handbag it was," Doan Thi Tam Em, Long’s wife, recollected. "He said he had picked it up on the way home and if no one came to ask for it, he would report it to authorities.” Long tried to contact the woman who dropped the bag, but his try was in vain. “I heard the bag drop, so I ran over and picked it up," Long explained. "I tried to yell for the woman, but she was driving too fast. “A short while later, her younger brother came to my house to ask about the handbag. "I asked him to describe the handbag and all the items inside, then I gave it back to him after verifying what he said.” Verifying what was in the bag was actually the first time Long realized its worth during the ordeal. “We hadn’t even opened the bag to take a look, but did guess there might be something valuable inside," he recounted. "It didn’t really matter though because we had no intention of keeping any of it for ourselves. "We’re poor but we’re not greedy.” Perhaps being naturally inclined to return the bag is why the couple was caught off guard when local authorities later awarded them a certificate for the …

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Oxford ranked as world's top university - Times Higher Education Financial crisis may have caused 500,000 cancer deaths worldwide Wondering why our kids are not so great with money? Just look in the mirror; it's because adults are often financial train wrecks themselves. Even so, all is not lost. You can still try to instill your children with the right lessons about spending, saving and investing, to prime them for a more secure financial future. That is the cause of personal finance guru Beth Kobliner, whose new book "Make Your Kid a Money Genius (Even if You're Not)" has just been released. She spoke with Reuters about how to equip kids with money smarts. Q: Is there a time in a child's life that is best for giving them money lessons? A: Start earlier than you think, because by age three they start getting money concepts. Keep your lessons age appropriate. Using anecdotes is helpful, because we all like stories. Show them the numbers with online calculators, and how savings and interest could one day get them to a million dollars. Q: You say that chores should not be tied to money and allowances are not a great teaching tool. Why? A: Tying things like making their bed to monetary rewards is a problem. You are paying a child to do things they should be doing anyways, and then they will start negotiating with you all the time. It can end up backfiring for parents. Allowances start with good intentions, but then people tend to get busy and forget about them. I looked into the research, which is all over the map - sometimes allowances help kids with financial decision-making, and sometimes they don't. What is very clear is that, whatever you choose, you need to be consistent about it. Otherwise it sends the wrong money message. Q: No one is perfect with money; is that why we are so afraid to teach our kids about it? A: It is a terrifying topic. That is essentially why I wrote the book. It is a primer for parents as …

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The Hanoitimes - The 300-year-old pagoda and the Buddha statute atop the highest mountain in the Southeast is a favorite spiritual destination of locals and Buddhists in the spring. Situated at 986 meters above sea level, Nui Ba Den or Black Virgin Mountain is considered as the rooftop of Vietnam southern area. The mountain, covered by white clouds all year round, is an indispensable spiritual destination for Tay Ninh people and Buddhists in the regions every Tet Holiday and Spring. In early days of Spring, the whole scenery of the sacred Black Lady mountain is magically beautiful with thousands of colorful blooming flowers underneath the thin layer of mist. This Tet holiday of the buffalo is also a special Tet for locals as a wonderful giant statute of Buddha is inaugurated, adding a new spiritual monument to the site. With a total height of 72 meter, cast with more than 170 tons of bronze, the Buddha statute has been recognized as “Asia’s highest copper structure located on a mountain’s peak” and “The tallest bronze Buddha statue in Vietnam located on a mountain’s peak” by the World Guinness Records. Standing on the mountain top amid the white clouds, Buddha Lady directs her compassionate eyes towards the fertile Tay Ninh plain giving blessings and peace to the people and the nation. Along with Chua Ba (Lady Pagoda), Black Virgin Mountain is a famous sacred destination throughout the Southern region. Before Covid-19 pandemic, there used to be lots of local and international tourists and Buddhists flocked here on the occasion of Lunar New Year, praying for peace and good fortune. Not only attracting tourists by its meaningful spiritual journey, today's Black Virgin Mountain also becomes splendid tourism destination with beautiful scenery of lush green trees and all-year-round blooming flowers. On a spring tour to worship Buddha …

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