Dear Yong Peng,

Thanks for the statistics: you have shown great management. I've never
questioned this and admire your work.

Statistics are never a problem with spirituality simply because spirituality
does not measure things: we cannot measure love, lovingkindness, compassion,
kindness and other positive immeasurable emotions. We can only show it: a
bell is only a bell when you ring it.

What we need to do is not so much to be technically correct (computers and
machines can do better), but to use words with a powerful spirit to changes
lives for the better. For that reason, people like Thich Nhat Hanh is
popularly read and respected. His spirituality led him to introduce new
words like "interbeing" which describe this wonderful interconnectedness we
share and should respect.

In other words, a website becomes even better when the human aspect is
cherished, and I think we need to maintain some level of civility, some
standard or code of mutual respect. No matter how good one may be in Pali or
doctrine, it betrays one otherwise.

This is no easy task to do, but we have to go on trying to do this in a
Buddhist way.

In the final analysis, we are not trying to translate anything or to explain
any Buddhism, but to change ourselves (including myself, of course). Isn't
that what Buddha Dharma is really about?

The Dhammapada says that the gift of the Dharma excels all gifts: here (just
for our current purposes) let me take "Dharma" to mean a positive mental
state. So if we can communicate with one another kindly, at least more
civilly, and to inspire others, then we would brighten the minds (and lives)
of others and they are more likely to contribute that bright side of their
lives, instead of answering challenges and word-battling. What I feel sad
about sometimes is that we occasionally see the dark side, the shadow of
some, that may affect this website in a very negative way.

As Ajahn Brahm likes to say: the first thing we should do when we wake up is
to SMILE! If you are unable to, you may have a problem: even then, you can
still use your two pointing fingers and push your cheeks up and there's a
smile! I was a very senior monk to Ajahn Brahm, but now I am a pupil of his
and feeling great about it.

Please keep up your good work, Yong Peng.

Sukhi.

P.

----- Original Message -----
From: <ypong001@...>
To: <Pali@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 11:46 PM
Subject: [Pali] Group Statistics


> Dear Piya and friends,
>
> Piya, since you have pointed out about the participation rate, which
> I think is an important part of modern management, I have gathered
> some statistics which is only visible to the moderator. I hope you
> will find this useful and perhaps put forward some suggestions on how
> to improve participation.
>
> Membership: 229
>
> No. receiving individual emails/daily digest: 116
> No. receiving special notices: 12
> No. receiving no emails: 101
>
> From the statistics, 116 (50.66%) members are receiving the emails.
> 12 members have chosen to receive email messages only when there are
> important updates from the moderator [Only mails from the moderator
> and marked as a Special Notice will be sent to them]. The remaining
> 101 (44.10%) choose not to receive email. I believe a good number of
> them read the emails by visiting the group's site regularly, while
> others may visit less frequently, however there is no way to track
> them.
>
> metta,
> Yong Peng
>
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> Yahoo! Groups members can set their delivery options to daily digest or
web only.
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>
>
>