Buddhist Personality - Andrie Wongso

Name : Andrie Wongso
Nationality : Indonesia
Profession : Motivator / Businessman

As a young man, he was very interested in martial arts and even established his own martial art school "Hap Kun Do". His interest in this art eventually led him to Taiwan. In 1980, he went to Taiwan after signing a three year contract with a film company there. He appeared in several martial arts during that period but never as the main actors. After seeing the ups and downs of the entertainment world, he decided that the acting profession was not for him.

He returned to Indonesia and started a few small businesses. He loved writing motivational words in his personal diary to motivate himself. After getting the idea from a friend, he started a business selling motivational greeting cards and at the same time studied Buddhism deeper. This business of his led him to several other businesses but the one that established himself as a No.1 motivator in Indonesia was a company dealing with motivational talks and publications.

Initially his talks were based on Buddhist philosophies but as his popularity grew, he ventured into more universal talks, extending his audiences from Buddhist to people of all faiths. Today, he is regarded as the No.1 motivator in Indonesia. He has his own show on national TV and has given countless talks to various niversities and companies across Indonesia. He is also a regular motivator for the Indonesian National Badminton Team.

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The Little Monk Who Becomes Viral On Social Media

In May 2014,   a Weibo  posted photos of his son, dressed up as a little monk in a temple photoshoot in Fuzhou, China. In just one night, his post was shared more than 1 million times. Below are the said photos. 

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Buddhists Clean Up Streets For New President

To celebrate the appointment of new Indonesian President, Joko Widodo (Jokowi),on October 20, 2014 a group consisting of 65 volunteers from the Buddhist Tzu Chi Fellowship held a rubbish collection session on the streets leading to the National Palace, the venue where the appointment of the new appointment would be held

Clad in their blue and white uniforms and a cap, the volunteers put on hand gloves and went around picking up rubbish in the streets of the country's capital city. According to the group's coordinator, Joe Riady, " We want to keep the capital city clean on the date of the appointment of the President "

They started their work at 10.00am and by they called it a day, 180 bags fulled of rubbish were collected.

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Buddhist Story - The Boy And The Pet Shop Owner

One day as he was walking home after school, a boy passed by a pet shop. There he saw some puppies up for sale. As he liked dogs very much, he went inside the shop to take a look at the puppies. The puppies wagged their tails upon seeing the boy. The boy played with each and every puppies there. He wanted to buy one of them.

He pointed to a particular puppy and asked the shop owner " Sir, how much does this puppy cost ? ". The shop owner answered " $200, this puppy is of good breed, so it's a little expensive ".

Shocked at the high price of the puppy, the boy then asked the shop owner again " Sir, do you have a cheaper one ? ". The shop owner answered " No, all the puppies here cost that much ". As he could not afford to buy the puppy , the boy waved goodbye to the puppies and started to leave. As he was leaving the shop, the shop owner shout " Wait ! young boy. I have another dog at the back of the shop. Do you want to take a look at him ? " The boy jumped in excitement and said " Yes, i want to look at that puppy ". The shop owner went to the back of his shop and brought a little puppy. The puppy wagged its tail non-stop at the boy. The puppy crawled to the boy and licked his shoes. The boy bent down to take a closer look at the puppy and then said to the shop owner " Sir, i like this puppy, how much does this puppy cost ? ".

The shop owner looking suprised answered the boy " The hind legs of this puppy are deformed. He can't run and jump like a normal puppy. Are you sure you like this one ? ". Without any hesitation, the boy said to the shop owner, " Yes, yes i like this one. How much does he cost ? ". The bewildered shop owner said to the boy, " My dear, no one wants this puppy, so you can't have this puppy for free ".


Upon hearing this, the boy told the shop owner " No, sir, i won't take this puppy from you for free. OK i will pay you $200 but can you allow me to pay in installments " The confused shop owner answered " Eeerh, i can allow you to pay instalmment but why ? With $200 you can have a normal puppy ".

Answering in firm tone the boy said " Thank you sir, i want this puppy. I don't want the other puppies ". He then pulled up his pants and show his left leg to the shop owner. He said " Sir, look at my left leg. It is also deformed just like the puppy's. I use artificial leg to walk. Eventhough I can't run and jump like other boys but i am not useless. I can go to school on my own, i can help my father to pick woods from the forest, i can help my mother at home, i can do many things that other boys do. Despite my handicapped, i am a normal boy. This puppy is just like me. Sir, i will pay you $200 for this puppy. It does not worth any lesser than the other puppies.

The shop owner was so touched after hearing the boy's words. Tears began flowing out from his eyes as he went down to his kness and hugged the boy. He said to the boy " My dear, i am sorry. I have done wrong. I shouldn't have shown disrespect to the puppy. Take this puppy home. You can pay me the $200 in installments. He thought to himself " This puppy will lead a happy life with the boy ".

Moral of the story, do not judge a book by it's cover and do not show disrespect to people who have physical weaknesses.

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