A Beautiful Life
Growing up was relatively pleasant but not without any dramas of course. Most things were taken care of in general but not without skills, morals, diligence, determination, and discipline on my part. I still do my best and leave the rest. This is my beautiful life or so I thought.
The true beauty of life only began to reveal itself slowly when I progressively walked on this wisdom path. The beauty that did not come from having a good life like what I previously thought but rather from understanding what life is. Beauty that came in the form of humbleness, gentleness, clarity, groundedness, freeing, knowing what to do and feeling safe even in the midst of struggles. Knowing very well that I am already taken care of in that moment. Even if I am confused (and still am), I am aware it is just because I have yet to come to an understanding, and that’s it. This makes life so much simpler. The only thing that I need to do is to be gently aware of the mindset that is attending to my emotions or to the situation, not limited to only during the bad times but also in the good times and neutral times. I can vouch that this is THE only way I can truly learn about what life is. Learning not from my usual way of learning by attending to the outside but rather learning by understanding the nature of the mind.
Learning about the nature of the mind is not so simple, yet when one realized it, it is actually simple. Supported by the teaching, one begins to notice the whims and fancies of the mind EVEN when I thought I am practising right. Time and time again it is shown, as long as I think I already know, no matter how certain I am, it is actually not It. That is the beauty of this wisdom journey for there is nothing to achieve. It is very clear that reality is not something that I need to come into conclusion to, rather reality is either realized or not realized. This makes the journey a humbling one. With that, non-doing becomes more apparent. We become a silent observer to the nature of the mind. Silent not from the sense of not doing anything at all but silent from understanding cause and conditionality. We can only be an observer to the mind because we cannot stop the mind from working. However, we can learn how the mind works, and through understanding the "stop" happens naturally.
The Truth that all of us are yearning for is never separated from you or me. Truth is not something that is found after we practised correctly though the practice is a very important means leading to the Truth. Truth is when the error is finally seen for the last time and undone. It is only a matter of whether we see it or we don’t see it. That is why the wisdom path is never about seeking for the Truth but rather from understanding the nature of the mind, the erroneous views are disclosed and what is left, or to be more exact, what has always been, is only the Truth. The beauty of life can only be realized through insight meditation. Welcome to WISE and do join our events if you wish to understand what life is.
In grace,
Hung Leng
on behalf of The WISE Team
Newsletter 15 September 2020