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Just Another Life Episode
There was a strong sense of curiosity to experiment, despite it all, in order to find out what might come out of it and also interest to try something different as an opportunity for learning if it is beneficial for my meditation practice. So I decided to just do it. What is the worst that could happen, right?
Outcome is Certain
I had the meaning that potential, though possibly inherent, necessitates deliberate harnessing before it becomes evident. Yet, there was no certainty surrounding the outcome, viewing potential more as a possibility with varying degrees of probability.
Transcending Preferences
When I first came to understand about dualism and how this principle influences our tendency to operate from a state of preference, I was taken aback by the realization that I had been incessantly wishing for circumstances to be otherwise. I felt compelled to address this pattern. Little did I anticipate the findings that ensued.
What Does 2024 Hold?
It can hold little, much, abundant, or nothing. It all depends on which juncture your mind is at. Time forward has much to do with the mind state happening at this moment. It is a bridge to what is in store for the future. If you feel lousy now, the future may look bleak or meaningless. If you feel excited about it, surely there must be something you are looking forward to.
A White Christmas
Something special is working and I observed more intently. There was a thought that reminded how each moment lived is just a memory now. It was an understanding of how it had had to happen the way it did because of how I lived before that. It was perfect as it was and could not have been otherwise.
The World as a Learning Classroom
The convergence of the Covid pandemic and advancing technology has transformed my room into a home retreat space over the past three years, courtesy of Zoom. While I initially believed my mindfulness practice was progressing well, it wasn't until my relocation to Saigon this year that things changed.
Hassles – Spiritual Hazards?!
Have you ever experienced spontaneously reaching out to help but was deterred by a thought of inconvenience? Have you noticed how often our good intentions are derailed by the fear of hassles? Perhaps we know these thoughts of hassle and inconvenience do limit our potentials but we do not realize the extent of this seemingly insignificant menace.
If Not Meditation Then What Else?
For the past few weeks, my mind was foggy most of the time, and getting through the day was a drag. It was as though I had forgotten how to meditate and there was not even a shadow of wisdom in sight. The memory of how light, alert and dynamic the mind was since I began meditating more than 3 years ago was as if it never existed. What a real bummer! Today, I said I have had enough. I do not like feeling this way. There is definitely something not quite right.
When I Am Healed, I Am Not Healed Alone
There was this nagging knowledge that there must be another way. So I searched for it in literature and philosophy. There were hints but never a full-fledged teaching. Neither could I find a community to ask life and death questions.
Ideas Underlying Thoughts
Our ideas are the roots, the source of all our reactions. And over time, these reactions, being our experiences, tend to cause those ideas to be reinforced. Hence, it can be said that we're our ideas. Anyone well-versed with our ideas can easily predict our reactions.
Precious Lessons, Priceless Gift
Solving problems requires information about the workings of that field and the know-hows to use that information to make it work for us. The information cannot work for us if we do not know how it works in the first place. More crucial too, without the basics of you-need-to-know, we don’t even know where and how to start, what more solving problems.
New Year—New Year, New Mind
Each year there is this queer yet familiar feeling taking place in this mind as it approaches the end of the year. Do you know what it is? It is this lingering thought of “may the coming new year be a better year”. Did you ever notice this happening too? My suspicion is that it is a common idea occurring in our minds when we have the concept of a “coming new year”. Am I wrong in my assumption?
Igniting The Flame Within
There was the aspiration from then for consistent cultivation by having self-retreats. What started as weekly 3 hours of practice gradually progressed to a regular overnight weekend undertaking. It was an inspiring way of living, in spite of the stress as well as the hustle and bustle of working life. Joyfully, I persevered, and the dhamma (Truth as nature of the way things are) flame was kept ignited.
Towards a Noble Cause
Sri Langkasuka Retreat Village was born with this vision in mind — to support the rare ones who are willing to seek within. We strive to offer the opportunity for those who wish to seek higher wisdom. We strive to offer the best supportive conditions for such a noble aim to come true. You may be one of the rare ones, who wish to live a life of solitude dedicated to the mindscape understanding that leads to enlightenment or inspired to support such an endeavour.
Wisdom’s Way, Suffering’s End
Wisdom is men’s precious gem. Without wisdom, the mind can easily fall into concepts and experiences. The mind will not be aware, and the mind will not understand how the laws of nature work. Our minds are inundated with wrong views. Every piece of information learned since birth – from reading, family conversations, society, the news, movies, and entertainment – gives rise to wrong views. If we do not encounter this path, we will definitely target the externals, project our blame – the externals are not good, these are wrong, others are unfair to me – and experience pain and suffering. All troubled minds are due to wrong views about people, events, and situations. With right view and awareness, the mind will turn and reflect inwards, seeing how the mind projects various wrong views towards people, events, and situations.
Instructively-taken Information
Do you notice the mind has many default systems? Besides the push and pull, liking and disliking, it also takes information as instructions. Before coming on this journey, it did not occur to me that I have always been taking information instructively. For example, when we get a new gadget or electrical appliance, we study the user manual to learn how to use it. We take it as an instruction, don’t we? Do we ask "What is this information trying to tell me?" If you do, that is truly rejoicing. By default, we will just flip through the manual, follow the instructions, and get started. I did not realize at all that the manual was actually giving me information about the item. Hence, when there is a breakdown of an item, we look at the manual to fix the problem.
Originally Creative
Since I had no aptitude for aesthetics, I grew up believing I truly lack even an ounce of creativity in this left-side dominant brain of mine. I was mostly logical, structured, and objective. I thought that only others who have the inborn talent possess, channel, and develop the intrinsic creative ability to mastery. So, that excludes me indefinitely. I took myself to be a stereotypical human duplicate at the end of a production line with no supernatural talents. My life thus far was then lived trapped in this narrow-minded lens where any consideration to attempt at being creative was shrugged off and cast away. I stamped myself as a consumer rather than a creator.
Coming closer to Home
Have you entered a forest without a proper guide? Like anyone of us, entering a dense forest like the Amazon is going to get us trapped. But for the natives knew there is a clear path that we can’t see, not to mention understand. When we explore the mind, it is a similar situation. The mind we have is like a dense forest that we can’t make out and exploring it is not as easy.
Dancing with Defilements
I was at the mercy of these defilements and stood no chance each time they showed up.
When these defilements appeared, I became the defilement. The thoughts filling my head and the feelings I could feel in my body were mine. It was me who was thinking those thoughts and me who was feeling those feelings and they were always oh-so-real.
Is Ignorance Really Bliss?
Ah, how we love a good sleep. It offers an escape from life’s problems and concerns. Better yet, if lucky enough to be graced by a pleasant dream. Such is our indulgence with sleep. Rarely do we realize that sleep puts us in a state of mindlessness. Perhaps we also indulge in this state of ignorance, not having to think.
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