Thursday, November 11, 2010
Watching the Waves
MONSOON HISTORY !!! Once I worked in Kelantan and my friends and I used to go to the seaside every Thursday evening to swim in the sea. The beach that we used to go to was Beach of Passionate Love (Pantai Cinta Berahi). However, during the monsoon season (Nov. to February) we could not swim in the sea as it was too rough and dangerous. Instead we would explore the beach during this time. On one occasion we saw some local villagers watching the waves breaking on the beach and then ran towards the sand to pick up coins washed up by the waves. Curious, I too tried to pick up the coins, however, I failed to pick any because the moment the waves recede, they wash the sand downwards and the sand would cover the coins. So, unless our eyes were very sharp, alert and vigilant, only then can we pick up the coins. This required skill and training. This activity of the villagers has remained vividly in my memory.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Eight Right Paths
According to Ajahn Chah, the eight right paths are our 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nostrils, 1 tongue and 1 body. We must thread carefully on these 8 paths carefully and guards their doors carefully. Then we are walking on the 8 noble paths.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Kalama Sutta
Kalama Sutta
Do not believe in anything (simply)
because you have heard it.
Do not believe in traditions because they
have been handed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because it is
spoken and rumoured by many.
Do not believe in anything (simply) because
it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority
of your teachers and elders.
But after observation and analysis
when you find that anything agrees with reason
and is conductive to the good and benefit of one and all
then accept it and live up to it.
Buddha
(Anguttara Nikaya Vol. 1, 188-193 P.T.S. Ed.)
Do not believe in anything (simply)
because you have heard it.
Do not believe in traditions because they
have been handed down for many generations.
Do not believe in anything because it is
spoken and rumoured by many.
Do not believe in anything (simply) because
it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority
of your teachers and elders.
But after observation and analysis
when you find that anything agrees with reason
and is conductive to the good and benefit of one and all
then accept it and live up to it.
Buddha
(Anguttara Nikaya Vol. 1, 188-193 P.T.S. Ed.)
Friday, May 7, 2010
HOW TO LET GO
HOW TO LET GO
I remember what Ajahn Brahm said about the storm that blew down the leaves from the trees. Some brown leaves were still clinging onto the branches while some green leaves were blown to the ground. Some people die young and some die old, it all depends on one's karma. When the supportive karma is exhausted, then it is time to change to another life or being. Life comes and life goes, the setting sun in one nation is the rising sun in another. There is no big deal, actually. What causes the pain and the discontent that we encounter is our attachment to our loved ones and our belongings. When we are able to detach ourselves from these, then we will experience less pain and stress. Non-attachment is really a state of mind and not the physical act of abandoning or discarding. In this respect, we have to learn to let go.
Your question was how to let go. Letting go means letting go of our attachments. What actually are we attach to? We are attach to sensual pleasures that draw our mind away through our sense doors, that is, our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. We are also attached to emotional states such as love, hatred, jealousy, anger, aversion and desire. It is our attachment to these sensual desires and mental states that drives us to seek satisfaction or happiness externally or from the mundane level. In actual fact, we should direct our mind inwards, back to the body and back to the mind itself in order to find happiness and a greater satisfaction in life. What do I mean?
The sense objects around us cause our sense organs to perceive them or experience them through our senses. These experiences are actually neutral in itself. However, the nature of the mind is that it will evaluate these experiences and make some kind of a conclusion. When it concludes that the experience is good or wonderful, we will strive to experience more of it. However, if the experience is undesirable, we will detest the sense object. Let me give you an example. The durian , as a sense object of the eye and the nose is neutral. After a man has smelt it and tasted it, he will form a conclusion, such as, it is a very delicious fruit or it is the king of fruits. Henceforth, whenever he sees a durian, he will desire to taste it. Some people go as far as seeking better and better durians by going to orchards or distant locations to satisfy their heightened taste of durians. Sometimes when they visit a famous orchard like those on Penang island or in Perak and when the fruit is not really up to their expectations, they will feel angry or disappointed. So, these are mental states of desire and aversion.
Looks like I still haven't come to the part of how to LET GO. This can be learnt from Buddhist meditation and then applied to our daily life. The idea is to stop or severe the link between the experience and the thinking. You can do this by acknowledging the experience, such as by saying seeing, seeing or smelling, smelling and then let go. Do not let the sense experience creep into your evaluation process so that your mind will not form an opinion about the sense object, such as like or dislike. Just LET GO of the experience. The advantage of meditation is that we have an object of meditation to revert to after we have let go. In daily life, we do not have a fix object , so what is the object that we should revert to after we have let go? We keep our mind focused on what we are doing at the moment, such as eating, walking or sitting. This is called keeping the mind in the present.
So, when we choose an object of meditation, such as our breath , we park our mind at this object. Whenever our mind wanders off out through our sense doors, we pull it back again to the object by acknowledging, generally by saying knowing, knowing and specifically by saying hearing, hearing or feeling, feeling. In this way, we train our mind to stay at a place and not wander off to form evaluations or create stories that are triggered off by the sense experience.
I have tried to explain how to let go based on the little knowledge that I have. If I have presented the wrong view, please correct me.
Foo Kong.
I remember what Ajahn Brahm said about the storm that blew down the leaves from the trees. Some brown leaves were still clinging onto the branches while some green leaves were blown to the ground. Some people die young and some die old, it all depends on one's karma. When the supportive karma is exhausted, then it is time to change to another life or being. Life comes and life goes, the setting sun in one nation is the rising sun in another. There is no big deal, actually. What causes the pain and the discontent that we encounter is our attachment to our loved ones and our belongings. When we are able to detach ourselves from these, then we will experience less pain and stress. Non-attachment is really a state of mind and not the physical act of abandoning or discarding. In this respect, we have to learn to let go.
Your question was how to let go. Letting go means letting go of our attachments. What actually are we attach to? We are attach to sensual pleasures that draw our mind away through our sense doors, that is, our eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin. We are also attached to emotional states such as love, hatred, jealousy, anger, aversion and desire. It is our attachment to these sensual desires and mental states that drives us to seek satisfaction or happiness externally or from the mundane level. In actual fact, we should direct our mind inwards, back to the body and back to the mind itself in order to find happiness and a greater satisfaction in life. What do I mean?
The sense objects around us cause our sense organs to perceive them or experience them through our senses. These experiences are actually neutral in itself. However, the nature of the mind is that it will evaluate these experiences and make some kind of a conclusion. When it concludes that the experience is good or wonderful, we will strive to experience more of it. However, if the experience is undesirable, we will detest the sense object. Let me give you an example. The durian , as a sense object of the eye and the nose is neutral. After a man has smelt it and tasted it, he will form a conclusion, such as, it is a very delicious fruit or it is the king of fruits. Henceforth, whenever he sees a durian, he will desire to taste it. Some people go as far as seeking better and better durians by going to orchards or distant locations to satisfy their heightened taste of durians. Sometimes when they visit a famous orchard like those on Penang island or in Perak and when the fruit is not really up to their expectations, they will feel angry or disappointed. So, these are mental states of desire and aversion.
Looks like I still haven't come to the part of how to LET GO. This can be learnt from Buddhist meditation and then applied to our daily life. The idea is to stop or severe the link between the experience and the thinking. You can do this by acknowledging the experience, such as by saying seeing, seeing or smelling, smelling and then let go. Do not let the sense experience creep into your evaluation process so that your mind will not form an opinion about the sense object, such as like or dislike. Just LET GO of the experience. The advantage of meditation is that we have an object of meditation to revert to after we have let go. In daily life, we do not have a fix object , so what is the object that we should revert to after we have let go? We keep our mind focused on what we are doing at the moment, such as eating, walking or sitting. This is called keeping the mind in the present.
So, when we choose an object of meditation, such as our breath , we park our mind at this object. Whenever our mind wanders off out through our sense doors, we pull it back again to the object by acknowledging, generally by saying knowing, knowing and specifically by saying hearing, hearing or feeling, feeling. In this way, we train our mind to stay at a place and not wander off to form evaluations or create stories that are triggered off by the sense experience.
I have tried to explain how to let go based on the little knowledge that I have. If I have presented the wrong view, please correct me.
Foo Kong.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Novice Monk
That's me, a novice monk at Kek Lok Si temple, Penang in 1982. It was 2 week programme. I remember losing a lot of weight after this programme. I observed 8 precepts and had to wake up at 4.30 am.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
A Novice Monk
a
A Monk.
I was once a novice monk at the Kek Lok Si temple in Penang in 1982. It was for a duration of two weeks. Then I was involved in the Kelantan Buddhist Association and when a friend suggested the idea of being a novice monk to me, I took it up. During the two weeks I observed the eight precepts and lost a lot of weight. It was quite tough, the waking up early in the morning part but it was a wonderful experience.
A Monk.
I was once a novice monk at the Kek Lok Si temple in Penang in 1982. It was for a duration of two weeks. Then I was involved in the Kelantan Buddhist Association and when a friend suggested the idea of being a novice monk to me, I took it up. During the two weeks I observed the eight precepts and lost a lot of weight. It was quite tough, the waking up early in the morning part but it was a wonderful experience.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
LP Meechai and me
LP Meechai is a popular monk among the Chinese community who seek his blessings to improve their business, fortune or health.
LP Meechai is from Surin, near the Cambodian border. LP has lived in a cave where there is also a big black snake. It is said that this snake will come to the foothill to accompany LP up to the cave whenever LP returns to the cave.
When LP performed prayer service at night at the Sg Petani centre, many orbs appeared (caught in the photos of many cameras).
I have met LP 3 times and was lucky to have taken this photo with him.
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