Day of Mindfulness (DOM)

Today joyful garden sangha we held a day of mindfulness @ pao ern shih...
it was great to see so many (70) pple motivated to practice for a day together,
realli appreciative of the strong collective energy =)

programme was
walking meditation followed by a Dharma talk by Thay (DVD) on the Brahmaviharas - loving kindness, compassion, joy and inclusiveness (amounting to true love =))
then a veri nice lunch courtesy of pao ern shih yum yum =p
afterwhich we did total relaxation, dharma discussion, sitting meditation, 5 mindfulness trainings recitation and wrapping up b4 going home =)

a meaningful day indeed =)

had this short discussion on laziness with regards to practice...
shared my own experience,
that i see it somewhat like the stock market =p
sometimes bull run (when the postive energy to practice is strong)
sometimes bear mkt (when laziness n resistance to practice sets in)
often i realise the trigger for a bull run,
more often than not, is the attendance of a retreat,
be it a one day DOM, 3 day/ 5 days retreats,
the important thing is probably the collective energy of the retreat of all retreatants,
set off within myself the positive energy to put in jus that little extra effort into practice...

that little extra energy to perserve with daily sittings...
extra energy to remember to do conscious breathing, mindful walking, loving speech deep listening etc during everyday life...
that little extra energy to rem to refrain from manifestation of emotional reactions n rtn to the physical sensations etc...

thank u my spiritual frens,
for bringing about the "bull runs" =)

sincerely yours,
ur lazy zen student =P

working with emotional distress

i think hardly a day passes without some kind of emotional distress arising,
big or small, work related or personal life related...
be it anger, irritation, frustration etc etc etc

here's a line from ezra bayda that puts emotional distress into perspective,
practice perspective...

...emotional distress is a signal that we are experiencing life through the filter of an ideal, a picture or an expectation...

if there's enough mindfulness on that day on that occasion,
i might... just might rem to practice with the emotional distress =p
usually this is possible when i rem to do conscious breathing...

some steps that u might find helpful in such situations...
1. becoming aware of the distress energy arising within, breathing in breathing out,
thru conscious breathing, i might just be able to loosen my identification with the distress related thoughts a little, open up my mind a little and bring a practice perspective to the whole situation
2. refrain from my normal emotional reactions, be it justifications thru more thinking, blaming/lashing out at others or suppression within... all these of cse fuel more energy to the distress and makes e identification with the distress energy even more intense...
3. label the thinking, to clarify the mental process and not getting caught up within the juicy details of my thinking...
4. residing in the physical sensations of the negative emotion itself, this is returning to the here and now, and if the energy of mindfulness is strong enough, the emotional distress may start to slowly break up and slowly dissolve into something not so solid not so frightening...
but of cse to expect the emotional distress to dissolve is an expectation itself,
so just watch the whole process with interest and see what happens...
what is this?

may all be well n happy,
deep bow...

3 day retreat 24 - 27 dec in Dharma Drum Tradition

dear frens,

coming end of year there will be a 3 day retreat at pao4 en1 shi4,
in the tradition of Dharma Drum Mountain (Master Sheng Yen's tradition)

doing a little advertisement for them =)

http://ddys.pixnet.net/blog/post/32865204

i am praying hard my schedule allows mi to join!
hope to see u there ;)

may all of u out there my dear frens,
reading my blog,
i sincerely wishes,
may u be well n happy always,
thanks for being my companions along the journey of life,
i am forever grateful for ur company...
a deep bow of gratitude
=)