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
=)

smiling dwelling of the heart

todae received the 5 mindfulness trainings together with other 250 brothers n sisters,
grateful for the opportunity to receive the trainings,
grateful for the new energy and encouragement to continue the spiritual practice n path,
on this path many ups n downs,
not be surprised more of such "rolling hills",
but as the zen saying goes "fall down seven times, get up eight"...

happy to receive the Dharma name "smiling dwelling of the heart"
my gosh... gotta smile more =p

sailing off in couple hrs for a 2 mth overseas deployment...
see ya soon,
may all be well n happy
may everyone awaken to e kindness n connectedness that is the essential nature of our hearts

breathing in... out... smile =D

Thay in S'pore 2

today Thay gave dharma talk on awareness of feelings,
moving on from yesterday's talk on awareness of body...
1. awareness of joy
2. awareness of happiness

many ways to generate joy , happiness
a. letting go
so a story was told about a farmer with 3 cows, one day he lost them,
farmer was so distraught, stressed up n frustrated n felt like end of world,
Buddha told his disciples, "aren't u lucky u dun hav any cows to lose?"
so what are the cows that we are holding onto?
goodness, i think the farmer is pretty enlightened,
he onli got 3 cows, i think i got 1000 over =O kekeke
b. mindfulness energy

3. awareness of feelings, e.g. awareness of the fear/anger arising etc
know that our store consciousness contain many seeds,
negative ones like fear/anger etc,
conditions are ripe, they will arise,
practice means bringing up another seed from store consciousness,
seed of mindfulness,
use mindfulness to embrace fear/anger like a mother take care of her baby,
sayang sayang... take good care of it, n slowly transform the negative energy

4. releasing the tension from the feelings

breathing in, breathing out ahhh...

another nice relaxing day in retreat, recharging my spiritual batteries

may all beings be well n happy
kwan seum bosal =)

Thich Nhat Hanh in Singapore!

Beginning yesterdae nite, 5 days retreat with Thay began...
its my 3rd retreat with the plum village tradition...
within few daes of advertising, >600 (i think) pple signed up n full hse!
wow!
i was put on waiting list n feel sooo fortunate to still make it for the retreat!
haha why am i typing this in middle of retreat?? =O
keke cause i am a stay out participant, so many pple lo,
PKS actualli dun have enough space for all of us =p

i am so grateful for this retreat for 3 reasons:
1. that i can actualli do a retreat with Thay in S'pore is such a miracle,
having benefited from his teachings thru the many books he wrote,
it just fills mi up with so much joy n gratitude that i can receive his teachings in person =D
2. that i can actualli get my fiancee (who is not a practicioner) to join e retreat keke
i hope she will enjoy n benefit from this retreat! =D
3. that again its timely, before my long overseas deployment, a chance to refresh n reinforce the energy of mindfulness n energy =)

today Thay focused on the teachings of mindfulness of the breath,
and he discussed the first 4 methods of practicing with the breath,

1. being aware of the in and out breath, with mental noting/gatha (breathing in/out)
to assist n support the mindfulness of the breath
2. following the breath, awareness of the entire flow of the breath, including the gaps in between the breathing in/out
3. awareness of the body, returning to the here n now n dwell in body sensations,
4. releasing tension from the body, taking good care of the body,
a nourishing and healing process indeed (thru the total relaxation method)

Sister Chan Kong led us through total relaxation and touching the earth practices,
so embarassingly, i was so tired that i feel asleep midway thru the total relaxation kekeke

it just so inspiring to have Thay and the many >30 monastics from plum village traditon to lead us thru this wonderful retreat =)
hope the mindfulness energy of the plum village will take root here in s'pore n tat more pple will benefit from this positive energy n practice =)
looking fwd to the 2nd day...

better go sleep now kekeke

happiness is here n now

a year has passed since my first retreat under the guidance of venerables from plum village...
so timely to do a 2nd retreat under the same tradition =)

being free from silly pre-conceptions n beliefs this time round,
that "zen dun sing" etc haha
i find myself enjoying this retreat so much more =)
i actualli realli enjoy the singing sessions so much
and my favorite song is:
happiness is here n now

Happiness is here and now
i have dropped my worries
nowhere to go, nothing to do
no longer in a hurry

Happiness is here n now
i have dropped my worries,
somwhere to go, something to do
but i dun need to hurry

of cse unfortunately i can't literally sing it to u =p
if u noticed, the lyrics of each song deserve a dharma talk on its own =)

as a member of the organising comm,
i felt so paiseh that i could contribute so little due to the business of my work life...
i realli appreciate n grateful for the rest of the team who put in so much efforts to make this retreat happen n so wonderful, thank u my dear frens =D
but nevertheless coming to retreat, i just have to drop all these n enjoy da retreat keke

it was truly an "international event" with venerables n participants coming from all over the world,
argentina, france, germany, demark, canada, china, vietnam, indonesia, thailand, malaysia n s'pore...
its so wonderful to hear so many different languages n versions of the same songs that we sing during the singing sessions... cool =)

as i said during my entry for the previous retreat,
the approach from this school of zen is truly a different flavor of zen that i was more "used to"
little sitting (something personally i might wished for more),
nice long walks enjoying the present moment,
singing, dharma talks, discussions and even group presentations
its realli have the feel of more like a zen camp =)
but its truly refreshing and rejuvenating weekend for mi,
n help to strengthen the light of mindfulness within muh =)

been reading regularly Thay's books n i think i am benefiting more n more from his teachings,
his teachings so gentle so gently touching my everyday life =D
just breathing in breathing out, the miracle of mindfulness
share another favorite song related to this miracle
(is there such a thing as more than 1 favorite song? doesn't matter pls enjoy)
Breathing in Breathing out

breathing in breathing out
breathing in breathing out
i'm blooming as a flower
i am fresh as the dew
i am solid as a mountain
i am firm as the earth
i am free
breathing in breathing out
breathing in breathing out
i'm water reflecting what is real, what is true
and i feel there is a space
deep inside mi
i am free i am free i am free