A Very Short Reflection on the Dual Practice of Zen & Pure Land

Short Reflection:

Zen is a matter of practice (learning to dwell happily in the present);
Pure land is a matter of faith (living in Amida's 48 Great Vows).

Zen practice provides the way of life; Pure land faith provides the purpose of life.


Amituofo (with deep gratitude)

Observing different environment & their different energies

Having been in Brisbane one whole year, coming back to Singapore (haven't even started work), I felt a very different environment & a corresponding different energy feel.

In Brisbane I feel relatively more relax and not so hurried. 
Back home now, energies of tension, stress & 'rushing' are coming back to me.
Old and familiar stuffs, so easy and quick to settle into these old grooves, very unfortunately =P

Reflection:

Indeed Singapore does not present an ideal environment for spiritual practice.
But we can also see the same environment as offering many opportunities for practice.
When these energies arises, notice them, refrain from following our self-centred thoughts and let the moment be our teacher.

Yesterday, I had an interesting experience.
A lorry banged into me while reversing, damaging my car plate.
Went into a negative emotion storm. (ha-ha yes I lose my fuse quite easily one)
Am glad I remember to bring a practice perspective into the situation after a few moments.
I was generally able to keep calm and recognise what was going on.

Could see that I was dealing with a very poor uncle in his 60s struggling to make ends meet in his life.  I am not sure but I was confident that the amount of money required to replace the number plate meant a lot to him.

When the emotion storm settled, I was able to see that the best thing to do is really just to pay for a new car plate myself.  This was not clear to me until after he left!
So I called back the uncle to tell him I will settle myself and told him to be more careful next time.
He told me he was grateful, and I felt gratefulness too, Amituofo.


May all of us continue to enjoy our practice and be well and happy.
Amituofo.  =)

Not biting the hook (heart advice from Pema Chodron)

In Tibetan there is a word that points to the root cause of aggression, the root cause also of craving. It points to a familiar experience that is at the root of all conflict, all cruelty, oppression, and greed. This word is shenpa. The usual translation is “attachment,” but this doesn’t adequately express the full meaning. I think of shenpa as “getting hooked.” Another definition, used by Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, is the “charge”—the charge behind our tho...ughts and words and actions, the charge behind “like” and “don’t like.” Here’s an everyday example: Someone criticizes you. She criticizes your work or your appearance or your child. In moments like that, what is it you feel? It has a familiar taste, a familiar smell. Once you begin to notice it, you feel like this experience has been happening forever. That sticky feeling is shenpa. And it comes along with a very seductive urge to do something. Somebody says a harsh word and immediately you can feel a shift. There’s a tightening that rapidly spirals into mentally blaming this person, or wanting revenge or blaming yourself. Then you speak or act. The charge behind the tightening, behind the urge, behind the story line or action is shenpa.

You can actually feel shenpa happening. It’s a sensation that you can easily recognize. Even a spot on your new sweater can take you there. Someone looks at us in a certain way, or we hear a certain song, or walk into a certain room and boom. We’re hooked. It’s a quality of experience that’s not easy to describe but that everyone knows well.
Now, if you catch shenpa early enough, it’s very workable. You can acknowledge that it’s happening and abide with the experience of being triggered, the experience of urge, the experience of wanting to move. It’s like experiencing the yearning to scratch an itch, and generally we find it irresistible. Nevertheless, we can practice patience with that fidgety feeling and hold our seat.

 (From Pema's book, Practicing Peace in Times of War)

To me, everyday life practice is all about working with shenpa...

 May all of us continue to enjoy our practice and be well and happy.
Amituofo.  =)

Beautiful New Zealand

Came back from holidays in New Zealand (South Island).

Beautiful scenery.  Literally my car can just pull over at any point of the road trip and I can look at the scenery and go, "Waaa..."

Complete contrast to the concrete jungle back home =P

Looking at the solid mountains and beautiful sky, I can closely relate them to the two types of meditation that I am doing.

Using example of working with our emotional difficulties:

Pure land practice Recitation of Amituofo is a Samatha type of meditation, using the thought of the Buddha to clear away our negative emotions.
We become grounded solidly like a mountain, and our negative emotions are like clouds coming & going but the mountain does not move.

Zen practice Shikantaza is a Vipassana type of meditation, where we rest in pure awareness and be aware of but not identify with the negative emotions.
Our mind become like the sky, and our negative emotions are like clouds coming & going but not affecting the sky which is always a 'big enough container' for all kinds of and amount of clouds.

May all of us continue to enjoy our practice and be well and happy.
Amituofo.  =)

Final One Day Silent Intensive in Brisbane

Attended I think around 7 one day intensives with the Brisbane Ordinary Mind Zen Group.
Today's the last one cause I be back in Singapore next month.
Time flies, one year has passed since coming here.

Am very grateful and appreciative for the guidance, friendship and practice opportunity that the group and their guiding teacher Gregg Howard have given me for the past year.

Without practicing with them, my spiritual practice during my one year stay in Brisbane would have taken a 'sink or swim' approach and more likely sink than swim =P

Learned and focused on two very valuable techniques while I was here.

1. Formal Sitting - I usually sit using following/counting the breath in a rather focused manner (calm abiding).  Over here I begin to appreciate a more open awareness style (clear seeing) using the breath as an anchor (still need some calmness =p).  I have learned and experimented with open awareness approaches in the past but they were fleeting.  Over the course of this one year, I consistently sat with a the open awareness approach and am very grateful for it as it helps expand my container of awareness, even as a beginner =)

2. Everyday Life - Practicing with emotions is something I tried to do for quite a number of years but again it is in this year that I was able to do it with more consistency helped by the fact that this was an area that Ordinary Mind Zen Practice emphasised.  Recognise, Refrain and Return.  Over and over again.  While I still struggle with emotional difficulties obviously as I am still very much a beginner, I am glad that this technique is finally becoming more integrated in my life, the recent dream post where I remembered to do the 3R was an interesting note, where while it was funny in a way, it also demonstrated to me the power of the 3R method =)

May all of us continue to enjoy our practice and be well and happy.
Amituofo.  =)

Enjoying my breath in the evening

Sitting this evening.
Feeling agitated over something earlier...
Mind kept going back to the energy of agitation & the swirling of thoughts around it...
Decided to do some guided meditation with the following stanzas learned from Plum Village School:

breathing in... breathing out...
(in) deep... (out) slow...
(in) calm... (out) ease...
(in) smile... (out) release...
(in) present moment... (out) wonderful moment...

grateful for a gentle closure to the day =)

May all of us continue to enjoy our practice and be well and happy.
Amituofo.  =)

Enjoying my breath in the morning

Sitting this morning,
decided to do some guided meditation with the following stanzas learned from Plum Village School:

breathing in... breathing out...
(in) flowers... (out) fresh...
(in) mountain... (out) solid...
(in) water... (out) reflecting...
(in) sky... (out) free...

It was really refreshing and a great way to start a day =D

May all of us continue to enjoy our practice and be well and happy.
Amituofo.  =)