AThe phenomena of rain under bright sunlight is rare during my younger days but it is getting very frequent lately. There is an old local taboo which warn people not to walk in the rain during such occurence. Otherwise, their hairs will turn white. It is quite a rediculous taboo and it have faded into oblivion.
At the moment sitting here, a song came to my mind as I enjoy a cool strong breeze under a strong sunlight. The name of the song is " Have you ever seen the rain"? In this song, it describe about the phenomena which I have mentioned earlier and it also describe about the sun turning cold while the rain turn hard. This song was written by CCR in the mid 80's and during that that time the composer of this song already have this awareness and feeling that everything is changing and strange things are happening. In actual fact, the weather is changing constantly and recently, there have been many disasters and tragedy where volcanos which have been dormant for many years came alive , mud slides occurs after heavy rain , earthquakes followed by tsunami.
Those people who have been caught in these tragedies have question the existence of God and they have ask why God create them and punish them at the same time. In Buddhism, we called this tragedy, the work of the karma. But, why the whole village ? Are all these people guilty of something bad in the past ? If not, why punish them all at once ? Our great teachers have been telling us that if something bad or good happens , it is for a reason. The only answer to this question at this moment is that everything is changing and we cannot control and determine its outcome. After a strong wind at night, there will be alot of leaves on the ground in the next morning and in some cases, some weak trees or plants will get uprooted as well. This is the way of nature. Something fell and others have to wait for their turn to fall.
I saw a vedio on the dooms day website and it was about a cosmo clashing onto the earth at a high speed and creating havoc to our mother earth , causing earthquakes , tsunami and explosions and finally split the earth into many pieces and the whole world perish after that. What can we do about it ? There is nothing we can do if this happens , so why worry. All of us have to die but once, so whether it is for another 100 years or the next 10 years, who will know. Whether the whole world will extinct or not , it is also everybody's guess. So, we should concentrate on the present moment and live meaningfully and find peace from within.
Buddha, who exist more than 2,500 years ago have understood all these sufferings which all of us have to go through in our life time and he shared his wisdom and teaching with all of us so that we can guide our behaviour and thinking to live a better life. His teaching of living in the "Now" have been getting worldwide attention and have been promoted by writers and self improvement lecturers.
Finally, lets forget the past which have gone, don't worry about the future which is yet to come and what we have is now. All of us should live wisely and live meaningfully in the present moment which is NOW.
Namaste.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The festival of lights - Deepavali
Today is the celebration of Deepavali , the festival of lights by people of Hindu faith. It is the victory of lights over darkness. In the Asian culture, light is positive and a source of power and darkness is depict as evil and weakness. In the chinese belief, light is Yang and darkness is Ying . In the West , this belief also holds true.
Last night at 12 mid night, there was a war going on outside my house, with all the "gun fires" blasting in continuous sequence and the noice was very loud. In intervals, there was a few "canon fires" which was loud and deafening. These burning of fire crackers was originally the culture of the Chinese to celebrate the arrival of each Lunar New Year. On the eve of the new year, there will be a whole lot of firing of "guns and canons". The purpose is to scare away the evils and devils and welcome a peaceful and prosperous new year.. This culture have spread to other races in Malaysia including the Malays, when they celebrate their new year. Whatever festivals comes around including Christmas, Independence day and other religious days , you will need to tolerate such noise and the "gun fires". This means the ghost or devil will be frighten a few times in a year.
However, in yoga or in the Chinese art of living, the philosophy is to have a balance of both forces. Either too much light or darkness could cause illness or damage to the body and the mind In one sect of the Buddhism, Grey is the perfect color , a balance mix of black and white.
In Yoga, the left nostril is the Yang or the heat force and the right nostril is the Ying which is cold force. If our body is cold, the body will have a natural mechanism to open up the left nostril for breathing and will balance the temperature in our body. If our body are hot , the breathing through the right nostril will do the job. Hence, you can see that the breathing is not only to provide oxygen to our body but also as a thermometer to adjust the temperature of our body. Proper breathing pattern and mechanism will provide us a well balance body condition and this will support a positive mind and proper thinking.
When we practise meditation, we use our breath to bring us into deep meditation and into "no man's land" . In real and deep meditation, there is selfless and persistent bliss at that level. In some yogi, one breath is at 50 counts. That is from one in-breath to the next out-breath is at a count of 50. This achievement needs gradual practice and guidance. Please do not attempt by yourself until you are ready.
In Tai Chi, the Tao or way is to use a slow motion of the hands and legs to control and balance the breathing. Some people called Tai Chi , the practice of meditation in motion. The pace of the motion depends on each practitioner and their achievements. To achieve health benefits, this practice needs to be done regularly and in a suitable environment. To explain in words is difficult but when you go through the process with proper guidance, you will realize the enormous benefits including replenishing your energy and brings you awareness to your body conditions. Healthy body , healthy mind,
Back to the festival of lights, it is spiritual and religious day, may light win over evil and may peace be on earth for eternity.
Namaste.
Last night at 12 mid night, there was a war going on outside my house, with all the "gun fires" blasting in continuous sequence and the noice was very loud. In intervals, there was a few "canon fires" which was loud and deafening. These burning of fire crackers was originally the culture of the Chinese to celebrate the arrival of each Lunar New Year. On the eve of the new year, there will be a whole lot of firing of "guns and canons". The purpose is to scare away the evils and devils and welcome a peaceful and prosperous new year.. This culture have spread to other races in Malaysia including the Malays, when they celebrate their new year. Whatever festivals comes around including Christmas, Independence day and other religious days , you will need to tolerate such noise and the "gun fires". This means the ghost or devil will be frighten a few times in a year.
However, in yoga or in the Chinese art of living, the philosophy is to have a balance of both forces. Either too much light or darkness could cause illness or damage to the body and the mind In one sect of the Buddhism, Grey is the perfect color , a balance mix of black and white.
In Yoga, the left nostril is the Yang or the heat force and the right nostril is the Ying which is cold force. If our body is cold, the body will have a natural mechanism to open up the left nostril for breathing and will balance the temperature in our body. If our body are hot , the breathing through the right nostril will do the job. Hence, you can see that the breathing is not only to provide oxygen to our body but also as a thermometer to adjust the temperature of our body. Proper breathing pattern and mechanism will provide us a well balance body condition and this will support a positive mind and proper thinking.
When we practise meditation, we use our breath to bring us into deep meditation and into "no man's land" . In real and deep meditation, there is selfless and persistent bliss at that level. In some yogi, one breath is at 50 counts. That is from one in-breath to the next out-breath is at a count of 50. This achievement needs gradual practice and guidance. Please do not attempt by yourself until you are ready.
In Tai Chi, the Tao or way is to use a slow motion of the hands and legs to control and balance the breathing. Some people called Tai Chi , the practice of meditation in motion. The pace of the motion depends on each practitioner and their achievements. To achieve health benefits, this practice needs to be done regularly and in a suitable environment. To explain in words is difficult but when you go through the process with proper guidance, you will realize the enormous benefits including replenishing your energy and brings you awareness to your body conditions. Healthy body , healthy mind,
Back to the festival of lights, it is spiritual and religious day, may light win over evil and may peace be on earth for eternity.
Namaste.
Talk is cheap, it is not easy
Talk is cheap, things are not that easy, wrote one of my friend in her facebook. Yes, nobody is saying that life is easy. We have to admit that life is difficult and that is why we need to train and manage our mind and ourself. That is why, we acquire knowledge and wisdom to make our life easier and more plreasnt in our journey through this transit dimension.
I remember of a very good article and I would like to delicate to this friend of mine. It is about this research fellow who is doing a thesis on butterfly. He was observing that the birth of the butterfly from a larva to a young butterfly. Before the butterfly come out of the cocoon, the larva went through a very tedious process of squeezing through a tiny conduit from one chamber to another. The process took a long time and it looks very painful. So, the research fellow was wondering why is nature so cruel and he decided to speed up the process and cut the conduit wider , sothe c that the larva came speed up the process and come out of the cocoon. Yes, the butterfuly came out of the cocoon as usual and looks extremely beautiful like it was as the same previous process. But , the butterfly cannot fly. Nature have create it in such way, that the narrow conduit is needed to drag all the liquid from the wings of the butterfly and straighten the wings to make it strong before the wings can fly. There is a reason for everything.
Similarly, human needs to go through bitterness and pain before they get stronger and become more appreciative of their effort and life. If everybody is born with a silver spoon in their mouth, then what happen to this world, it will be full of weaklings. LIke a champion boxer or a kungful fighter, they have to endure blood , sweat and tears to become a champion. There is no short cut. In this tedious and painful profess, there is where we need to learn to rwe will telax, enjoy and strengthen ourself , otherwise, we will burn out very fast. So, talking is a way to remind and inspire others and ourself , the need to endure and strength our body, mind and spirit.
Like I say, life is difficult. There are so many things to do at the same time . At times, it is so suffocating and madness. Yes, if you pull together a bunch of chopstick and try to break all the chopsticks at once, it will be very difficult and tough. But, if you separate the chopstick one by one, it will be so much more easier to break. We have to train our mind to be aware and be focus. Take a step at a time and a thousand mile journey will soon be completed. There is a famous chnese saying " if we can eat the bitterness of the bitter , we will be the man above men".
There is another chinese saying "All of us can eat at the same table but we have to seek wisdom separately ". This means that all of us have our own way of learning and achieving wisdom. There is an art of living but yet we live differently to achieve wisdom. Nobody's expectation is the same and all of us re-ac differently to different triggers.
\
Everyone of us can be the NATO President (No action, Talk only) but by listening to good and practical advise, it can inspire us and give us the necessary strength to face our challenges in life. If it is not now to test our dharma , then when ? .
Namaste
I remember of a very good article and I would like to delicate to this friend of mine. It is about this research fellow who is doing a thesis on butterfly. He was observing that the birth of the butterfly from a larva to a young butterfly. Before the butterfly come out of the cocoon, the larva went through a very tedious process of squeezing through a tiny conduit from one chamber to another. The process took a long time and it looks very painful. So, the research fellow was wondering why is nature so cruel and he decided to speed up the process and cut the conduit wider , sothe c that the larva came speed up the process and come out of the cocoon. Yes, the butterfuly came out of the cocoon as usual and looks extremely beautiful like it was as the same previous process. But , the butterfly cannot fly. Nature have create it in such way, that the narrow conduit is needed to drag all the liquid from the wings of the butterfly and straighten the wings to make it strong before the wings can fly. There is a reason for everything.
Similarly, human needs to go through bitterness and pain before they get stronger and become more appreciative of their effort and life. If everybody is born with a silver spoon in their mouth, then what happen to this world, it will be full of weaklings. LIke a champion boxer or a kungful fighter, they have to endure blood , sweat and tears to become a champion. There is no short cut. In this tedious and painful profess, there is where we need to learn to rwe will telax, enjoy and strengthen ourself , otherwise, we will burn out very fast. So, talking is a way to remind and inspire others and ourself , the need to endure and strength our body, mind and spirit.
Like I say, life is difficult. There are so many things to do at the same time . At times, it is so suffocating and madness. Yes, if you pull together a bunch of chopstick and try to break all the chopsticks at once, it will be very difficult and tough. But, if you separate the chopstick one by one, it will be so much more easier to break. We have to train our mind to be aware and be focus. Take a step at a time and a thousand mile journey will soon be completed. There is a famous chnese saying " if we can eat the bitterness of the bitter , we will be the man above men".
There is another chinese saying "All of us can eat at the same table but we have to seek wisdom separately ". This means that all of us have our own way of learning and achieving wisdom. There is an art of living but yet we live differently to achieve wisdom. Nobody's expectation is the same and all of us re-ac differently to different triggers.
\
Everyone of us can be the NATO President (No action, Talk only) but by listening to good and practical advise, it can inspire us and give us the necessary strength to face our challenges in life. If it is not now to test our dharma , then when ? .
Namaste
An uninvited visitor
Today, we have to cancel our yoga class. While waiting to start the class, a women walk into my teacher's hoFuse and start to speak in strange tongues. We could not understand a single word she was unterring. Is that Thai or Malay ? It was totally unrecognisable. One of my fellow yogi was a half Thai and she start to talk to her in Thai but she could not understand and continued to speak in her own language. Finally, we know that she is a Cambodian, We do not know what to do and was busy checking with our friends to find out whether there is any interpreter who can help us.
She looks dirty and her legs were swollen as if she has been walking for a long time. Finally, the semi Thai yogi got hold of her friend's maid who is also a cambodian and she dial her up and let the stranger talk to her friend's maid, They talk in cambodian for a while and I notice that she was complaining about her employer. Finally, I have to interrupt her and ask her to pass the phone back to my fellow semi Thai yogi , who start to speak to the maid in English. Before she can start, her friend's maid scolded her for abusing the stranger and ask her why she push a brush into the stranger's mouth. This caught my fellow Thai yogi by surprise and start to tell her that she is not her boss. Then, her friend's maid apologize and told her that the stranger's boss have ill-treated her and have abuse her badly.
There was nothing we can do as we do not know the whole story. Finally, my yogi friend's maid pass the phone to her employer. He advise us not to do anything except to take her to the police station to make a report or call the police to the house. Finally, my teahcer's father came home and he called the police to come to the house. We waited for 15 minutes and two detective came over. The moment they step off their bikes, they show us their identity and asked who abuse her and after our explanation, the two detectives follow the stranger to her employer's house and only then, we know the employer lived in the same vacinity. Then off we go after our teacher told us that the class is cancelled.
Anyway, how can we proceed as our mood have changed and it is as if destined that we have to rest before the festival of lights tomorrow. The lession here is that anything can happen at anytime and in whatever event, it is test of our dharma and patient. We have waited for the police and also spend time calling our friends and this showed the yoga spirit of caring for others even if he or she is a stranger. If she is alone, it will be very scary for her and anything could have happen to her.
There is nothing much that have been done by us but in our small little way, we have help a fellow human being in trouble at the expense of an hour of yoga.
Be prepared for any eventuality and keep your patience and enjoy the companionship and the spirit of togetherness and inter-connectedness.
Namaste.
She looks dirty and her legs were swollen as if she has been walking for a long time. Finally, the semi Thai yogi got hold of her friend's maid who is also a cambodian and she dial her up and let the stranger talk to her friend's maid, They talk in cambodian for a while and I notice that she was complaining about her employer. Finally, I have to interrupt her and ask her to pass the phone back to my fellow semi Thai yogi , who start to speak to the maid in English. Before she can start, her friend's maid scolded her for abusing the stranger and ask her why she push a brush into the stranger's mouth. This caught my fellow Thai yogi by surprise and start to tell her that she is not her boss. Then, her friend's maid apologize and told her that the stranger's boss have ill-treated her and have abuse her badly.
There was nothing we can do as we do not know the whole story. Finally, my yogi friend's maid pass the phone to her employer. He advise us not to do anything except to take her to the police station to make a report or call the police to the house. Finally, my teahcer's father came home and he called the police to come to the house. We waited for 15 minutes and two detective came over. The moment they step off their bikes, they show us their identity and asked who abuse her and after our explanation, the two detectives follow the stranger to her employer's house and only then, we know the employer lived in the same vacinity. Then off we go after our teacher told us that the class is cancelled.
Anyway, how can we proceed as our mood have changed and it is as if destined that we have to rest before the festival of lights tomorrow. The lession here is that anything can happen at anytime and in whatever event, it is test of our dharma and patient. We have waited for the police and also spend time calling our friends and this showed the yoga spirit of caring for others even if he or she is a stranger. If she is alone, it will be very scary for her and anything could have happen to her.
There is nothing much that have been done by us but in our small little way, we have help a fellow human being in trouble at the expense of an hour of yoga.
Be prepared for any eventuality and keep your patience and enjoy the companionship and the spirit of togetherness and inter-connectedness.
Namaste.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Hurting the people we love most
It is ironical why we talk politely and keep a smile when we talk to strangers but to our immediately family members , we often show our true colors and talk straight to them. This is the wrong mindset as we take for granted that the people who love us or we love will tolerate our displeasure and outburst.
In this society, we are expected to put forward our best front and look and talk pleasantly Otherwise, we will be deemed as mad or crazy people. Of course, if we smile or greet our adversaries is also deemed to be out of this world.
Have you ever asked why? Is this our upbringing or this is a normal way of thinking or behaviour in our society? We should be doing the reverse, that is to appreciate the people who love us or we love and give them the best treatment and appreciation. We must be mad or rrazy if we hurt them. It would be like biting the hand that feeds you or care for you.
When our boss scold us or talk rudely to us , we keep our cool and become apologetic and still have to keep a pleasant face infront of them. But, if our wife or husband or mother or father said or do something out of line or we don't like we jump at them and sometimes , releasing all the frustration and pent up emotions all at one leash at them. We take for granted that it will all end well after this idoitic act But, please remember, the hurts remains and they suffer in silence. So, when we are young, we do it to your parents or your elders but when you get old, the young ones will do the same to you. What goes around, comes around. This is a stupid mindset which we need to unlearn,
When a young couple is couting, they will put forward their best and try to attract their partners and let them believe that you are the best for them but after you are married, most often, you will keep your cosmetics and best dress for occasions with outsiders and wear the worst clothing in the house. You will be consider mad , if you wear the best clothes with best cosmetic look with only your husband or your parents. But , isn't this the way. We should be at our best with the ones we love. Why are we caring so much for the strangers. This is madness , A wrong upbringing and a bad example of society. When we are sick or down who will care for us , outsiders ?
Folks, we have to think and live of the box , the life is the box is wrong. Wake up and make the change.
Namaste.
In this society, we are expected to put forward our best front and look and talk pleasantly Otherwise, we will be deemed as mad or crazy people. Of course, if we smile or greet our adversaries is also deemed to be out of this world.
Have you ever asked why? Is this our upbringing or this is a normal way of thinking or behaviour in our society? We should be doing the reverse, that is to appreciate the people who love us or we love and give them the best treatment and appreciation. We must be mad or rrazy if we hurt them. It would be like biting the hand that feeds you or care for you.
When our boss scold us or talk rudely to us , we keep our cool and become apologetic and still have to keep a pleasant face infront of them. But, if our wife or husband or mother or father said or do something out of line or we don't like we jump at them and sometimes , releasing all the frustration and pent up emotions all at one leash at them. We take for granted that it will all end well after this idoitic act But, please remember, the hurts remains and they suffer in silence. So, when we are young, we do it to your parents or your elders but when you get old, the young ones will do the same to you. What goes around, comes around. This is a stupid mindset which we need to unlearn,
When a young couple is couting, they will put forward their best and try to attract their partners and let them believe that you are the best for them but after you are married, most often, you will keep your cosmetics and best dress for occasions with outsiders and wear the worst clothing in the house. You will be consider mad , if you wear the best clothes with best cosmetic look with only your husband or your parents. But , isn't this the way. We should be at our best with the ones we love. Why are we caring so much for the strangers. This is madness , A wrong upbringing and a bad example of society. When we are sick or down who will care for us , outsiders ?
Folks, we have to think and live of the box , the life is the box is wrong. Wake up and make the change.
Namaste.
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