寂寞, 爱

今天是中国民间的光棍节, 很多单身的人们, 被提醒要去摆脱单身, 寂寞, 寻找爱情。

想起前一阵子, 朋友曾经问过我, 为什么我能自己一人看戏, 喝茶, 难道我不怕寂寞吗?

怕, 我当然怕, 但独自一人不代表着寂寞侵袭。

如果心寂寞, 独自一人也好, 在人群中也好, 和朋友, 爱人在一起也好, 还是会寂寞。 这种心灵的依赖, 难免会带来失落, 悲伤。

心自在, 寂寞就无从侵蚀你的心。我不是偏爱独自一人, 但我一个人的时候, 享受一个人的时光, 和朋友, 亲人在一起的时候, 享受和他们在一起的时光。

我怕的, 不是我独自一人, 怕的是一不小心让寂寞吞噬了心, 人到了哪里, 和谁在一起, 心, 都是寂寞的, 苦了自己, 苦了爱你的人。

"若因寂寞而爱, 那爱是寂寞的。"
简单熊 11.11.2013.

换, 然

换, 然

落叶纷沉枝枝空
秋雾漫天仿影踪
雪花随风足迹空
寒风大地无影踪

简单熊 28.08.2013.

疯, 后

疯, 后

"疯后的宁静
入夜的竹林
岁梦的人静
秋末的山行
心灵的平静
环山的湖清
现时的心静
不曾的曾经"

简单熊 01.09.2013.

恋, 疯

恋, 疯

聚光灯下的喝彩
昙花一现无处恋
散场宁静的回音
声声述说尘似梦
离别的蓦然回首
人去楼空笑曾疯

简单熊 02.09.2013.

Being Your Best

"Strive to be the best that you can, not the first; anyone can take away your first but only you, yourself can take away your best."
Simple Bear 06.09.2013.

Learn to Love

"When we learn to love, we learn to live; and happiness is just the result from loving yourself and others."
Simple Bear 11.09.2013.

The Painter

The Painter

What a fool! They say
And drove him into exile beyond into the unforgiving land
Those men of mediocrity! They are worse than beasts!
They threaten him with death by the guns of judgment
He plead in desperation and they responded with their fists
Defeated he descend onto the road into his certainty 
A path filled with depressions and he fell ever so often
On his knees he teared
There was no going back he wailed
And with the shackles of assumptions chained to him
He restarted his journey with decrescent steps
And now even his watch had forsaken him
Finally he reached O those canyons of desolation
Where the sundial never worked
And where the moon flowers never bloom
He sat in the depth listening to the echoes of silence
And stared at the rocky canvas
Slowly he picked up a stick of burnt coal
And started his work on the canvas
Slowly it dawned on him
The masterpiece wasn’t in the knowledge
Or the techniques of artistry
It was him there was no doubt now it was him
He was a man of colors
He was himself his own masterpiece
It was in this unforgiving land that he learnt to forgive himself

Simple Bear 12.09.2013.

Awareness is a Blessing

“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had a painful and yet peaceful journey home from school. I overheard the conversation of a mother and daughter on the bus which brought me both pain and peace.

I was discussing with my classmate on the assignment on the bus when I heard an angry shouting voice, which was reciprocated by another angry voice. I can’t really hear the entire conversation but I am pretty sure it was a verbal war coated with negative emotions, waged by a mother and daughter, who seemed to be slightly mentally-challenged. Everyone near them seems to shun away from them. My classmate aligned the bus shortly after and I found myself starting to concentrate on the voices.

In the midst of hearing the angry voices, I suddenly found myself swept by a melancholic feeling; it was as if I am feeling their pain that is present in their angry words, the tone of voice and the choice of words. Perhaps, this is their way of communicating love for one another and maybe it is their way of feeling alive, like how we sometimes, indulge in sorrow in exchange for the awareness of our beating hearts.

As I quieten my mind, being aware of the painful emotional sensation that I am feeling, this thought came to my mind, may they be well and happy, may they find love in their hearts and may they find gentleness in their words. As if by instinct, I slowly adjusted my posture on my seat, slowly closing my eyes, relaxing my entire body and focusing on my breath. Slowly, the thoughts arises, may they be well and happy, may they find love in their hearts, may they find gentleness in their words; metaphorically, trying to ‘send’ the loving-kindness to them. Hoping that the pain that I am feeling from them slowly stop, I could still hear them shouting. It did, after a while, replaced by a warm sensation, a feeling of peace, a feeling of being at ease. A feeling of just, simply being.

I don’t know how many minutes had passed but these thoughts arises after a while, ‘how lucky I am to be aware of my thoughts, my emotions, my sensations, how lucky I am to be able to go beyond myself, how lucky I am to be able to immerse myself in this stream of wholesome thoughts.’ A feeling of gratitude flows over me. We can’t take the basic awareness of ourselves for granted. Even awareness of oneself is a blessing, a gift.

I stayed immersed in that warm feeling for a while and other thoughts began to arise, ‘are they aware that they are angry? Are they able to go beyond their anger, adopt other perspectives to the situation that they are in, considering?’ A feeling of pain and sadness came over me.

The shouting slowly reduced over the duration of the journey. As I was aligning (they were seated near the door), I was looking at them and this thought arises in my mind, may they find peace in their hearts, may they find happiness, may they be well and happy.

I aligned the bus and walked home from the bus stop with peace in my heart. I am grateful to them for being the conditions that brought me peace, may they have the conditions to induce peace in their hearts, embraced peace and may their hearts be at peace.

May all be well and happy

Love,

Simple Bear 22.08.2013.

P.S. I know it’s a very long post but I feel like sharing this tonight :P

Disappointments, diamonds of reflections

Disappointments, diamonds of reflections

A friend once post me the question of whether or not I felt disappointed with others. Of course I was disappointed with people from time to time but at the same time, I am grateful to them for disappointing me, they provided me with great opportunities to understand myself, to experience the happiness within the affective and cognitive chaos which arises as accompaniment to disappointments. Life is truly a great teacher.

Simple Bear 12.06.2013.

Compassion for one and others

Compassion for one and others

Friend: Got a question to ask you, how do you deal with arrogant, uncivilized idiots?
Simple Bear: Be a compassionate gentleman.
Friend: What! Are you serious? It got to be an eye for an eye. 
Simple Bear: If that is the case, you become the very thing you detest.
Friend: '

Simple Bear 09.07.2013.

Humble and Grateful

It is beyond 12 midnight now.

Tired from work and activities today, I was finding it difficult to decide between catching up on sleep before waking up again 6 hours later for work or to sit down and pen my reflection for sharing on Facebook.

Episode 1: Humbled by Humility

I was having a can of coffee during work this morning and there was this uncle on a bicycle who suddenly stopped beside me. As I was wondering why he chose to stop beside me, sensing my confusion, my colleague told me that he is collecting the can for money and he is waiting for me to finish my drink. I quickly finished my drink and gave the can to him. As I was placing the can in the big basket on his bicycle, I noticed his non-normative expressions which lead to my assumptions that he maybe intellectually challenged. What happened next may happen frequently in our lives but it had an impact on me today. He smiled and thanked me profusely for giving him the can; from his facial expressions, his voice, I can feel his sincerity, his gratitude, his humility. My tears were threatening to gush from my eyes. It was a feeling of being appreciated, especially for an action that we may perceive to be insignificant. I was both ashamed and humbled by his response. That moment made my work and volunteering in the social service sector worthwhile.

Episode 2: Compassion for Anger

I was in the midst of my work tending to my booth in the MRT station when this middle-aged lady suddenly demanded that I let her pass to the farecard top-up machine on the other side of my booth. As I was deciding on an appropriate response to her as my work station is filled with stuff, she suddenly become irritated and bulldozed her way through my booth, and started to insult me by calling me stupid loudly. In that moment, I felt as if time had stopped for a short while, I could feel my muscles becoming tighter, my blood pressure increasing etc physiological signs, which I recognize as the manifestations of anger.

Anger, is a sign that we are being threatened by something or someone. In this case, my sense of self or ego was threaten by her insults and my body was getting ready to defend the ego against the threat. However, as I was deciding on my response, another cognition arises, the thought of compassion; she was suffering due to anger. My colleagues too, were shocked by her unreasonable demand and of her actions. I turned to them and said, let her be, we should have compassion for her, she is moving further away from happiness in that moment; she is suffering.

We should have compassion for her, as in that moment, she is consumed by negativity, and by responding to her with anger, we are only increasing her suffering. We should have compassion for ourselves, by not responding to her insults in anger; we have a choice and don't need to immerse ourselves in the quicksand of anger.

I am grateful to the both of them, they taught me humility and compassion. I know there is a long way before I reached my destination, but I think it is alright, at least now I think I am heading in the right direction (hopefully).

Apologies for the long status update but I felt the need to share this. May all be well and happy.

With Metta and Karuna
Simple Bear 13.07.2013.

Sailing Home

Sailing Home
"Tie me like Odyssey on the voyage home
For the tempting triplets of the Sirens are calling me
From the depths of the raging waters of Tartarus
Waiting, for me to submit and become one of the fallen
Bounded, I listen to their melodious enchantments
But not joining the ranks of the fallen in the shadows
The Sirens shall shriek in despair at my determination
Till I rode the west wind home"
Simple Bear 17.07.2013.

Time, Life

Time, Life



"Time is cruel reminder of life."
Simple Bear 23.07.2013.

The Past

The Past



"Don't shun the past; for it provides guidance for the present and reference for the future."
Simple Bear 17.07.2013.

何时

何时

我想成为云端背后的蓝天, 却放不下暴风雨后的彩虹
我想成为万物为生的大地, 却念不忘风中摇摆的小草
我想成为随时而流的大海, 却忘不去随流而漂的小鱼

何时才能停止

停止不为彩虹的美而迷惑
停止不为八风的向而摆动
停止不为时海的浪而漂泊

我累了

是时候清醒了

简单熊 24.05.2013.

Being poor doesn't mean you can't give

 “Thank you for the offer, we are grateful.”

The auntie and uncle were telling me, in a slight bow position after I offered to buy them coffee. I responded with a bow. I had learned a lesson of humility, strength and gratitude from the elderly couple, and I am grateful to them.

I was at Clementi Mall for lunch and I met this elderly couple, the uncle was selling tissues, and his wife was beside him, giving him the support. I had earlier on, promised a busking uncle who had mobility issues to buy him his drink and thought of buying the drinks for the elderly couple too. The elderly couple declined and we had a although short but good conversation, the uncle told me he had to decline my offer because he had to go for dialysis the next day and he is trying to earn a little by selling tissues near the mall, and his wife is here to support him. The auntie added on, by saying she is grateful for my offer and there is no need for it. I was touched by the conversation, by their resilience, their support for each other and their appreciation of others.

In contrast, I was reading how the lack of empathy of people who are in a better position, to attempt to understand and help others in our society. Perhaps, individuals who experience suffering, understand suffering and are in a better position to empathize with others who are suffering.\

As they say, poor people are often the most generous because they know what it is like to be poor. Perhaps, people who does not know transcend their ego can’t empathize with sufferings of others; they can’t be grateful for what they have and bring happiness to others. They doesn’t know happiness themselves, they too, are suffering and didn’t realize the way out of it.

I am grateful for the good conditions that I have, for the opportunities to meet with conditions and individuals who taught me what happiness is.

And to the elderly couple, thank you for the experience, I am grateful.

May all be well and happy

With Metta

Simple Bear 25.04.2013.

Uncondition as a Condition

"The only condition to freedom is uncondition."
Simple Bear 21.04.2013.

Patience

"Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character."
Heraclitus

Breathe in

I told my mind.
I am aware of the negativity that arises in my mind due to contact with the worldly phenomena.

Breath out

I told my mind.
I am aware of the source of my frustrations and I bring forth patience in my mind, as the immediate remedy to lessen the negativity that arises and to slowly let it go.

"Khantī paramaṃ tapo titikkhā"
Dhammapada Verse 184

Breathe in, breathe out

I told my mind.
I am aware of my ignorance and I bring forth gratitude in my mind, changing the biased perspective that brought me sufferings; grateful to the people who helped me to exercise empathy, to cultivate patience and to practice loving-kindness and compassion for myself, for them and for all.

"Each moment of mindfulness and cultivation is like a drop of water, keep on practicing, one day you will be in the ocean of perfection."
Simple Bear 17.04.2013.

May all be well and happy always.

With Metta
Simple Bear

想, 现在

有时, 我们想太多, 想起曾经, 想到未来, 却不曾想到现在, 随遇而不安, 自寻烦恼。

放下吧! 把曾经放下, 把未来放下, 把自己放下。 随遇而安, 随喜而乐。把心从世俗的枷锁给放了吧!

我们只活一次。

下辈子, 我们不是我们, 而是他人。

让我们平凡, 快乐的活一次吧。

Note-able

“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore
the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big
differences that we often cannot foresee.”

Marian Wright Edelman

It was, perhaps, a timely reminder.

I was having a chat with a busker whom I frequently met on the way to the train station from my workplace on weekday evenings after work.  He seems unusually happy that day, and further into our little chat, he revealed the source of his happiness, he had met an unusual girl recently and showed me a note, written by her on a post-it paper, carefully folded and kept in his wallet.

It was a note of appreciation for his music, from a random stranger. The note was filled with appreciation for his music in making her day seems happier and encouragement for his future. It was heartwarming. I left the busker with his note, with a pat on his shoulder, telling him to continue living his dream of being a musician.

I felt strangely happy and touched by the kind appreciation gesture of the young girl who wrote the note. I was, in a sense, sharing in his happiness. I am grateful to the busker for sharing his happiness with me and the random stranger who wrote the note.

Perhaps, a lot of us are focusing on how we can make a big difference in others and our lives that we be neglect the little things that really matters. Perhaps, what is more valuable to others is hope, encouragement and faith in humanity which I think all of us can contribute to, with a smile and a kind gesture anytime, anywhere when the conditions are right.

Let us all make this world a better place by being a better us the next moment on.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love”

Mother Teresa

May all be loved by all and have the love for all

With Metta

Simple Bear 22.03.2013.

Living, Being

"Be passionate about living; be dispassionate about being."
Simple Bear 20.03.2013.

Happiness in Time

"Happiness lies in every moment in time."
Simple Bear 20.03.2013.

Being a leader

"All of us are born leaders; we lead ourselves."
Simple Bear 18.03.2013.

Where are you leading yourself now?

Confessions to-be-made

Confession pages are now the craze online. As I was reading the true, fake, warm, fuzzy, perverted, and funny posts on the pages, I had this thought in mind, I think everyone should have their own confessions page perhaps in the form of a diary etc. We should start writing about our deepest fears, desires, stories about the world in which our mind had gleefully made up for us. After a while, when we look at the ‘confessions’ that we made, we may break into smiles at our funny antics, thoughts or shake head at our ignorance, anger, greed. I enjoyed the times when I read old blogs, letters that I wrote when I was younger than the present. It allows retrospection, allowing one to face up to one’s dark and light, without the possibility of the mind to deceive oneself by denying the memories of the thoughts, emotions and interactions with our world. It is, in Singaporean lingo, in ‘black and white.’

Perhaps, on a metaphysical level, we are ‘writing’ confessions all the time in the ‘cognitive page’. Think about a thought, a memory that you had a while ago about someone, something, changes in the situational conditions in which you are in. Awareness allows us to ‘read’ our confessions, and sometimes, we laugh over stupid thoughts and reactions that we have, in retrospection, in response to now, seemingly insignificant changes.

Now please excuse me, I have a confession to make.

I have an ego. it seems so real to me.

My friends do remember to stash your confessions diary away in a secret hiding place, and its location can only be found by deciphering encrypted messages in a treasure map.

May all be well and happy

Simple Bear 13.03.2013.

Freedom of Death

"Freedom to die is no freedom at all."
Venerable Heng Sure (in his song, Yasodara)

For those who are interested, the song can be found here: http://www.dharmaradio.org/paramita/songs_notes02.htm

This part of the lyrics strucked me when Venerable Heng Sure sang the song, Yasodara on Saturday.

Freedom of death is an illusionary freedom, for death is certain, we can have no free will over death. We may have the delusional assumption that we can choose death but death had already chosen us from the day we were born. The shackles of negative karma that binds us to the prison of Samsara; we are charged with unwholesomeness and perhaps, doomed to eternity, wasting lives after lives in this wretched living hell that we created for ourselves.

The key to freedom is in our mind; only we can free ourselves, there is no one binding us to us other than ourselves.

Freedom is a gift and death, a choice we need to make now and beyond, if beyond ever exists.

Simple Bear 11.03.2013.

Psychic Powers

 "Wisdom is the best psychic power."
Ajahn Brahm

A Simple Sharing: Money & Happiness

Below is a write up of a sharing that I prepared for a class next week. 

A Simple Sharing: Money & Happiness

A very good evening to my dear brothers and sisters, today I am going to share about the relationship between money and happiness. As the saying goes, “money can’t buy us happiness”, we may or may not agree with this notion. Today in contrary to the saying, I am going to share a little bit on the utilization of money to well, in a mundane sense, buy us happiness.

Michael Norton, an associate professor of business at Harvard once said, “If you think money
can't buy happiness, you're not spending it right.” So now the next question is how do we spend our money right to get happiness? Research had shown that when we spend money on two types of ‘expenditure’, we experience higher level of happiness as opposed to purchasing material desires. What exactly are the two types of ‘expenditure’? They are (a) experiential and (b) pro-social purchases.

The first type of expenditure is experiential purchases; the level of happiness experienced is much higher in comparison to material purchases (Carter & Gilovich, 2010; Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003; Van Boven L. , 2005). What do I mean by experiential purchases? Imagine spending money on a beach resort stay with your loved ones in the Maldives. And imagine spending the same amount of money on a branded bag. Which purchase will make you feel happier? Of course some of you may disagree with me and prefer the bag to the resort stay but it is ok as long as you are happy.

The second type of expenditure is pro-social purchases; the level of happiness experienced when we spent money on others is much higher in comparison to spending money on oneself (Dunn, Aknin & Norton, 2008). Imagine spending money to buy a present for your parents, your boyfriend, girlfriend. And imagine spending the same amount of money on an expensive dinner for yourself alone. Which purchase will make you feel happier? Imagine again, spending money on donations to the disadvantaged, to purchase a few packs of tissues from an elderly and compare it with spending the same amount of money to purchase a pair of shoes for oneself. What is your choice?

Happiness, lies not, in how much we earn but how we spend what we earn. Again, happiness is a very subjective concept and not all of us may agree on the same conceptualization. It is ok, as long as you are happy. At the end of the day, I want to leave everyone with this quote from Simple Bear, “happiness is an experience, not a possession.”

Thank you everyone for your time and attention. And have a great evening.

References

 Carter, T. J., & Gilovich, T. (2010). The relative relativity of material and experiential purchases. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 98 (1), 146-159.

Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M (2008). Spending Money on Others Promotes Happiness. Science , 319 (5870), 1687-1688.

Van Boven, L., & Gilovich, T. (2003). To Do or to Have? That Is the Question. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 85 (6), 1193-1202.

Van Boven L. (2005). Experientialism, materialism, and the pursuit of happiness. Review of General Psychology , 9 (2), 132-142.

好朋友

"你是你自己最好的朋友。"
简单熊 25.02.2013.

You and Me

The Bear asked me, "Who are you without me?"
I answered, "There is no you without me neither will there be me without you."

#mindofasimplebear

尽行寿 献生命

尽行寿 献生命

简单的六个字, 但每一个字听进了心灵深处, 有了震撼的回响.

当我第一次在影片中听到已故的聖嚴師父说这句话时, 我流下了激动的眼泪.

有一种莫名的感动.

前一刻的我感觉有点累, 想放下一切休息. 回去再看了影片一次, 又听到了聖嚴師父说这句话, 再一次被感动, 仿佛有了动力再往前冲.

再一次的提醒自己, 时间不多了, 能做多少就做多少.

感谢聖嚴師父对我心灵的启发.

希望在接下来的生命中我能做的到, 尽行寿 献生命.

愿一切众生都发起慈悲之心, 唤起自身的佛性, 普度众生, 成就佛道.

愿一切众生幸福快乐.

合十感恩

简单熊 19.02.2013.

Falling in Love With Myself

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, loneliness creeps in.

Alone, I hope for a shoulder to lean on, a hug to rest in.  I know it is the time; the time for me to hibernate, to rejuvenate myself and to save myself from the fatigue of interacting with the world.

There are still a lot to do; responsibilities to be carried out, obligations to be fulfilled but how can I be in the right state of mind to express any form of metta and compassion if I am not kind and compassionate to myself?

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

All forms of changes starts with oneself; and to fulfill my humble aspiration of extending love and compassion to others, I must first extend the love and compassion, internally, to myself.

Ajahn Cagino once said in a Dharma talk that when we practice metta meditation, the first step is to express the wish for oneself to be well and happy and when we expresses the wish for all sentient beings to be well and happy, we need to remember that we are part of all sentient beings. When I heard it the first time, I was totally blown away by the seemingly simple insight; when we think of great compassion, we have the tendency to think and fall into the extremity of sacrificing oneself for the sake of others, without wisdom and that is not, true compassion.

“If one is suffering, how can one save others from sufferings.”

Simple Bear 18.02.2013.

If I am dependent on others for salvation from sufferings, then I am leaving my salvation to others; I don’t have autonomous control over my own salvation.  

if we are dependent on externalities such as others calling us, complimenting us, giving us a present as dominant conditions for our own happiness, Venerable Chuan Guan once wrote ‘such a person hands over their happiness to others like the remote controller of a air-con unit, allowing others to raise or lower our emotional "temperature" and happiness in our life.’

Am I going to subject myself to the puppetry of others’ actions and intentions? I guess I won’t want to be a puppet bear.

One of my fellow Dharma friends told me over the weekend, that she always sees me being very happy and jovial; and want to learn from me. I am humbled and perhaps, feeling a little insecure by the compliment. Am I truly happy?

I guess most of the time, I am happy but there will be times, when I am alone, and unhappy. My friends would joked that I should get myself a girlfriend, I told them if I get a girlfriend because of the mere fact that I needed someone by my side, then it would be unfair to her. Falling in love in such time is a misperception; perhaps, it is mental and emotional fatigue has been disguised as love, conditioned by expectations and resulting in sufferings in the future.

During such times, I will fall in love again, with myself; having the care and love for myself and perhaps, emerge from the snow, a stronger, and hopefully more loving and kind bear.

My friends, remember to hug yourself if you ever need a hug; there is no need to wait for someone else to do it.

May all be well and happy.

With Metta,

Simple Bear 18.02.2013.

Today, not Yesterday or Tomorrow

'We pine for yesterday, dream of tomorrow and forget today; we always miss the time for happiness.'
Simple Bear 14.02.2013.

姻, 缘

台湾小说家几米说: “爱情最好不要顺其自然.”

我赞同.

明天就是情人节.  虽然人们常说, 姻缘强求不得, 顺其自然为上策. 我却认为人与人之间的相遇是因, 两人已往的业, 与缘之合, 而人与人之间的相处是缘分; 两人的努力也是缘的一种.  

爱情, 是一门课业; 需要用心, 才能成就伟业. 要努力, 但别执着, 随遇而安.

爱过, 就不后悔; 不管是相恋也好, 单恋也好, 勇敢的说爱.

想爱, 却不敢爱, 必定后悔; 别为自己找借口.

虽然不是每一场恋情都会开花结果; 我们用心照料的花, 也会被突如其来的狂风给吹毁. 我们能做的, 就是把曾经用心的回忆存起来, 纪念那一段爱情的美, 用那回忆来灌溉下一段爱情.

该爱的时候爱, 该放手时放手; 这样的爱情, 对得起自己, 爱人, 没有后悔, 只有感恩与祝福.

勇敢去爱吧! 朋友

情人节快乐!

简单熊 13.02.2013.

Peace, Here and Now

 
'Peace is always here, we just have to stop running away from it.'
Simple Bear 11.02.2013.

Dreams and Reality

 

'A dream in dream is reality; a dream in reality is just a dream.'
Simple Bear 10.02.2013.

When Silence is the Best Answer

One of my colleagues asked me whether the souls of the two children, who died in a tragic traffic accident a few days ago, will linger in the accident area after their death.

I told him I had no answer for that question.

A few of my colleagues laughed after hearing the conversation and jokingly said I should reply saying that my level of spiritual cultivation isn’t that high enough to know the answer.

I laughed and told them I am like them, just an average human. There is no spiritual cultivation to speak of.

One of them offered his perspective on the issue saying that it is highly possible that the souls of the children will be lingering around the accident area after their deaths. At that moment, I want to challenge the idea of soul but I decided it is better that I maintain my silence.

I told them my perceptions on the issue is just a perception and I didn’t want to influence their perception because there can be no objective affirmation of whether it right or wrong. After hearing this, they insisted on hearing my opinions, which I rejected, insisting on my silence in response to the question.

The poser of the question then retorted saying that if I can’t even engage him in a conversation like this, there is nothing much else for us to talk about.

I laughed and walked away.

What is the intention behind the speech? I was amazed at my response, given that I will usually offer some perspectives when asked for my opinions on issues. I guessed at that point of time, I was uncomfortable discussing the topic and I didn’t want to evoke wrong views in others; their minds were overflowing with their perceptions, and I guess they just wanted a third party endorsement of their perceptions which I wasn’t willing to give. There is no benefit in expressing the perceptions except satisfying the egos; pushing the mind deeper into the Tartarus of differentiation. Silence allows for the introspection of the self in the current moment; there is awareness, not confusion; we are masters of our mind, not the slaves of our thoughts.

Silence of the mind is like the surface of a calm lake in a moonlit night; there are no waves of expressed thoughts, perhaps sometimes, the occasional ripples but soon it will fall away and become one with the silence again.

Sometimes, silence is the best answer to questions in life.

I am grateful to my colleagues for the experience; I learned a lot in the moment and for this, I am thankful to them.

May the two children have good rebirth, encounter the Dharma, and be on the path towards Nibbana.

May all be well and happy

Simple Bear 31.01.2013.

Having a rich heart

“When one suffers from poverty of the heart, one is deprived of happiness.”

Simple Bear 29.01.2013.

My colleague opened a returned appeal mailer for donations and found paper money (used in rituals) being attached to the mailer. Other colleagues begin to comment that this kind of prank is not unusual.

My first reaction to this incident was that the individual must be suffering; one who doesn’t have love and compassion in his or her heart is always hungry for happiness. He or she is one who suffers from poverty of the heart; consumed by negativity, one’s heart have no room for the riches of positivity. How can he or she ever enjoy the bliss and peace that life has to offer?

Where can the flower of bliss grow and bloom when the ground is covered in hot, boiling volcanic lava? Anger and fear are like volcanic lava, a threat to life itself and never at peace. It is only when the lava is cooled and transformed by love and compassion, into fertile ground for life. Only then, the flowers of bliss and happiness can grow and bloom.

I sincerely wish for the liberation of everyone, who is suffering from poverty of the heart right now, from the shackles of negativity, and embrace the rainbow of positivity in their hearts. May all be rich in their hearts.

May all be well and happy always.

With Metta

Simple Bear 29.01.2013.

No Choice?

“When we assumed we have no choice over our unhappiness, we have no choice over our happiness.”

Simple Bear 17.01.2013.