Missing Happiness

"Some of us have a tendency to miss happiness on the road, in our pursuit of happiness."
Simple Bear 21.04.2015.

落叶

落叶

落叶飘满地
才知命真谛
有始必有终
笑看红尘梦

简单熊 17.05.2015.

The Reasons for the Precepts

用了一个礼拜的时间看完了连续剧《百年虚云》。此剧诉说着虚云大师的一生。

剧中有这一段台词让我感动。

有人问虚云和尚, "何为戒?"
虚云回: "己所不欲 勿施于人。"

守戒, 是对自己与众生的慈悲。

Big size = Bear

Big size = Bear

During lunchtime today...

Colleague I: "Hey I think the guru who spoke about the secrets of happiness yesterday looks like you!"
*Other colleagues nod their heads in agreement
Simple Bear: o_O ?
Colleague I: "Come to think of it. You were on leave yesterday. Tell us the truth, did you moonlight as the speaker?" *laughs
Simple Bear: squint emoticon!
Colleague II: "Like Mystique!
Simple Bear: "I think if I am like Mystique, I would have done a better job of transforming myself so that no one would recognise me." squint emoticon!!!

The Blessings to Accomplish

"没有福报, 不能成事。"
海濤法師

The phrase struck me like a lightning bolt when I was listening to a Dharma talk by Venerable Hai Tao (from Taiwan) on Youtube last night. Sometimes, when we talked about good karmic results, we often talked about the possible good deeds and cultivation that we had done in our past lives which resulted in the positive results in this life, which had enabled us to continue doing the good deeds, that we are doing, which includes propagating the Dharma, doing volunteering work etc.

Imagine will we have the opportunity to learn the Dharma if we are born in a society without any teachings of the Dharma? Imagine will we have the opportunity to practice compassion by doing volunteering work if we had to worry constantly about our livelihood?

Since 2008, since my first encounter with Buddhism, as a religion till now, I knew it was difficult to propagate the Dharma through organizing Buddhist activities, and to get more people interested to start learning. I salute those of you, my friends who are working hard for the propagation of the Dharma.

For those of you who knew me long enough, you know I do get frustrated sometimes, and I had gotten my fair share of burnouts, and each time, I come back with renewed hope, my next burnout gets even worse. A friend once asked me, why it is so difficult to learn and propagate the Dharma, I replied (in my limited capacity) that the reason being it goes against the normative habitual tendencies of humans (of course, I may be wrong).

I admit, there are times in which I thought of just going at it alone, I knew I am more comfortable with that. I am neither a leader, nor an organizer of communities, I am just an unenlightened bear who preferred peace and quiet. If being spiritual and wanting peace is queer, then I am perfectly fine with being an eccentric element of the world. Every time, I feel like just going at it alone, I will always meet people and situations which gave me renewed reasons and aspirations to keep going.

I told people that I worked with on these projects (thank you everyone for the support), that we can only do our best, and whether there is any success or not, it is up to conditions. And perhaps, in a metaphysical sense, without good karmic results from past eons, the other conditions may not be right and even if we did our best (as part of the conditions) it is perfectly fine to let it go. I still stand by that but I forgotten to work on myself.

"The best way to propagate the Dharma is by being Dharma itself."
Simple Bear 10.04.2015.

We are living examples of the benefits of learning the Dharma. And the good karmic rewards (if I may term it this way, as a reward) of our practice, such as greater concentration, patience, compassion and wisdom (karmic rewards), we can use in running the projects for greater success, to propagate the Dharma to more people. If we do not practice ourselves, and still get mired in the whirlpool of greed, anger and delusions, how is anger and greed going to help in the success of the projects?

Even if at the end of the day, the project didn't reached its fullest potential despite of doing the best that we can possible do within the context (if our collective karmic rewards are not enough for the success of the projects), we still reap the karmic rewards of our own practice, in accepting the results through empathetical understanding, of others, of the impermanent nature of reality.

That is my own interpretation of Venerable Hai Tao's "没有福报, 不能成事" I am not expecting anyone to be perfect, I am too, an unenlightened bear, still running around in the foggy world of Samsara. But then again, what do I know, I am too like most of us still trapped in the fog of ignorance.

Grateful to everyone who has been kind enough in tolerating and accepting my unenlightened ways in body, speech and mind.

Grateful to everyone who has been helping me on the spiritual path of cultivation through their body, speech and mind.

May we all have the conditions to progress on our path towards enlightenment.

May we all have the conditions to continue practicing and propagating the Dharma through collective or individual efforts,

May we all be well and happy.

In the past one week, I have been experiencing a sense of peace, a renewed aspiration to continued doing the work in practicing and propagating the Dharma, doing charitable work. And I looked forward to working with more friends, and walking the path with everyone. It is like the Starfish theory, what matters isn't whether I can save everyone, what matters is the one that I am saving and I know, in this journey, there will be one who is saved, that person is me.

I can't paint.

I can't paint.

Sure I can draw a little but I sure can't paint.

I learnt something new about myself today.

Had a team retreat today. The theme for the painting activity was motivation behind our work in the social service sector.

I was allocated the alphabetical letter 'E' in 'LOVE' and my first work was a reminder of my inability to paint, and I decided to redo my theme and design.

'E' stands for energy, compassion which energises, like the nutrients necessary for a tree, which is in the shape of an 'E', symbolises the manifestation of compassion in form, i.e. my work in the social service sector.

The empty swing represents empathy, which doesn't differentiate between anyone. The moon in the sky represents inclusiveness for all, like the moonlight which shines on all without differentiation.

The tree stretching beyond, to the moon represents my aspiration of cultivating compassion for all.

When I drew the picture, I imagined myself, being carefree, sitting on the swing, enjoying the night wind and looking at the moon in the clear night sky, but still thinking of all who do not have the luxury to enjoy the freedom that I am enjoying. The loving kindness and compassion for those who are suffering arises naturally within.

May all be well and happy.

Suffering or No Suffering in Experiences?

"There is no suffering in experiences; it is in reacting to the experiences, that we suffer."
Simple Bear 09.04.2015.

Had a fruitful Dharma session just now especially the short meditation session, grateful to Phra Goh Chun Kiang for the kind teachings and guidance.

Thank you to Chloe Ci Hui Huang and TzyyHorng Goh for organising this Dharma session.

Delighted to be attending the Dharma session with friends

修养

“修养是对自己烦恼的减轻， 智慧的成长， 对他人也就是慈悲的增加； 慈悲的增加， 慈悲的成长， 也就是自我的成长。”
聖嚴法師

A simple wish, an act, a good start

A simple wish, an act, a good start

Decided at the end of Sunday's Symposium, to attend Professor Wang's two days class on the Lotus Sutra at Poh Ming Tse Temple. Yesterday night was the first class and in the class, she mentioned the accumulation of merits to facilitate conditions for cultivation.

I was inspired to share a little recent habit of mine, which evolves from a little paper 'Dana (giving) bank'. A few months ago, I had the privilege to attendTzu Chi Singapore 慈济基金会(新加坡分会) year-end blessings ceremony, and after the ceremony, I had gotten this paper bamboo-like Dana bank for me to put in loose change for charitable purposes. I placed it in my room and started putting in a little bit of coins in the first few days, and as time goes by, I started emptying my loose change in the Dana bank every morning.

I started observing that I felt better in the morning after having this habit. I started observing myself in the act of putting in the loose change and noticed an arising of delight within when I put in my loose change.

I made some changes to the habit:

1. I started making a mental note every morning when I put in the loose change, I wish that the loose change be of benefit to those who need them in the future, and may all be well and happy.

2. Taking note of any egoistic considerations when putting in the loose change especially on the days, when my loose change can be more than a couple of dollars in value and it is near month end when my bank account is slim; I had promised myself that I will put in all my loose change, be it ten cents or ten dollars in value. For me, it is a training (of the mind) to reduce egoistic thoughts and enhance altruistic ones.

As time goes by, I don't count the coins; there is only the action of putting in the coins and the thought of well wishes for those who may benefit, including myself.

I am the first person to benefit from this habit. I started feeling the delight which arises within and reduced tendencies to react negatively to others (even if it only last a few moments). The people in social interactions with me benefited from not having a grumpy old bear to deal with (you know how sometimes, we may wake up at the left (wrong) side of the bed).

And the delight, the well wishes from the giving, in my humble opinion, at least from what is understandable by ignorant me, that is precisely the type of merit, which is the result of the habit, that we need for enhancement of the conditions of our practice, a mental and emotional condition.

Grateful to Jimmy Ling for Inviting me to the event so that I can get the Dana bank, Dharma brothers and sisters at Tzi Chi for providing me with this wonderful opportunity to cultivate this habit, Professor Wang and brotherZenon Teh for the wonderful class which inspired this sharing.

I am grateful to all who made this possible.

May all be well and happy.

I am not crazy

I am not crazy

Boarded a bus at Eunos after Dharma class and sat beside an uncle at the back of the bus. As I sat down on the seat with my bag, I noticed that the uncle sitting next to me, is chanting softly with prayer beads in his hands. I smiled and thought to myself, "I am fortunate to be sitting beside an uncle who is doing his practice." smile emoticon

As soon as the uncle noticed me looking at him and his prayer beads, he quickly stop and tries to hide his prayer beads while still continuing his chanting softly. This thought came to my mind, "Maybe he is embarrassed to be seen as different from the norms of the general crowd in the current context of traveling on public transport."

I closed my eyes, and contemplated on the situation at hand. There are a few thoughts which came up in my mind:

1. It is paradoxically human nature to want to be different and not to be different; in this situation, the uncle may be affected by the wish, not to perceived as different and the incongruency of the wish not to be perceived as different and his own wish to practice causes dissonance, suffering. Am I too, affected by this worldly condition?

2. There is a wish to help alleviate the suffering of the uncle, to help him to continue practice in a more positive psychological condition.

3. It is an opportunity for me to practice too, in the current situation.

I took my prayer beads in my hands and started chanting silently, the name of Amitabha Buddha.

As the uncle saw me chanting for a while with my prayer beads moving as counters in my hands, he started to take out his prayer beads again and continue his chanting beside me. Delight filled my heart. smile emoticon

What will the rest of the commuters on the bus thinks? When they saw us chanting with our prayer beads on the bus. I am not concerned about the perceptions of others, what I am concerned about doing the right things and not only doing things right. Of course, I normally don't take out my prayer beads and chant on the bus to avoid people feeling uncomfortable with me doing that, I normally just chant silently in my mind but tonight, I think I have to do just that to help support the uncle who is doing his practice on the bus.

I am grateful to the uncle for the kind reminder to practice and giving rise to the courage within me to ignore the possible views of others.

Going even further on the application of courage in such a situation, it can be applied to counter the group cohesiveness and diffusion of responsibility elements of the bystander effect, which refers to the social phenomenon in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The unwillingness to be different from a group (the bystanders in a situation starts to think of themselves as a temporary group, identifying themselves as a group in the situation), breaking the group cohesiveness, and apathy resulting from diffusion of responsibility, thinking that others will help the victim, hence there is no need for us to do so.

A lot of times, if we do observe, once we start to be the first one to help in a bystander situation, others in the group will quickly join in and the courage to be different, to do the right thing can perhaps save lives, not only the victims now and then but also future victims when the experiences of helping others in a bystander situations may encourage the growth of such courage in the bystanders who joined in to help in the situations. A little courage from us may have a ripple effect of compassion on the world.

May all have the conditions to cultivate the courage and compassion within us and to share the courage and compassion with all.

May all be well and happy.

And yes, maybe in the eyes of the world, I am a little crazy. Maybe, just maybe.

The Avalokiteśvara within

The Avalokiteśvara within

I had the good opportunity today to attend the Understanding Guan Yin Symposium organized by Poh Ming Tse, with my fellow friends at Nidana Youth Group.

Glad to catch up with old friends from PMT MUSICians and listen to their new compositions.

Took quite a few pages of notes and spent my evening going through them, doing some reflections and feel like sharing just a few points which I think will be personally helpful to my own spiritual cultivation.

1. Model for Emulation

Professor Reeves had mentioned in his presentation, that one of the roles of Guan Yin is being a model, for us to emulate her quality of boundless compassion, the wish and volition to alleviate the sufferings of others.

To become Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, we must bring forth the compassion to mind; when we chant the name of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, we are (if I may posit) bringing to mind, and giving rise to compassion within us, the wish and volitional action to alleviate the sufferings of self and others. And the compassion for self and others may helped us go through the trials and tribulations of our lives.

2. Skillful Means of Propagating the Dharma

Professor Wang, in her presentation on the Buddhist teachings by Venerable 慧思 and 智顗, had mentioned that there are certain steps that the Buddha will take before he speaks the Dharma, he will:

i. Enter into meditation

ii. Observe the faculties of the people that he is speaking to.

iii. Decides on the skillful means required to teach the Dharma to the people to bring them closer on the spiritual path to enlightenment.

At this point of time, I had this thought, I am not the Buddha, how can I have the spiritual ability to observe the faculties of others in order to employ the necessary skillful means in my expressions of the Dharma to let others understand the Dharma.

I spend quite a while contemplating on the points, trying to make sense of it for individuals like me, ordinary beginners on the spiritual practice, to utilize the points for my own cultivation. Then it came to me, that I could in fact apply those steps in my own ways in propagation of the Dharma.

i. Spend some moments in mindfulness meditation (if time allows, a session before any sharing will be great; if not, spend some quiet moments to be aware of oneself)

ii. Observe the faculties (or mental and emotional states) of oneself; search within for the a few alarms signs to be addressed:
a. Is the intention to speak egoistic?; is the reason for speaking (of the Dharma) an attempt to assert one's perspectives on the other person without considering the mental and emotional states of the other person (observe by signs of body languages and linguistical signs), or for any other personal gains? Such as reputation?
b. Is there any empathy within? The positioning of oneself with the other person on equal (or almost equal) grounds without any judgements?
c. Is there any compassion? The objective of speaking the Dharma is for the good of the other person, to alleviate the suffering of the other person?

iii. Employment of the most suitable methods (within one's compassionate arsenal of methods) within one's limited capacity to speak of the Dharma, or through actions in the hope that the sufferings of others can be alleviated.

3. Connecting to Compassion

Brother Shen, in his presentation on devotional practice had mentioned that the compassion of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas are always in perfect alignment, always ready to be connected to us but we, people in the sea of Samsara, may not be aligned with them due to our ignorance and we need to make aspirations (to help ourselves) to be connected to the great compassion of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to alleviate our sufferings.

If I may posit, this concept of self proactivity in connecting to the compassion of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can be applied in our daily lives in two different ways:

i. We need to take responsibility to ourselves and take actions (which includes being open minded to suggestions and the volition to change for the better) to be connected to the compassion of others, who are willing to help us (In the Lotus Sutra, it is mentioned that Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva can manifest in different forms such as our friends or random strangers to help alleviate our sufferings); if we are unwilling to change for the better, to relieve ourselves of the sufferings, no matter how much help is offered, the sufferings remains.

ii. If we want to express compassion to our family and friends, understand that the same principle or concept applies; no matter how much we see them suffer and want to help. They must be willing to help themselves first, the wish to get out of the suffering cycles that they are in. If they are not willing to help, there is no need to be disappointed or worse get angry over it. Conditions are not optimal for the compassionate action to take place. We can only be patient and wait for the conditions to be right.

I am grateful for all the academics and fellow Dharma brothers and sisters who shared their knowledge and experience with us at the symposium today.

May we all give rise to the Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva within us and live our lives in compassion and wisdom.

May all be well and happy.

One, as Ambassador of Faith

Happy Easter Sunday my Christian friends

A few days ago I had the opportunity to be part of a inter-faith dialogue with a Catholic priest and there was this question which was put to him on how do one attract youths to the Catholic faith.

His answer is one which I totally agree with. He said (and I am paraphrasing) to conduct oneself in proper accordance to one's faith which attracts them to the faith through inspiration.

We can't please everyone. And to attract not only youths, but youths with the right motivation, to engage in spiritual cultivation is important.

We are all, regardless of faiths, the ambassadors of our faiths. We are the key to the continuity of our faiths, our 'spiritual lineages', through our own conduct and practice.

Grateful for the candid and open sharing.

May we all have the motivation and conditions to fulfill our potential for goodness, as believers of our faiths, as humanity.

May all be well and happy.

Aspirations or Attainments?

Attended a Dharma talk by 常护法师 from Dharma Drum Mountain Singapore on Tuesday night. Left the talk with a few points which I spent my time reflecting and I thought of sharing.

1. When we are inspired and moved by the charitable, voluntary and spiritual works of others, we need to ask ourselves since the cause and work is so noble, so inspiring, why are we not doing the same good works that they are doing and be the inspiration ourselves?

2. When we commit ourselves to our work as employees, as volunteers, are we a positive addition to the team or a negative one?; when we criticise the works of others, are we better than them in terms of our commitment, our initiatives, our quality of work, our responses to the changes which happened?

3. When we criticise, are those criticism, a projection of our own sufferings, arising due to a need to protect the mind from the pain from acknowledging the inherent source of suffering.

4. When we start our work spiritual and volunteering, we started with selfless aspirations, and time passes by, we start to see achievements for our hard work done and expectations for future attainments may arises; we may start to get frustrated with our progression if we don't see any attainment of our expectations. Are we gradually confused with achievements and aspirations? Are we working for achievements or are we working for aspirations?

5. When we utilise methods to achieve our aspirations, the motivation behind efforts in utilising the methods, are we bound by and clinging on to the methods that we used and had gradually forgotten the aspirations which motivates us in the first place?

It seems all too human and I, have to admit I had let myself fallen carelessly time and time again. I am grateful for the points for me to reflect on it.

Thank you DDYP SG for organising the Dharma Talk. Do send my gratitude and appreciation to Venerable for his precious sharing and the volunteers for making this sharing possible.

May all be well and happy