sep17,18

Our lives are linked together and depended upon one another due to the karmic link of putting us together through aeons of life time. Are we not aware of that?

Be aware of your true nature from moment to moment, you have found your real ho...

me in the three jewels; the Buddha, The Dharma and The Sangha. It is here, right here, at this very moment.

We already have the true, perfect and serene buddha nature. Just relax and stay still, it will bloom like a lotus untainted just in the deepest realm of your heart with fragrance.

A dualistic mind is like a veil preventing you from seeing your true self and the reality of existence

2

To be able to see your past life, drop all the attachments with one-pointed mind.
Avoid doing bad deed, no matter how small it is, the karma force will send you down to the bottomless base of no return.
The fast pace of the present world cr...

eates uncertainty for us to move along.
The inner self-nature should remain still, calm and unmovable no matter how great the turbulence of mishaps or misfortune or emotional pains that is happening outside of you and inside you

3

Zen is gateless, the moment of realisation of your true self, your are in it, but it is just a beginning of your journey for cultivation of liberation. If you can't find your true self, whatever you practice is a waste of your time.
4

Treasure your human body even though your life can be hard and tough and has gone through severe storms and rains because only this body of yours is the right vehicle for transformation of all the five poisons to wisdom and to reach the final attainment
5

Every leaf or a flower reviews to us the wonderful creation of nature. By going further into it, you will see the buddha nature in it and it is just like yours. No wonder people use to say one flower is one Buddha and one leaf is universe

sep 16

1

The scriptures of the sutras and tantras and the words of the
learned and accomplished ones of India and Tibet
All have great blessings but are difficult for ordinary people to
grasp.
Though they are indispensable for teaching in a monastic...

college,
For one-pointed practice they are of little use.
This ' pointing-out instruction for an old lady' is more
beneficial for your mind than all of the others..

For a householder with a family and without time to devote his entire life to these studies, a vast theoretical understanding is not important. On the contrary, experience through practice is more beneficial. In such a case, it is unimportant to go through this vastly detailed learning, but rather it is more crucial to condense all the teachings into a very short and precise one.
Therefore, the ' pointing-out instruction for an old lady' means that all the teachings have been condensed into just a few essential lines of text which contain the vital point, the key point regarding the nature of the mind. If we can take such an instruction to heart, it is more beneficial for our mind than all the scriptures. - Buddha

 

2

A strong personal vow to help others to be enlightened and leave this ocean of suffering should be the first motivation in practising of dharma and to develop compassion and wisdom

 

3

Learn how to love oneself truthly is a skillful means when you apply it to love others wholly.
To understand where the true love comes from is a way and to deliver it to others is a means.
And this kind of love is known as unconditional love, like the love showers to us as their children, by the buddhas and bodhisattvas

 

4

Buddhism is still alive to match with the fast pace changing society and the global world because it has a scientific and logical approach to cater for all walk of life right up to the invisible beings with strong belief in promoting loving-kindness and compassion.

 

5

 

sep15

1
第六世達賴喇嘛 is a great lover and a romantic person. He said that if we can devote our love to the dharma as we do to our lover, we will attain enlightenment without delay.

2
~ The mirror of Zen
True prayer requires devotion and surrender: You must be faithfully devoted to your true nature, and then you can make ignorance surrender to it.
Commentary
Body, speech and mind return to perfect purity and stillness:
This is how a Buddha appears in this world.

 

 

 

3

Six supernatural powers: Powers of perception, gained through meditation which enable us to grasp what cannot normally be apprehended through the normal sense faculties: 1. Power of "spiritual leg": the ability to move anywhere and to trans...

form oneself at will; 2. power of "spiritual eye": the ability to see anything at any distance;3. power of " spiritual ear": the ability to hear any sound at any distance; 4. power of knowing others' minds; the ability to see the thoughts of sentient beings; 5. power of knowing fate: the abiltiy to perceive the former, present and future lives of all sentient beings who are cycling and recycling in the endless wheel of birth and death in the six realms; 6. power of eradicating all illusions: the ability to eleminate all afflictions.
The first five powers may be attained by yogis, sadhus, Taoist hermits, and even disembodied spirits. But the serious practitioners or teacher would not consider this authentic insight.
The last power alone, however- the power of eliminating afflictions through correct insight into the causes of arising mind- can be attained by advanced practitioners of the buddha-dharma: arhat (a perfect person, who has attained Nirvana), boddhisattvas and buddhas.-The Mirror of Zen

 

 

4

The sutras, tantras, and philosophical scriptures are extensive
and great in number.
However, life is short and intelligent limited, so it is hard to
cover them completely.
You may know a lot, but if you don't put it into practice,
It's lik...

e dying of thirst on the bank of a great lake.

A human life span is brief, and full of dangers. By eating well, taking medicine, and by a variety of other methods we try to keep ourselves healthy and to extend our lives; yet, sometimes these efforts have the opposite effect. Illnesses are common. In any case, life is impermanent and won't last forever.
Our intelligent is also quite limited; we lack both the capacity and the time to make a thorough study of the vast amount of teachings, and it is difficult to fully study and understand them. Even were we to study quite a lot and become learned, merely knowing the theories without assimilating them through reflection and actual practice would be like dying of thirst on the bank of a great fresh water lake-what a complete waste to die like that.
~ Buddha

 

SEP14

1.

One young lady asked me a question, " What is a true mind? Without understanding the true mind, it is useless to proceed to learn Buddhism; this was what the fifth Patriarch told Nui-neng, the Patriarch." I shocked and please to know that s...

he is a real gem that I have yet to come across so far in my life. This kind of question can knock down many masters or guru if they haven't reach the understanding of who they are.
A few years back, I also asked an abbot of a huge temple in Vietnam three questions and one of these questions was ' what is your true mind.' This abbot was an enlightened monk who could explain to me very clearly. After that he asked his senior disciple to open up the main gate and recieved me into the main hall. And from there, the senior disciple taught me a special set of method of to improve my health and mental power.
Yung-chia said," Mind is the sense, phenomena are the object; both are like flaws in a mirror. When the the flaws and dirt are gone, only then does the light show; when mind and phenomena are both forgotten, essential nature is real."
Chuang-tzu said," The mind is hotter than fire, colder than ice, it is so fast that it covers all beyond the four seas in the moment of a nod. When at rest, it is profoundly calm, its action gushes forth from nature; such is the human mind."
A Zen master said," Just no things in your mind, and no mind in things; you will naturally be empty and spiritual, serene and sublime."

 

2

 

Bodhidharma on transmission:
" I orginally came to this land
To transmit the teaching to save deluded sentient beings.
One flower will open into five petals,
Formimg a fruit that will ripen naturally."
Listen to my verse:
...

" The mind ground contains the seeds:
With universal rain, all of sprout.
When you've suddenly realised the blossoming heart,
The fruit of enlightenment will naturally mature."

After uttered this verse, the Master said,
The teaching has no dualism, neither does the mind; the Way is pure, without any signs. You should be careful not to contemplate stillness and empty your mins. The mind is originally clean, with nothing to grasp or reject. Each of you work on your own, going along as best you can according to circumstances

 

3

Life is a long process of periodic tests for you. Before the test is coming, you will feel excited and doubtful whether you can pull through it. If you pass the test you feel the joy and happiness but when you fail the test you feel disappo...

inted and sad. You still have to go on. It can be a test on your financial, marriage,examinations, raising up a family and so on. All these tests are external and what about the internal conflicts and struggles that come along at the same time. For those who have taken the refuge from the Buddha may have some strength to fall upon. And for those who don't have spiritual guidance from a master normally suffer much greater pain in life and some who could not make it took their life with their own hands.
When you realise how to live from moment to moment, you have the confidence and clear mind to solve your problems that are coming. Arrange them accordingly and solve the most urgent ones and later tackle the rest one at a time. For those problems that you really have difficulty to solve, consult your parents, closed friends and your masters. For any legal matter, consult the lawyers, for financial problems, consult the banks and for sickness, consult the doctors. I am sure if you maintain your cool and clear mind, you can solve all problems. These are the tests from time to time to help you to grow up mentally and spiritually

 

 

4

"If parents do not show graciousness to others and respect for rules, our young will not do so either. Soon, discipline will be eroded, the tone in our schools will deteriorate, and the tone in our society too," Heng pointed out.

"Once the...

ethos in a school is lost, it is hard to recover. It is already happening in many schools around the world. Who suffers? Our students, and future generations of students, who just want a good education. We must take a firm stand against unreasonable demands," he added.

A speech made by Mr Heng, the Minister of Education. This is the first time the Minister of Education stands firm on his legs and to speak the truth. Our nation and the younger generation has a hope and a better future

 

sep13

1.

We offer incense, water, candle, flowers and fruits to the buddhas and bodhisattvas. These are the things in form that we make the offer. We can also offer the formless items to them. Such items are our five poisons; ignorance, attachment, ...

anger, jealosy and pride.These five posions are our extraordinary cause of delusion. We can skillfully transform these five posions into the extraordinary source of great wisdom with the help provided by the buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Ignorance is transformed into dharmadhatu wisdom, anger into mirrorlike wisdom, attachment into discriminating awareness wisdom, pride into equanimity wisdom, and jealosy into
all-accomplishing wisdom.
In this way the five poisons are the great offering objects, the displays of great wisdom. There are no higher offerings than the skillfully transformed five poisons.

 

2.

 

Though someone may injure you in some way, you must keep a settled, not-moving mind. Do not give in to anger or resentment. When even a single angry thought appears in your mind, countless obstacles are born- The Mirror of Zen
Commentary
...

Defilements of the mind are numerous. Anger is the most severe. The Nirvana Sutra teaches," You should be able to keep a
not-moving mind in any condition and any situation, whether someone slashes you with a dagger or someone massages you with fine water and precious, scented ointment." The momentary flashing of anger is like lightning bursting from an empty cloud

 

 

 

sep12

1.

This is my morning and evening prayer. You can join me to say it, please do so.:
" May all sentient beings free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all sentient beings free from sickness and the causes of sickness.
May they be happy, have food to eat, have a shelter to live in and have enough money to spend."

 

2

 

I was just thinking what is most importance of our living here. Everyone of us are so busy daily rushing here and there to make end meet and to fulfill our obligation to our dear ones and to finish every task completely everyday. Our routin...

e can dull and make us numb and at time we lose our sense of direction. The pressure acting on us is seemed to be overwhelming. We always are thinking one day, we are going to leave our routine for a while and do some travellings to recharge ourselves. The travel makes us feel worse as we have to go the airport two hours before time for the check in and after reaching the destination has spent long hours to get ourselves out of the long waiting queue before we could reach the hotel. Coming home from the travel doesnot help us to recharge but make us feel more exhausted.
At last I began to realise no matter where are and what we are engaging at the moment, we must come back to our breathing. We need to be awared of our in and out breath. Only then that we are fully comprehended our presence of living in this world. All the rest things are not important

 

3

One day my master was talking to his closed disciple and asked him why he needed to shop around for more masters.
His student replied," Master, you are so simple in your way of living and you give very simple teachings to me and you have n...

o power to help me to become rich. Other masters from outside are so powerful and rich and they have so many followers. And some of their students struck lotteries after following their masters for a while and now they are driving big cars. And their teachings are so profound that many of their students have difficulty to understand them. But I think these teachings must be good because not many of them could understand them."
" You are wrong. My method is to build a bridge to link you into your real master inside your heart and you will obtain your final liberation. Whereas those powerful masters who build the highways which lead them to no where. Of course you still have a choice to remain with me or go out to look for a better master."
( 2 cents opinion)

 

4

 

 

sep 11

1.
Flower Garland Sutra- Buddha reiterates:
Thus, although the experience of enlightenment is sudden, one must still engage in a long process of cultivation in order to remove the deep-rooted seeds of the false view of the substantial self that has become ingrained over a period of innumerable kalpas. Even though one suddenly realises that the dharmakya, the true mind, is identical with Buddha, still, since for inumerable kalpas one has deludedly clung to the four elements as constituting oneself so that this view has become second nature and is difficult to do away with all at once, so, one must cultivate oneself on the basis of this experience of enlightenment. When one has reduced it and further reduced it until there is nothing to reduce, then it is called tha attaining of Budhhahood

2.
The Flower Garland Sutra
When we realise the nature of the self, you realise the nature of the universe. Your whole way of perceiving yourself and the universe is completely transformed. This allows you to realise your own strength, and it allows you to impart strength to others, and there is no choice in the doing of that. To realise yourself immediately reveals the fact that there was never a distinction between yourself and all sentient beings. That's what the Buddha realised: all sentient beings are enlightened. He realised that he was all sentient beings, the whole catastrophe, all of it. It excludes nothing- not a single molecule, not a most distance galaxy. And he realised that when you effect one speck of dust in this universe, you effect the entire universe-past, present, and future.

3.
Repent immediately when you commit a misdeed, feeling shame when you realise that you have done something wrong: this the character of a great person. When you correct your failings in this way, constantly renewing yourself by reflecting on your mind, bad karma will disappear and you will always live accordance with your true nature.
Commentary
True repentence means first to regret the misdeed you have committed and then to vow not to repeat it in the future. Being ashamed of yourself means to objectively reflect on yourself inside and to manifest some change on the outside. In any event, mind is originally empty and completely still, so there is actually no place where bad karma can remain.
~ The mirror of Zen

4.
There are those who study only words speech, who may seem to be enlightened when they open their mouths to speak. In reality, however, when faced with everyday situations, they become so flustered that they do not know what to do. This shows the difference between the nature of words and the nature of actions.
Commentary
This expands on the main point of the proceeding section: the danger of self-deception. Our words must accord with our deeds, speech and actions must be one. Only in this way can we distinguish truth from falsehood.

5.
This story was told to me by my mother when I was a little kid. At that time I hardly understood what she was saying. There was a old woman who suffered most of the time and her family members left her one at a time. She was living alone. She used to go to temple every morning to do her prayers and chanting. She could not bear to see other people having a better life and developed hatred and jealousy in her heart. She loved to scold and accuse people for no proper reasons. She was full of anger and hatred all the time.

One fine day she met an old master coming to the temple from elsewhere. She started to consult the master and asked why she was having such an unfortunate life.

The master looked at her carefully and said," The eyes are the window leading to your heart. From there I could fire burning all the time in the heart. What ever merits you have accumulated through your prayers and chanting all the years have been burnt away by your anger of fire. Whatever good karma you have in the past life have been abused by yourself. So now you live a very miserable life where all your family members and friends are avoiding you. If you want to attain a better rebirth, go and repent all the wrongs you have been committed and I will initiate you to take a refuge from buddha."

Sep 10

1

I remembered one Tai Chi student wanted wisdom from me. I told him I got no wisdom. I learned the wisdom from the books and articles written by great masters.
" I don't have time to read and I felt sleepy when I started to read a book. Fur

ther more I couldn't understand what all these great masters are talking about. It was so confusing. One moment they asked to look at the heart, the next moment at the mind." said my student.
Yes. I also got the same problem when I first started reading all these books. It took me a few months to finish reading a book. I still couldn't grasp the true understanding or meaning out of the book. So I went to see my master and asked him why.
My master told that I hadn't accumulate enough of merits yet. I hadn't practice my meditation to a stage of calmness and stillness yet. So as I read the book, my mind started to think of something else. Without the full focus and concentration, I missed the meaning of the teachings.
Do all of you have such problems too?

Sep 9

1

Mahamudra is the teaching that " all phenomena are mind," and "all dharmas are mind." Mind is the most important in this teaching. We are more concerned with is this internal mind. We are concerned with the aspects of the mind that are bene

ficial or helpful to us such as faith, confidence, compassion, aspiration of enlightenment for all beings. In terms of what is harmful we are concerned with the afflicted states of mind such as passionate attachment, hatred from the very depths, the ignorance of dark obscuration, our discursive thought, and our belief and holding onto a self. Then with this understanding, whatever good qualities that needed to be developed and whatever negative kleshas there are will be abandoned. So along the way all the good qualities such as faith and confidence in the buddha, the dharma, and the sangha; the energy to practice, loving-kindness and compassion will become stronger and stronger. And also at the end of this path wisdom will be unveiled, clarified, illuminated just through the understanding the mind as it is.
~ by The Ven. Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

2

If one mind is is continually wandering here and there, being carried away by this thought and that thought, and is endlessly distracted and unable to rest anywhere, then it is very difficult for any spiritual growth and development to come

 about. In contrast, if one mind's can be placed somewhere and rest there, then one can become accustomed to whatever is taking place in one' own mind. Otherwise one's mind is just like a flag waving in the wind. It is helpless being blown this way and then that way.
The practice of shamatha ( concentration meditation ) is the practice of allowing one's mind to stay somewhere, to rest somewhere, and to be peaceful, to be calmed in that way. However, if you were to stop there and relax with this, that is not enough. It is important to also to develop vipashyana ( insight meditation ) which is a clear and intense seeing.
~ The moonlight of Mahamudra

3

~ Amy Schmidt- Fearlessness
Dipa Ma and I were on an airplane coming to the States from India. It was very, very turbulent, and at one point the plane hit an air pocket and dropped. Drinks and other objects flew up to the ceiling as the pla

ne dropped downward before hitting stable air again. I kind of screamed. Dipa Ma was sitting across the aisle from me, and she reached out and took my hand, and she just held it. Then she whispered," The daughters of the Buddhas are fearless."

4

~ Adyashanti - You are Emptiness
The purpose of meditation is to find the meditator. When you look for the meditator, you won't find him, her, or it. All you'll find is silent Emptiness. In finding Emptiness, the mind stops. If you let it, 

Emptiness will stop the mind- unless you run back into samsara, into the mind's drama of thinking, striving and confusion. When you allow Emptiness to stop your mind, you'll awaken and realise that you are that Emptiness. You'll realise that you are not the mind or the body or any meditative phenomena. You are Emptiness. Emptiness means limitless, boundless, Pure Consciousness.

5

One of the great masters wrote in one of his books, saying that the sage, Confucius started reading and analysed I-Ching at the age of 50. Confucius used to make amendments on most of the old classical Chinese books. But as for this famous

 book, he couldn't add in and take out words from it.
Because of such statement, I also bought this book and studied it. It was very difficult to understand this book of wisdom. So I picked and studied only the law of nature related to human race.
Whenever my friends have problems like loosing a job, failing in business and loosing a boy friend and a girl friend used to ask me for advice I will explain the theory of the 'ladder.'
I told them that I-Ching explained that our life is like roller coaster. It started off in life with broken lines arranged like a ladder. We always started our life quite well after we finished our education. The first broken lines would join up to form a straight line. As we moved up the ladder, the second and third broken lines would also join to form straight lines when our fortune and luck had become better.
The book warns us not to hasten to climb up to the maximum sixth lines. Once we reach there, we will be coming down from the sixth to the fifth lines and continue to go down to the rock bottom if we are not mindful. It means to say when a person is too greedy and try very hard to reach the top, then that person will suffer and will become a backrupt eventually and some may take their own lives.
This format can apply to any country"s economy, America and Europe have climbed up their maximum capacity and now they are facing the music of proverty of moving down the ladder. China and India and many other developing countries are moving up the economic ladder. If they move up to the maximum too fast, you can expect them to come down again in the future. The goverment Singapore is smart and when it moves up to the third and fourth economic ladder, it just moves side way for many years maintaining only 3 to 5 % of growth. We are lucky to have such a government to maintain a situation where we have almost full employment.
If you have reached the rock bottom, you need not worry because the next round of fortune is waiting for you. At the end of a dark tunnel you will see the light at the end of it. And learn to be mindful to maintain your good fortune and health. Do good will beget goodness. ( 2 cents opinion )

6

The understanding of I-Ching helps me to lie low and be humble. I try these few years to stay along on the third or fourth line of the ladder where I can prevent myself of coming down. And at the same time I try to accumulate more merits by

 helping others in many ways so as to help to open my wisdom as I go along with my spiritual practice.
Some friends of mine who had moved up to sixth level became arrogant and proud after making a lot of money, driving a expensive sports car and living in a big bungalow. And as a result, they met a commercial recession, so overnight, they lost everything and became bankrupt. Only one or two manage to climb back to the ladder again. Most of them until today become ordinary workers or taxi-drivers. Some of them have disappeared completely.
Even the top banks and commercial institutions can go bust one day once they rise up to the maximum of the ladder. In America, Europe, Japan and other countries, some of their banks and multi-corporations were facing the same fate of collapsing.
I use to advice most of friends not to arrogant and proud and learn to lie low to prevent and save more to face the rapids of commercial downturn.

7

~ Ayya Khema
Where is happiness
In 1979 I decided to become a nun. Up until that time, I had tried a lot of things and had seen that the world cannot make one happy. In the course of travels it became clear to me that tranquility and peace having nothing to do with the most beautiful places on earth or the most interesting experiences. They are only to be found in one's own heart.

8

~ Jack Kornfield
Spiritual life is not a process of seeking or gaining some extraordinary condition or special powers. In fact, such seeking can take us away from ourselves and from awakening. If we are not careful, we can easily find the t

he great failures of our modern society-its ambitions, materialism, and individual isolation-repeated in our spiritual life.
In beginning a genuine spiritual journey, we have to stay much closer to home, to focus directly on what is right here infront of us, to make sure that our path is connected with love and a simple, compassionate presence. Listening with the heart to the mystery here and now is where meditation begins.

9

~ Sakyong Mipham 
In shamatha meditation (concentration meditation) we train our minds in stability, clarity, and strength. Through this most basic form of sitting meditation, we discover that we can abide peacefully. It is the first step to becoming a buddha, which literally means"awakened one." We all have the potential to awaken from the sleep of ignorance to the truth of reality.

10

~ Shunryu Suzuki-A swinging door
When we practice meditation our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and t

he outer world is also limitless. We say
"inner world" or "outer world," but actually there is just one whole world. In this limitless world, our throat is like a swinging door. The air comes in and goes out like someone passing through a swinging door. If you think, "I breathe," the "I" is extra. There is no you to say"I." What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves;that is all. When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no "I," no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door.

Sep 8

1

Materialism has mislead us to a wrong path where we know that the consequences will bring us a lot of sufferings and we feel empty and lost, lacking of satisfaction in life. What we actually need is love, peace and harmony. In the inner wor

ld, we can fulfill our satisfaction and confidence with compassion, loving-kindness, caring and sharing. As we develop or cultivate such virtues, we feel much complete as a human to realise the truth and constantly be in touch with the divine. We are all belonged to one race of the world where we create a paradise if we realise that we are a part of the whole.

2

Contributed by Richard Gossett 

“Endurance is one of the most difficult disciplines, but it is to the one who endures that the final victory comes.” 
Buddha 

Endurance or patience refers to bearing insult and distress without resentment. From the passive and negative point of view, it is apparent that endurance is to tolerate the adverse situation. However, in reality, endurance is not the blind acceptance of what happens like a coward. To the contrary, a Bodhisattva has a complete and perfect understanding of the principle of cause and effect, the principle of impermanence, the principle of not-self, the Law of Dependent Origination. He/she realizes the reality of the nature, that all worldly Dharmas are conditioned and unreal, thus he/she has no attachment at all. He/she can keep his/her mind calm, without emotion and fear because he/she has the strong determination and extreme patience/endurance to deal with all matters.

A Bodhisattva practises patience to such an extent that he/she is not irritated even he/she is seriously hurt physically and mentally by others. A Bodhisattva, instead of seeing the ugliness in others, tries to see the good and beautiful aspect in all of them. He/she is so patient that he/she makes every attempt to cross the people over (to save them), and never gives up.

3

Lord Buddha had gone through military training when he was young and his body was well-tuned. That was why he could withstand heat and warmth during day time and wet, cold and moist during the night when he sat under a Bodhi tree for years.

Bodhidharma taught the shaolin monks two sets of exercises, one is to strengthen the lignaments, tendons and inner organs and the other set is to develop more marrow in the bones. Then the monks can do their meditation in peace avoiding suffering from muscular aches and pains.
The Thai monks learn walking meditation and it helps to improve their body system and blood circulation.
The Tibetan monks also have to practice certain exercises to raise up their tummo energy and open up the meridians for the five types of chi to flow smoothly in their bodies.
I taught tai chi to my students to strengthen their body system and also the internal organs.
Hence, for those who are doing meditation, please find a way and means to exercise your body. It is a must, otherwise you find yourself can not be calm and still the mind. Your fire of anger is ever ready to burst out, when someone happens to trigger you.

4

To give away and share with things that you valued most is a test whether you are real generous or not. During my time as a young man, many Thai masters who visited me will give some special buddha images from his pocket and he would just s

ome common ones to his followers. They kept on telling me to keep them for my protection and good luck. After a few years when they came back to Singapore, they would ask me to show them the buddha images for further blessings. I told them that I had helped them to give these away to others who needed them most for good luck and protection. I told them that Buddha is most generous and kind and he looks after me all the time. I don't need all these images.They were quite happy to hear that.

Sep6

1

1. How many books, suttas and and articles of Buddha teaching you have read, if you don't go ahead and practice what you have learnt are like collecting the morning dews in a little dish. The moment the sun rises up, the dews that you had collected will evaporate into vapours and vanish completely. It is indeed a pity for you have just missed a chance to an Arahant or a non-returner.

2

The spiritual path which many people like to walk, however, many of them drop it half way because the further they go, they find that they couldn't see the path any more, but mountain cliffs and rapids of waterfall are surrounding them. They begain to have fear and doubts.
My master told me that these people haven't laid a strong foundation in their minds before they started the journey. They need to spend at a few years with a 'known' master closely intact before they can start to make the next move.

 

3.

My master always me to move along with the upright people who observe moral values and have knowledge and wisdom. After a period of time, you will influence by them physically to do the right thing with correct thinking. Spiritually their p...

ositive energy and vibration will help to reformat your low spiritual level to a higher spiritual level. The transformation takes place without your knowing.
If you move along with the negative and petty minded people, your own aura and your energy level will be effected by them in a long run. Your spiritual level will go even further down.
I did warn my Tai chi students about this matter. However they turn a deaf ear to me and told me that they can enjoy more fun going along with these kind of negative people.

 

4

 

Our mind creates our world. One who realises this, one knows that one is actually living in a Pure Land of Buddha because one minds has changed this samsara ocean of suffering into a land of happiness and bliss with full compassion.

 

5

 

 

Knowing the closeness of other hearts to your heart is intelligent. Knowing how to merge with other hearts with your own heart and helping and guiding them to reach the shore of liberation is wisdom.

 

sep5.5

~ Venerable Yin-shun
It is hard to become human, but having become human 
One should vigorously practice the Dharma.
Do waste time; this is like entering the mountain of treasure
And returning empty-handed and with regret.

People of the lower grade want to have better future lives
And happiness in the present and in the future.
People of the middle grade vow to leave the three realms
And enjoy the bliss of liberation in Nirvana.
People of the upper grade vow to attain bodhi
With great compassion, wisdom and ultimate bliss.

sep5.4

~ Venerable Yin-shun
Associating with good and knowledgeable people
One who follows the true Dharma 
Should associate with benevolent people.
Such people, knowing the true nature of the Dharma,
Have the virtues of realisation and teaching,

As well as great compassion and eloquence.
Observing their virtues and not their shortcomings,
One should follow their advice without resisting,
The Buddha has said this lofty conduct is complete.
Good people should be respected by those who learn from them

sep5.3

~ Venerable Yin-shun
The benefits of hearing
By hearing one knows all dharmas;
By hearing one can halt the advance of all evils;
By hearing one can end meaningless matters;
By hearing one can attain Nirvana.

The ways to listen
Like a vessel to hold water,
Like a seed to be planted in the ground,
One should avoid the three mistakes (desire, anger and ignorance)
By listening attentively, thoughtfully, and mindfully.

sep5.2

I have taught my tai chi students asystem known as " the nine-cycled dispelling of wind corpses" It is as though the coarse winds that serve as the mounts of impure motivations and coarse thoughts are expelled with them.
I asked them to cl

ose up the right nostril with the ring finger of the right hand and breathe in through the left nostril. Then I ask them to move the same ring finger of the right hand to close up the left nostril and breathe it out through the right nostril. All in they have to repeat it three times.
Next, they use the ring finger of the left hand to close up the left finger and breathe in through the right nostril. After that they move their ring finger of the left hand to close up the right nostril and breathe it out through the left nostril. All in, they need to repeat in three times.
Next they breathe in using both nostrils to breathe in and out also three times. Follow that they will do a bit of warming exercises before they start to look at the black spot for about 10 minutes and move on to their meditation of awareness of inhaling and exhaling of breath.

Sep5.1

The Bodhisattva Shantideva says:
Knowing that special insight endowed with calm abiding
Thoroughly destroys the afflictive emotions,
One must initially seek calm abiding.
It is achieved by those liking non- attachment to the world.
The six 

prerequisities for achieving calm abiding are :
1. staying in an agreeable place
2. having few desires
3. knowing satisfaction
4. not having many activites
5. pure ethics
6. thoroughly abandonong thoughts.
Atisha's says:
If the prerequisities for calm abiding deteriorate,
Then, even if you meditate for a thousand years
In order to achieve calm abiding, there is no time
When you can attain meditative stabilization.
Therefore, a practitioner who wishes to achieve calm abiding must be able to distinguish between the excellent and absolutely essential prerequisities.The essential ones involve giving up non-virtuous conceptions and neutral ones causing fright. With regard to pure ethics, it is particularly important for someone who has committed murder to engage in the process of purification, involving confession, and the intention of future restraint.

SEP4.4

To find your way or path, you need to calm and still the mind and go further into your heart chamber where true self is. There is no two paths or other outside paths. Lord Buddha said," There is only one path, one way."

SEP4.3

~ Venerable Yin-shun 
The true Dharma is the body of the Buddha.
His life is pure wisdom,
Like the light moon shining through the autumn sky;
Therefore, we worship the Honored One of Two perfections- ( good future and wisdom).
Buddhas of th

e three periods are innumerable,
Buddhas of the ten directions are also countless.
having come to this impure world
because of his compassionate vow,
Sakyamuni Buddha is desrving of our worship.
His wisdom is perfect, his compassion infinite.
Overcoming all obstructions, he is totally
without remnants of habit.
These three virtues are equal and ultimate for all buddhas,
But for the sake of skillful means, there are differences.

SEP4.2

~ Venerable Yin-shun 
SEEKING REFUGE
The sea of Existence has no boundaries,
The world is full of worry and suffering,
Flowing and turning, rising and falling,
Is there no place of refuge and support?

SEEKING REFUGE IN THINGS OF THIS WORLD
"Accumulations of wealth and riches can be lost,
Those with fame and high status can fall,
Those who are together may be scattered,
Those who are born must die."
The well-governed state will fall into chaos,
The world once formed faces destructions;
Of the pleasures and certainties of life,
None can be relied upon.