OCT 25

1

Shantideva states, " There is no evil so great as anger. There is no religious practice so powerful and arduous as patience."
Anger represents the most terrible and destructive manifestation of self-driven desire, and leads to hatred, cruelty, and violence.
Patience is the antidote to anger. Just as the first pramita, generosity, opens up our hearts to practice all the other transcendental virtues, so patience sets the right rhythm and tone for that action.
Buddha

2

The inner most strength is most powerful and it can overcome all suffering.
We often ignore the strength within and seek help without .

3

The awakening of yourself will come along when you have both wisdom and compassion.

4

"After singing a song, the poor singer expects the audience to clap their hands"
I told my class yesterday night. People in the West or foreign countries will write some good comments or at least click like for the post (song) someone put up that one finds it meaningful. Whereas some of my students will quietly view my posts without clicking like and write some comments. It is my fault or my karma to have such students. Besides teaching them Tai Chi and meditation, now I need to give them a lesson on mannerism. I told them that all my other readers are very polite and always give me the support even though my English is poor and I always make a lot of mistakes in grammar and spelling.

5

To take of the natural environment is to take care of ourselves. Nature provides oxgen, sunshine, water, minerals and many others to keep us alive like a mother taking care of us all the times. Have we really sit down and think about this mother of earth and say thank you to her? Never, for some yes. We always say that we too busy to reflect and recollect. Are we really that busy?

6

I just came back from a wake. My friend's wife had a cancer for six years and she was fighting well until the last two days ago. She left the world in peace. I was quite shocked and realised later it was good for the death when my friend started playing his guitar and sang songs to his wife who was lying in the coffin. I think his wife might have love to hear him sing. Later a group of people which worked for a charitable home also started to sing songs in a group for the death. I found so much peace and joyful energy for the death. This was the first wake that I came across that sparkled so much love and peace for the death

7

Chi-ch'eng, a hermit living alone in the mountainous area
" If people are quiet, they can be quiet anywhere. If people aren't quiet, they won't be quiet here. Everything depends on you. Life is transient, like a flash of lightning or a dream. Eighty years pass like a cloud. We're born, and then we die. But before we recieve this form, we had another face, our orignal face. We can't see it with our

 eyes. We can only know it with our wisdom. The sutras say,' That which is beyond form is buddha.' We all have the buddha nature. We'er all destined to become buddha. But buddhahood isn't something that can be achieved in a couple of days. You have to practice before you can become aware of your original nature, your original face."

8

When the human heart has sincerity,
It can drive away the frost,
Can cause battlements to fall,
And penetrate metal and stone.
Tao

OCT 24

1

~ Daehaeng Sunim, a Korean nun 
If you want to realise the truth, the Buddha-Dharma, you have to experience it through your daily life, your body, and your mind. What could you possibly find by ignoring these and looking for the truth somewhere else? The Buddha taught people to experience the truth for themselves, because this is the only way to become truly free. The goal of the Buddha's teaching

s is application, not intellectual knowledge.
From the prospective of our fundamental mind," just doing" is easier than speaking. Words may be inadequate or misunderstood, but doing is straightforward: if you do it, ti's taken care of. However, people get caught by words, and argue about wrong and right without ever trying to experience the Dharma directly.

2

Application: Think good, speak good and act good. Your life will change and become more cheerful, light-hearted and full of wisdom. And now sincerely you are walking on the right spiritual path with a full awareness of your truthful self and the reality of living. May the Triple Gems guide you and bless you all the way.

3

Please take this as a joke
There are many people through message, email, telephone call or see me personally asking me to help them in business, job situation and sickness. The first question I will ask them, " Have you top-up your spiritual saving account?" 
The answer will be," What? I have many bank saving accounts. which one are you talking about?"
So I will say, " Have you donate your money 

to the poor and the needy and the poor closed ones?"
They will then say," I donate to churches and temples and my name uses to appear on their lists and also on the newspapers."
" Sorry friends, with your name appearing on the churches or temples listings and on newspapers is not the right way of doing good and as a result your spiritual account is empty now."
For those who believe me, go and make a donation to the needy and the poor will find that their situation has changed eventually and is better off. I always tell these people, there is someone watching you and taking note of you. It could be God, Buddha or angels? Actually I also don't know. What I know is doing good begets good.

4

One day, some disciples found the Taoist philosopher Chung Tsu infront of his house, sitting peacefully on the ground in the sun with his fresh-washed long hair cascading down around him. The students gathered around him and waited patiently for him to say something. " What are doing, master?" they finally asked.
"Drying my hair in the sun." the ol sage replied.
" Can we help you?" they wanted to 

know.
" How can you help me?" he said. " What is there that I need? the hair is being dried by the sun, and I am resting at the origin of all things."
Jnana paramita is simply authenticity in being, all its incandescent immediacy- alive, wakeful and free.
Rumi, the most popular poet of the Islamic Sufi, once
advised," Try to be a duck, with its joyful body paddling along in the loving water of the river. Just enjoy that." Being is it totally. Sometimes Buddhists call it "is-ness." They call it ordinary mind-free from concepts, fabrication and striving. This implies the authentically and scintillating brilliance of pristine, innate awareness. Awareness itself is self-arisen and timeless, all pervasive, and immutable.
~ Lama Surya Das 

OCT 23

1

Your own precious treasure.
Dazhu Huihai came to see Master Mazu. Mazu asked him," What do you come here for?" Dazhu replied," I am coming, because I am striving for enlightenment." The Master said," Why do you leave your home and wander around despising your precious treasure? There is nothing I could give you.Why do you come looking for enlightenment with me?" Dazhu asked," But what is my own treasure?" The Master replied," It is just the one who is asking this question right now. He encompasses everything and he lacks nothing. Thus it is not necessary to look outside of yourself."

2

The daily blessings from someone always brightens up my day. I could feel the lovely and pure energy coming into my heart. I am recharged again. I could still feel the warmth coming to me from a foreign land but not from my own country. Singapore is warm and hot through out the year. But to me, I could feel the coldness everywhere. I always wonder whether we have a good educational system that cultivating our new and young generation?

3

Buddhism is not a religion. It shows and teaches the way for us how to share our love, compassion and loving-kindness among all living beings.

4

南懷瑾老師 is the best among all masters of today. I read almost all his books in Chinese. It is a difficult task for me, western educated, to read and understand his writings. All his writings open up my inner wisdom. I am grateful and thankful to such a great master. It is a great loss, a special and valuable gem, to us. For those who want to know more about your true self, please go and get his book

s and start to read them now!





【南懷瑾老師的舍利子】

南懷瑾老師於八月十日示病，九月二十九日涅槃。

據內情人介紹，七日開爐後，發現有完整的頭骨舍利，呈藍白色，還有無數五彩舍利。


頭骨舍利中舌抵上齶，整個舌頭就是一隻大的舌形舍利，說明六十年說法不虛。

南懷瑾老師的舍利子共裝了七罐，有淡綠色，藍色，透明如水晶狀的，非常非常多，非常漂亮。

5

May I perfect the sublime virtue of generosity,
which liberates and releases craving, grasping,
and attachment,
and bring joyous contentment.
All of us can achieve this if we live and stay simple and have loving-kindess and compassion for others.

6

" Sincere words are not fine,
Fine words are not sincere.
A good man is not eloquent,
An eloquent man is not good. 
He who knows does not show off his learning,

He who shows off his learning does not know.
The sage has nothing in reserve.
He gains more since he does his utmost to help others,
And gets richer since he gives all to others.
The Tao of heaven is beneficial to all things,
but not harmful.
The Tao of the sage is to compete against nobody
in what he does."
~ Dao De Jing ( The more you give, the more you will get.)

7

A couple came to learn Tai chi from me for about one and half months. The man is actually my old secondary schoolmate. Last night I saw the husband trying very hard to get the wife to be interested in Tai Chi. As usual any lady will prefer to stay at home to do house chores and normally not interested in doing exercises- just my own opinion. I explained to them that normally if a person who is hea

lthy will find Tai Chi a very dull and boring exercise because one needs to repeat doing the same movement again and again. For those who have some physical problems will find Tai chi interesting because after a few weeks of exercise, their pains will just disappear and they become healthier.
Secondly I told them not to push themselves so hard in the learning without understanding the concepts of doing the exercise. Tai chi is actually a kind of meditation in movement. They need to focus on the movements of their limbs and try to limit themselves from allowing their mind from wandering.
Thirdly their legs will tremble if they stand too long in their training and they need to inform the instuctor to stop and give them a break.
If they push themselves too hard and wanted to aquire the skills quickly, their ego or mind will oppose the training and they will soon give themselves up. I advise them to advance slowly because this form of meditation needs to develop concentration and awareness of their mind.

8

At the age of around 35 years old, I was having a class Chong Cheng Secondary every Sunday morning from 9 am to 1 pm. My senior student was heading a class, while I had to give treatments like massaging and giving advices to people how to cure their sickness. I was there for a few years. It was always a long queue for such free treatment and consultation. I worked from 9 a.m to 1 pm. I didn't feel

 tired. I didn't know where I got the energy from.
One day, a friend of mine brought me to see his business client. This man was suffering from Liver hardening. He could not sleep much at night and he would only sleep at around 6 a.m to 11 a.m before he could go back to his office. I met him at his big bungalow at River Valley road. When he saw me he was shocked to find a young ordinary man who did not have an air of a master. He expected me to dress up like a master having a long beard. I told him it was not easy to cure such sickness and your western doctor couldn't help much. That was the reason why he needed to see me. I told him that I would try to teach him for a month. If he found the Tai chi couldn't help him much, he needed not pay me a single cent. After the first month, I stayed on for 8 years to teach his whole family. And his sickness was finally cured.

9

Giving with wisdom, not thinking of any return will see God/ Buddha everywhere. That is pure generosity with unconditional love.

10

A kind word of wisdom will stay deep into the heart of a listener and the tranformation for good will take place and last forever.

OCT 22

1

Everyone of us like talking to others about, Tai Chi, Dharma and meditation. My student asked me, " Why is that your hands, your joints and body are so soft? When I touch you during pushing-hand, I am not able to read your mind and the physical aspects of your body. The moment I realised that your chi touching the hardness of my limb, I was just been thrown off into the air unhurt."
Most of us hav

e not put much effort in training and we like to hear the lectures from others or read a lot of books on meditation and dharma, thinking that we have learnt and know a lot. What you hear and read are not your own exprience or your own realisation. We feel dull and sleepy if we asked to sit down to meditate or to do an breathing exercise. We started off knowing that we are breathing or working with the body in the breathing exercise, soon our mind has gone of the room looking or thinking of what to do next, where to shop next or how to cook....
I told them that I used to spend five hours a day for two years to practice my art. This is self-discipline. If we are lacking of self-discipline and persistence and hardwork, we will never achieve nothing.

2

Wasting our time is like a lazy person who sees the gem on the floor, refuses to pick it up. One prefers to idle oneself and spends time on computer games or gossiping in the pubs or any other form of social gatherings, thinking that they can attain happiness and joy. However, one drags the tired and heavy body to work on the next day. The happiness and joy cannot be sustained and have already disppeared in thin air. As a result dullness, tiredness and unmindfulness take over.

3

I cultivated now for 20 years and still know very little
About truth.
The truth is that you are aware of your existence with the whole world from moment to moment. The awareness of your existence is your true self. That is enough

4

According to Lord Buddha's teachings, as long as you don't realise that your real enemy is within you, you will never recognise that mind of attachment is the root of all the problems your body and mind experience. All your worries, your depression, everything comes from that.

5

~ Samyutta Nikaya 
There is no me or mine.......
" Monks, we who look at the whole and not just the part, know that we too are systems of interdependence, of feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness all interconnected. Investigating in this way, we come to realise that there is no me or mine in any one part, just as a sound does not belong to any one part of the lute.'

6

~ Lama Anagarika Govinda
' All the suffering of this world arises from 
a wrong attitude.
The world is neither good nor bad.
It is only the relation to our ego that
makes it seem the one or the other.'

OCT 21

1

Since we like to have an open discussion where we can share our common understanding and wisdom. Let try this one.

'When we see a flower blossoms, we see the Buddha,
When we see a leaf in the open, we see the universe.'
What is the meaning of this phrase? Why do we say this?

2

My shallow understanding:
'When we see a flower blossoms, we see the buddha,'-
When our heart represents the 'flower' has reached the final stage of attainment, after getting rid of all defilement, attachment and our distorted thought and illusive dreams, we actually reach the stage of Buddhahood. We see and realise that we are the buddha in its purest form. In the Heart Sutra, it says that we can

't add or subtract of its originality. We actually see ourselves as buddha.
The leaf in the open is an existance of nature or universe. It is part of the whole, the nature. Therefore we can find the similarity between the leaf and us. So we can see and are also a part of the existence of the universe. The leaf and us are the same.
My simple explanation- I may be wrong.

3

Zhuang Zi, the great sage who was famous with his dream of a butterfly.

To Zhuang Zi, he was not one to fear death or seek death. To him, life was insignificant. When we are born into this world, nobody gets our permission. Similarly, we have no control over when we are going to die. Thus, the best attitude towards life and death is to live each moment well, to live with no regrets, and derive jo

y from every moment within our limited physical life. Different people may have different interpretations of life and death. But one thing in common is that life is full of uncertainty but death is certain. Eventually, everbody has to face death, preferably with a calm and undisturbed mind.
Once a person has achieved such a high level of awareness and attainment, he will see all things as ONE- a unity of all things.
Once a person trancends space and time, he would be able to lead an easygoing yet steadfast life. One would be able to maintain a calm and clear mind under all circumstances. In this way, one will truly integrate himself with the Way of "Tao"

4

Both Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi do not subscribe to dualism. The 'Tao' does not see distinction or choose sides. It is just as the Sage sees no distinction, while ordinary person likes to distinguish things and argue with others on what is right and what is wrong. When one fails to see the equality of all things, he will start to distinguish and discriminate, just like a handful of mud would feel "inferior" when compared with a Buddha statue. In actual sense, both come from the same source, the earth. Once a person progresses to a higher level of consciousness, distinction will disappear. Right and wrong have to find each other and not act in opposites.

OCT 20

1

Lama Surya Das 
I heard a Jataka Tale at the time the Buddha himself, is one of his earlier lives as Prince Mahasattva. One day the prince was wandering through a forest blighted by drought. Suddenly he came upon an emaciated tiger. Too weak to attack the prince, the tiger curled protectively around her cubs, who were crying with hunger. Moved by compassion, the prince said to himself, What is thi

s life for, if not to help others? He disrobed and lay down infront of the tiger. Then he grabbed a sharp stone and tore his flesh until it bled. Smelling the blood, the tiger and her clubs feasted on the body until not a scarp left. They survived and lived ong lives.
Awestruck by the extreme nature of this story, which reflects just how deeply compassion is valued in Asian and Buddhist tradition. I visited Namo Budhha, the very place where this selfless act allegedly occurred. It's situated on a ridge of the mountains east of Kathmandu, and a tree filled with the prayer flags of visiting prilgrims is said to mark the actual spot where Prince Mahasattva offered his life to the tiger and her cubs. I spent a few nights at the small retreat center there and, accordingly to my lama's instructions, contemplated the nature of life, birth, death, suffering, and altruism.

2

One of the best examples of this kind of Bodhicitta attitude was expressed by Anne Frank, the German Jewish teenager who, along her family and four others, hid out from Nazi persecutors for twenty-five months in an Amsterdam attic before being deported to a concentration camp, where she died in March 1945. Shortly before she was betrayed and captured, she wrote in her
diary: "It's wonder I haven'

t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, inspite of everything, that people are truly good at heart." How could such radiant, splendid words of wisdom spring forth from such a young and inexperienced woman if the clear light of Buddha-ness were not inherent within her?
Anne Frank's words have resonated with millions of people who have read her diary or seen plays or movies based on her life, they impressed us still today. We instinctively recognise their fundamental truth and value.

3

* Things that are too high will fall easily.
* Things that are too white will get dirty easily.
* Things that are too long will be easy to break.
Lao Zi further used the tree and water to support his ideology. Whatever that is hard will be stiff, and whatever that is soft will be tender.Water is soft and yet it can erode rocks and mountains that are hard; dripping water wears the stone that even a

 hammer cannot break. Wind has no form and yet it can uproot trees. When strong wind combines with water, the power is enormous, like the 2008 cyclone disaster in Myanmar that killed over 100,000 people. On the other hand, a fully grown tree that is hard and stiff will be more easily broken than a small plant, which is small and tender.
In many contemporary societies, the standard teachings are to exhibit strength and intelligence by emphasizing success, material achievement, victory, and getting ahead of one's competitors.
On the other hand, Lao Zi emphasized the reverse- modesty, fruglity, sinplicity, pliancy, non-competitiveness, and self-forgetting. To Lau Zi, one must try to attain emptiness and thus enjoy eternal tranquility. One must first engage in self-examination, understand the self, and the overcome the self. Returning to simplicity and genuineness are the greatest wisdom. To Lao Zi, petty intelligence is much less significant than great wisdom.
To move forward is to exert one's strength or energy.

4

No-mind and no abinding mind ; no dualistic mind, no discrimination, no judgement, no right or wrong, just be aware of your inner nature with right thinking, right speech and right action. No need to cultivate anything for your true self is pure with love, compassion and loving-kindness. The reflection, self-examination and realisation help you to see the truth and the reality of your existence. Fully and completely see your pure existence. That is more than enough.

5

* In the midst of fortune lie the unseen seeds of misfortune.
* In the midst of success lie the unseen seeds of downfall.
* In the midst of equilbrium lie the unseen seeds of disequibrium
A harmless thing or situation can turn into a disaster. Stone by itself is harmless if we do nothing to it. However, when you take two stones and rub them together they can spark a fire and even burn down the ent

ire forest. A thing or situation can turn from harmless to harmful and from harmful to harmless. The difference is in how a person use them.
Simplity is Supreme. No matter how wealthy a person is and how large his house is, how much living space can he occupy? He probably cannot sleep on two separate beds in a single night. Material wealth can only bring limited happiness. One has to transcend from fame and fortune to achieve unlimited and eternal happiness. Leading a simple lifestyle-with simple food, simple clothes adn simple shelter-does not need a lot of money. Then, why be busy for nothing?
Tao

6

I remembered what my first Master told me," Let your cat watches the mice in you." In my younger days, I could not understand what he said. Does anyone of you understand this statement? I walked one big round looking for so many masters or the masters were looking for me. Only recently I started to look at this statement and tried to understand it.
1. Who and where is this cat?
2. What are the mice and where do they come from?
3. Why does the cat need to watch the mice in me ?
Open for discussion

7

Someone just asked me how to throw the negativities out the window into the sky?
Use your hand to pluck the negative energy from your heart or your body and throw it away. Try to do many times. Gather all the negative energy and throw them away. If you do it long enough, you will find that your heart area is becoming lighter and lighter and you feel certain joy and happiness emerging like water from your heart and body. You will really feel good. For those who feel sad and have some anger or problems may try this method.

8

~ William Blake
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, 
And eternity in an hour 
(Please express your own understanding for this poem. Open discussion

9

~ Master Dakpo Tashi Namgyal 
Five ways of sustaining the essense
Elevate your experience and remain wide open like the sky.
Expand your mindfulness and remain pervasive like the earth.
Steady your attention and remain unshakable like a mountain.
Brighten your awareness and remain shining like a flame.
Clear your thought-free wakefulness and remain lucid like a crystal.

10

Enlightenment is like a shadow following us. However we are mistaken by the entry of things through our senses as real. Besides that we can't let go what we have within us. We are so concerned with our physical aspects like hair and nails. We are so caught up with our emotional running thoughts. Once we decide to drop all these, enlightenment is no more a shadow, it appears to us as a real and perfect existence. (2 cents opinion )