Sep 24

1.

2

Purification for the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual body is an important issue for one who takes the spiritual path.
You need to exercise not only to keep fit, but to help the blood circulation in our body working smoothly. As you grow older our blood is getting thicker and thicker and that causes us to have a lot of sickness and unknown problems. It is advisible to take fruit as breakf

ast in the morning together with a glass of warm milk. As for lunch and dinner, try to take more different types of vegetables and during the hot day, drink more plain water.
If you can afford your time, try to walk in the morning sun for about twenty minutes to let the sunlight to cleanse your body and also absorb some sunlight to enhance your energy in the spiritual body. As for those who cannot afford such a time, make full use of Sunday morning to walk in the park where you can exchange your energy with the trees around you. The trees are wonderful friends because they take in all your negative energy and provide you all the positive energy. If you can try to clear away the whole cabbage before you go to bed so that mentally and emotionally, you are ready for the next day battle. The moment you leave your office or job-site, leave your burden there and don't try to bring them home because it will affect your family life. If possible don't think too much into the future but of course you need to plan for certain things that within your limited capacity. It drains away your energy unnecessarily. You should try your best to live in the moment because you will have less fear and suffering. Meditation for 10 to 20 minutes is must for you to have a full recharge of your body system everyday. ( 2 cents opinion )

3

The final stage of meditation is to allow your true wisdom to emerge and overcome all defilement, attachment, lust and karma so that your true self will gain final attainment and liberation.

4

Beyond time and space ~ Michele McDonald
Dipa Ma said she could go back to the time of the Buddha and listen to his sermons. When I asked her how she did that this, she smiled and said," I went back mind-moment by mind- moment." I must have looked stunned, because she smiled and said," Oh, you don't have to do that for Nibbana ( enlightenment) to happen." Then she laughed and added," It was fun. It just takes a lot of concentration." The look in her eyes when she said this- she looked so fre, so pure.

5

To see with the Divine Eye ~ Jack Engler
Dipa ma could look inside the body and described how the brain and heart functioned, with scientific accuracy and at a level that clearly exceeded her own education. She decribed new devices created in different parts of the world. She would tell Munindra about a new invention, what it looks like, what it was for, where it was kept. Munindra had developed w

ays of testing his students' abilities, and when he checked up on dipa Ma, he found that they were always 100 per cent accurate.
Munindra asked her to see what was going on in the room next to her and describe to him. He would verify it. Then he had her systematically extend the power of divine sight to places more and more distant, but places where he could verify the accuracy of her report. She had never been to Bodh Gaya- where the Bodhi tree was, what things remained there from antiquity. He had been temple superintendent for many years and knew intimate details of the site.

6

Mind to Mind ` Daniel Boutemy
Whenever I came to Dipa Ma with some difficulty in my meditation practice, she would look into my eyes with that tranquil, samadhi-like gaze while I was speaking. Before the translator even began, I would feel a tickling in the back of my brain. Something would go "click," and the problem would simply disappear, along with whatever emotional diffulty I might have had

 with it.
I believed she was capable of psychic or telepathic linking, working directly with others' minds. She taught me silently that the answers to my internal problem was in the basic mind state and not in her words or in any technical adjustment of attention. She gave me the answer to my difficulties by sharing another state of consciousness in which that problem simply didn't exist. It was a sudden, instant shift, like a psychic chiropractic adjustment.

7

Accordingly to some of her students, Dipa Ma could visit the various realms of existence described in Buddhist cosmology- the heaven and hell realms, for example. She would describe the different beings living there and what was happening all around them. Once a while, she would offhandedly refer her travels to other dimensions.
Dipa Ma's spiritual powers enabled her to predict her students' futures. " She predicted my teaching career quite elaborately at a time in my life when I wasn't teaching at all,' says Joseph Goldstein. " I think she saw the whole course of my life."

8

According to Lord Buddha, what you reap is what you sow. You face your own karma. There are no sinners. You decide your own fate and choose the path you wish to move on. If you wish to follow the Buddha's way, you may do so if you find it good and suitable for you. Buddhism is not religion and he does not want you to worship and follow Him blindly. You have a free choice and act accordingly with logical and scientific approach. Compassion, loving-kindness and selflessness are the outcome of wisdom through years of accumulating of merits and practising meditation.

9

It is what you realise through your five senses of everyday life and its making is important. What you have read, listened and copied and pasted are people's experiences. They are no more here, but dead. You need to work with your own self to find the truth of the dharma that you have learnt from your living and get out of the conditioned culture and habits as you go along your spiritual path. Learn from the true master within you. You will able to find the peace, joy, bliss and wisdom. That is your own enlightenment.

10

What is the purpose of insight meditation? ~ Dipa Ma answered:
The purpose of insight meditation is to eliminate the Ten Fetters, which are the knots or obstructions in your mind. Very slowly, by observing every moment with awareness, you come to open these knots. The Ten Fetters are self-illusion ( that is, the illusion of a separate self), doubt, attachment to rites and rituals, lust, ill-will, 

craving, craving for fine material existence, conceit, restlessness, ignorance.
At each stage of enlightenment, slowly, one by one, some of the fetters are extinguished, until the fourth stage, or arahantship, when all the fetters are gone. The fetters are related to birth in the same way that oil feeds the light of a lamp. The fetters are like oil in the mind. As the oil becomes less and less, the light from the wick becomes less and less. Finally, when the oil is gone, the light is gone. Once they are extinguished, the cycle of rebirth ends. From this, you can understand that birth and rebirth are in your hands.

11

What should I do if I fall asleep during my sitting practice? 
~ Dipa Ma answered:
There is no harm in this. It is called " yogi sleep. " This happens. Don't worry about it. When I first started doing meditation I was always crying because I wanted to follow the instructions with full vigor and enthusiasm, but I could not, due to sleepiness. I could not even do standing and walking meditation pro

perly due to sleepiness. For five years prior to this time I had tried to sleep, but could not. And now here I was, trying to do meditation, and sleepliness was keeping me from it. I was using my full energy to drive away the sleepiness, but still I could not do it. Then one day, all of a sudden, I came to such a state that my sleepiness disappeared, and no sleep came to me even if I sat for some hours.

Sep 23

1

Through our five doors, we realise so much of the reality of life. We understand the impermanence changes of seasons, weathers, our emotional moods and habits. We can understand the distorted thoughts and illusive desires of others and as well as our own. Our bodily positions keep on changing from standing to sitting and walking to lying down. We have so much likes and dislikes and all the time s

o critical to others, discriminating social changes and political happenings. Our minds since morning to sleeping time have never rest, we want happiness but sadness comes along and we want to be kind to people, however, they just take things for granted and they want more and more from us that hurt us so much.
Why are we so restless with no peaceful moment? At time we want to know more of ourselves and wanted to find out who we are. We have the questions but the anwers can not be found.
My master told me that our experiences in life is the real Dharma. Just spend half an hour sitting down everday and close all your doors. Let you mind has a bit of time to settle down in stillness and silence. All your questions will be answered by yourselves and no one can help you. ( 2 cents opinion )

Sep 22

1

Zen is to know your true self while serving others and performing your routine chores. Just be it, no more and no less. No-mind and no-abinding. You do everything in Zen in perfection.

2

The communication of the Great Way of the enlightened takes place through phenomena, all aspects of being, and their activity is therefore balanced and equanimous.
Thus it is that their understanding is manifest, yet the totality of the Way, which is the totality of the universe itself, is ultimately beyond the scope of human understanding
However, it is only upon great understanding that this is realised. Therefore the enlightened see into understanding itself and are able to use it deliberately.
In this process they do not hold on to understanding as a static, reified state, but let go and merge with the events of life.

3

" Enlightened ones leap beyond the bounds of great understanding, and great understanding is the aspect of leaping higher than the enlightened ones."
This refers to the distinction between two kinds of knowledge distinguished in Buddhist psychology, known in Sanskrit as prajna and jnana. The enlightened have both. Prajna is insight of emptiness, seeing through the articiality of subjectively proje

cted description. Jnana is knowledge of differentiations. Pranjna is needed for self-liberation, jnana is needed for teaching others. The enlightened go beyond self-liberation prajna to develop jnana for edification of others; yet even so prajna is ever aware of the ultimate unreality of forms, and therefore is " leaping higher than the enlightened ones."
In sum, this passage says the enlightenment is more than universal realisation of essential emptiness, and it also deals with the characteristics of the relative world. Through realisation of emptiness, the ability to be fluid in dealing with the relative becomes manifest; and by realisation of relatively, insight into essential emptiness empowers transcendance in the midst of the relative world.

4

I only pray for people who are sick or having some difficult problems. As for myself I have Kwan Yin in my heart, before I sleep, I will just call her name mindfully and gently. And in a short while I feel like my body is floating on a pool of water, slowing moving toward to her realm of ocean. My body starts to disappear slowing in the midst of joy and bliss. The next moment, I will be fast aslee

p.
The next morning I still call her name until I totally awakened. I find that this is a good way to communicate with the divine instead asking her for this and that. She understands me better because I always have her in my mind-heart. This is indeed a perfect way having my holiday here on this earth plane.
( 2 cents opinion)

5

Buddha's advice is forever truthful for he gives you a choice to 
ponder and examine over his teachings before you accept and practice it. He does not believe in accepting your blind faith and the followers who worshipped him.
Have you found your true nature, true self ? Be mindful of your thoughts and see the activities that are happing in you. Then you begin to realise.......
Do you know that you are just a visitor on world for an holiday? Be happy and merry!

6

" There is nothing to cling on to in this world"
" What can I take with me when I die?"
Within ten years, Dipa Ma had lost two children, her husband, and her health. Both of her parents were dead, India was far away, and she was overwhelmed with grief and confusion.
" I did not know what to do, where to go, or how to live," she said," I had nothing and no one to call my own."
During the next few y

ears, her health continued to decline. Her condition became so serious that she felt her only hope of survival would be to practice meditation.
At this lowest point in her life, the Buddha appeared to her in dream. A luminous presence, he softly chanted a verse from the Dhammapada, originally offered as consolation to a father grieving the death of his son:
Clinging to what is dear brings sorrow,
Clinging to what is dear brings fear.
To one who is entirely free from endearment,
There is no sorrow and fear.

7

At her next retreat,Dipa Ma experienced another break through only five days of meditation. The path leading to this insight was similiar to the first, except that it was marked by even more pain and suffering. After reaching the second stage of enlightenment, her physical and mental condition were transformed yet again; her restlessness decreased, while her physical stamina increased.
Those who k

new Dipa Ma were fascinated by her transformation. Almost overnight she had changed from a sickly, dependent,
grief-stricken woman into a healthy, independent, radiant being.
Dipa Ma told those around her:" You have seen me. I was dishearted and broken down due to the loss of my husband and children and due to disease. I suffered so much. I could not walk properly. But now how are you finding me? All my disease is gone. I am refreshed, and there is nothing in my mind. There is no sorrow, no grief. I am happy. If you come to meditate, you will also be happy. there is nomagic. Only follow the instructions."

8

Dipa Ma believed, unconditionally, that enlightenment- total liberation of the mind and heart- is the purpose of human life and the primary reason for meditation practice. She never tired of reminding her students:" You must practice to kno
w at least one stage of enlightenment Otherwise you have not made use of your human life."
Joseph Goldstein, Dipa Ma's student, offers this important caveat: " The experience of enlightenment is about letting go of 'self.' Over the years, I've seen people who have experienced enlightenment use it to create more self. They attach to the experience and identify with it. This is the missing point, and it can create a lot of suffering."

Sep 21

1

Zen practices no-mind, no a binding-mind. Be aware of your true self from moment to moment in all four positions, sitting, standing, walking and lying down.
It also includes not to allow to have a dualistic mind; I like this and I dislike this. In this way it helps us to perform our daily chores with full focus and concentration without effecting our true self because we are also aware of the true self all the time and any form of distractions and distorted thinking have no opportunity to disturb or veil the mind-heart. ( 2cents opinion)

2

Those who would truly practice this dharma must keep a 
not-moving mind, taking simplicity and truthfulness as their standard. Dressed in humble, even rough clothing and carrying a hollowed-out gourd for freely drinking in mountain streams, they will not be hundered wherever they go.
Commentary
The Buddha said," The mind should be maintained like a taut string." And he also said," The not-moving mind is itself a holy temple." Completely unattached to your feelings, condition, and situation, you can come and go anywhere with no hinderance.
Zen

3

People lacking in virtue do not rely on the Buddha's precepts, nor do they maintain vigilance over the three kinds of karma ( Karma of thought, speech and action). Such people lead a lazy and dissolute life, looking down on others and provoking quarrels.
Commentary
Once you break the precepts- even in your mind- then every imaginable misdeed will appear as well.
Capping word
Those who practice the Dharma should always keep in mind that, in an instant, legions of karmic demons can spread like a flash fire. Their intent is to distort and taint these teachings on how to find a correct way and correct life. It is especially true during this period of the decline of the Dharma.
Zen

4

When we practice concentration meditation, we choose a black spot, a flower, a candle, a picture, a sculpture, or the mind itself. We attach our mind to an object of meditation and are ble to stay with, allowing no distractions.
Buddhists believe that all our actions are dependent on our state of mind; an unhealthy outlook will cause suffering, and therefore the mind itself is the principal object

 of meditation. I like to talk about the " taming" of the mind. A mind that is not well controlled is liable to cause a great deal of harm to itself and others, while a peaceful mind creates a comfortable atmosphere for itself and everone around. Therefore meditation also serves to harmonise body and mind, as well as creates a balanced state of inner and outer peace.
Buddha

5

What is evil, what is good? One of the greatest Chinese Zen masters was asked by a disciple," What should I do?" 
The master said," I won't tell you what to do; my concern is that you see straight."
This why Buddhism in not just a matter of doing good and not doing evil, it is necessary to purify the mind.

4

Seeing objectively is not seeing once and then composing a standard formula; reality flows. The Japanese Zen master Keizan said," Don't sleep, and you won't dream."
When you see the time, in the sense of seeing both the moment and the flow, then time teaches you.
The living eye is fresh and new. It does not " notch the side of a moving boat to mark the spot where something fell overboard."
Here, t

o " cause defilement" means to occasion attachment and obsession. If people become obsessed with forms of teaching and practice, oe with feelings of realisation, they will not get beyond these to reach real enlightenment. This is especailly true when forms and feelings belong to a different time.
On the other hand, it is precisely because the enlightened are not obsessed or blinded by tools that they can assess their appropriate use and apply them freely without being locked into set patterns.

Sep 20

1

Happiness comes along when we realise that no matter how hard the situations and environments we have to face, without a stir in our heart. In fact we should invite all difficult obstacles to come along as we are prepared to face and dissolved them based on the assistance of the teachings of our great Lord Buddha

2

Last night, my fb friend asked me whether I had gone to the temple to pray to Ganesha because it was his birthday. I told him that I have Ganesha in my heart always and have been celebrating with him everyday. He was shocked to hear that. I told him that if you have all the good qualities of Ganesha, you will have him present in your heart. If you have only the negative qualities in you, Ganesha 

will not be there. He further asked why so many people went to the temple to pray. I told him most of them wanted somethings from Him and therefore we went there. And this festival is created so that the commercial people and the 'holy priests' and the temple will get more money from the people. Then he agreed with me and said that the temple and committee members were printing a lot of money today.
Please always have a divine in you and celebrating with It everyday. As for the buddhists, have Buddha in your heart and celebrate with Him everyday.

3

Cnotributed by Pema Yangzom 
Our difficulty is we don’t see things as they really are. Dharma helps us to understand how to see things as they actually are. When we do this, it stops our negative mind, negative projections, and negative emotions. Then our life becomes simpler and more peaceful, and it also gives us a great opportunity to take more responsibility, with more compassion, and we can handle problems in a much more positive way. Problems then don’t become real problems. We become more accepting and understanding of what is happening around us, whether it concerns business or relatives. There is no separation; there are not two worlds, of business and private life.
-Lama Zopa

4

Two of my Tai Chi students who watched the black spot for training, found that tears started to flow. This shows that physically the eyes' muscles are strengthened,and the solidified paste stuck in the space around the eyes started to melt 
and run down like tears. Spiritually, their inner being shows signs of past negative karma. They shed the tears in a form of rependence and regrets. This way h

elps them to cleanse their defilements and past mistakes made. Some students saw the golden ring at the circumference of the black spot and some can even move the golden dish up and down.
According to my master, he could move the golden spot right up to the sky after many years of practice. He told me that he used this golden spot to heal patient sickness like using a laser beam.
According my experience, this method helps me to calm my mind down and I also find I lost my usual hot temperament. I could finish reading a thick book within three days with full understanding. Formly I need to spend at least two months or more months to finish reading a book. My understanding of buddha's teachings is better and better. This method has sharpened my mind and my span of concentration can last longer. I seem to able to read another people's mind much more easily now.

5

The young girl that you saw on my post observing at the black spot is very smart. She came to learn from me less than two months. She already has a good habit of taking down notes of my teachings and drawing pictures to make sure that her postures in Tai chi and meditation are correct.
Every night we should unload all the important aspects of life and learning from the masters and record them dow

n, so that we can keep our mind clear and nothing is there to bother us in our sleep. Then when we wake up the morning, our mind is flesh and free from cabbage so that we can sit down to do our practice. When we are not sure of certain skills, we can refer from our notes.
Many people keep on loading all sorts of teachings and knowlege will have difficulty to do meditation because their minds are full of thoughts and things. Their minds don't have enough space to realise the teachings. It becomes so confused and not clear when they want to focus on certain practices. Some of my friends used to tell me that they have bad memory.

Sep 19

1.Many people who practice the dharma think of serving and helping others with good intention. However, they just practice using their mind and they believe that they have done good. My master used to say if you don't act, it is of no use, soon whatever thoughts which are in your mind will soon be rotten. When more cabbages stored in side you, will one day effect your mood badly.

2.

We are housed inside this shelter, not knowing that the real me is boundless and spaceless. We change from shelter to shelter going through all four seasons of hardship and pains not realising how to move away from the cycle of birth and de

ath. We remind ourselves we must do something to avoid such continuous struggles. But the moment, we have good food, better house to live in, with more money coming to our bank account and so many luxurious items coming, we quickly forget the pains and struggle. Merrily we still go on with the tide of up and down of this samsara cycle

3

In order to have the clarity to view and understand our true self is to unload what we have accumulated through the years of collections of knowlege and information that come from books, lectures and seminars. Those talks and articles which

 we have read or heard are just a guide line for us to see our own light and not for storing it or use what we know as gossips during a party or have a meeting among our friends. Only through the silence and stillness in our meditation will one day help us to go deep inside to realise our true nature.

4

Contributed by Pema Yangzom 
It is important to realize that there is nobody else who can wake us up and save us from samsara. There is no such thing in Buddhism. That may be Buddhism’s biggest drawback, and at the same time its greatest ad

vantage. This view shows us that there is nobody else in control of our lives, our experiences, our freedom or our bondage. Who is responsible? Who is in control? It is us. We are in control. We can bind ourselves further in samsara or we can free ourselves from it right now. It is all up to us. We are the ones who have to keep looking at our thoughts, looking for the nature of our mind. There is no guru, deity, buddha or bodhisattva out there to look for it for us. Although they would happily do this, it would not help us; it would only help them. We have to do it for ourselves. That is the key point.

–from Mind Beyond Death, by Dzogchen Ponlop

5

A master who has learned Reiki messaged to me from oversea sending me regards. I was quite please with her politeness. She has a beautiful soul. So I wanted to test her level in Reiki by asking her to send me her energy. Before her energy r

eached me, my own internal energy responded. So she could my energy hovering over our crown chakra. Actually I wanted to help her to clear her blockages in order to tune all her chakras in alignment. However the cosmic energy can not penetrate her crown chakra. So I told her that she needs to let go all her defilements and attachments.
I explained to her all these methods of sending energy like mere toys in the eyes of Lord Buddha and all the Tao grandmasters. Lord Buddha once said he himself could not change the karma of anyone, he could teach them the skillful means to accept the karma accordingly.
If you start sending energy to heal someone, you are trying to interfere with someone's karma. Then as a result, you may have to face certain bad consquences. Once you find your true self, you will know the reality of living here and the use of energy.

6.

Contributed By Fenny chong and Mam Kanyaphat 

The correct understanding of Buddhism and its true meaning of offerings and worship
A statue of the Buddha with its hands resting gently in its lap and its compassionate smile reminds us to str

ive to develop peace and love within ourselves. The perfume of incense reminds us of the pervading influence of virtue, the lamp reminds us of the light of knowledge, and the flowers, which soon fade and die, reminds us of impermanence. When we bow we express our gratitude to the Buddha for what his teachings have given us. This is the meaning of Buddhist worship.
~ Ven S Dhammika.

7

I was having a conversation with one of Tai chi members just now. She was so concerns with older people working in the canteens or coffee shops collecting plates and cups and wiping the tables. Why they had to work at this age, about 65 years old or more. She felt pity for them because she found most of them were so old that they could be tired easily. There was no one to help them. 
I told her th

at many people, eating there also, took pity on these older people. But they just kept this thinking in their mind by not doing any thing to ease their jobs.
Is it the real compassion and loving-kindness these people are showing to the older folks? This is not because this kind of thinking will rot in their minds.
I told that every morning without fail, I would go down for my breakfast and sometimes lunch at the same coffee shop for a few months. One day this older lady, more than 70 years old, looking so weak came to my table to collect the bowl. She told me I was the only customer who was neat in my eating and that I put all my unwanted pieces of bones and food back into the bowl for her to collect. Other customers will dirty the whole table by throwing pieces of unwanted food all over the table and she needed to clean up the whole table and collect all the cabbages.
This is what I mean showing compassion and loving-kindness by action and not just thinking about it.