Blessed Saka Dawa Wesak

I would like to wish all my dearest dharma brothers and sisters a Blessed Saka Dawa Wesak with much love, and happy holidays tomorrow to all friends. May we commemorate the birth, enlightenment and parinirvana of Gotama Buddha with virtuous thoughts, actions and prayers for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Quote ~ His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

"My message is the practice of compassion, love, and kindness.

Compassion can be put into practice if one recognizes the fact

that every human being is a member of humanity and

the human family regardless of differences in religion,

culture, color, and creed.

Deep down there is no difference."

"We should try never to let our happy frame of mind be disturbed.

Whether we are suffering at present or have suffered in the past,

there is no reason to be unhappy. If we can remedy it, why be unhappy?

And if we cannot, what use is there in being depressed about it?

That just adds more unhappiness and does no good at all."

"By developing a sense of respect for others and a concern for their welfare,

we reduce our own selfishness, which is the source of all problems,

and enhance our sense of kindness which is a natural source of goodness."

"This is my simple religion.

There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy.

Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness."

"Walk on a trail of loving kindness
Walk on a path of compassion
And all else around you will be beautiful."
Every Blessing

Sow the Seeds of Goodness

credits thegirlinthecafe.com

Have you ever stared blankly at all the self-help books available on the shelves of a book store? Or noticed the numerous audio programs available to help with any problem? How about all the books on religion? Psychic healing or wellness?

We live in a day when there are virtually unlimited resources to teach us how to obtain a better life.

We could spend eons of lifetimes trying to absorb all the knowledge that is available to help us have a better life.

In my previous trip to Borders, I realized that there were countless self-help books on the shelves. Similarly, religious books on positive living plus psychic healing and wellness were visible in huge portions.
That left me thinking about paying for help when self-help remedies are easily available to oneself if only we care to take care of our mind, body and soul.Not to discount any of the amazing ideas, beliefs, programs, and techniques available, there is one absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed way to improve our lives. It is free and anyone, anywhere can do it.

And... we all know it.

We have heard it since we were children. It is a law of the universe that can't be denied.

It is,

"As you sow, so shall ye reap"

Put another way... if we want to improve our lives, we ought to sow more seeds of goodness. If you want to be happier, sow more seeds of happiness. Simple, I know. But powerful and true. (though I may still be challenged on this topic by those emo-druids!)

While we are just beginning to understand (whilst fumbling) the workings of our universe, this law of the harvest does seem to be true.

What you give out, you get back...... The wonderful law of Karma!

To put this in application...

Our life is a reflection of the seeds we have sown or the actions and behaviors in which we have engaged.
If you want a better, more fulfilling, happier life, sow more seeds that bring happiness and fulfillment.
If you want your children to improve their behavior, sow more seeds of good parenting.
If you want your relationship to be healthier, sow more healthy relationship seeds.
If you want people to be more friendly, sow more friendly seeds.

People can't see your mind, what people see is a manifestation of your attitude in your actions of body and speech.

~ Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche

I think we get the picture by now ;)

But as the dumpling festival is soon approaching,  I can't help but to think of the process of seperating and discarding the bad glutinuous rice seeds from the good ones. Similarly in life, we ought to do away with the negativities that invade, obstruct our sense of wellbeing and that cause us hardship.

Now of course some seeds take longer to germinate than others, and not every seed is going to all of a sudden burst forth into a huge plant or tree, still, we could still  reap the rewards of our seeds via the "feel good factor" by the end of the day. And it will be only the beginning, cumulatively inject us with more joy as we slowly reap the harvest of goodness.

What kind of seeds can we plant?

How about a bunch of smile seeds? Nah, I think we should go all the way and wager heavily on laughter seeds. A phone call to a loved one? Maybe words of gratitude to the Nepalese waiter? How about some words of kindness to our loved-ones? Or a bit of gentle thoughts to the ones who have been unkind to us?

I bet we could easily sow a hundred seeds in one day if we put our minds to it. I planted a seed of hope when I visited my ailing uncle this morning. The appreciative smile and his immediate response to want to get well not only improved his outlook towards life, but also the hopes of those loved-ones around him who were worried for his stubbornness to which had been the main factor to his deteriorating health.

Whatever needs improving in our lives, we just need to find some good seeds to sow and we will be surprised at how quickly our life starts improving!

Go sow a bagful of seeds today, or better yet, make it two! ^_^




"Walk on a trail of loving kindness
Walk on a path of compassion
And all else around you will be beautiful."
Every Blessing

Happy Birthday Dowager Dearest

You encroach on my space without so much as a nod to my consent, you intuit I've consent for none. Stepping into my place with a dismissive shrug, passing judgement, invading.

Speaking of which... my mother, Buddha bless her soul, though she's very much alive - my mother used to drink coffee only on cold mornings, and then it was strong local black and sweeter than honey. Ignition fuel to start her cranky engine, her wit called it. The rest of the week, breakfast consisted of Tesco weetbix dipped in cold milk and the juice of oranges and apples offered at the altar, or, if pressed for time, the pulp of one. "It helps keep me regular", she would say in her roundabout way.

She'd inspect my soiled laundry, dusting with her fingertips over my territorial spaces, inhaling my incense wafting from the altar. Remarking at my overcrowding or lack.

She's a beautiful woman, my mother. Always has been. Still is, despite the increasing fragility that comes with aging. She was gorgeous, desirable fodder for men in her youth, I'm living proof ;)

There was a space of some years in which she was lost though. He fought cancer loudly. His sorrow drowned out her voice with a neverending stream of suffering. It was never an easy task to care for a loved-one in pain. She finally lost her soul mate to cancer, that dashing man that once swooned her off her feet at KL's BB Park, and the romantic rides. She was sick for a while, and a fraction of the vibrancy that she had always lived, tending to the needs of her husband, children and grandchildren. I now realise that while I was busy rebelling the sadness too, my life unfolded similarly. I heightened my care for the old and dying, thankfully, but drowned most times in quiet pain just the same.

Speaking of which ... you seem unworried, that you're not sad for me, but I know you better. You seem to understand much of nothing when it came to me but yet your lukewarm inspection of my desperate living told me otherwise; the yearning to care for me still existed, wearing your heart on your sleeve. You dispense with my humanity under the pretense of assistance, infringing on my every quivering cell even though you knew my blood was of strong dark red, not easily succumbing to tough fights in the journey we call life.

I don't eat sweet oranges in the morning. I drink strong, bitter coffee. If I were as beautiful as she, I'd be insufferable. The similarities are clear, ancient talk of apples true, but I saw what she couldn't, a marked and crucial difference, and speaking of which ... of that I never speak.

Yet, despite our different schools of thought, I know you'll always be there for me, a living guardian angel in the truest form.

I salute you for always being in your finest; a wonderful wife, caring mother and doting granny.

Mom, I love you. I'll always do.
Blessed Birthday, and may we enjoy many more years of your endearing elegance and charm.

A mother holds her children's hands for a while.....their hearts forever.

~ Author Unknown

"Walk on a trail of loving kindness
Walk on a path of compassion
And all else around you will be beautiful."
Every Blessing

Suffer no more

healing lotus ~ sodahead.com

Last night as I was slicing a mango, it slipped and I ended up slicing my finger open with the paring knife. I quickly cleaned the cut and placed a bandage and continued on, not giving the cut another thought. It almost immediately began to heal as the bloodflow subsided and thereafter stopped altogether. I did not have to do anything on a conscious level, my internal system took over right away and I know that in a few days that cut will be fully repaired and I will barely remember that it happened. For most of us that is how our body works, we have an internal system which launches itself into repair mode without us really experiencing hassle over it. I could choose to be conscious of the cut and worry about it, keep checking and messing with it which would ultimately interrupt its natural ability to heal and may even create an infection which if I kept on prying and interrupting the natural heal. Worse still, the disruption could lead to gangrene and possibly amputation of my finger. That would be crazy right? Why would I keep re-opening the wound and creating an environment where it could not heal? Why would I create suffering for myself? Weird thought and actions, right?

Applying the same logic to dealing with the emotional aspect of living life; most people would never intentionally create a situation where they would suffer or cause more damage to themselves. One would think so, however we do create suffering in our monkey mind with our thoughts and many people do it as a normal course of their day.

In life stuff happens!

Things don’t always go as we would like them to go. We fail in our business and have to accept working for others to stay afloat; we don’t have enough money to buy that special item that our loved-one so desperately yearns for his/her birthday; our significant other tells us that they need space and time to figure things out; we find out that we have an ailment that is going to significantly impact our life; someone close to us leaves us unexpectedly in a accident or because they took there own life; etc. These are examples of events that happen in our life that can cause severe emotional wounds. Just as a physical wound needs to heal so does an emotional wound. How and when our emotional wounds heal is very much up to us and what we say to ourselves when stuff happens.

Will we choose to suffer or choose to heal?
Will are inner voice go into hyper worry mode and create more angst for us?
Will we, through our thoughts continuously pick at our wound and keep re-opening the wound to the point where it can’t heal?
Will we open up the wound every chance we get to show it to others and perpetuate our suffering as well as add to theirs?
Will we take on the role of the victim and create a state of depression because of what we say and do to ourselves?
Will we parade our suffering like a badge of honour, cry for the attention-seeking help but yet refuse to get or take the help of others, or worse still, hurt others by bringing them as partners into our whirlpool of suffering?
Will we get to a point where we are defined by our suffering?
(my apologies for the barrage of questions, especially since the cheery weekend's looming!)

“It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer; it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens”
– Pema Chodron  (a Buddhist Nun)

Pain and hurt are unavoidable, it just happens. I don’t know anyone who has not been hurt emotionally or not known some form of emotional pain along their life journey. That being said, I do know many people who choose positive living and not to suffer because of what has transpired in their life and I also know other people who choose to suffer and to not allow their wounds to heal. The difference is thought, the difference is how we talk and reason to ourselves about the wounds that we incur. The question is, do our thoughts aid in the healing of our wounds or do they cause the wounds to remain open and fester to the point where the wound infects our whole being.

This weekend, I ask of you to please reflect on whatever suffering that you may be going through right now and to ask yourself why are you suffering. Ask yourself how you could change the way you talk with yourself to create the healing of your wounds and to eliminate the suffering. We have the ability to heal ourselves. Yes, healing is a process; there are no magical applications nor animal ointment which will heal our emotional wounds at this moment. We can however choose to lessen the daily grinds of suffering and begin the healing today via changing our thoughts and our internal voice.

Love ourselves more and begin the healing today; suffer less or better still, suffer no more.

“Worrying is the same thing as banging your head against the wall. It only feels good when you stop”
- John Powers


I wish you peace. I wish you joy.
Have a stress-free weekend ya! ^_^





"Walk on a trail of loving kindness
Walk on a path of compassion
And all else around you will be beautiful."
Every Blessing