About Anger And Hatred

We were told that anger are bad, negative, not good. But how true is that? Anger is an expression of upset, frustration, irritation, disappointment and dissatisfaction. Anger is a very normal feeling that everyone has just like feeling happy and feeling sad. When we feel happy we will laugh, when we feel sad we will cry, when we feel angry we will shout and maybe be violent. It is a natural way of expressing how we feel. Who says that we can only express happiness and cannot express unhappiness? Who says that we can only have positive feelings and expression and cannot have negative feelings and expression? Who says that having positivity is “good” and having negativity is “bad”?

If we think that anger, sadness, low energy, sickness, poverty, fat, ugliness, or anything that is being labeled as “negativity” as bad and not good, then we will be told that we are not good to have any of these negativity, and that we are not suppose to have anger, sadness, sickness, being poor, fat and ugly. Because it is something “bad” and make us a bad person. And we will be so unhappy when we encounter any of these so called negativity, and not able to express anger and sadness because we were told not to, that it is bad, and we are not good if we express our anger and sadness. But these anger and sadness are being suppressed into our body and the mind, and become a huge burden or tension in the body and the mind that will explode one day and cause larger damage to ourselves and to others. And it is worst when suppressed anger had turned into great hatred because we are not allowed to confront or express any of our unhappiness.

 

Due to our conception that anger and shouting is something negative and not good, we will be so annoyed, upset, unhappy or angry when someone express their anger towards us or shout at us when we had say or do something that made them unhappy. We will be so annoyed and feel insulted when people confront with us about why they are being angry and unhappy with us. It makes us think that “we are bad”, “we did something wrong”. And our ego really doesn’t like this.

We will think that we are the victim of somebody’s anger. Even if we did cause the unhappiness in other people but they should not express any anger or unhappiness towards us at all, because it is bad and not good. Or we will think that we are not good and bad because someone is angry with us because we did something wrong or bad. And thus we don’t like other people to be angry with us. We will be very unhappy if people tell us that they are angry and unhappy with us. And so, it will become “I am bad, I am not good” because someone is angry and unhappy with me, and as well as “you are bad, you are not good” because you are having anger and you are expressing anger and unhappiness onto me whether I did something that caused you angry and unhappy or not.

This is very unhealthy for the body and the mind.

It is actually the ego feeling being insulted when someone is being angry or unhappy with us. We think that we are not responsible for what we have done that had caused somebody’s unhappiness. We think that even though we did something wrong, nobody should be angry with us because they are not suppose to have anger. They are bad if they have anger and especially if they are angry with “me”.

When we stop thinking that anger, sadness and all those so called negativity are “bad” and “not good”, then we will see all these “negativity” are very normal phenomena that happens in our body and in our mind. It is very normal and nothing wrong to have feelings of frustration, disappointment and dissatisfaction just like having other feelings of joy and happiness.

But not let the anger turns into hatred or violent hurtful damaging behavior is the most important thing. We should be able to confront with the person who might or might not have inflicted the unhappiness in us, and tell them why are we feeling angry or upset about, which has got something to do with that person. And after expressing our unhappiness, we should forgive and forget, and let it go. Not let this unhappiness or anger carry forward into the next moment. This will stop us to have any further misunderstandings, confusions and conflicts that is due to the unexpressed frustration and suppressed anger in our heart, in the body and in the mind.

Most of the time if we did not confront our anger and unhappiness with that person who have inflicted the frustration but in stead we will tend to express these anger and unhappiness onto someone else or something else as substitute. This is a common mistake we all are making. When we are angry with the boss but due to our job, we don’t want to express our anger and unhappiness towards our boss, but very naturally we will express that anger onto someone else who are at lower position than us, or someone on the street, or when we go home to our family, we will find some excuses to express our anger and unhappiness within the family members as a target of our frustration.

And if we did say or do something that had inflicted other people to be angry and unhappy, then it is nothing wrong that these people are confronting with us and express their anger and unhappiness onto us. We should be responsible for their reactions and accept the consequences of our own actions. We shouldn’t be angry or upset about people being angry and upset with us because we had caused that anger and unhappiness in these people. In stead we should ask for forgiveness from them and let them express their anger and unhappiness so that they won’t save hatred towards us. We should dissolve any conflicts and misunderstanding immediately and let it go.

And even though if we did not cause anybody’s pain and unhappiness, but they take us as a target to express their anger and frustration, and due to compassion and selflessness, we should be able to forgive and being compassionate towards these people and let them let out their suffering and unhappiness. We are just a listener or an instrument for other beings to let go their suffering. These anger and unhappiness cannot hurt us or affect us or contaminate us, because we are selfless without an ego there to receive any insults, humiliation or negativity.

We just need to know how to deal with this anger and not let it turn into violence and deep hatred.

It is just like everything else, anger, sadness, happiness and joy are just a fleeting momentary names and forms. They all are the creation of the mind and the ego. If we can detach from any thoughts and feelings that arise in our mind doesn’t matter if it is “positive” or “negative”, happy or unhappy, just be aware of it and not give any values to all these thoughts and feelings, then no matter what is happening to us or in our life, there is no reason for us to be frustrated about, unhappy about or to be angry with.

Be happy.

About Selflessness And Compassion

The center of Buddhism and Yoga teachings is selflessness and compassion. They are the two sides of a coin.

Suffering arise from ignorance and egoism, or being ignorant towards the truth of names and forms under the presence of an idea of 'I' in the mind. Suffering exists only when there is the delusive existence of the idea of 'I' or the non-existing selfish ego in the mind deriving from ignorance as well as feeding ignorance. Suffering ceased existing in the selfless modification of the mind upon the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, and the idea of 'I'.

Suffering, or unhappiness, or dissatisfaction manifests in the mind when we have impurities like anger, hatred, jealousy, lust, pride, greed, hostility, grief, sorrow, fear, worry, disappointment, hurt, cravings and aversions reacting towards names and forms ceaselessly out of ignorance and egoism under the presence of the idea of 'I'. Ignorance is empowering the ego and egoism, while the ego and egoism is feeding the ignorance at the same time.

To be free from suffering, all we need to do is realizing what is selflessness and learn how to attain the realization towards selflessness, or non-separateness, or oneness. We all think and believe that the opposite of selflessness is selfishness. So, we thought that selflessness can also mean unselfishness. We thought that it means we shouldn't be thinking about looking after our owns benefits, well-being and happiness, but only to be thoughtful for others and serve others who are in need of helps. But there is a deeper meaning than just being unselfish and be thoughtful for others and helping others.

 

Selflessness is beyond unselfishness. There's no 'I' being there to be attaching and identifying towards the intention or the quality of unselfishness or selfishness.

Without knowing what is compassion, it is not easy for us to understand what is selflessness and very difficult for us to be existing and functioning selflessly as we are. Without realizing selflessness, it is not easy for us to know what is compassion.

 

If we realized compassion, naturally we will realize selflessness also. Being compassionate towards all beings also include being compassionate towards our own self. This “self” is also a being. Without knowing selflessness and compassion, it is not easy for us to understand and forgive others and not easy to let go of unhappiness and difficult conditions and unpleasant experiences (all kind of physical, mental and emotional problems).

Compassion and selflessness are together not separated from each other. When we are compassionate, we are selfless. When we are selfless, we are compassionate too. All and everything are selfless and compassionate, regardless of whether we realize that, or not. It is like the mind experiencing everything through the senses. Without the mind, there is no use of the senses. Without the senses and the organs of the senses, the mind cannot perceive anything – names and forms (sights, colours, sounds, tastes, smells, sensations, feelings, and thoughts). The selfless existence and function of all and everything are inter-supporting one another for the selfless existence and function of all and everything.

 

Without compassion, all kinds of selfless names and forms don't manifest or exist.

When we truly realize selflessness and compassion, we will also become fearless. When we are compassionate towards all living beings, we will not have any fear at all, not even death or painful injury towards this physical body of us. When we are not afraid of death (the unknown), what else that we can be afraid of? We will only be kind and forgiving. When we are truly compassionate, we will not have hatred or ill-will towards any beings who had inflicted pain or injury unto us physically, mentally or emotionally. We will forgive whoever or whatever that have been being unkind to us or hurt us, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

When we realize that we all are selfless, we don’t see any differentiation or separateness between us and others. It doesn’t mean that we are not existing anymore, but we have realized oneness in all, beyond all kinds of qualities that are impermanent and non-self. We are not separated from everything and all beings. Good is us, bad is also us. Ignorance is us, wisdom is also us. Birth and death is the same thing and have no differences, as well as between 'God' consciousness/universal consciousness and this consciousness.

Take away all the names and forms, what do we have? What are the differences? Where are the boundaries? What are the limitations? What is good? what is bad? What is happiness? what is suffering? What is real? What is unreal? What is beautiful? What is ugliness? What is praise? What is censure? What is big? what is small? What is fast? What is slow? Who are you? Who am I?

It doesn’t matter who we think we are, what we are, where we are, how we look, what we do, what we like and dislike – we all are the same when we are happy or unhappy, angry or jealous, laugh or cry, kind or unkind, peaceful or peaceless. And we all are the same when we have fears and worries, hurts, dissatisfaction, frustration, disappointment, greed, doubts, disturbance and confusions. Without any of the elements – fire, water, air, earth and space, if without energy, we all are nothing, we won’t be existing and being here.

What is the meaning about having lots of money, accumulation of wealth and taking care of the health, having sensual enjoyments, material comforts, or accumulating the knowledge of the world, if the nature didn’t or couldn’t provide us with the basic essentials for life existence?

 

The nature doesn’t have differentiation of likes and dislikes, good and evil, when they provide everything to every beings and everything for being here. It is us having the ignorant egoistic thinking mind which has the differentiation of likes and dislikes, good and evil, love and hatred. We will pray for more water when it is not enough for our needs, but we will condemn the water when the water is too much and causing damages and inconvenience for us. We complain about the sun and dry weather when we feel too hot, and we complain about the rainfalls and cold weather and wish for the sun when we feel too cold. The mind is never satisfied, and forever changing of likes and dislikes. But the nature continues to provide without asking any rewards or repay, and never have hatred even though we have caused so much damages onto the nature. The nature is never tired nor having any intention to give or take, but just provide without limits and unconditionally, and there's no attachment towards its actions and the fruit of actions. And this is selflessness and compassion.

How to realize selflessness and compassion?

 

Through letting go the ego, or the idea of 'I', and egoism of attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, and expectation.

We need to begin with the practice of patience, forgiveness, and forgetting (not holding onto whatever happens in the present moment, not to say, what had happened). At the same time, we also practice giving and sharing without expecting the outcome to be or not to be in certain way, but allowing the fruit of actions (the outcome) to be there as it is and what it is. And then, we learn how to go beyond all the qualities of names and forms, and practice detachment and indifference towards duality, treating all and everyone equally without the sense of priority or non-priority, superiority or inferiority. 

 

Slowly we will be able to not attached onto our body and mind, the intellect, the ego, and all the senses. Our mind will always be having unceasing thoughts (negative and positive), feelings (good and bad), judgment, comparison, criticism, competition, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements, and expectation. It is the natural habit and characteristic of the untrained or undisciplined egoistic mind to be like that. All minds are having this same autonomous thinking habit or behavior upon the senses coming in contact with the object of the senses. But if we, the perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional assertive thinking and acting mind, does not have an idea of 'I' attaching towards the natural phenomena of the selfless modifications of the mind, all these thought activities cannot affect and influence or determine us/the mind to act and react in certain way or not in certain way, and it doesn’t disturb or contaminate the unconditional peace that is always there.

When we/the mind can detach from comforts and discomforts, we will be free from being determined by likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements. When we are free from being determined by likes and dislikes/agreements and disagreements, we will be free from cravings and aversions, and vice versa. And so, we will be free from disturb, discontentment, disappointment, hurts, anger, hatred, irritation, and frustration that derived from ungratified desires of craving and aversion. We will be free from the sense of happiness and unhappiness. We don’t crave for happiness nor rejecting unhappiness. We watch all the feelings and thoughts arising and passing away in our mind and not being contaminated, or influenced, or determined, or disturbed by them.

 

All the feelings and thoughts are very temporary. They arise, stay for a while, they change and they will disappear. We can practice concentration and meditation to help us stilling the mind or slowing down the thought waves. But even that stillness state of the mind is not permanent. We will have to come back to daily life, and the senses are continuing receiving inputs selflessly, and the mind is continuing generating thoughts and outputs selflessly. We have to come back to daily life because there are still some ties and connections, or life maintenance, or duty and responsibility, for us to work on until the complete annihilation of ignorance and egoism, or the direct realization towards selflessness and compassion takes place. And we, this mind will be resting in the complete stillness, or desirelessness, or the silence of selflessness, non-separateness, timelessness, birthlessness, deathlessness, attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness, while performing selfless actions in daily life until the end of the selfless life existence and function of this selfless body and mind.
 

Without an idea of 'I' attaching towards the body and the mind (without identification with them as 'I'), the selfless body and mind is merely an instrument for the selfless acting power of manifestation (Maya) of the selfless universal consciousness to be acting selflessly within and without all kinds of names and forms under the nature's law of cause and effect, and for this ignorant suffering selfless mind to realize what is selflessness, selfless unconditional limitless universal consciousness (unborn/unmanifested/immortality/infinity/permanence/independence/timelessness/beginninglessness/endlessness), and what are selfless compassion, selfless wisdom, and unconditional peace (transcending names and forms, attributes, impermanence, limitations, and conditions) - Satchidananda.

When we realize selflessness, there is no anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lust, good, bad, insult, humiliation, compliment, censure, success, failure, pride, self-esteem, irritation, disappointment, fear, worry, happiness and unhappiness, meaningfulness and meaninglessness, positiveness and negativeness, deserving and non-deserving, and etc. When all kinds of impurities and duality vanished, there's no separateness or distinction between all kinds of names and forms and the all pervading selfless timeless attributeless universal consciousness that allows all and everything being there as they are, to be arising, changing, and passing away, selflessly and impermanently, under the selfless compassion that exists within and without all and everything.

May all beings be happy.

About Appreciation

Everyday there's a different sunset...

There won't be another one exactly the same on every evening...

We can't find a perfect sunset because every sunset has its very own unique beauty...

Sometimes it is more beautiful and sometimes it is less beautiful...

The sky and the sun is always still the same one but due to the different forms of the clouds and moisture in the air, the sunsets are different every evening...

We can record each sunset in photos or in video clips, but it cannot be compared with that spectacular moments when we perceive the grand scenery of a beautiful sunset through our eyes at that present moment...

We can only admire... appreciate... and watching it disappear into dark night... and let it go.

Until tomorrow, there's another completely different scenery will appear in front of our eyes again...

Life is the same as this beautiful sunset...

Every moment is a different scenery, different experience...

Sometimes it is up and sometimes it is down...

The selfless Self is always still the same one, unchanging, but due to the manifestation of different names and forms or impurities, the selfless consciousness is reflecting different modes, sights, shapes, colours, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations and feelings...

There is no "take two" in life...

We can record our everyday lives in photos or in video clips, but it is not the same when we are actually experiencing every moment in our lives, especially the moments being with our loved ones... When we lose someone who we love so much, all the photos and video clips cannot bring back the same happiness...

We can only appreciate our lives and our loved ones while we all are still here, being able to love, care and share with each other... and do our best... Savour every moment we are having at this present moment now and live in the present moment... And let it go when it changes and passes away...

Be Happy...

About The Meaning Of Life

Most human beings need to have a particular meaning of life existence, or else they would feel meaningless and lack of motivation for anything.

 

While some people believe that life doesn't need to have any particular meaning, or life existence itself is meaningless, as all and everything are subject to impermanence and selflessness. Everyone is born to die sooner or later and is bound to suffer more or less in between birth and death. One might find some momentary meaning to motivate oneself while being living in this world, and enjoy while it's available and possible, so that one can keep going in life under any challenges and difficulties.

 

For those who have realized selflessness, there's neither meaningful nor meaningless about life existence. Life existence is just what it is. They don't need to have a meaning of life to motivate them for anything. Neither will they be affected or determined by any challenges or difficulties in life.

 

For most people who think and believe that they need to have a meaning of life, they might say the meaning of life existence is love, or more precisely, unconditional non-discriminative universal compassionate love, is the one thing that we all are learning in this life existence. Unconditional non-discriminative universal compassionate love is the basis of everything. If we don't know what is love and how to love, we would be hurting ourselves and others whom we think we love very much if we don't know what is non-possessive unconditional non-discriminative universal compassionate love.

This compassionate love that is without egoistic attachment, identification, possession, judgment and expectation will bring happiness, peace and joy to ourselves and other beings. Selfish passionate love, or conditional discriminative love, or lustful possessive love, that  is conditioned by attachment and identification towards names and forms, likes and dislikes, judgment and expectation, will bring unhappiness, dissatisfaction, disappointment, hurt and suffering to ourselves and to the people whom we love or whom we want them to love us.

When the love is pure, there is no dissatisfaction, disappointment, hurt or unhappiness. We are love itself when we know what is compassionate love and we don’t need to ask for love from some others or crave for being loved by some others. We know that we are not separated from all and everything (compassion love is not limited only in human relationships) and this unconditional love is free from lust, possessiveness and selfishness. There is no need to detach from this compassion, because there is no attachment at all in compassionate love. Just selfless pure loving kindness, without selfishness, anger, hatred, lust, jealousy, greed, likes and dislikes, fears and worries.

This compassionate love is part of us, it is not separated from everyone and everything, it is not something that we gained, or received, or accumulated from outside. It is unlimited and inexhaustible from within. Just like our hands and feet, they are part of our body and are not separated from the body. We don’t need to detach our hands and feet from the body to be free from doing bad actions or going to bad places.

It is the wisdom and compassion in us that allow us to have self-control over our body and our actions and speech, and not doing anything that will harm ourselves or other beings. We don’t need to stop doing good when we say “detaching from the fruit of doing something good”. But it is the inner detachment where there's no expectation or craving towards the fruit of actions has to be in certain way that we think it's good deserving when we do something good, but allowing the fruit of action to be there as it is, even if it's not as good as we would like it to be, which gives us the true freedom and unlimited love to love ourselves and others unconditionally, without getting tired or frustrated when everything “goes wrong” or things are not being the way that we would like it to be.

Love and peace to all when we love selflessly and compassionately. But it will be “love” and hate to all when we love selfishly and passionately.

Thanks to all the compassionate beings for propagating this unconditional non-discriminative universal love in this world.

All religions talk about love. Everyone thinks and believes that they need love. Everyone is looking for love and to receive love from some others. Or else they feel that life is empty or meaningless. But when we realize that selfless unconditional compassionate love is always within ourselves and not by looking or getting from outside ourselves, then we will know that we are love itself and we are never lonely even though we are being with oneself alone. Because we are no longer perceiving ourselves being separated from anything else in this worldly life existence. Our nature, void of ignorance and egoism, is not different from the sun, the space, the air, the water, the earth, the trees, the flowers, the grass, the insects, the animals, and all living beings. Everything exists to be supporting one another to be existing.

 

It's ignorance and egoism in us that generates separation between us and all and everything, where we perceive loneliness, separateness, and longing to be receiving love from some others, to feel love, joy, good and meaningful.

May all beings be free.

About Detachment

The real detachment is about non-attachment towards what the mind perceives through the senses, and letting go attachment and identification towards the worldly passionate egoistic social, cultural, tribal, spiritual, religious, political, national or commercial thinking, belief, values and practice.

The thinking mind stops identifying with the body, the modifications of the mind, the ego and the intellect.

Whatever feelings, sensations and thoughts arise in the body and mind, there's no attachment and identification towards them, without association with them and without expectation towards them.

Whatever we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, feel and think, we treat all the same and remain equanimous.

Detaching from praise and censure, success and failure, gain and loss, heat and cold, likes and dislikes, good and bad, positive and negative, elation and depression, happiness and unhappiness, enjoyment and suffering, birth and death.

Detaching from duality and the impermanent qualities of names and forms, is the real detachment.

May we all attain true freedom by practice detachment. Free from ignorance, egoism, impurities of anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, lust, pride, arrogance, self-esteem, offensiveness, defensiveness, hostility, animosity, fear, worry, desire of cravings and aversions, ambitions and aspirations.

About Advaita - Non-dualism

Yoga and Buddhism’s teachings are the same – Advaita, non-dualism.

When we are not pure full of ignorance and impurities, we are the impure consciousness – the lower self. But when we purify ourselves until there is no more ignorance and impurities, we are the pure consciousness – the higher Self.

And this lower self and this higher Self is still the same consciousness but when we are impure and attached to the body, the mind and the ego, we are being projected as the lower self, and when we are pure and not attached to the body, the ego and the mind, then we are being projected as the higher Self – the pure consciousness which is the same as the universal consciousness and not different from all other beings consciousness.

When we are impure, there is a separateness of the pure God consciousness and our impure beings consciousness – there is a God and there are beings. But when we had purified ourselves and being pure, then there is no more separateness of the pure God consciousness and the pure beings consciousness – the beings and the God are One, there is no “God” and there is no “beings”. It is because when everything is pure, there is no names and no forms, there is no separation and no differences at all, just one Being.

When we are impure, we have ignorance, selfishness, separation and differentiation from other beings. And these impurities and wrong identification that we are a separate individual self from other beings, had create duality in our mind. Our mind is being conditioned with the concept of dualism. And this dualism is creating good and bad, likes and dislikes in our selfish egoistic identification with the body and the mind. And thus we are having lots of cravings for the things that we like and aversions for the things that we dislike. And so, irritation, frustration, dissatisfaction, disappointment, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, desires, unhappiness and suffering occur in us when we can’t get the things that we like and when we are having the things that we dislike, also when we lost the things that we like and can’t get rid of the things that we dislike.

When we are so caught up in duality, we will perceive everything as “this is good”, “that is bad”, “this is success”, “that is failure”, “this is meaningful”, “that is meaningless”, “this is happy”, “that is sad”, “this is compliment”, “that is condemnation”, “this is comfortable”, “that is not comfortable”, “this is beautiful” and that is “ugliness”. And so, we are creating lots of conditions for ourselves and for other beings. We will be chasing after something that we are agreeable with and which make us feel good and meaningful about ourselves and at the same time, we are resisting something that we are not agreeable with and which make us feel bad and worthless about ourselves. And thus, “pride and arrogance” and “low self-esteem and depression” are being generated in us.

To be free from all these impurities and “side effects”, we need to know what is Advaita, non-duality. We need to apply the concept of non-duality in our lives.

We stop identify ourselves with the thinking mind, the selfish ego and the analytical intellect which create the concept of duality. When we come in contact with any objects that we perceive through our sense organs – the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, the skin and the thinking faculty, we learn to be an observer or witness. We will learn that any sensations that arise when our senses come in contact with an object whether pleasing or unpleasing, that they are very momentary, they will changed and don’t last long. And so we don’t have to attach to any sensations at all whether good or bad sensations. And we will not give any values or meanings to all these sensations and stop categorized them into “good” and “bad”, “pleasing” and “unpleasing”, “comfortable” and “not comfortable”. And so, we will stop generating likes and dislikes. When we have no strong liking and disliking, there will be no strong cravings and aversions towards all the things out there. And thus, we are peaceful, and content most of the time.

Due to the understanding of Advaita – non-dualism, we see everything and all beings are equal in the essence of consciousness. There is no differences of superiority or inferiority. We all depend on the five elements to be exist in this universe, it doesn’t matter if we are being labeled as “good” or “bad”, “kind” or “evil”, “healthy” or “not healthy”, “fat” or “thin”, “pretty” or “not pretty”, “short lived” or “long lived”, “happy” or “sad”, “peaceful” or “not peaceful”, “patient” or “impatient”. We respect each and everyone’s different thinking, cultures, languages, beliefs and personalities. And so, we stop having judgment, comparison, competition, criticism and expectation. Everything and everyone has to go through birth and death – forming, sustaining, decaying and disappearing. And by knowing this impermanence, we are free from attachments towards all the phenomena and objects in the world. When there is no attachment, we will be free from greed and lustful desires, and thus, free from fears and worries. And so, there is only pure love, peace and compassion in our heart.

We will accept ourselves as we are, accept other beings as they are, accept all the changes that are going on unceasingly, accept the law of impermanence, accept and forgive all the imperfections in this world. We are content and grateful for all the good things that we are having now. We are still breathing, we are still able to experience, to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to feel, to think, to move, to act and to express through speech and actions. But may all our intentions, thoughts, actions and speech be pure.

It is due to dualism, we have selfishness, we have love and hatred, we have happiness and suffering, we have wants and don’t wants. And all these differentiations bring so much problems and unhappiness for ourselves and for other beings.

May we all be free from duality and find peace and true happiness in our heart.

About Avidya - Ignorance

It is because of ignorance, we are experiencing a worldly life of names and forms through this body with this ego and this mind, ignorantly, not knowing the truth of the selfless impermanent limited and conditional existence that is non-self, that doesn't even belong to the body and mind itself. Due to ignorance, we have attachment to this body, this ego, this mind and everything that the mind perceives through the organs of the senses. We attached to what we see, what we hear, what we smell, what we taste, what we feel and what we think. And we generate lots of likes and dislikes, cravings and aversions which bring us lots of irritations, frustrations, anger, hatred, desires, jealousy, greed, depression, dissatisfaction and disappointment. And thus suffering arise in us.

Due to ignorance, we don’t know what is real and unreal, what is right and wrong, what is should do and shouldn’t do. We take right as wrong and take wrong as right.

Due to ignorance, we do not know that we are so ignorant and think that we are so smart and intelligent. We also think that we know a lot, and being proud and arrogant, thinking that we are better than someone else and we deserve some kind of respect from other living beings.

The cause or source of suffering or unhappiness is non other than ignorance.

The only tool that can remove ignorance, is wisdom.

To attain wisdom, one must go through purification and self-control over the thoughts, actions and speech. One must first endowed with humility and letting go of selfishness, pride and arrogance.

Then one will learn to develop detachment, dispassion and discrimination. And then one must practice concentration, calmness, peacefulness and equality. Then it will follow by meditation and develop insight and self-awareness. And then wisdom will appear to us naturally.

The wisdom is always within us. But due to the veil of ignorance, we are ignorant of it. It is the same with all beings with different names and forms, we all are having the same wisdom – knowledge of the Truth within us.

When wisdom arise, there is no more ignorance. It is like when a dark room is filled with light, the darkness will disappear.

The sun is always there shinning all the time, but due to the spinning rhythm of the earth, we have the experience of night and day.

The moon is always round but due to the shadow of the earth projects onto it, it seems not round some of the times.

Movement itself is not slow or fast, but when the mind start to have comparison, the conception of this is slow and that is fast is being produced.

Appearance itself has no quality of beautiful or ugliness, but when the mind is being conditioned by the conception of an image being evaluate as beautiful and which is different from that image is ugliness, then the mind will perceive this image as beautiful and that image as ugliness.

If the mind just being aware of all the differences but not generating likes and dislikes, positives and negatives, and cravings and aversions, then there shall be no attachments, no problems and no suffering. But the mind doesn’t act this way, not until we have reconditioned the habits and characteristics of the mind.

And so, Yoga and all its practices are here to help us to have the ability to control over the mind – which leads to the control of the actions and speech, and ultimately lead us to purification of the mind and to return to the state of unconditioned, purity, and attribute-less.

May we all attain wisdom through Yoga practice and be free from ignorance.

About Karma

Not everyone will believe in Karma, or more precisely, what people are confused with the nature's law of cause and effect (actions and the consequences of actions). Karma has become part of the superstitious belief in certain religions or cultures being limited and conditioned by the particular belief, values and practice about what is good or bad and right or wrong, however, the nature's law of cause and effect is not a belief, and it's nothing to do with the worldly thinking and belief about what is good or bad, right or wrong.

 

There are those who believe in everything is the act or the will of 'the creator of the universe', it's nothing to do with my actions and the consequences of my actions. It makes the minds feel better about themselves and everything, when they put the responsibility onto 'someone' else. It is fine, because everyone are free to have their own faiths and beliefs. One should respect that not everyone will believe in what one believes. One cannot force anyone to believe in something that they don’t believe in.

 

Although Karma is part of the belief or teachings in certain religion, or spirituality, or culture, while the nature's law of cause and effect, is nothing to do with belief or disbelief, it's just what and how things are, selflessly changing impermanently, influenced by the existing cause.

To know the Truth, it is not by reading books and philosophies, and it is not because the scriptures say so or our teacher says so. It should be coming from our own insight or direct experience towards seeing the Truth as it is, then it is the real Truth.

For example, maybe we don’t really know what will happen to us after the death of this physical body but we have heard from somewhere about Buddhas and Yogis – the enlightened Self, talked about the selfless reincarnation, more precisely, it's the restless selfless impermanent changes in the names and forms that are happening accordingly to different Karma (cause and effect) and intentions that we all had created for ourselves, either wittingly or unwittingly. Due to ignorance, there are many things that we don’t know, but we have had heard lots of different types of talking, or study, or discussion, about them. And we cannot say that it is true or untrue because we are ignorant towards the truth of it. We have to find out the Truth through our own practice of purifying, disciplining and quieting the mind, self-inquiry, meditation and self-realization, then we will know that whether something is true or untrue. Even though an enlightened being told us all about the Truth, we still have to find out by ourselves through self-inquiry and self-realization.

Yoga and Buddhism teach us about the law of cause and effect (actions and consequences of actions), which is the main force that is influencing our life, our personality, our desire, our actions and fruit of actions, and our worldly life experiences through our past accumulated boundless karma, or more precisely, boundless cause that is leading to effect, according to our previous intentions, desires, thoughts, actions and speech. And our present intentions, desires, thoughts, actions and speech will generate the cause (planting the seeds) that will determine our upcoming existence, personality and life experiences. Good and pleasant cause will bring good and pleasant experiences while bad and unpleasant cause will bring bad and unpleasant experiences.

From the surface, it seems like we are not free because we are bound by this law of Karma. But it is not really like that. It is because it is our own self that is creating the Karma (planting the seeds) for ourselves. If we do good, we will create good Karma. If we do bad, we will create bad Karma. According to the worldly religious/spiritual/cultural belief, values and practice, if we want to have good life and happiness in life, we can actually work on our intentions, desires, thoughts, actions and speech to create the type of life and experiences that we want. And what everyone think and believe what is good and bad, might be very different from one another. And hence, it's not accurate to judge that this is good karma or that is bad karma.

While the Yoga and Buddhism teachings do not stop at this level.

They teach us how to transcend both good and bad Karma (the perception of goodness and badness, positiveness and negativeness, pleasantness and unpleasantness) through the realization of selflessness, through mind purification to remove the veil of ignorance and impurities, the annihilation of the idea of 'I' and egoism, and renouncing from the fruit of actions.

 

More importantly is that in the many different thinking and beliefs in the world about what is good and bad, right and wrong, can be very different from one another. And hence, it's not about what the minds think and believe is good and right actions based on their particular thinking and belief, will bring pleasant and desirable consequences (pleasantness) in return, or what the minds think and believe is bad and wrong actions, will bring unpleasant and undesirable consequences (unpleasantness) in return.

 

Meanwhile many people like to use the word 'Karma' to threaten other people, as well as to be the excuse for oneself to inflict 'punishment' or 'abuse' onto other people out of one's desire, lust, anger and disagreement. "I am acting on behalf of 'the authority of the universe' or 'the creator of the universe' to punish you for your bad and wrongful behavior. You deserve some punishment because of your bad Karma (sin) for not obeying my wish, going against my desire, disagreeing with me, offending and disrespecting me."

Yoga and Buddhism teach us to go beyond good and bad Karma, to be detached from the perception of duality, and to go beyond all the different qualities of names and forms that are selfless and impermanent. They teach us that we don’t need to runaway from suffering or chasing after happiness and pleasurable enjoyment. They teach us to go beyond suffering and happiness/pleasurable enjoyment, be free from attachment, identification and the desire of craving and aversion, to uncover the unconditional peace beyond the pleasant and unpleasant states of the mind, or realizing selflessness of eternal bliss, unlimited wisdom and unconditional existence.

 

The minds that realized selflessness and impermanence, are not being determined or affected by Karma, cause and effect, or actions and the fruit of actions. That is real freedom, being undisturbed by pleasantness and unpleasantness, or desirable and undesirable experiences. It doesn't mean that one will have no self-control to be doing all kinds of actions that would hurt oneself and others and the surrounding environment, deliberately or randomly. One is performing actions that would bring benefits to oneself, others and the surrounding environment, but without craving towards the fruit of actions have to be something good, desirable and pleasant. One is not performing actions that would hurt oneself, others or the surrounding environment, without aversion towards the fruit of actions is something bad, undesirable and unpleasant.

May we all transcend duality, go beyond both good and bad Karma, or transcending the nature's law of cause and effect, be free from ignorance and egoism, and be really free.

Upcoming Yoga Retreats Langkawi Malaysia 2011

Hello,

We will be having some yoga retreats in Langkawi, Malaysia.

Langkawi Yoga Retreats Dates 2011

January 3 - 6

January 9 - 16

January 26 - February 5

February 6 - 10

February 12 - 15

February 23 - 26

March 17 - 22

March 25 - April 1

April 3 - 13

April 16 - 19

April 25 - 29

May 3 - 8

May 11 - 14

May 16 - 23

May 26 - 30

June 2 - 5

June 7 - 10

July 4 - 7

July 21 - 24

July 27 - 31

Aug 4 - 11

Aug 16 - 26

Oct 3 - 13

Oct 20 - 23

Oct 25 - 31

Nov 3 - 6

Nov 10 - 17

Nov 21 - 27

Dec 1 - 4

Dec 8 - 18

Dec 22 - 25

Dec 27 - Jan 3, 2012

Other dates beside these retreats dates can be arranged to suit your holidays.

Hope to see you here if you are interested in one of these yoga retreats in the beautiful island of Langkawi, malaysia.

Please contact us at yoganow@hotmail.com or please visit our website www.yoganowmalaysia.com for more details on yoga retreat’s outlines and prices.

Om shanti,

Meng Foong

About Vairagya - Dispassion

Vairagya – dispassion is a very important quality that a yoga practitioner need to have along side with Viveka – right discrimination of the real and the unreal, if we really want to walk the path of Yoga.

We are living in the world and we are human beings. Very naturally and there is nothing wrong about us having passion about many things in life.

Many people think that dispassion means we cannot enjoy life at all. But it is not true.

When we know what is real and unreal, we will naturally not chasing after the fleeting material enjoyments or the sensual pleasures. We will appreciate a simple life with very minimum needs and wants.

We actually enjoy life very much meaningfully but without the craving for love and affection from family and friends or from anyone. Without the need of any material enjoyments or sensual pleasures to give us happiness. Without the need of social status, or success, or agreement from others, or positive feedback from others to give us self-confidence and sense of self-worth.

We enjoy all the things that we have in life at the present moment, but without the clinging towards all these things. When we don’t have them anymore, we will not feel unhappy or refuse to let go.

We also don’t need to pay too much attention onto all the things accept for the basic maintainance of living and the basic needs for us to move on in the path towards self-realization.

We don’t need much actually in this world. We don’t need fancy clothing, exotic food and drinks, sensory enjoyments, extreme fitness and good physics, too many hobbies and activities or get involve in lustful sexual activities or indulge in drugs and alcohols abuse.

We don’t need branded things, luxuries comforts, big cars and big houses, a lot of money to buy the things that we “want” and “like”, “beautiful” appearance, titles, worldly success, accumulation of wealth and things or longing for love relationships or friendships to be meaningful in life or feel good about ourselves.

We will learn to let go our attachment, cravings and clinging towards things, passionate love and affections in life bit by bit until one day we can let go of them easily.

We don’t feel lonely being with oneself because we found peace and contentment already with the Self. And all are not separate from the Self. How can we still feel lonely when we are not separated with everyone and everything? We don’t have to own a single thing, or having a relationship or friendship to feel love and belonging, because we are the love itself and we don’t need to ask for love and attention from anybody. We are receiving unlimited love from everything and are sharing this love with all. There is not even a separation of “love” and “me”. There is no “receiving” and “giving”. There is no “needs” and “wants” of love and affections.

It doesn’t mean that we are cold hearted beings without love and feelings. We are love. It’s just that we don’t need to crave for love or crave for receiving love from the outside to make us feel loved. It is because we are content and at peace with our true Self. This doesn't mean that we don't want to have any friends or relationships, but it is not a necessity anymore. Everything and every living beings has become our friends. Our happiness doesn't depend on love and affection from friendships and relationships, but we are sharing the love and happiness with all the beings whether we know them or not, whether they know us or not, whether they do good or not, whether they like us or not. And everyone and everything has become "us" because we don't see any difference between us and all the things and beings out there anymore.

All our unhappiness and suffering are deriving from our own greed, unsatisfied cravings, strong attachments and clinging. It is our strong attachment towards the likes and dislikes about what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think, that is causing us cravings and aversions. We feel frustrated and irritated when we don’t get the things that we like, or are having the things that we don’t like, or we are losing the things that we like and can't get rid of the things that we dislike.

We can enjoy lots of things but without the attachment towards likes and dislikes. But how many people can really do so when even a yoga practitioner who suppose to practice detachment and dispassion will also unconsciously gets attached to his or her likes and dislikes, and having cravings and aversions in the spiritual path itself and not to say there are so many diversities and distractions in worldly life.

The real Yoga is only one. Although there are many paths in Yoga to suit every individual with different personality but definitely not about changing the original practices especially the Asana practice into something totally not the same idea and same perspective anymore. And nowadays many people who wants to learn “Yoga” but not want to follow the traditions of Yoga, they wants something different and something special or new invention of names and forms to satisfy the ego and the mind. And the dis-satisfactory tendency of the ego and the mind will continue to look for something new and different, it is never satisfy or it gets bored easily.

People don’t want the traditions of Yoga because they don’t like to know about dispassion and detachment. They don’t like self-control and self-discipline. They don’t believe in simplicity. They have no idea of what is non-identification with the body and the mind. They don’t like the idea of ego-less. They don’t want to give up the cravings and clinging towards worldly enjoyments and sensual pleasures. They want short cuts to get momentary good feelings or excitement. There want “happiness” but not intend to give up the source of unhappiness. There is nothing wrong about that. Everyone are free to do what they like to do as long as they are responsible for the consequences of their actions. If people want to do modernized “Yoga”, or luxury “Yoga”, or sensual “Yoga”, or Bhoga “Yoga”, or easy “Yoga”, or fitness “Yoga”, or branded “Yoga”, or many different types of “Yoga Asana classes”, or not want to do chanting and prayers, let them be. As long as they are not harming anybody.

 

It’s just like there are many people like to do different types of activities, or eating different types of cuisines, or enjoying different types of pleasures, or enjoying varieties of movies or musics, or looking for success and achievements in life, and there is nothing wrong about that. Be happy. It is better than to do lots of harmful activities and hurting other beings.

But for people who are looking for true happiness and self-realization, we will still stick to the traditions of Yoga.

May we all be free and at peace.

About Saucha - Purity

Saucha is the purity or cleanliness of the external and the internal of the physical body. But what does it really means? Does external cleanliness means keeping the environment clean and wash our body until it is clean and wear neat and clean clothing to cover up our body – maintaining good hygiene and good health? Does internal cleanliness means cleaning our bodily systems – the circulatory system, the cardiovascular system, the central and peripheral nervous system, the digestive system, the elimination system, the reproductive system, the hormonal secretion system and all the organs?

From the surface, yes, this is what it means and there are many Yogic practices to help us to achieve that.

But there are more deeper meanings in Saucha beside all these practices of purification of the internal and the external of the physical body.

When we were told to clean our eyes, ears, nostrils, tongue and skin, it is not just about cleaning the physical side of the body and sense organs, but it is asking us to purify the inputs and outputs of these five senses, and then followed with the purification of the thoughts in the mind as well. That is what real internal and external cleanliness or purification is about.

If we have clear eyesight, good hearing, good sense of smell and taste, and good sense of touch and thinking, but if there's strong attachment towards the things that we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think, and have discrimination of comfort and discomfort, and have categorization of good and bad, and we are generating likes and craving towards things that we feel comfortable and agreeable with, while generating dislikes and aversion towards the things that we feel uncomfortable and disagreeable with, then these good functioning of the senses is not conducive to us at all, instead they are giving rise to a lot of cravings and aversions – that leads to dissatisfaction, disturbs and unhappiness deriving from the aversion towards the things that we don’t like and don't agree with, and deriving from greed, craving and clinging towards the things that we like and agree with.

And so, what is the meaning of cleaning all the internal body systems and the organs but if we continue to have so much likes and dislikes, cravings and aversions, dissatisfaction, disturbs, frustrations, irritations and complains towards the presence of the things that we don't like and don't agree with and the absence of the things that we like and agree with?

What is the meaning of doing so many yogic cleansing exercises maintaining the good functioning of the organs and the senses, but continue to have so much anger, hatred, lust, desire, jealousy, greed, pride, arrogance, frustration, grief, painful sorrow, fear, worry and unhappiness in our mind?

What is the meaning of sharpening the function of the senses and develop higher sensitivity of the senses to be sensitive towards the internal and external desirable and undesirable energy fields and also being sensitive towards the pleasant and unpleasant sensations in our body but we are always being disturbed by the selfless impermanent phenomena of the energy fields within and without our body, and generating strong likes and dislikes towards the sensations that we feel, and being so sensitive all the time towards energy and sensations until we feel the need of protection or runaway from so called bad and negative energy, or being so irritated and intolerant with certain sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, emotions, memories, imaginations, affairs, relationships, interactions, things and people?

About the external cleanliness, it is not about the cleanliness of the outer appearance our physical body and the living environment, but it is about the purity of the mind outputs of our intentions, thoughts, actions and speech that we are sending out there. As well as the company that we are mixing and interacting with, of whether they are wise beings (Satsanga) that can uplift us in our practice towards the liberation from ignorance and egoism, or they are unwise beings (Kutsanga) that can pull us down and hinder us from the liberation from ignorance and egoism, especially if we are still being disturbed, affected, influenced and determined by the external good and bad conditions and influences.

There is a teaching from from our ancient Gurus saying that – if there is no good company (Satsanga), then it is better to be alone (Asanga) than to be with bad company (Kutsanga).

What is the meaning if our body is clean and healthy, our house and the garden is clean and beautiful, but inside the mind is not peaceful, unhappy, depressed, negative, selfish, angry, hating, greedy, lustful, prideful, arrogant, jealous, discontenting, dissatisfying, suffering and being ignorant towards the real and unreal, without correct understanding and self-control towards what we should do and shouldn’t do?

The real Saucha is the cleanliness of our intentions, thoughts, actions and speech. And this will give rise to peacefulness, compassion and wisdom in the mind. It is stop doing bad, and do a lot of good, but without attachment or identification towards what we do and don't do, and without attachment, identification or expectation towards the fruit of actions, allowing the fruit of actions being what it is.

Even when we are not doing any so called cleansing exercise for the physical body, but if we have self-control and the awareness towards what is pure and impure, which is real and unreal, then we are really cleaning and purifying the internal and the external of this temporary physical body.

The house and the temple that we need to keep clean and beautiful is the selfless mind. The selfless mind that we need to keep clean is about sweeping and wiping away the dirt (the ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness) that is covering the selfless reflective Self even though the selfless reflective Self is being undetermined and uncontaminated by the dirt or impurities that are covering or veiling it, and the selfless reflective Self will be revealed as what it is upon the annihilation of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness of the selfless modification of the selfless mind, and void of the egoistic attachment or identification towards the body, the mind and all the selfless impermanent phenomena in the world perceived through the function of the selfless perceptive, cognitive, intellectual thinking mind.

Even though someone might be very filthy and untidy from his outer appearance, but maybe he is a saint within the mind. The outside appearance really can’t define the purity of a person’s mind. And a pure mind doesn’t need to justify itself, or advertise itself, or to have some sort of external images to indicate that it is something pure and saintly.

May we all attain true cleanliness.

About Purification

Purification is the main practice of yoga and also the fundamental practice for all kinds of religions and faiths. All the asana practice, pranayama, observations, restraints, concentration and meditation are to help us to purify the mind. However, what is purification in yoga and/or buddhism can be very different from the purification in the many religions and faiths.

The purification in the many religions and faiths of the world of ignorance and egoism is mostly about self-righteous morality that is not necessarily the truth of what things are, which might generate many unnecessary discrimination, prejudice, hatred, oppression and violence towards certain names and forms that the minds dislike and disagree with based on that particular belief, values and practice.

We need to clean our body once or twice everyday as well as our house and the living environment for hygienic reason and comfort.

But the cleanliness of our mind is far more important than the cleanliness of the body and the environment. The process of cleaning the mind is called mind purification. Be wise not to be cheated by the appearance of a person. A person who looks neat and clean from the appearance, might be full of impure thoughts in the mind, while a person who looks messy and dirty on the appearance might be a pure saint inside the mind.

That’s why we can’t judge anybody from their looks, their actions and speech, and even not what they do and don't do. An impure person can be a very good actor. And a pure saint cannot be recognized or defined from his appearance or his behaviors. It is a huge ignorance to judge a person and labeling people with the tag of good and bad.

We need to sweep away those impurities in our mind from moment to moment and yet there is still impurities arising all the time. It is like when we had finished sweeping away the dead leaves on the ground in the garden, immediately there are others dead leaves lying on the ground again because the trees are still there continue to produce new leaves – liked wise, the ignorance and egoism in us continues to produce impurities in our mind unceasingly. With great patience, we are repeating the sweeping and cleaning action again and again unceasingly and might be getting frustrated and tired. And hence, the mind purification is not just about sweeping the impurities in the mind, but to root out the ignorance and egoism that give rise to ceaseless impurities.

This is an on going practice for everyone until there is no more dead leaves being produced, the root of the tree is dead and stop producing leaves – liked wise, the root of ignorance is being rooted out and no more impurities would be arising in our mind.

Some people think that if they go to a temple or sacred places for a trip, do some prayers or take a sacred bath, and their sins or bad luck will all be washed away. But in their minds might be still full of impurities and ignorance, and when they went home, they will still continue to have impure thoughts, actions and speech. This doesn’t really work at all. 

Similarly, performing all kinds of yoga and meditation practice regularly gaining many effects or physical and mental health and fitness benefits but without eradicate ignorance and egoism from the mind, also doesn't lead to the liberation from ignorance and egoism.

If we really want to have goodness in our lives, we need to have self-control over our impatience, anger, hatred, jealousy, arrogance, greed and lust. We need to stop speaking harsh words and lies, mocking, teasing, slandering, gossiping, condemning or indulging in impure and meaningless conversations. We need to check our thoughts before we act and speak. Our actions and speech should be promoting peace and harmony for other people and for our own self. If we are not able to bring any peace or harmony to other people or to our own self through certain speech and actions, then it is better that we remain non-action and speechless, but sending our good-will and kind thoughts to all the living beings out there.

If we always have ill-will or evil thinking towards other people, we are actually producing similar energy fields in ourselves and in our lives. And if we only have good-will and kind thoughts towards other people without discrimination of good and bad people, or people whom we like or don’t like, and people whom we know or don't know, then we are producing similar energy fields in ourselves and in our lives.

The real purity is attribute-less without any qualities. It is without negativity or positivity. There's no craving towards positivity and there's no aversion towards negativity.

We don’t need any good luck or positive energy to give us goodness and happiness in life. Because we are content and at peace as we are, if we are free from ignorance and egoism, and are wise.

We don’t see any thing so called “bad” as bad, or any so called “unhappiness” as unhappiness, because we see beyond all the impermanent qualities of names and forms. Everything that is being categorized into good and bad, happiness and unhappiness under the perception of duality in our mind, are being seen as same and no differences under the wisdom of impermanence, non-self, uncertainty, non-separateness, attributelessness, namelessness and formlessness.

May we all return to the state of purity, and be free.