The root cause of suffering is ignorance, not bad karma or sin

There are evitable and inevitable suffering in this selfless impermanent worldly life existence of the perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting mind functioning under the selfless impermanent existence and function of the limited and conditional body.

Regardless of evitable suffering (inflicted by ignorant hurtful ideas, desires, behaviors, actions and reactions under the influence of ignorance and impurities), or inevitable suffering (due to selfless impermanent changes in all kinds of names and forms), the mind is experiencing or undergoing a state of suffering is due to the mind is functioning under the veil of ignorance.

Out of ignorance, many minds think and believe that suffering is due to bad karma or sin, based on their particular worldly egoistic thinking and belief, values and practice. That's their freedom of thinking and belief.

The minds that are free from ignorance and the by-products of ignorance (the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities and restlessness), that are resting in unconditional peace, transcending all kinds of evitable or inevitable unpleasant, undesirable, and disagreeable names and forms, experiences and impermanent changes, being undetermined or undisturbed by the absence and presence of pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, and agreeable or disagreeable names and forms, experiences, and impermanent changes. It doesn't mean that due to the presence of good karma or the absence of bad karma/sin, that these minds only perceiving and experiencing pleasant, desirable, and agreeable names and forms, experiences, and impermanent changes, and hence, that's why they are free from 'suffering'.

By knowing the truth of selflessness and impermanence, devoid of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, where the mind sees all kinds of selfless impermanent changes that are not necessarily pleasant, desirable or agreeable, as they are. Such as hunger, thirst, decay, weakness, illness, injury, old age, sickness, pain, discomfort, heat and cold, separation from the loved ones, coming in contact with the unpleasant/undesirable/disagreeable objects/affairs/beings/conditions/situations, and vice versa, and/or death/disintegration, where all these are just being what they are. They don't, and cannot make the mind to be in a state of suffering.

Meanwhile, for the minds that are under the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, all these unpleasant/undesirable/disagreeable names and forms/experiences/impermanent changes are being perceived by the minds as the object of suffering, or the cause of suffering.

Many different kinds of evitable physical suffering and mental or emotional suffering that could have been avoided in this world of many diversities that doesn't belong to anyone are nothing but the products of ignorance, or the consequences of ignorant egoistic thinking, belief, values, practice, ideas, desires, behaviors, actions and reactions.

The mind perceives suffering, or is in a state of suffering, upon being determined and disturbed by the presence of unpleasant, undesirable and disagreeable names and forms/experiences, or the absence of pleasant, desirable and agreeable names and forms/experiences, is due to the presence of egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, and expectation in the mind under the influence of ignorance, that give rise to all kinds of impurities and restlessness, that give rise to all kinds of ignorant harmful and hurtful ideas, desires, actions, and reactions, and the consequences of all that, unto oneself and others and the surrounding environment, that give rise to all kinds of evitable suffering/problem/conflict/hardship/difficulty/pain/fear/violence/disharmony/peacelessness that don't need to be existing at all, that could have been avoided.

It's also due to under the influence of ignorance and the by-products of ignorance, the mind perceives suffering, or is in a state of suffering, upon being determined and disturbed by the presence of unpleasant, undesirable and disagreeable selfless impermanent changes, or the absence of pleasant, desirable and agreeable selfless impermanent changes in life, in nature, in the world of selfless impermanent names and forms, in the surrounding living environment, in the selfless impermanent physical body, in the selfless impermanent modification of the mind, or in all kinds of momentary worldly ties, relationships, connections, conditions, and situations, that are unavoidable which is happening in all kinds of names and forms that have a beginning and an end of existence, that are merely being what they are - selfless and impermanent, however, the minds that are under the influence of ignorance see all these selfless impermanent changes as 'the object of suffering' or 'the cause of suffering', under the presence of attachment, identification, and the desire of craving and aversion.

That's why the essence of the yoga and/or buddhism teachings and practice is all about coming from the initiative and freewill of the mind itself, to be eradicating ignorance, to be disciplining, purifying and quieting itself, to be freeing itself (the selfless impermanent perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting faculty of the selfless impermanent body) from the influence of ignorance and its by-products, and hence, be free from suffering, being undetermined or undisturbed by coming in contact with (the presence of) or not coming in contact with (the absence of) pleasant/unpleasant, desirable/undesirable, or agreeable/disagreeable names and forms, experiences, and impermanent changes.

The liberated mind stops generating harmful and hurtful desires, behaviors, actions, and reactions that harm and hurt itself and others and the surrounding environment, while being undetermined and undisturbed by the mind perception of all kinds of selfless impermanent names and forms, or experiences, or selfless impermanent changes, that are pleasant/unpleasant, desirable/undesirable, or agreeable/disagreeable, that are evitable or inevitable.

The mind that is being limited and conditioned and over-powered by corrupted thinking and belief, passionate egoistic ideas, values and practices, selfishness, possessiveness, separateness, offensiveness, defensiveness, anger, hatred, violence, restlessness, desire, discontentment, dissatisfaction, greed, jealousy, lust, pride, arrogance, superiority/inferiority, shame, guilt, regret, fear, worry, grief, sorrow, and etc, is under the influence of ignorance.

The mind that inflicts physical/mental/emotional suffering unto oneself and/or others, either intentionally or unintentionally, is under the influence of ignorance.

The mind that is being determined/disturbed by evitable and inevitable physical/mental/emotional suffering, is under the influence of ignorance.

All kinds of 'problems', of evitable physical/mental/emotional health problem, personal problem, self-esteem problem, family problem, parenting problem, childhood problem, adulthood problem, relationship problem, financial problem, social problem, community problem, behavior problem, national problem, regional problem, global problem, and etc, are all inter-related/inter-affecting among one another. And all these 'problems' are nothing but the products of ignorance and the by-products of ignorance.

There's neither right nor wrong. It's merely whether the mind is free or not free from being determined or disturbed by whatever it perceives/experiences through the senses, under the absence or presence of ignorance.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

The different intentions for learning and practicing yoga

There's neither right nor wrong, neither good nor bad with all kinds of different intentions.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention of wanting to be able to perform many of the yoga asana poses, particularly the yoga poses that are physically and/or mentally more challenging for them.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for empowering their sense of confidence, self-esteem, or self-worth.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for enhancing their physical health or mental health, or both.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for enhancing their physical fitness appearance and condition, stamina, strength and flexibility.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for losing or gaining body weight.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for rehabilitating from certain physical injury and/or illness.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for recovering from certain mental disturbance or emotional hurt.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for dealing with certain mental health issues.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for attaining physical and/or mental relaxation, or to be releasing certain physical tension and/or mental stress.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention of merely to be following or keeping up with the latest 'trends' in the world.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention of engaging in certain leisure activities for passing time.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for attaining 'spiritual healing', or 'spiritual connection', or 'spiritual achievement'.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention of to be attending yoga teachers training course for becoming a certified yoga instructor to be teaching yoga fitness exercise classes of particular style or many different styles as a profession/job/career.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for wanting to know what is yoga.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for wanting to be free from suffering, or to escape from something that are unpleasant and undesirable.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for knowing Thyself, to understand about themselves, and life existence.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention of to be experimenting yoga.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for attaining inner peace.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention for upholding peace and harmony in the world of diversities that doesn't belong to anyone.

Some minds have a combination of different intentions that motivate them to start learning and practicing yoga.

Some minds begin their yoga practice because they were being 'forced' into it not out of their own freewill or interest, such as for their own reasons, certain parents want their children to be engaging in some yoga activities, or certain people want their spouse or partner to be engaging in some yoga activities.

Some minds begin their yoga practice just because they have accepted a challenge from someone else, or for any kind of reason, other than oneself is being interested in yoga under certain intention.

Some minds begin their yoga practice without any intention, or don't even know why they want to learn and practice yoga, but somehow they ended up in learning and performing some kind of yoga practice.

Some minds don't even interested in the teachings or practice of yoga, but only interested in knowing enough about the many different types, brands and styles of yoga classes to be running a 'franchise' yoga school, yoga centre, yoga studio, yoga club, or yoga retreat centre, to use yoga as a type of 'commercial product and service' for a commercial money making business.

Some minds begin their yoga practice with the intention of trying to attain some sort of 'super extraordinary mind power', to be chasing after 'transcendental mystical experiences', or under certain reasons, to be able to 'control' or 'influence' some other minds for something.

Some minds are interested in doing some research about yoga, however they don't necessarily want to learn and practice yoga, but they are interested in knowing about the mind and the mind behavior pattern or the human's behavior pattern.

Regardless of what are the different intentions or motivations that has initiated the minds to be learning and practicing yoga, or to be interested in knowing what is yoga or the mind, in the end, it will still be about leading the minds towards weakening and eradicating egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison, and expectation, to be developing correct understanding, to be reflecting upon the mind itself (oneself), to be realizing the truth of selflessness and impermanence, that leads to be annihilating ignorance and the by-products of ignorance.

It's about being grateful for all kinds of intention or reason that had initiated the mind into the yoga practice, but then eventually dropping off any kinds of intention or reason, while allowing the effect, or the result, or the fruit of the practice, to be there as it is, without attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison, or expectation.

It doesn't matter in the end, the mind still hasn't attained correct understanding towards the teachings and practice of yoga. There's no judgment or expectation that all minds will be evolving in certain way or not in certain way. All minds are responsible for their own intentions, and their actions and the consequences of actions.

Inquire the truth of everything.

My life stories - Part 20 (Balancing life and settling in)

My life Stories – Part 20 (Balancing life and settling in)
Stories from my past memories – childhood, family, friends, growing up, poverty, integrity, dreams come true, finding peace and happiness, Buddhism, Yoga, and now…

After working full time without a break for a year and dealing with the exhausting apartment hunting process, my husband needed to take a break, which is a natural cycle for everyone to be looking after the physical and mental well-being. We didn't have any particular holiday destination. The cheapest flight destination departing from Geneva that we found was Portugal, and we have never been to Portugal before. And hence, we bought the flight ticket even before we found this apartment. We wanted to fly out from Geneva because it was easier, time and energy saving, and it's closer to us than departing from Paris.

In the early morning of the day that we were leaving to Geneva, we received the long waited message from the Prefecture. After waited for 9 months, having visited the Prefecture three times and renewed our temporary residence permit twice, we were going to get our actual residence permit finally.

And so, instead of the initial plan of taking the train to Geneva in the afternoon to begin our holiday, we decided to take the train to Annecy in the morning to collect our residence permit, and then taking the train from there to Geneva.

Upon buying the train ticket at the train station in Evian-Les-Bains, we were being told that all the morning trains have been replaced by buses due to the ongoing strike in France. It's more tiring and less comfortable to travel by bus, but we didn't mind, as we totally understand the difficulty that many working class people in the world have to go through as cost of living is getting higher and higher, but salary is not keeping up with the inflation. It's 'meh' to see many down to earth honest people have to spend many hours and effort into working, but still can't make enough to support basic needs, or barely get by, not that they are big spender on needless things and activities, while most employers/business owners are being inconsiderate, greedy and stingy, hoarding wealth more than they ever need in this life time.

We were grateful that we could still take two buses to reach Annecy and that we would arrive just in time for the walk-in opening hour between 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm to collect our residence permit. The Prefecture is located within a short distance less than ten minutes walk from the train station.

There was already a long queue when we arrived at the gate of the Prefecture just before 1:30 pm, as some people were already waiting in queue as early as half an hour before the opening time. However, we all didn't have to wait too long for the entire process that went smoothly. We thankfully received our residence permit in short time, and without any expectation, the residence permit is valid for 5 years from the date of issue. We thought it would be valid only for one year. Our residence permit is free of charge because my husband is European. I can also get involve in any kind of professions legally.

All our four times experience dealing with the different officers in the Prefecture were very nice, as all the people who work there - the guards, the front desk/ticket counter receptionists and the documentation verification and processing officers were all very friendly, patient and helpful, or even humorous, without the barrier or the sense of authoritarian superiority that exists in certain countries. Such humanized governmental process makes everyone more relaxed, which makes everything easier for both parties, as there will be less unnecessary complication arise under such welcoming calmed and relaxed manner.

After that, we headed back to the train station immediately to get the next available train to Geneva. We didn't have to waste much time. The next day we were in Porto for 5 nights and then Lisbon for 4 nights. It was a nice experience, where we walked a lot exploring the town without knowing much about Portugal, and without any planned ahead itinerary or things to see and do.

We heard before about Portugal is the cheapest country in Europe, however, after visiting several random grocery store and supermarket in Porto and Lisbon to check out the prices of everyday grocery there, we found that it's not any cheaper than France, especially when the salary in Portugal is a lot lower than in France. It's not surprise that more and more people are getting unhappy and frustrated.

During the flight back to Geneva, there was quite some intense turbulence due to rough weather, but surprisingly, this body didn't get sick this time. The couple sitting behind us were "Ooh La La!" every time the flight jerked up and down suddenly, which made me giggled so much. My husband and I joked about the pilot kept reminding everyone every now and then, "Make sure your seat belt is fastened," that made the minds wondered, "Is there something serious that the pilot doesn't want to tell us?" Anyway, the plane touched down safely, and many people were clapping.

We went straight to the train station in Geneva airport to get the next connecting trains back to Evian-Les-Bains. The cashier told us that there were no connecting train to Evian-Les-Bains since more than a week ago due to the strike. We could either take two trains to Annemasse transiting in Geneva, and then see what was available in Annemasse, or we could either take a taxi from Geneva to Evian-Les-Bains, which was too expensive for us, or we could take the train to Lausanne and then taking the boat from Lausanne to Evian-Les-Bains, which was also too expensive for us, as well as we wouldn't be able to be back in Evian until the next day, which meant that my husband wouldn't be able to get some sleep before work. And so, we decided to just take the chance of going to Annemasse, and see what would be available and possible there. If we had no other options but had to take a taxi from Annemasse, we'll let it be.

When we arrived in Annemasse, we found out that actually there were still trains running towards Evian-Les-Bains, and the next available train would be departing in 15 minutes. We immediately purchased our ticket from the machine and went straight to the platform. As soon as we came out from the train station in Evian-Les-Bains, a bus that could get us to somewhere closer to our apartment up the hill was already there. Usually, we would walk up the hill from the train station to our apartment, but since it was raining and we had been travelling for many hours, and the bus was there available to us, we just hopped onto the bus without hesitation. And the bus driver was very kind, where he dropped us closer to our apartment instead of at the bus stop that was further away because it was raining quite heavily.

Because we managed to get home before 8:30 pm, it meant that I could run the washing machine to wash the accumulated laundry. I learnt that it's prohibited to run the washing machine between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am (certain apartments until 8:00 am) in France unless we live in a detached house, which I agree with. Most apartment buildings here are not very soundproofed. In the last apartment, the agent told us that we were not allowed to shower or do any kind of washing between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am. That was ridiculous. Even though my husband told me that some people don't care about rules and regulations here in France, while it's not so much about obeying rules and regulations blindly, but out of freewill, I don't want to run the noisy washing machine after 10.00 pm which may cause disturbance to our neighbours, unless it's an exceptionally quiet washing machine. Many of our neighbours are hardworking people who go out to work in the day for many hours including spending time in commuting between home and work place, and they need to have good rest during the night. Some people leave home before 6:30 am and come home after 8:30 pm.

After we moved to this homely apartment and received our residence permit, we are finally settling in. Thank you.

All is impermanent, while being in the present moment.