Self discipline vs self punishment

Self discipline is not self punishment.

Disciplining the ignorant impure egoistic modification of the mind, by the mind itself, out of freewill, to render it clear, pure, calm, and quiet, is not about inflicting violent hurtful or forceful practice/action/punishment unto the modification of the mind, which doesn't help to render the modification of the mind to be clear, pure, calm, and quiet at all, but would intensify the restless violent impure thought current.

Self discipline in the teachings and practice of yoga and/or buddhism is all about the ability of self management, time management, effort/energy usage or distribution, energy conservation, balancing physical and mental activity, filtering physical and mental inputs and outputs, self restriction and self control to be developing and empowering non-violence or non-hurtful in thoughts, actions, and speech, out of one's own freewill, devoid of violence or harm unto oneself and/or others.

It is nothing to do with what the many minds understand as 'self punishment' or 'disciplining oneself with forceful practice or hurtful action', or 'self inflicts violent and hurtful punishment unto oneself in order to repent' that exists in the many worldly egoistic beliefs in the world.

Many minds have intense aversion or rejection towards the teachings and practice of self discipline in yoga and/or buddhism because they confuse 'self discipline' with 'self punishment' that exists in the many worldly egoistic beliefs, values, and practices, which most minds would have intense disagreement, anger, and disgust towards.

Yoga and/or buddhism is non-religious. It is not a belief or values. It is science. It is biology. It is about the truth of this selfless impermanent limited and conditional momentary life existence of the limited adjuncts of the selfless mortal physical body that comes with a selfless perceptive thinking and acting faculty, that dependent on the selfless support of the selfless energy and elements to be existing and functioning. There is no pride and arrogance, or fear and painful sorrow, can exist in the mind that knows about the truth of Selflessness and Impermanence.

It is about coming from one's own freewill and desire, to be disciplining the selfless impermanent restless modification of the mind, without violence, or judgment, or attachment, or identification, or craving, or aversion, or comparison, or expectation, to be rendering the state of mind clear, pure, calm, and quiet, that unveils the existing knowledge and correct understanding towards the selfless impermanent existence and function of the perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting mind and the selfless impermanent modification of the mind, that are limited and conditional, that is here in this present moment now, perceiving a selfless impermanent limited and conditional momentary worldly life existence, that is subject to the inevitable selfless impermanent changes, of forming, birth, growth, ceased growing, decay, weakening, illness, stiffness, injury, discomfort, old age, malfunction and dysfunction of the selfless bodily systems, and eventually, ceased functioning (death), and disintegrate (decompose).

All these are painful sorrow and suffering, to the minds that don't know Thyself.

All these are merely an inevitable natural process in all and everyone that are selfless, impermanent, limited, and conditional, to the minds that know Thyself.

There is no 'authoritarianism', or 'authority', or 'authorization', in the path of yoga and/or buddhism.

There is no 'judgment' or 'punishment', not to say, 'self punishment' or 'punishment unto others', in the teachings and practice of yoga and/or buddhism.

More importantly, the basic foundation of the teachings and practice of yoga and/or buddhism from the beginning of the practice until 'self-realization towards the truth of Selflessness and Impermanence' happens, is all about non-violence, or the annihilation and absence of violent hurtful thoughts/ideas/desires/actions/reactions/behaviors, via self-initiation, self-control, self-effort, self-reliance, and self-discipline, where all kinds of practices served as the non-violent tools for rendering the modification of the mind to be clear, pure, calm, and quiet, to be free from the veil of ignorance/restless violent impure egoistic thought current, a.k.a. the annihilation of the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, or restlessness from the modification of the mind, which then allowing the selfless perceptive cognitive intellectual emotional thinking and acting faculty to be able to see/know/realize/have a glimpse towards the truth of itself and the modification of the mind (knowing Thyself) under the presence of clarity a.k.a. the absence of hindrance/the veil of ignorance.

Self discipline is about managing one's physical and mental activities, or the usage of time or energy a.k.a. what to do with one's momentary precious life existence, balancing between activity and inactivity/work and rest/wake and sleep, filtering and choosing the type of physical and mental inputs and outputs, without violence or forcing, but with kindness and understanding towards what is the physical and mental needs/condition/ability/disability/limitation/possibility/impossibility in this present moment now, and attending what is needed to be attended immediately in this present moment now accordingly, accepting and respecting the perceived reality in the present moment now as it is, while knowing that all these are impermanent, and that it will change, and hence, just do one's best on what is possible in the present moment now, without attachment, identification, craving, aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation, and allowing or respecting the result/fruit/outcome of one's action to be what it is, and changing.

Attending the physical and mental essential needs to be existing and functioning, to maintain life existence, are completely different from gratifying the wants, or the desires of craving and aversion, or the physical/mental/emotional clinging or addiction, or the ambitious ambition.

Without energy, food, water, air, minerals, and nutrients, the body and mind cannot exist or function.

Without a proper shelter and protective layer of clothing, to be sheltering from harsh weather, extreme condition and situation, injury, illness, and predators, without the selfless autonomous bodily systems and components that are there working together non-stop selflessly forming and supporting the life maintenance/existence/function of the body, or without certain survival knowledge and skills, such as balancing activity and inactivity/physical activity and mental activity/work and rest/wake and sleep, neither over-use or under-use, neither over eating or under eating, and etc, as well as the knowledge and understanding of non-violence, non-interference, non-possession, non-hoarding, non-greed, non-discrimination, independence, respect and kindness among one another, that gives rise to a supportive peaceful harmonious environment among the many diversities of different duties, responsibilities, knowledge, talents and skills, that are inter-supporting the survival of one another, just like the different selfless bodily systems and the many different selfless components that make up the entire selfless physical body, that gives life to the body and mind and support the life existence/function/maintenance/survival of the entire body, similar to the entire selfless solar system that is supporting the selfless existence of all and everything in it, then it might be challenging for maintaining the survival of the body and mind.

These are the needs, that is inevitable for maintaining life existence and the proper function of the body and mind, under a supportive, peaceful, and harmonious living environment in the world that doesn't belong to anyone or anything.

Out of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, there are fighting, hating, bullying, interfering, invading, oppressing, controlling, hurting, attacking, or killing one another in the world that doesn't belong to anyone and anything, is not different from committing suicide, just like the corrupted/malfunctioned auto immune system that attacks the different bodily systems and components.

 

The non-gratification or non-availability of the few/many/boundless different types of wants, or cravings, or physical/mental/emotional clinging or addiction, or the absence of certain desirable/pleasurable/enjoyable physical and mental inputs and outputs, or activities, or experiences, or effects, or enjoyments of the body and mind,

of certain pleasurable, desirable, agreeable, and enjoyable sights, smells, sounds, tastes, sensations, objects, intoxicants, drugs, alcohols, fashions, lifestyles, decorations, symbolical objects, arts, music, fine dining, luxurious indulgence, commercialized leisure holidays and activities, outings, gatherings, events, celebrations, festivals, material possessions, sexual activities, social activities and interactions, ties and connections, friendships, relationships,

of any kind of worldly egoistic belief, values, rituals, and practice, worldly education and learning, academic achievement, proficiency in particular or different languages for communication, praise and compliment, acknowledgement and recognition, love and affection, hugging and touching, agreement and understanding, admiration and glorification, the sense of self-esteem and self-worth, the sense of meaningfulness and purposefulness,

as well as without the idea of 'I', egoism, and impurities of pride, arrogance, greed, anger, hatred, fear, worry, jealousy, bitterness, resentment, selfishness, possessiveness, separateness, discrimination, cruelty, violence, hurtful behavior, and etc, the body and mind can still be existing and functioning as it is under the sufficient supply of energy, food, water, air, minerals, and nutrients, under the support of some basic survival knowledge, tools, and skills, and the availability of a proper shelter and sufficient clothing/wearing to be protected from extreme condition and situation, extreme heat and cold, harsh weather, natural disaster, accident, or predators, to be minimizing unnecessary injury and illness, if possible, without attachment, and devoid of violence or hurtful action/reaction/behavior unto oneself and others or the surrounding environment.

 

The absence and presence of worldly education, worldly knowledge, academic achievement, intelligence, talents, ties and connections, physical and mental good health and fitness condition, or social and financial status and achievement, doesn't determine whether a person or a mind is wise and kind, or not, is free from violence, cruelty, and hurtful thoughts/ideas/desires/actions/reactions/behaviors, or not, and is peaceful, or not.

Similarly, not all yoga and/or buddhism practitioners/teachers, or scientists, or biologists, are free from the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, if they haven't attained self realization yet, but only gathering all kinds of information/knowledge coming from everywhere and everyone. All these names and forms are neither good nor bad, depending on the presence or absence of correct understanding, that determining whether the availability of all these names and forms are being utilized for something constructive or destructive.

Inquire the truth of everything.

Just do our best in what is possible now

Doing our best in whatever we do that is possible now, but without forcing the body and mind beyond its limitation, and without the idea of 'I', attachment, judgment and expectation towards the actions and the fruit of actions, is the important yoga practice for annihilating the idea of 'I' and egoism, that will thin-out the veil of ignorance.

Regardless of whether in the yoga practice session or in everyday life affair, it's not about who/what is the best among all, but all and everyone are doing their own very best in what they can do that is possible in the present moment, and what everyone can do or cannot do in the present moment, is very different from one another.

Doing our best in all our pursues, is not about trying to achieve perfection in everything that we do, or trying to be the best performer or achiever among all and everyone.

Knowing that there's no perfection can be found in the world of selfless impermanent names and forms, particularly when many minds are functioning under the influence of ignorance, the idea of 'I', egoism, impurities, and restlessness, ceaselessly acting and reacting generating lots of consequences of actions and reactions in the world that are inter-affecting one another, but we still can do our best for what can be done that can be promoting peace and harmony into the world of many diversities that doesn't belong to anyone.

All these actions for promoting peace and harmony in oneself and in the world of diversity, are being performed out of selfless compassion, without egoistic attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, comparison, judgment, or expectation.

It's not even about being hopeful towards the world that it will have more peace and harmony after we do our best in performing certain actions, but it's merely doing our best to contribute less unrest and disharmony, while contributing more peace and harmony, in ourselves and into the surrounding environment, without attachment or expectation, and let the fruit of actions being what it is.

Most importantly, it begins with looking after this mind itself, to have peace and harmony in oneself.

The world will be peaceful and harmony as it is, if more minds know how to look after themselves, to maintain certain degrees of openness, clarity and correct understanding, however, it's the freedom of the minds whether to be looking after themselves, or not.

To be looking after the mind, it's not so much about gaining or achieving something, but it's about being able to let go many ideas and things that most minds strongly attached onto and identifying with, that the minds think and believe is what things are, and how life should be like, where most minds find it very difficult or even impossible to let go.

It's like the mind is already familiar with, and being comfortable living with all kinds of 'madness' in oneself and in the world, and hence, the mind would find it very strange, wrong, or mad, to let go all kinds of 'madness'.

Once the mind is able to let go many worldly passionate egoistic ideas and things, naturally, it will realize what yoga, or selflessness, or non-separateness, or unconditional peace, is about.

Embracing simplicity, openness, desirelessness, ambitionlessness, truthfulness, straightforwardness, non-hypocrisy, non-pridefulness, non-possessiveness, and non-greed, are the basic steps for looking after the mind.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

None need more than sufficient basic needs to live a simple happy peaceful life

A simple happy peaceful life doesn't mean living under insufficiency of lacking the basic needs for life maintenance.

A simple clean and tidy living and resting space or shelter as well as enough basic clothing that protect the physical body from the impact of harsh weather, injuries, insects and wild animals in a healthy natural non-polluted surrounding environment, clean air, adequate simple nutritious food consumption that generates enough energy and nutrition for maintaining the basic function of the physical body and the thinking faculty, clean safe drinking water, basic hygiene and sanitation, certain indoor or outdoor physical and mental activities that don't require any additional equipment or gadget, basic living skills, basic correct understanding or universal conscience with basic common sense, openness, self-control, self-reliance, self-effort, self-inquiry, self-realization, contentment, and certain degrees of mental and emotional independence, are all the basic needs for maintaining a wholesome selfless impermanent life existence of the selfless physical body and the selfless thinking faculty.

There are boundless different kinds of unnecessary commercial ideas, products and activities, food productions, dining options, entertainments, fashions, accessories, gadgets, lifestyles, beliefs, values, practices, physical and mental leisure activities that require certain space, equipment or gadget, varieties of furniture, luxury accommodations, home decorations, pets decorations, toys, commercialized sports activities related commercial products, theme parks related commercial products, tourism related commercial products, celebration days, cultural, spiritual and religious events with their respective rituals or objects for different occasions, health and fitness products, beauty cosmetics products, skin care/body care/facial care/hair care products, spiritual healing related products, health food products, health care products, slimming products, anti-aging products, luxurious pleasurable material and sensual enjoyment of the senses for the body and mind, tourism holiday activities, and etc, where all these ideas, products and activities beyond basic needs for life maintenance are deriving from the intention of empowering wealth generation and accumulation through business investments, property investments, productions, tourism, commercialism and capitalism, under the creativity of the creative minds utilizing the many different technologies and higher technologies designing for catering the 'inspired' and 'empowered' desires and ambitions beyond basic needs for life maintenance of the ever restless discontented ambitious passionate minds under the influence of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness.

The existence of all these unnecessary ideas, products and activities are exploiting the nature and natural resources to the maximum to the point of destruction, while generating lots of unnecessary inevitable rubbish or pollution into the world, and give rise to so much exploitation and corruption that lead to many unnecessary damages and suffering in the world under such greedy ambitious inspirational aspirations and desires of the restless passionate egoistic minds functioning under the influence of ignorance and egoism.

The buddhas and gurus foreseen all kinds of alarming damaging effects in the world deriving from such ignorance, egoism, restlessness, discontentment, dissatisfaction, greed, desires, aspirations, ambitions, success, wealth, status, indulgence, possessiveness and pride, that give rise to so much unnecessary damages to the natural environment, unrest, separateness, discrimination, selfishness, exploitation, corruption, unequal basic needs availability and distribution, unbalanced between abundance and insufficiency, desperation, suffering, hunger, violence and war in the world, and hence, the existence of the basic and yet essential teachings and advice of living a life of simplicity and contentment, dispassion and renunciation.

None need more than sufficient basic needs for life maintenance to be living a simple happy peaceful life in this world.

None need the additional ongoing stimulation of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations, imaginations, visualizations, feelings, and etc, to be pleasing the ever discontented boundless passionate desires, to live a healthy happy life, physically, mentally and emotionally.

There will be minds that disagree with this and don't like to hear this, while thinking and believing that "There's nothing wrong or damaging to be enjoying whatever that is available to us, as long as it's not hurting oneself. Life is too dull and boring without some pleasurable entertainments and enjoyments. The global and local economy depends solely on the boundless desires and aspirations of consumerism inspired and empowered by all these business capital investments, property investments, productions, tourism, commercialism and capitalism, or else, the economy will collapse, there will be no jobs, and everyone will be suffering. But, at least those who have the opportunity and motivation and are capable of making a success out of all these to be generating and accumulating wealth won't be suffering so much. Life still goes on for those who achieved such success and wealth regardless of many others who are being exploited and living in poverty because they don't have the credibility or motivation to achieve success to get out of such desperate situation that exists under exploitation by those who are smart and credible, and those who are smart and successful deserved all kinds of abundance, enjoyments and comforts because it's their own ability, effort and aspiration. There's nothing wrong with smart people who work smart accumulating wealth and enjoying life to the maximum by exploiting the nature and the non-smart people who have to work hard and still not making enough for living. Be smart. Be inspired, and be empowered to be smart and achieve limitless success and wealth."

That's right. Keep inquiring towards what's wrong with this thinking or understanding, for the minds that think and believe that there's nothing bad or damaging with a little bit of extra desires, ambitions, success and enjoyments in life. Unfortunately, very few minds would see what is the 'problem' with this 'system' of a new modern society of 'empowerment towards achieving success and wealth and pleasurable enjoyment' as well as no limit of 'higher success, higher wealth and higher pleasurable enjoyment'.

That's why by being inspired and empowered to be having higher education, higher intelligence, motivation, ambition and the accumulation of knowledge, achievement, success and wealth, doesn't guarantee that the mind will have correct understanding, or is free from the influence of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness.

It's the freedom of all and everyone for their understanding and desire and don't desire, as well as dealing with the consequences of the understanding and the desire and don't desire.

When the climate eventually collapsed, followed by the food production collapsed, where there's very little livable condition left on earth, when hunger, desperation, violence and wars are everywhere, then we will see if the minds still think and believe that they and their next generations won't be affected by the consequences of their 'nothing wrong' greedy boundless desires and aspirations.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Neither too tight nor too loose, follow the middle path

The sincere yoga or buddhism practitioner who is determined to attain direct realization towards the truth of selflessness, to be free from the veil of ignorance, egoism, impurities and restlessness, needs to know how to follow the middle path, neither too tight nor too loose, where one eats enough, sleeps enough, actives enough, rests enough, works enough, not over-eating or under eating, not over sleeping or under sleeping, not over active or under active, not over resting or under resting, not over working or under working, and so on.

The middle path is the path of yoga and/or buddhism.

A life of simplicity with enough basic needs, without intentionally torturing oneself in hard living condition or indulging in easy comfortable living condition chasing after excess livelihood or comfortable pleasurable enjoyment of the senses, is the middle path.

Although under certain reason, if there is not enough basic needs for life maintenance, where the practitioner is living in a state of insufficiency, where the physical body and mind has to be spending excessive attention, energy and effort into looking after the maintenance of life, as well as maybe looking after some others in life financially, physically and mentally, and there might not be attention or energy left for performing certain physical yoga or meditation practice under particular name and form, it's okay, as all those attention, energy and effort being spent on the action of looking after the maintenance of life and looking after some others who are financially, physically or mentally dependent on oneself, are indeed the practical nameless formless practice under right effort, when one knows what is non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment and non-expectation towards the actions and the fruit of actions, free from dissatisfaction, discontentment or greed, while allowing the fruit of one's attention, energy and effort to be what it is.

This is different from the passionate desire of egoistic attachment, affection and clinging towards the physical body and all kinds of ties and relationships with some others under the presence of attachment, identification and expectation, where the duty and responsibility is being performed under the intention of gratifying worldly passionate desires and aspirations, then that is not part of the practice under right effort.

While those who are living in an easy comfortable living condition with more than enough basic needs for living, they need to be aware of not losing themselves in a comfortable condition, or losing oneself in chasing after higher and higher pleasurable enjoyment or the accumulation and hoarding of wealth, unwittingly. One needs to be able to let go all kinds of pleasurable enjoyment of the senses that are easily accessible to oneself, and only keep enough for living in simplicity that enables oneself to be focusing on the path towards the annihilation of ignorance and egoism, without spending too much attention, energy and effort into looking after life maintenance, while letting go the excess abundance to some others who are living under insufficiency, and need not continuously generating and accumulating wealth that contributing to many kinds of exploitation and damages in the world. Without attachment, identification, craving, aversion, judgment or expectation towards the practice or the fruit of the practice.

The mind that is lost in the generation, accumulation and hoarding of wealth will justify that its intention is to be able to perform as much charity as possible with those accumulated wealth, while not knowing that the presence of such intention or idea is merely a form of greed or ambitious, which is already swaying away from the practice.

Some minds also justifying that the indulgence in a comfortable luxurious pleasurable lifestyle is also part of the practice of non-attachment and non-identification, where they continuously indulging in such indulgence, thinking that they are also practicing non-attachment and non-identification towards such indulgence. That's their freedom of thinking and belief, however, what they are not aware of, is that the accumulation of wealth that support such luxurious pleasurable lifestyle is deriving from and empowering the many exploitation and corruptions in the world that give rise to many desperate conditions and suffering to many others in the world as well as contributing to many unnecessary damages to the surrounding environment, either directly or indirectly. And all these will lead to impactful consequences to all and everyone regardless of who and where.

Some minds mistaken the middle path as there's no need to refrain the senses from indulging in pleasurable enjoyment. That's their freedom of thinking and desire, however, the middle path includes the highly important practice of refraining the senses from chasing after the objects of the senses, or indulging in pleasurable enjoyment of the senses.

The presence of the idea or intention of "building and organizing bigger and more yoga classes, yoga events, yoga schools, yoga studios, yoga community, yoga organization, or yoga association, to be attracting more people into the world of yoga," is already a form of greed or ambitious, that is already swaying away from the practice, that the minds aren't aware of.

A yogi is not determined by the easy or hard life condition, the good or bad health and fitness condition, or the amount and size of the charity works or the dissemination of the teachings of yoga to others that one can performed under good intention.

Inquire towards the truth of everything.

Go beyond auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, positiveness and negativeness

There's nothing wrong with some minds strongly believe in auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, and be determined or disturbed by the absence of what they believe as auspiciousness or the presence of what they believe as inauspiciousness. Similarly, some minds also strongly believe in positiveness and negativeness, and be determined or disturbed by the absence of what they believe as positiveness or the presence of what they believe as negativeness. These minds have the urge or need to be performing certain actions/rituals, or possessing certain objects such like specific accessories, decorations, objects or plants of particular shape, colour, smell, sound, texture and material to be keeping closely on one's physical body or in one's living space and surrounding environment, to be evoking or attracting what they believe as auspiciousness and positiveness, while avoiding or getting rid of what they believe as inauspiciousness and negativeness.

This is merely because the minds are still functioning under the influence of ignorance, being conditioned by the perceived duality in all kind of names and forms, where the minds are still being the slave of the desire of craving and aversion unwittingly, there's craving towards what the minds believe as goodness, and there's aversion towards what the minds believe as badness, as the minds haven't attained direct realization towards non-duality, oneness, non-separateness, or selflessness, namelessness, formlessness and attributelessness.

It's neither right nor wrong, just that the minds are not free.

Inquire towards the essential teachings of yoga and buddhism about simplicity.

Why did Siddhartha Gautama Buddha reject the gift of something that was made and decorated with the top quality 'majestic' and 'luxurious' materials, accessories and decorations that the minds think and believe as representing something highly auspicious and grand that would portray and glorify the majestic nobility of someone and something like the enlightened buddha and the dhamma, that the minds think and believe as someone and something that deserve such majestic, luxurious or auspicious presentation, acknowledgement, glorification, appearance, image, or housing?

Just as there are still many so called buddhist associations or organizations in the world run by minds that are still under the influence of ignorance and egoism would keep asking for public donations to support their vision and ambition to build more and bigger buildings that would be decorated with gold and some other 'luxurious' or so called 'auspicious' accessories and decorations that they think and believe as something representing, or portraying, or glorifying the majestic auspiciousness of the enlightened buddhas or the precious dhamma, where certain 'names and forms', or 'behaviors', or 'words', or 'objects' that the minds think and believe as something 'inauspicious', or 'belittling', or 'disrespectful', or 'offensive' towards the buddhas or the dhamma, are strictly prohibited within the compound of those buildings where they host many statues of different buddhas that are being decorated with either gold or some other kind of 'luxurious' or 'auspicious' materials, as well as to host many buddhism or dhamma books and related materials. They encourage the mass to give donations under the good intention of accumulating merits and virtues or good karma for oneself and one's loved ones as well as the next generations, which is nothing but empowering ignorance and egoism of attachment, identification, the desire of craving and aversion, and expectation.

A liberated being or mind, that has attained realization towards selflessness, namelessness, formlessness and attributelessness, that is void of ignorance and egoism, that is void of pride, desire, craving, aversion, greed, fear, intention, and etc, where nothing can hurt or destroy that which is selfless, nameless, formless and attributeless, doesn't need anything to represent, or portray, or acknowledge, or maintain, or protect, or empower, or glorify itself or the dhamma, being what it is.

What is auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, or positiveness and negativeness, for the liberated minds that are void of ignorance and egoism?

The dhamma, will always be there as it is, nameless and formless, attributeless and changeless, beyond time, space and causation, which can never be hurt, disrespected, offended, manipulated, or destroyed.

It's merely the ignorant ego or idea of 'I' in the mind, that needs to be empowered, acknowledged, respected, glorified, maintained and protected with what the mind thinks and believes as something respectful, luxurious, auspicious, positive, glorious, or majestic, while justifying that it's for protecting and propagating buddhism and the dhamma, attracting more minds to be learning and practicing buddhism or the dhamma, even when the essential teachings of buddhism and yoga, is about all is impermanent, including the limited form of dhamma that exists under certain names and forms, will also subject to impermanent changes and can be manipulated and destroyed, even though the nameless and formless dhamma as it is, is infinite and changeless, that never increase or decrease, that can never be hurt, or manipulated, or destroyed by anything.

Just as there are minds have the great desire/aspiration/ambition to go against, or slow down, or delay, or prevent, or reverse impermanent changes of the limited selfless impermanent physical body, by thinking optimistically, living positively and eating healthily. It's neither right nor wrong. It's their freedom of thinking, desire and action. Just that it doesn't change the truth of selfless impermanence in all kind of names and forms, of decaying, and eventually, disintegrating.

Yoga or buddhism practitioners also can be thinking optimistically, living positively and eating healthily if they want, if possible, to minimize or lessen unnecessary physical and mental suffering for oneself and others, however, it's not because of aversion towards impermanent changes and desiring to fight against impermanent changes, but respecting the impermanent changes as they are, without attachment or identification.

Such as one knows that if over-eating any type of food will cause indigestion, discomfort or even sickness to the physical body, one has the awareness and self-control not to be over-eating any kind of food, so that it doesn't cause unnecessary inconvenience or suffering to oneself as well as to those who have to be looking after oneself if oneself is down with certain sickness due to over-eating certain type of food. But it's not because "I don't want to be fat," or "I don't want any sickness or suffering."

Realize this, and be free.

Minimalism vs Simplicity

People might relate minimalism with simplicity.

Minimalism does not necessarily mean simplicity.

In fact, there's a huge difference between them.

Minimalism is a form of trendy lifestyle that is linked to 'de-cluttering' from time to time.

In minimalism, people might be continuing buying many different things of the latest trends or products from time to time, as they need to decorate or redecorate their home and their physical appearance with different looks or styles from time to time, and they will need to 'de-clutter' their 'possessions' from time to time, to let go their 'used' things in order to create space for their 'new' things, so that they aren't accumulating too many things in their living space, in order to be qualified as a 'minimalist' who is living a 'minimalism' lifestyle, where people live with very few possessions at one time, which is nothing to do with simplicity at all.

There is no need of 'de-cluttering' in those who truly live a life of simplicity.

In simplicity, people not just don't keep too many things beyond what they need to live everyday life, but they will keep using the same few things for very long time until they are completely worn out, where they don't need to keep buying new things of the latest trends or products to replace the things that they are using, because they don't need to decorate or redecorate their home or their physical appearance with many different looks or styles from time to time, and hence, there's no need to 'de-clutter' their 'possessions' from time to time in order to create space for new things.

Minimalism is very welcomed by the world of capitalism and consumerism.

While the world of capitalism and consumerism might not like simplicity at all.

Inquire the truth of everything.

The middle path and renunciation

The teachings of Yoga and Buddhism is being practiced on the middle path. It's neither leaning towards indulging oneself in pleasurable enjoyment nor intentionally torturing oneself in difficulties and painful suffering, but it's living a life of simplicity without drowning in greed/discontentment/stress towards achieving higher success/achievement/enjoyment/comfort/security in life, and without struggling under insufficiency of daily needs to be looking after the well-being of the body and mind while living in the world, independently and self-sufficiently, as much as possible.

The path of renunciation is indeed the middle path, though many people would categorize it as one form of extremity. One can renounce the worldly life consisting of worldly passionate social relationship, connection, interaction and activity without torturing one's body and mind in painful suffering, while living a modest simple way of life, being in seclusion and solitude most of the time, where one would perform necessary actions and dealing with other people/beings if necessary, but without engaging in worldly social interaction and activity, and without attachment or clinging towards worldly relationships and connections as well as pleasurable enjoyment of the senses.

No doubt that everyone needs to 'work' or performs action to be looking after the life of the body and mind, but for the yoga practitioners, one doesn't need to spend entire life time and energy into achieving worldly success and achievement in 'working' to be more wealthy, successful and secured financially, but after spending some time and energy into 'working' to acquire enough livelihood, one can spend more time and energy into looking after the well-being of the body and mind, which isn't about building relationships and connections by engaging in worldly social interactions and activities, just like what most people, including mental health professionals would think and believe that active engagement in passionate social interactions and activities to be building relationships and connections is essential for mental and emotional health.

For the yoga practitioners, looking after the mental and emotional health is more about retreating from all those worldly relationships, connections, interactions and activities to quiet the restless activity of the mind, mentally and emotionally, understanding that all joy and happiness deriving from engagement in pleasurable, desirable and agreeable relationship, connection, interaction and activity, will change and disappear eventually. Impermanent changes might not affect or disturb the minds that have developed strong foundation in dispassion and non-attachment, but most of the untrained passionate minds that attached strongly onto names and forms that are pleasurable, desirable and agreeable would be determined by impermanent changes, and be affected and disturbed mentally and emotionally.

It's neither right nor wrong in the two contradicting approach towards looking after the well-being of the mind mentally and emotionally, it's just different understanding or realization towards what is suffering and the cause of suffering.

The worldly passionate minds think and believe that the lack of social relationship, connection, interaction and activity is the cause of mental and emotional illness/suffering, and thinking that the solution is through seeking comforts deriving from active engagement in passionate social relationship, connection, interaction and activity, to feel good and better.

While the dispassionate minds stop empowering or gratifying the desire of craving and clinging towards passionate social relationship, connection, interaction and activity that might make the mind feels good and meaningful momentarily, but then the mind would suffer very much mentally and emotionally if the pleasant enjoyable agreeable social relationship, connection, interaction and activity is not available for some reasons. And so, they work diligently to root out egoism of attachment, identification, desire of craving and aversion, judgment, comparison and expectation, which is the root cause of all restlessness and suffering, to allow the mind to realize unconditional peace that is nothing to do with momentary pleasant good and meaningful feelings deriving from engagement in pleasant/desirable/agreeable passionate social relationship, connection, interaction and activity.

The mind is peaceful as it is, regardless of the impermanent condition of life, the body, the mind and the world.

It's everyone's freedom whether to receive or reject the gift of Dhamma

Many people like to attend 'yoga retreat' are not about giving importance towards the yoga practice to be learning and practicing yoga under the guidance of a yoga teacher who teaches yoga, to leave their ego and worldly habits behind for a period of time, to quiet and silent the mind, to learn how to apply the teachings of yoga into the yoga asana practice, as well as applying the yoga practice/teachings or the Dhamma practically into everyday life while living in the society, to free the mind from ignorance, egoism and impurities.

Instead, they expect to be doing some form of yoga exercises/practice as a leisure activity while on a holiday that includes yoga and other holiday activities, where they expect the resort/staff/teachers to conduct/provide/lead/instruct/teach the yoga exercise sessions the way that they like it to be, in a resort style holiday environment, being away from any duties and responsibilities, and condition and situation in their everyday life that they don't like and don't want, to be indulging in pleasurable enjoyment of the senses of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, sensations and visualization, to be enjoying VIP treatments, resort facilities and services.

They are not interested to practice yoga in a simple place where it's not much different from everyday life condition for most people, or even more challenging for those who live a comfortable lifestyle where everything is conveniently available and accessible and being served by other people all the time, but one needs to perform daily tasks to take care of one's everyday living, just like in everyday life, but with additional restrictions of a more disciplined daily routine and limited social activities, or without personal assistant or servant to bring them what they want whenever they want, while learning and practicing yoga under the guidance of a yoga teacher who teaches yoga, so that when they go back into their everyday life, they can implement the yoga teachings/practice or the Dhamma into their everyday life while performing all their duties and responsibilities towards themselves and others, without the sense of superiority or inferiority, pride and arrogance, and dealing with all kinds of condition and situation that are not necessarily the way that they like it to be, be free from craving and aversion, without the need to runaway from what they don't like or don't want, and developing stronger self-discipline and reducing social activities to quiet the restless mind while living in the society, and realize unconditional peace that is beyond the impermanent qualities of names and forms, undetermined by time and space, causation, condition and situation.

If people feel that they can only have peace or practice yoga in a comfortable environment with very little distraction and without the need to deal with any discomfortable challenging condition and situation, and they find that it's very difficult for them to have peace or practice yoga in everyday life as there are lots of distractions and have to deal with many discomfortable challenging condition and situation in everyday life, then they haven't learn anything at all, even though they feel good and happy to practice yoga or do some yoga asana exercises in a comfortable distraction-less environment. A real yoga retreat should allow people to learn how to implement the teachings of yoga into everyday life and practice yoga and have peace under any condition and situation, with correct understanding, awareness, self-discipline, self-control, non-attachment, non-identification, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment and non-expectation.

It's everyone's freedom whether they want to receive or reject the gift of Dhamma and whether they want to practice yoga, or not. Even some yoga teachers are not really practicing yoga, although they have been doing different styles of yoga asana practice and teaching different styles of yoga exercise classes for many years. And it's okay as everyone takes their own time to evolve. It doesn't matter after many years of doing and teaching yoga exercise, the mind is still not free from ignorance and egoism, and being over-powered by impurities.

Many people who like to do the yoga asana exercises regularly are not necessarily interested in the yoga teachings and practice about silencing the mind and the elimination of ignorance, egoism and impurities. That's their freedom. Even though many of them have been following some yoga teachers to be doing yoga asana exercises for some time or a long time, their minds are not necessarily be free from the desire of craving and aversion, and easily be disturbed and determined by the gratification of craving and aversion, and be influenced by impurities of dissatisfaction, disappointment, frustration, irritation, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, hurts, regret, guilt, offensiveness, defensiveness, animosity, ill-will, ill-thinking, pride, arrogance, agitation, depression, fear and worry, and so on, being restless or peaceless.

A teacher presents the same teaching or Dhamma to different people at the same time, some people take it and practice and realize and be free, while some people reject the Dhamma, as that is not what they like and want and agree with, they only want to do something that they like and want to do, to gratify their desire of craving and aversion, to enjoy and to feel good. And that's their freedom.

It's not the teacher is being good or not good. It's not the Dhamma is something good or not good. The teacher and the Dhamma are just what they are. They are neither good nor not good, but it's the people themselves, whether they want to take it, or not, and through their own effort of practice and attain self-realization, or not, that allows them to be free, or not. Whether the people want to take the Dhamma and practice and realize yoga, or they don't like and don't want to practice the Dhamma, it's not the responsibility of the teacher or the Dhamma.

Egoistic mind will try to runaway from something that it's experiencing now, that it doesn't familiar with, doesn't feel comfortable, doesn't like, doesn't want and doesn't agree with, that is different from or contradicted with one's thinking and belief and familiar worldly habits.

Those who teach yoga, they do not try to please the people who are learning and practicing yoga with them, or in anyway, to boost or empower or feed the ignorance and egoism of the people. But to guide the people to see or know what is going on in their own minds, develop awareness, self-discipline and self-control to deal with their own mind, to free their mind from ignorance, egoism and impurities through their own effort to purify and silent their impure restless mind, to see the truth of things as it is. Compassion is not about trying to make people happy by gratifying their desires of craving and aversion, but to allow them to know the root cause of a disturbed mind, or the source of unhappiness and suffering, even if they have to go through discomfort and unpleasantness.

The practice of yoga and the coming in contact with the Dhamma is not as pleasant as many people thought it is. The Dhamma might appear to be very different or contradicted with the worldly cultural, social and religious thinking, belief and practice. To realize Dhamma one has to let go attachment and identification towards the worldly cultural, social and religious thinking, belief and practice, to allow the mind to be open. Those who have strong attachment and identification with the worldly cultural, social and religious thinking, belief and practice would likely generate great disagreement, rejection or aversion towards the Dhamma. There are lots of impurities bubble up onto the body and the mind to be eliminated on the path of yoga towards the annihilation of ignorance, egoism and impurities. There will be lots of physical, mental and emotional discomfort arising and passing away. And it might take a long time for the mind to be purified to the deepest level. It requires lots of courage, patience, perseverance, determination, tolerance. forbearance, acceptance, adjustment, adaptation and accommodation. It's quite an unpleasant or painful and even scary process for most minds, and many minds don't like to confront with this and rather to runaway from any unpleasantness or hardship. They just want to do the parts of the yoga practice that would give rise to momentary relaxation and good feelings, to gratify their desires of craving and aversion.

Those who truly practice yoga learn how to confront with what the mind perceives as unfamiliar, discomfortable and challenging condition and situation, with compassion, patience, perseverance, determination, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, adjustment, adaptation and accommodation, without attachment, identification, craving, aversion, judgment, or expectation.

Only through letting go all kinds of attachment and identification, and the desire of craving and aversion towards the pleasant and unpleasant mind perception of names and forms, not by pushing or running away from something that the mind doesn't like and doesn't want, that is discomfortable or challenging for the mind, will allow the mind to go beyond all the qualities of names and forms and be free from being disturbed or determined by all the different qualities of names and forms that the mind perceives as pleasant or unpleasant experiences, positive or negative experiences, that the mind likes or dislikes, wants and doesn't want.

Letting go and pushing away are two different things.

Letting go is unattached towards all the qualities of names and forms, allowing the unpleasant experiences to be there as they are, or allowing the pleasant experiences to be absent in this present moment, but remain at peace, without craving for something that is pleasant but it's not here, without aversion towards something that is here that is unpleasant, being undisturbed or undetermined by them. The mind is peaceful as it is regardless all the mind perceptions of pleasantness and unpleasantness, being free from disturbs due to ignorance, egoism and impurities.

While pushing away is do not allow any unpleasant experiences to be there, and expecting pleasant experiences to be available in the present the way that it likes it to be, and are being disturbed or determined by the presence of unpleasant experiences that the mind doesn't like and doesn't want, and the absence of pleasant experiences that the mind likes and wants. The mind is restless or peaceless being over-powered by frustration, dissatisfaction, disappointment, unhappiness, anger, regret, ill-thinking, animosity, anxiety, fear and worry.

Be free.

Take good care of the body and mind?

Learning and practicing yoga actually is also about learning how to take good care of the overall well-being of the body and the mind in everyday life, but without attachment and identification towards the impermanent condition of the body and the mind.

It's not just about doing some yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice for a couple of hours a day regularly as a form of taking good care of the body and the mind, but more importantly in the rest of the time in everyday life, when the body and mind are not performing physical postures, breathing exercises, concentration and meditation practice, we need to know how to live in simplicity, how to conserve energy, when to take rest, when to work more, when to work less, when to eat more, when to eat less, how to relax or let go, how to stop generate unnecessary tension into the body and mind, how to stop pushing the body and mind beyond its limitation, and etc, to truly taking good care of the overall well-being of the body and mind.

Out of laziness, or stinginess, or particular obsessive compulsive disorder, or great ambition, or sociable personality, or caring personality, or lack of self-control and self-discipline, or some other issues, people might not rest well, eat well, work well, or relax properly, and the body and mind are either being in a state of lethargic or agitation due to accumulated strain and stress or restlessness, even though people try to do yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice regularly. It's like, now we sweep and mop the floor, and then, we bring more dirt and dust onto the floor, and repeat this process again and again.

When the condition of the body and mind be affected by the improper or imbalanced way of living, the mind becomes tired, cloudy, unfocused, short-tempered, depressed, irritated, impatient, aggressive or anxious easily. This will affect the yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice, as well as the ongoing function of all the support systems in the body, the sleep quality, the mood, the thinking faculty, the clarity of the mind, the physical mobility, the health condition, the energy level, and the relationships with everyone and everything.

Learn how to live a simple yet balanced lifestyle is as important as doing the yoga asana and pranayama and meditation practice regularly. Simple yet balanced lifestyle has nothing to do with the commercial products of branded and trendy hype of 'luxurious organic living', or 'organic clean eating', or 'calorie counting eating', or 'precise daily consumption limits of different food intake', or 'health and fitness products and supplements', but it's about incorporating the teachings of yoga of 'Do our best', non-attachment, non-identification, desireless, dispassion, right discrimination, non-craving, non-aversion, non-judgment, non-comparison, non-expectation, renunciation, seclusion, solitude, silence, concentration or one-pointedness, contentment, generosity, forgiveness, patience, determination, perseverance, acceptance, adjustment, adaptation and accommodation into everyday life activities, to stop or minimize accumulation of unnecessary tension into the systems.

If one knows how to live a simple yet balanced lifestyle, if one knows how to conserve energy and doesn't put unnecessary stress or strain into the body and mind, there's no tension accumulated, and there's no need to go anywhere or do anything to release tension, as there's none.

"I am so busy and so stressed and so tired. I have not enough time to eat or sleep properly. I have so many friends and relatives. I need to care for so many people in my life. I have so many personal and social functions I need to attend. There's so many things I want to do for myself and for everyone. My mind can't turn-off. I would love a holiday but I will need time and energy for it, as I would be exhausted after coming back from holiday doing all the holiday activities and eating so much. I know I need complete rest. I need to stop doing things, physically and mentally. But then I will feel so guilty and unhappy if I didn't manage to do my fitness workout everyday, if I didn't meet up with my friends to stay connect, if I wasn't there for my friends who need me to listen to their problems and complaints, if I didn't achieve all my daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. So how?"

It's everyone's freedom for what they want to do with their life or how they spend their time and energy.

Be free.

A simple life?

Sometimes when we think we live a simple life, and we like things to be simple, we might not be aware of the desire, or intention, or expectation to live a healthy and good life, clinging onto what we think is good and healthy, and have aversion towards what we think is not good and unhealthy, is not really that simple.

We don't just live life as it is. We have desires of want and don't want.

We don't just appreciate food and eat food as it is, but we have some demands and conditions about what type of food, where they come from, how they were produced and prepared, how does it taste, and etc.

We don't just live in a place with a roof as it is, but we have some demands and conditions about what type of building, where is the location, how it was built, what are the extras, how is the surrounding environment and neighbourhood, and etc.

We don't just have a physical body as it is, but we have some demands and conditions about how does it look, what type of body shape and body composition, how is the condition and abilities, and etc.

We don't just take shower, but we have some demands and conditions about what type or brand of shower products, where they come from, how they were produced, and etc.

We don't just wear clothes and shoes, but we have some demands and conditions about what is the style, texture and colour, what brand, where they come from, how they were made, what are they made from, what are the compliment accessories, and etc.

We don't just live life as it is, but we want to have certain type of lifestyle and social life, involve in activities that we like to do, being in relationships that how we would like it to be, and there are some unfulfilled desires or ambitions waiting to be fulfilled, and etc.

Above all,

We don't just practice yoga as it is, but we have some demands and conditions about what type of yoga or yoga classes, what types of benefits it gives to us, who is the Guru or teacher, what is the level or intensity, what are the qualifications and certifications that the teacher has or we can get, what type and brand of yoga mat and yoga clothing, and etc.

It's not simple at all.

When the mind is completely free from the desires of want and don't want, free from craving towards something that we like and aversion towards something that we don't like; when we know how to live life as it is in the present, free from attachment, fear and worry; when we know how to appreciate when good things are there, but without clinging and craving towards the good things; when we know how to let go when good things changed and disappeared; and we are okay when good things are not there, or when bad things are there, without aversion towards losing the good things, or getting the bad things; then we do live a simple life.

Om shanti.

Why create unnecessary conditions or standards to limit ourselves?

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, we create some standards or conditions for ourselves to live up to, for achieving the type of life that we desire, or to be what we want to be.

If we have no attachment towards these standards or conditions that we create for ourselves, then there's no harm for having these conditions or standards as a guideline to live the type of life that we desire, or try to be what we want to be. We do our best to live up to the standard or quality that we want for our life, and be what we want to be. But we are not determined by any of these conditions or standards of living to be who we are, to be confident, happy, meaningful and peaceful, or not.

If we have attachment towards certain conditions and standard of living that we desire, then this will not just generate unnecessary limitation to ourselves, we might also generate unnecessary inconvenience or tension to other people in order to fulfill our demands towards certain conditions or supports to achieve the life that we desire. We'll get unhappy, dissatisfied, disappointed and frustrated towards certain obstacles that obstruct us to achieve the type of life that we desire (the way that we like it to be), and we'll have fear and worry towards losing the conditions or supports that provide the type of life that we desire.

When we generate a demand for achieving certain conditions, or standards, or qualities that we like to have, it does not just depending on oneself to make it available or be practical. It requires many other elements or cooperation from many other people to make the condition to be available.

There are many people in the world who don't have a choice of what type of life and living condition that they would like to have. When we live in an area that is free from war, unrest, violence, hunger, thirst, major natural disasters, and etc, we want to have something more than what the universe has been providing us. We don't just need food, but we want food the way that we like and want. We don't just live life, but we want to live life the way that we like it to be. We don't just wear clothing, we want to wear clothing with particular quality, material, design, colour, style, or brand. We don't just be as we are, we want to be somebody with certain qualities of names and forms, and we want to have certain image and appearance.

We'll get upset and frustrated when we don't get "the type of life" that we desire (the way that we like it to be), if we attached to or are determined by "the type of life" that we desire to be who we are, to be confident, happy, meaningful and peaceful, or not.

Sometimes we think we are simple minded, and we want to live a simple life. But, if we look at ourselves and our behavior, there are many demands about this and that to support "the simple life" that we would like to have. We "desire" a simple lifestyle, but when this simple lifestyle is unavailable the way that we think it should be, we'll get frustrated, unhappy, dissatisfied and disappointed. As we are restricted by our demand towards certain conditions, or standards, or qualities that we want for our lives (It doesn't matter whether it is something simple, or yogic, or organic, or exciting, or adventurous, or luxurious, or spiritual, or peaceful, or happy, or healthy, or quiet, or materialistic, or sensual, or compassionate, and etc.)

Real simplicity is not even about "want to live a simple life", but be free from being conditioned by any desires of wants and don't wants.

We can just live life the best that we can, as we are, in accordance to the reality in the present moment now, without attachment towards the desire of "must have" particular type of lifestyle or living condition the way that we would like it to be.

Be free.

Om shanti.