2nd June '06
Change
I discovered that there is this trap that Buddhists tend to fall into as a result of not seeing things enough according to the spirit of the Middle Way. Specifically here, I refer to the truth of impermanence. There is this tendency for us to visualise this truth in terms of death and decay only. We tend to relate to this truth only in the negative aspect. We forget the other side of the coin! The rain will come after sunshine, but sunshine also comes after the rain! Impermanence means "constant change" of all phenomena. This truth is neutral. It is what makes possible the transforming of bad situations for the better (and vice versa). Impermanence thus offers hope! It is partly due to this truth that we can transform into Buddhas! No one is condemned to be unenlightened forever.
Everything arises and passes away.
When you see this,
you are away from sorrow.
-The Dhammapada (The Buddha)
"Everything" above refers to all things and situations both bad and good. When in suffering, know that "This too, shalt pass." Take it easy and be realistically hopeful for a change for the better. When in joy (worldly), know that "This too, shalt pass." Treasure it, but don't be attached. Transcend it if you can, into unconditioned happiness. Seeing impermanence is not to make us free from sorrow through glum freezing up of our hearts. It makes us more true and alive to the flux of all things great and small!
14 June '06
Threshold Of Pain
We all have our thresholds of pain. It is important to realise that as ordinary sentient beings without a big heart for tolerance, we will break down in despair when our thresholds are crossed. The greatest pain to be experienced perhaps is the moment of departure at death. The pain is likely to be physical and mental. And all these come from us being attached to life and the loved in life. Physical pain is there because of illness. And mental pain is there due to clinging to wanting another lease of life. Imagine gasping for breath more and more, when you obviously cannot take in another breath. Is this not reminiscent of Hell? It is this craving, so powerful, that "forces" us back to Samsara ceaselessly. May we all prepare to cross this threshold gracefully. The preparation has to start now, while we can still catch our breath, with ease.
17 June '06
Look!
Look!
And in that split instant, I caught you off guard.
I got you surprised.
And maybe now I got you a little impatient and irritated.
Because you don't know what I'm up to.
Is this worth your attention, you might wonder,
as you fret a little.
Suffering can be this minor and abstract,
yet this real.
Have you mastered your mind to master what it encounters yet?
Or are you a slave to the "world?"
Puppeted by whatever comes along?
We are afterall "victims" of our own karmic circumstances?
We decide whether we want to be free.
Look!
Aha!
Don't let me catch you again.
23rd June '06
No Need To Judge
It took me so long to realise, having been a Buddhist for five years, the reality of the teaching selflessness (non-self). I'm not saying that I understand it all as yet, but I'm beginning to see its practical implications.
It used to be habitual for me to mentally label people as they pass in and out, and by my life-"A must be type 1 personality... hmmm, not very good at all!" "B must be type 2... ok, not bad." All this happens naturally to the untrained, wandering and judgmental mind.
But recently, a few of my close friends kind of underwent "drastic" changes. People whom I thought I have known all my life like the back of my hand suddenly seemed quite incomprehensible. One became vegetarian overnight without "warning" simply because he saw a fish splutter to death at a seafood restaurant. This guy was a "staunch" meat-eater all along! The mere thought of the positive reasons for being vegetarian was pure mumbo-jumbo to him. And another friend broke up, with who she and I have all along thought has got to be her perfect partner...
It seemed kind of scary that people can change "just like that." It kind of jolted me to my senses-I don't really know anyone at all! I can't ever really! (But I believe there is the unchanging Buddha Nature beneath this all.) Even I myself am a fickle person under the guise of a "fixed" personality.
Upon second thought, it hit me that this realisation can be incredibly liberating. I don't have to label and judge people so much anymore. It can hardly be accurate afterall. I suddenly became much more open and forgiving. There is no fixed personality in any one of us. We change constantly. It is often due to not understanding this great truth that we are caught in a conflict. Well, people change. Promises made, even during the most solemn marriage can't always stand till death does a couple apart. Realising this makes relationships generous and alive. No one is "supposed" to be as according to your verdict of his character yesterday. We are all literally reborn with every changing thought. No one self at all persists throughout.
Realising that the law of change applies to all is liberating indeed. Suddenly, I have given the whole wide world and myself infinite chance to evolve and transform beyond the constraints of my small conceptual judging mind. No need to be disappointed by anyone or attached to anyone. You just can't really define anyone or anything for good in anyway. What freedom!
