Change all around us...

Have you ever looked up at the sky and noticed how it changes?
How it changes, in colour, in form, in shape, in the different feelings and memories that it evokles within us...
How it changes, and continues to change, every minute, every moment.

Even this moment...

Sunset,14 November 2005, Puli

Sunset,14 November 2005, Puli

Sunset,14 November 2005, Puli

Sunset,14 November 2005, Puli

Sunset,14 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Sunset, 20 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 20 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 20 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 20 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 20 November 2005, Puli

Equanimity

Equanimity means a balanced mind,
Equanimity means a mind without craving or aversion.

Equanimity means not wanting unpleasant sensations to cesae and not wanting pleasant sensations to continue.

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 9 December 2005, Puli

Day Ten: 1 December 2005

Of hatred and illwill, may not a trace remain.
May love and goodwill fill body, mind and life.

12.10
The course is more or less over. Lastly we learned about Metta mediation, about passing on loving-kindness and compassion within us to the world. A concluding procedure after each Vipassana meditation.

'May all beings be happy,
May all beings be peaceful,
May all beings be harmonious.'

The merits we've gained through our insight and our pure goodwill we should pass onto others. A surge of warmth and sensations around the heart I felt as we did this.

21.10
Last night of the last day. Made it this far on the path of Dhamma. Not sure yet how the last ten days will benefit me, but I do feel calmer, more aware and more comfortable being myself. What follows I hope will be persistent practice, observing myself deeper so as to realise the Truth-- of nature, of the world, of all beings-- without craving or aversion.
And to offer the world and all around me the gems I've discovered,
so that they too may grow, in compassion, understanding and wisdom.

Liberation.

--
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

" In Vipassana, any practice that interferes with the awareness of sensation is harmful, whether it is concentrating on a word or form, or giving attention merely to physical movements of the body or to thoughts arising in the mind. You cannot eradicate suffering unless you go to its source, sensation. "

"Work seriously. Do not make a game of meditation, lightly trying one technique after another without pursuing any. If you do so, you will never advance beyond the initial steps of any technique, and therefore you will never reach the goal. Certainly you may make trials of different techniques in order to find one that suits you. You may also give two or three trials to this technique, if needed. But do not waste your entire life merely in giving trials. Once you find a technique to be suitable, work at it seriously so that you may progress to the final goal. "

Sunrise, 21 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 21 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 18 November 2005, Puli

Day Nine: 30 November 2005

Achieved this human lifel achieved this priceless Dhamma. Now with faith and effort, untie the bonds of the mind!

17.20
Sweeping the body, where there are sensations of pain, don't give rise to aversion. That way old suffering created by aversion are drawn to the surface. Where there's no reaction to that pain, there will also be no new sankhara created. Thus the suffering is uprooted.

Similarly, where there are subtle sensations, sensations of flow and lightness, don't give rise to craving. That way old sankharas of craving are uprooted, as they don't gain further energies to multiply and grow.

Sweep and sens, remaining equanimous and with the the law of impermenance in the mind. This is the way to liberation.

20.29
Problems lie within myself. This self and the images thereof have been so perfectly sculptured and worshipped deep within us all that we are deluded by the myth that problems are outside of us. Discover the self, remove it, perfect it, and accept others as they are, not as what we perceive them to be. Know the whole truth!

Live the practice. Live the Dhamma.

---
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

" Dhamma is an art of living. If you cannot use it in daily life, then coming to a course is no better than performing a ritual or ceremony. "

" fully enlightened person finds a real solution: don't run away from the problem; face it. Observe whatever impurity arises in the mind. By observing one does not suppress it, nor does one give it a free licence to express itself in harmful vocal or physical action . Between these two extremes lies the middle path: mere observation."

"Seeing from only one angle, one imagines that one's suffering is caused by other people, by an external situation. Therefore one devotes all one's energy to changing others, to changing the external situation. In fact, this is a wasted effort. One who has learned to observe reality within soon realizes, that he is completely responsible for his misery or happiness."

Sunrise, 21 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 21 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 21 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 21 November 2005, Puli

Day Eight: 29 November 2005

Deeper the craving, deeper the aversion,
Deeper the aversion, deeper the suffering.

17.46
Already near the end, can you imagine?
More scanning of the body, from head to feet, feet to head. More sensations tobe felt and more practice in being equanimous.

I can more or less sit corss-legged, hands together, eyes closed for almost two hours without moving. Much less pain now, more confidence and endurance.
But still troubled by thoughts of family, future and miscellaneous cloud me from moment to moment. Especially the first one jerked more tears today.

20.08
"The Buddha said that there are four types of people in the world: those who are running from darkness towards darkness, those who are running from brightness towards darkness, those who are running from darkness towards brightness, and those who are running from brightness towards brightness. "

Who do you want to be?

--
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

" Understand what Dhamma is: nature, truth, universal law. "

"The processes that one observes within oneself also occur throughout the universe. For example, someone sows the seed of a banyan tree. From that tiny seed a huge tree develops, which bears innumerable fruit year after year, as long as it lives. And even after the tree dies, the process continues, because every fruit that the tree bears contains a seed or a number of seeds, which have the same quality as the original seed from which the tree grew. Whenever one of these seeds falls on fertile soil it sprouts and grows into another tree which again produces thousands of fruit, all containing seeds. Fruit and seeds, seeds and fruit; an endless process of multiplication. In the same way, out of ignorance one sows the seed of a sankhara, which sooner or later gives a fruit, also called sankhara, and also containing a seed of exactly the same type. If one gives fertile soil to the seed it sprouts into a new sankhara, and one's misery multiplies. However, if one throws the seeds on rocky soil, they cannot sprout; nothing will develop from them. The process of multiplication stops, and automatically the reverse process begins, the process of eradication."

"The Buddha was once asked what real welfare is. He replied that the highest welfare is the ability to keep the balance of one's mind in spite of all the vicissitudes, the ups and downs, of life. One may face pleasant or painful situations, victory or defeat, profit or loss, good name or bad name; everyone is bound to encounter all these. But can one smile in every situation, a real smile from the heart? If one has this equanimity at the deepest level within, one has true happiness. "

Sunset, 19 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 19 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 19 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 19 November 2005, Puli

Day Seven: 28 November 2005

--Continuity of practice is the secret of success.--

Rolling, rolling in sense pleasures we keep tying knots. Observing, observing, observing, we untie all the knots.

11.03
Equanimity, impermenance, substancelessness, asenselessness, change: all characteristics of alll the sensations, reactions, and thouyghts we have as we interact with the outside world. Difficultynot to be distracted at times, mind wandering here, there, past and future. But at times, when mind is here and now, the pain, frustration disappear.

15.33
Not sure if it was the Vipassana practice or my wild flowering thoughts while meditating. I couldn't get my mind off of the troubles between my parents and awkward relationship with my dad. I thought of how he just left us, hurt us so much, his health, his due retirement, and his intention to move back home again.
I cried.
I imagined confronting him and that all would be alright after we all sat down and talked everything--all the misunderstanding, deceit, difortune and years apart-- through. I imagined giving him a letter on his day of retirement, hugging him, crying. In the letter "爸爸辛苦了!" (Dad, how hard you have worked!)...exact words as I had repeated on the many nights in my childhood when he came home late...

Is this the mind trying to rid itself of the past aversions and cravings???

20.22
It seems the coming two days will be when the real surgery takes place... the discourse tonight warned of the storm ahead. But assumed that we are prepared.

"May you find real peace, real happoiness, real harmony."

--
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

"Equanimity must be practised at the level of bodily sensation in order to make a real change in one's life. At every moment sensations are arising within the body. Usually the conscious mind is unaware of them, but the unconscious mind feels the sensations and reacts to them with craving or aversion. "

"All the practice of Vipassana has as its purpose to enable one to live in a proper way, fulfilling one's worldly responsibilities while maintaining a balanced mind, remaining peaceful and happy within oneself and making others peaceful and happy"

Sunset, 19 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 20 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 20 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise, 20 November 2005, Puli

Day Six: 27 November 2005

Strive ardently, oh man, and burn. Purity comes from burning away the dross. Gold must pass through the crucible in order to be refined.

19.03
Over half way through, and I've made it despite various moments thinking I couldn't. With further scanning of the body, further understanding the wisdom of impermenance, of change and to observe the body with equanimity, further bad sankhara can be averted, so that old cravings and aversions can be removed. Like a surgical operation.

Craving, aversion, doubt, sleepiness, and lack of will: these are the main stumbling blocks to progress. Keep on trying, keep on being vigilant and determined.

--
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

"This is not a path of pessimism. Dhamma teaches us to accept the bitter truth of suffering, but it also shows the way out of suffering. For this reason it is a path of optimism, combined with realism, and also "workism"--each person has to work to liberate himself or herself. "

"The old mental habit is to seek to push away painful sensations and to pull in pleasurable ones. So long as one is involved in the game of pain-and-pleasure, push-and-pull, the mind remains agitated, and one's misery increases. But once one learns to observe objectively without identifying with the sensations, then the process of purification starts, and the old habit of blind reaction and of multiplying one's misery is gradually weakened and broken. One must learn how to just observe. "

Sunrise, 20 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 5 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 5 November 2005, Puli

Sunset, 5 November 2005, Puli

Day Five: 26 November 2005

The Ganges, Jamuna and Sarasvati are sila, samadhi and panna. When these streams converge nirvana manifests.

19.03

Pain, endurance. No bad or good sensation, just sensation. All over the body from head to toe. Observe them, watch them rise and fall. Realise that all is impermenant, and see all sensations with equanimity, with calm and with objectivity. Without craving, without aversion. Without sowing seeds that will grow. Uproot all defilements so that they will no longer shoot when enticed. Try, try, try.

---
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

"Wherever there is attachment, there is bound to be misery, and the greater the attachment, the greater the misery.

"Any moment in which one does not generate a new sakhara, one of the old ones will arise on the surface of the mind, and along with it a sensation will start within the body. If one remains equanimous, it passes away and another old reaction arises in its place. One continues to remain equanimous to physical sensations and the old sakhara continue to arise and pass away, one after another. If out of ignorance one reacts to sensations, then one multiplies the sankhara, multiplies one's misery. But if one develops wisdom and does not react to sensations, then one after another the sankhara are eradicated, misery is eradicated. ""

Sunrise 11 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise 11 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise 11 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise 11 November 2005, Puli

Day Four: 25 November 2005

Good is the mastery of speech, good is the physical mastery, but one who is a master of his mind is a warrior of real courage.

11.10
Raging mind like bushfire. Unable to concentrate this morning. Will start practice Vipassana later this afternoon. Surgical removal of pains and suffering. Sounds terrifying...and frightened of what I may uncover, and confront.

19.03
Entered the scanning part of the course, heard to toe, every bit and piece of the body, observed with utmost attention and vigilence for the most subtle sensations. Easier to concentrate mind now. Last sat through an hour trying not to move to test determination...almost succeeded. Feel equanimity, experience impermenance and change, realise Dhamma.

--
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

"When one is ignorant, sensations are a means to multiply one's misery, because one reacts to them with craving or aversion. The problem actually arises, the tension originates, at the level of bodily sensations; therefore this is the level at which one must work to solve the problem, to change the habit pattern of the mind. One must learn to be aware of all the different sensations without reacting to them, accepting their changing, impersonal nature. By doing so, one comes out of the habit of blind reaction, one liberates oneself from misery. "

"On the same soil one sows two seeds, one of sugarcane, the other of neem--a very bitter tropical tree. From the seed of sugarcane develops a plant that is sweet in every fibre, from the seed of neem, a plant that is bitter in every fibre. One may ask why nature is kind to one plant and cruel to the other. In fact nature is neither kind nor cruel; it works according to set rules. Nature merely helps the quality of each seed to manifest. If one sows seeds of sweetness, the harvest will be sweetness. If one sows seeds of bitterness, the harvest will be bitterness. As the seed is, so the fruit will be; as the action is, so the result win be."

Sunset 11November 2005, Puli

Sunset 11November 2005, Puli

Sunset 11November 2005, Puli

Sunset 11November 2005, Puli

Day Three: 24 November 2005

Transform your deeds of body,
Transform your deeds of speech,
Trasnform your mental deeds,
This is the essence of Dhamma.

Getting more used to the hang of the course and the daily routine. Though the minutes seem to pass very slowly, especially when trying to find a comfortable posture to sit in; espeicially during the group sessions. Observing the breath, feeling sensations and watching them in a limited area. Easier now to focus on breathing; less random thoughts and sleepiness. Watch the impermenance of things around the nose and upper lip. Watch things as they rise and disappear.

Vigilance, perseverence, and will. So be it.


---
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

"Everyone knows that the entire universe is constantly changing, but mere intellectual understanding of this reality will not help; one must experience it within oneself. Perhaps a traumatic event, such as the death of someone near or dear, forces one to face the hard fact of impermanence, and one starts to develop wisdom, to see the futility of striving after worldly goods and quarreling with others. But soon the old habit of egotism reasserts itself, and the wisdom fades, because it was not based on direct, personal experience. One has not experienced the reality of impermanence within oneself. "

"Keep sharpening your mind so that when you start Vipassana tomorrow, you can penetrate to the deeper levels and eradicate the impurities hidden there. Work patiently, persistently, continuously, for your own good, your own liberation. "

Sunrise 18 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise 18 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise 18 November 2005, Puli

Sunrise 18 November 2005, Puli

Day Two: 23 November 2005

In breath, out breath- if you keep nbroken awaken-ness,
the knots of Karma will be sundered leading to the highest welfare.

20.23
Understanding more and more the importance of observing the breath. Difficult at first. Mind racing everywhere and anywhere. Yet must be determined, vigiliant, consistent, persistent; despite the aches, impatience and frustrations.

Tame the mind, master it to gain control.


--
The Discourse Summaries--talks from a ten-day course in Vipassana Meditation, S.N. Goenka

"Understand what is the path, on which you have started walking. The Buddha described it in very simple terms:

Abstain from all sinful, unwholesome actions,
perform only pious wholesome ones,
purify the mind;
this is the teaching of enlightened ones.

It is a universal path, acceptable to people of any background, race, or country."


"The path of Dhamma is called the Noble Eightfold Path, noble in the sense that anyone who walks on it is bound to become a noble-hearted, saintly person. The path is divided into three sections: sila, samadhi, and panna. Sila is morality--abstaining from unwholesome deeds of body and speech. Samadhi is the wholesome action of developing mastery over one's mind. Practising both is helpful, but neither sila nor samadhi can eradicate all the defilement accumulated in the mind. For this purpose the third section of the path must be practised: panna, the development of wisdom, of insight, which totally purifies the mind. "

Sunset 8 Dec 2005, Puli