Diary for 3rd of April 2009

For the past few days, I was not able to write anything because there was no subject that struck me as being interesting. This morning, I decided to just write something even though I couldn't think of an interesting topic. While I am here in Singapore, my time is not so predictable because there are people coming for consultation at any time and I have teaching programs as well.

I have been giving teachings in the centre every week for two times on the subject of Meditation and the explanation on Samantabadra's King of Aspiration Prayers. Both of these subjects are revision teachings. People like to learn meditation as they think meditation can be good for stress and depression. I think that meditation is not like panadol. It is not as if you do meditation and your pain can be relieved afterwards.

There are steps, such as renunciation, compassion and then developing Bodhichitta, for the progressive development of one's practice. Meditation can be a very effective instrument for developing concentration and mindfulness that is important in our daily life for success in whatever we intend to do and also meditation is the instrument by which we can be mindful in our thoughts and actions and integrate them with the practice of Dharma.

When I am back in Singapore, nothing much has changed as most of the time I am in the room doing some work. The teaching programs are mostly at night and during the day time, people come for consultation and I am always ready to see them. There are some good practitioners here who are very diligently practicing and from time to time come for some consultation. There are also people who simply go everywhere just like spiritual shoppers. I think that this is okay for beginners as people wish to find authentic teachings and masters but finally one has to settle down and practice somewhere where one feels comfortable.

To succeed in practice, consistency is very important and this can bring results. One of the Tibetan masters says: One who does not even remember to eat food but puts in a lot of diligence in learning, hoping to immediately become a great scholar, cannot possibly gain anything. Therefore one should apply consistent diligence like the flowing river.

I received lots of nice comments from people who read the blog. I also noticed that people from many places read my blog so sometimes I feel embarrassed because I do not write well. But I think I should still write something otherwise I will become too far away from all. Mentally I am not far from people whom I know as I always respect and value each individual very greatly. So I simply think of them and make some good wishes whenever I do my prayers. During our lifetime, we meet many different people and some of them become friends or enemies and others just simply exchange some communication with us. This is due to some karmic connection in the past and that’s why we met them in this lifetime and developed feelings towards them so we should develop good relationships with anyone who come into contact with us and develop Bodhichitta constantly.