Instant Mastery

We are living in an instant world. From instant noodles to instant delivery to instant information, everything is instant. We want speed! And it seems that enough is not in the dictionary.

Nowadays, if we look at newspapers, we will find a lot of information or advertisement on one or few days workshops, seminars, boot-camps or whatever that promise instant mastery of certain subject, the most common one is in the "how to make money" niche. They will tell you that all you need to do is to attend and then you are going to master the knowledge and have the proficient to do whatever they are teaching.

However, is it really true? I believe it is not entirely true.

For me, Learning is a process, and mastery comes from a process. It is not something instantaneous, but something acquired through cumulative learning and practice. With some trips and tricks, we may have it shorter, but there are still process, and ongoing practice is required.

There is no way that one can become a business building expert just by one day or three days seminars. The information may be relevant and useful, but one will need to go to apply them, to practice, get the feedback, refine, then do it again, until one become an expert. One will need determination, hard work and patience to achieve it.

One becomes a doctor through process. So do engineer, pilot, accountant, and others.

It is also how we learn how to cycle, not by reading 500 pages manual or listen to 5 hours instructions on how to cycle, but through a process of falling and trying again.

Same thing with meditation practice, it is a process. Some people go to a week retreat with a mentality that after one week, I am going to be an expert already. I myself used to think like that. But it is really not so. It is a part of process, of ongoing practice. We can't just meditate intensively for 7 days then do nothing for 358 days. There is almost impossible to attain high level of practice by that (unless we have super strong Parami).

So, in conclusion, to master some new thing, to be an expert on certain subject, we will need to go through a process. Learning from a good teacher may help us to accelerate, to avoid certain pitfalls, but we also need to have patience, determine, and hard work. ( :

Retire, then what?

I have heard the idea of retire young retire rich many times. But only recently, I think about it again, in a deeper level. Here goes the question: what do you do after you retire? Watching tv? Slacking? Gossiping? eating junk food? Sleeping? DO what you really want?

Most people may say retire than do what they really want. Hmm... Sounds good. But then, it imply one thing: what we have been doing so far before we retire is not what we want to do.

This thinking strikes me hard, and get me thinking hard. You see, if what we are doing now is not what we really want to do, why wait till we retire? be it old or young... Why not do what we want Now? Why not change it now?

Life is precious, very very precious indeed. It is very sad if we spend 30 to 40 years of our life, working, yet we are not enjoying it, not having fun, and instead bearing the unnecessary pain and suffering, complaining... It is an irony if we are making money, but the work or business that we are in are simply not what our heart want.

You see, if what we are doing is what we want, then we need not to retire, do we? Unless we are not able to do it anymore of course. But otherwise, doesn't it make sense to just keep doing it?

So I think that this could be a useful food for thought. Think about it. What we really want to do in this life? What we should do in this life? Don't wait till we retire, do it now. Enjoy every moment, and hence live life to the fullest.

Another inspiring one

Patience is not silence, but speaking & acting at the right time with a calm mind, in an unharmful way. Generosity is not giving everything you have or spending all of your time for the benefit of others, but not keeping your mind hanging onto what you have. Compassion is not putting yourself into trouble, but taking others out of trouble.

Contentment

Got this email from a friend: So inspiring. ( :

Have you ever, at any one time, had the feeling that life is bad, real bad, and you wish you were in another situation?

You find life make things difficult for you, work sucks, life sucks, everything
seems to go wrong....
Read the following story... it may change your views about life:
After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is.
I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India that happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback.
He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian mother chop off her child's right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother's eyes, the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today.

You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty, had the child's hand been infected?? No, it was done for two simple words- - -TO BEG!
The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg.
Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half-way.
And almost instantly, a flock 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered with sand, robbing bits from one another.
The natural reaction of hunger.

Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything. He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get
daily necessities.
Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate. For the first time in his life he wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25.

He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body, have a job! , have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn't nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of...

Now I begin to think and feel it, too! Was my life really that bad?
Perhaps... no, I should not feel bad at all... What about you? Maybe the next time you think you are, think about the child who lost one hand to beg on the streets.

"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have."

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us.

It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that! we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past,you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Determination

In Buddhism, there are 4 aspect of Determination:

1. Discernment: Setting wise goals and clear understanding to get there.

2. Truth: Stay true to the determination and commit to the goals we set

3. Relinquishment: Letting go of lower pleasure or activities or habits that hinder the process

4. Peace: Keeping the mind calm in the course of working towards the goal.

A good death

Death is certainly a topic that some people try to avoid. However, death is the nature of us. When there is a birth, there is a death. So, rather than avoiding it, I feel that it is wiser to think about it and thus will be able to prepare for it as well.

I sometimes wonder, how will I die? When will I die? I am sometimes worried if I don't have enough time to practice in this life, and die unwholesomely. It is really scary if I think about it. As the last thought may determine where is my next life, it is thus one of the most important thought that I have to take care of. But what if I am terribly sick that time? Or if I have an accident? Or other occasion where I can't control my last thought comfortably?

The answer to these questions is: live a good life! If I always keep my precepts, always do good, develop wholesome qualities such as Loving Kindness, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity, Generosity, and keep on developing the mind through meditation, then our life will be quite safe. The positive energy will be there, as the result from the wholesome cultivation.

Always try to be wholesome, to do good. With this, wherever and whatever happen, the mind will stay strong and wholesome. And with a strong and pure precepts, we may live happily and blamelessly, and also die peacefully. ( :

The Law of Cause and Effect

The Law of Kamma is one of the most fundamental and universal law in this world. We reap what we sow. For all action, there will be reaction. There is an effect, there is a cause preceding. This is the Law of Kamma, The Law of Cause and Effect.

Certainly, It is not easy to totally understand this law, and it takes a strong wisdom to comprehend it. But, even if we can understand this only a bit, we can benefit tremendously.

When I look at my practice, sometimes I am wondering why my progress is so slow. Then I realize: wait a minute. Have I put in enough effort? Have I put it enough cause? If not, how can I expect to get the result (effect)? Thinking thus, my mind become calmer, and I am able to get back my momentum in my practice.

It is cause and effect. So, if we have been clear of what we really want to achieve, we then need to be clear of what is the cause we need to put in so that we can achieve what we want. Putting the right cause is very important. We can't expect to get a mango tree if we plant an apple seed.