Hello world!

---

HELLO WORLD! I just finished my 7 day meditation at the Nilambe Meditation Center. It was originally only supposed to be 2 or 3 days as a warm up to the 10 day meditation elsewhere. But we extended our stay because it was valuable experience.
(BTW, I just spent that last hour writing a whole lot and when I published it, it got erased... bad luck. Usually I would be pretty pissed, but after my 7 days of meditation, I've learned to be more calm and let the past be the past)

Anyway, the meditation center was situated on a huge mountain and it was nature everywhere. There were only about 10 other guests living there with us. The men and women living quarters were separated and my pops was my roomie! Of course, there’s no electricity and hot water. There was a dining hall for us to eat at and we had to eat in silence. This is so that we could mindfully eat and fully appreciate the food. (Btw… Because I mindfully eat now, I have less food all over my clothes.. hehe, yay for no stains!) Next to the dining hall is the meditation room where all of us go to meditate four times a day, an hour and a half a session. Next to the meditation hall is a small ‘library’ where we can borrow all the books we want! Sweeeet! I read 7 books in 6 days, I was reading four books at a time at one point, haha, I was just really thirsty for knowledge. BTW maggz, thanks for the Life of Pi book, I ripped through that 429 page book in 3 days. Next to that library was the Yoga hall! My first time doing yoga in my life and damn… it’s not easy! Haha, I apologize to all you guys and girls I laughed at before because there were some ridiculous poses that I had to hold for the longest time, I had tears rolling down my cheeks, hahha. We did yoga twice a day. I have a picture of the whole schedule for you to see.

There’s a story in Buddhism. There’s this man who travels up a long mountain to this monastery looking for a magical monk. He finds him and says, “Master, I heard you can help me turn this pot of water into gold. Is this true?” The master replies, “Yes, all you have to do is stir this pot of water for three hours straight and it will turn into gold. But there’s a catch, at no point are you to ever think about a pink monkey.” “Easy,” he replies. Right when he starts stirring the pot, a pink monkey pops into his mind! The point of this story is that our minds are so hard to control. If you can successfully stir the pot of water with clarity in your mind, you would be enlightened and this pot of water would still be a pot of water in reality, but with your enlightened mind, it’d be like gold.

Meditation is not easy. We have to think about not thinking. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Our mind is always thinking about EVERYTHING. Here, I’ll show you. Close your eyes, count to twenty without thinking of anything whatsoever. And whatever you do, do not think of a red elephant. If you can honestly count to twenty without anything in your mind, nothing at all, you’re doing good… Now do it for an hour and a half. Haha.

During these seven days I’ve learned a lot. I learned to really think deeply about stuff and there’s layers upon layers of emotions and thoughts that need to be deciphered before hitting the root of the problem. And at the same time, I learned to simplify things so that they are not lost in confusion. I learned to be even more compassionate. I learned to breathe. I am more calm and will not let my emotions dictate my actions. Also, I rediscovered my passion to read and write again!

---

Photos

meditation hall
hour and half 4 times a day

Comments

[Maggie]

I'm digging all the 自拍 Vic! Day 3 looks like it was the hardest to bear. Something to do w/ lack of sleep perhaps?!?!?!

[rachel]

i wouldn't be able to think of a red elephant if i was tired. tell me if you found that true when you were meditating. that when you were tired ... you didnt really think? maybe im sound ignorant but honestly im just curious :)

[Al]

dang vic, "hello world" is the first thing computer science students learn when they write their first program. did you reach enlightenment on day 6?

[lostbuddha]

good catch!
haha i'm glad somebody noticed that there was no picture of me for day 6! nothing gets past you, al! That was a very terrifying day and I plan on writing it into my blog by this week, a long story! enlightenment? not quite.. haha

[Priyantha Liyanage]

You might find this interesting
Page submitted by Joy at Last to Know There is No Happiness in The World A Talk on the First Three Noble Truths Ajahn Brahmavamso (This is an edited version of a talk given during the 1999 Rains Retreat at Bodhinyana Buddhist Monastery, near Perth, Western Australia) NAMO TASA BHAGAVATO ARAHATO SAMMASAMBUDDHASSA. This evening I want to talk about the Four Noble Truths (suffering, its cause, its ending and the path leading to its ending). Towards the end of any retreat, whether it is a three-month rainy season retreat or a shorter one, it's worthwhile to bring the meditator's attention to the core teaching of the Lord Buddha. Bringing the attention to this marvellous and profound teaching might be sufficient to take the meditator just that one step into full awareness, full knowledge and full realisation of the Dhamma. Thereby you might see what the Lord Buddha saw under the Bodhi tree. This will qualify you to enter the stream and to make the transition to the Noble Person (Ariya-puggala) that is, seeing this very profound and powerful teaching of the Four Noble Truths. Obviously, it's important to first know those Four Noble Truths theoretically, and each one of you here has that theoretical knowledge. I am going to try to build upon and deepen that knowledge in this talk. Joy At Last As I was about to give this talk I brought to mind a well-known picture of my teacher, Ajahn Chah (a Thai meditation master), visiting his first monastery in England. In this picture, he has his arms raised above his head in imitation of a statue from another monastery. Beneath this picture it says, "Joy at last to know there is no happiness in the world". I'm going to start from there because so often in our practice and in our lives we are seeking for happiness in the world. We seek for happiness in so many areas and in so many ways, always seeking in the wrong place. Eventually we realise that not finding happiness in these places doesn't mean there is something wrong with us. It doesn't mean we are incompetent or hopeless. Insight will show us that there is no way anyone can find happiness in the place we were looking. The mind realises that the world can only be dukkha (suffering). The wise person, instead of being distressed by that suffering and wallowing in it, contemplates what The Lord Buddha says about suffering, the Four Noble Truths. That means, they seek to understand this whole process of suffering. Sometimes the suffering can be raw, going deep into the bones, even deeper than the bones, right to the very source of what we think we are. It goes so deep and can cause so many problems. It's such a relief to find out that this is par for the course, that there's nothing wrong with this. This is the nature of the world. What do we expect? Sometimes we go about with the false expectation that if we're clever enough, if we're smart enough, if we keep all the rules and do all the right things, somehow we can have a happy life. Sometimes we think everybody is happy but me. Often people in this monastery think, "I bet everybody in this monastery has experienced jhana (meditative absorption) but me". What we need to understand is that there is nothing special with us, and that as we practise in this monastery these are things that everyone has to deal with. Ajahn Chah said that when we first come to a monastery, when we first start to practise in the true way, we can expect suffering. We're going against the stream, and we can expect to feel the pressure of the defilements, just in the same way as when we go against the wind we can feel the force against our bodies. This is a sign we are getting somewhere. Wisdom Power Better Than Will Power You will find that when suffering arises, you have two options. You can either try to escape from the suffering or you can investigate it. Ajahn Maha Boowa (a contemporary Thai meditation master) would only give talks when there was a special occasion to do so. I'm pretty sure that when I went to visit him as a young monk it must have been such an occasion because he asked one of his senior Western monks to translate for the visiting Western monk, which was me. Fortunately, I could already speak Thai so I understood perfectly what Ajahn Maha Boowa was saying. -- the story that he told -- which I took for my own benefit -- turned out to be very instructive for my whole monastic life. He was talking about himself as a young monk in the time of Tan Ajahn Mun (Thai meditation master and 'reformer' of the Thai forest meditation tradition). He was saying that once he had malaria and, instead of just laying in bed, in typical Ajahn Maha Boowa style he decided to fight it, to battle it and conquer it with his will. So he got off the floor, went out of his hut, got a broom, and started to sweep even though he was sweating and shaking. Tan Ajahn Mun saw him and told him off. Later that evening he gave a talk to the monks saying: "There are some people in this monastery who are born boxers and they haven't changed". He was of course alluding to Ajahn Maha Boowa who was a boxer when he was a layperson. Ajahn Mun said that's not the way of Buddhism. He actually said it is the way of Hindu yogis. The way of Buddhism is to investigate suffering, not to fight it. Because if you fight you will find that you just get more and more suffering. Instead, use wisdom power rather than will power. Wisdom power is always much more effective because it's coming from a good place. Will power, in nearly all cases, comes from ego, from self, and you cannot expect it to produce results if it's coming from such an unfortunate source. To use wisdom power means remembering the Teachings and looking at your experience in the framework of those teachings, the framework of the Four Noble Truths. The Lord Buddha taught that birth is suffering, old age, sickness and death are suffering. And all that goes in between is also suffering. In brief, life is suffering. So when suffering comes -- as disappointment, as frustration, as loneliness or depression, or as wondering what you're supposed to be doing -- you're seeing here a basic truth of nature which every human being, whether in a monastery or outside, must come across from time to time in their lives. There are times when you don't know what to do because the suffering is so bad. As Ajahn Chah used to say, "You cannot go forward, you cannot go back, you cannot stand still" -- you don't know what to do. This is a beautiful time. It is the time you can really understand what the Lord Buddha was talking about -- about the suffering of life. The thing to do when suffering arises is to investigate. To investigate means to watch and to observe in silence. You have to watch without interfering, without getting involved, because if you get involved you're not watching fully. It requires courage and strength to stand your ground and just watch. One of the things you will see is that suffering passes and it always passes into happiness. This is the play of samsara (the perpetual wandering from life to life), the play of night and day, the play of warmth and cold. It is the basic duality of experience. There is no escape from that in this realm or in any other realm. It will always follow you around, this duality of experience. The Lord Buddha said that getting what you don't want is suffering and not getting what you do want is also suffering. I often ask myself, "Just what do I want?" I use that as a mantra as I walk along the meditation path, or as I sit if my mind is restless. "What do I want?" I've been in this world long enough now - forty-eight years - and I have experienced much of this world. I wasn't born in a monastery, and from all that I have experienced and seen, from all that I have known, I know there is not a corner of this world where I can find happiness[1]. By its very nature, sensory experience is going to be disappointing, and I know that if I ask for something the world can never give me, I will suffer. When I crave for something I cannot reach, I know I am just torturing myself more than necessary. Putting Make-Up On The Mirror Instead of craving for something else you learn to be content with what you have. When you talk about contentment you are talking about the Third Noble Truth. The Third Noble Truth is letting go of craving. Contentment is the letting go of wanting something else. It is learning to be at peace with what you have. This is where in this struggle - and it is always a struggle you can be at peace. How can you be content when everything is going wrong? How can you be content when the body is on fire with pain? How can you be at peace and content when the mind is going crazy with so many thoughts? Even in these situations you can find contentment in letting go, letting go of the 'controller'. I gave a simile to some Thai's last week. I gave this simile to the Thai ladies because some of them are very vain - you've all seen the way they dress up when they come to the monastery. I told them it's just like when one sees oneself in the mirror, and sees this ugly person, but instead of actually doing something with one's face, one puts make up on the mirror. One tries to make the mirror look good! Of course, it's a complete waste of time. The mirror might look good for a while with all the make up on it, but when one walks somewhere else and sees another mirror one is back to square one again. Putting make up on the mirror is like trying to solve the 'outside' by craving instead of trying to solve the 'inside' through contentment. For the last sixteen years I've worked hard - extremely hard, as many of you would know trying to build up this monastery. It's been a complete waste of time trying to make a perfect monastery, or even trying to make an adequate monastery, because it's never good enough. The way that craving works, the Second Noble Truth, is to delude you into thinking that if you just try and do a little bit more, if you just strive harder, work harder for just one more day, then everything will be O.K. "I'll just work another year and I'll pay off my mortgage." "I'll just sit for one more retreat, that's all I need, and I'll get my Jhanas." "There's this one last course of medicine then I'll be healthy again." You might put off sickness for a while, but you'll never escape it. It's just the nature of the body. You might put off suffering for a while, but you'll never escape it in that way. You're just putting it off. The Happiness and Suffering of the Senses Are Just Contrast - That's All It is the nature of a human being to get suffering and happiness in roughly equal proportions. If we're suffering now, it's because of some happiness that we had before and lost. Happiness is no more than the end of suffering, just as suffering is no more than the end of happiness. We go around in this cycle throughout our lives. This existential fact is why The Lord Buddha says in the First Noble Truth that the five aggregates (khandhas) that make up a human being are suffering. By their very nature they are suffering. So, if anyone comes for an interview with me and says she is having a terrible time, often I want to say, "Of course, what's wrong with that?" Ajahn Chah used to say it's like someone who goes into the army to become a soldier, and then goes on to complain about being shot at and being wounded. What do you expect when you join the army? That's what happens. What do you expect when you become a human being? It's suffering. Sometimes in the world, people run away from suffering, they hide from it. You ask them how they are and they say, "I'm doing fine today", even though they are going through divorces, psychotherapy, chemotherapy or the like. They keep on saying they are 'fine' because that is what we are supposed to say in this world. That's what's expected of us. If only people were really honest, you'd ask them how they are and they'd say, "I'm blooming awful today - I've got a headache, I've got a stomach ache, the family is causing me all sorts of trouble, I feel rotten." If most people were honest, that's what they would say. If they really knew what was going on, that's what they would say. There's nothing wrong with recognising the suffering of existence. It's being honest and having the courage to face up to the truth. How many people do you know who are happy - really happy, really content? Not just people who say they are happy but people who really are happy. The only people I have ever seen in my forty-eight years of life who are happy are the Enlightened Ones (Arahants) whom I have had the good fortune to meet. Other than that, nobody! When you understand this you understand the First Noble Truth, that the very nature of life is suffering, and you understand it in the very deepest of senses. We have this world of the five senses. When we analyse it in the way the Lord Buddha asked us to, we use wisdom to ask, "Well, what is this world anyway, this world is made up of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, and mind?" When we analyse it in that way, we can see that what we see, hear, taste, and touch by their very nature are part of the duality of happiness and suffering. Even the food we get here, which is so wonderful, after a while it's not good enough. If we had rotten food here as I had in my first years of being a monk, after a while we would get to like it. It's just contrast, that's all. The happiness and suffering of the senses are just contrast. I've known people who went to great restaurants, and because the food wasn't quite up to the standard it was the week before, they got upset and complained. Whereas other people would be glad just to get anything to eat because they hadn't eaten for days. With the same food, why is it that some people find it joyful and others find it full of suffering? Just contrast, that's all! Whatever you take to be happiness in the world is all of the same nature. Take sexual happiness, most of that is just the excitement of wanting beforehand. W