Dharma Drum Mountain (Ontario) Buddhist Association is holding a 3-day Meditation Retreat on August 29 to September 1, 2008.
For more details, please go to their website:
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tranquility in Northern Ontario
Stephen recently took a camping trip to Nortnern Ontario and sent me some of his beautiful shots.
With his permission, I am sharing the tranquility with you...
Through these photos, I feel the joy and peacefulness in Stephen's mind.
When I look at a shot, three things catch my attention the most, the mind of the photographer while taking the shot, the photo shot itself and the message that comes through the shot.
Very happy for Eileen and Stephen.
(July 30, 2008)
With his permission, I am sharing the tranquility with you...
Through these photos, I feel the joy and peacefulness in Stephen's mind.
When I look at a shot, three things catch my attention the most, the mind of the photographer while taking the shot, the photo shot itself and the message that comes through the shot.
Very happy for Eileen and Stephen.
(July 30, 2008)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Updates from my pharmacist sister
My sister just came back from a 10-day Mediterranean Cruise with my mom, she wrote to us:
"Dear sis & bros,
Glad that everything went well during the trip with mom. The strength I noticed from mom has amazed me but I must say that I may have overworked her on someday
I did learn to see a lot from a different perspective.
Actually, travelling with mom, I received a lot of compliment from a wide range of people I came across in the trip
I got to know mom a little better & I really appreciate how Lung Zhi has been so patient & accommodating with mom & dad all these years.
So far looks like the new pharmacy store will be ready mid or late September. Right now my contractor is working on the electrical stuff.
There are a lot of buying & decision makings to be done in August.
Surprisingly, I am getting a lot of fantastic support from my staff, customers, friends, and of course my family.”
My reply:
All best of wishes to your new adventure.
Knowing you well enough, I am sure that you will turn the business into a success.
You get all these fantastic supports because you deserve so; you have been giving a lot of great support to many people- like the Huayen Quarterly Journals, for one example.
We will always be there for you, just like you will always be here for us!
July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Missing
Yesterday, Chris and my daughter went out of town for a few days.
On their way out, Chris said to me: “Mrs. T., I am going to miss you.” “I am not a Buddhist, so I can miss you, right?” How sweet!
I replied: “Sure, you could miss me even if you were a Buddhist.”
He asked: “You never miss anyone, so I assume Buddhist is not supposed to be attached to or to miss anyone?”
I said: “For a true Buddhist you CAN do anything. The key is HOW you do it, the motivation or aspiration, the know-how and the consequence.”
Yes, I hardly miss anyone physically, but I will miss their “inner-spirits or essence”. Last week, I missed Steven’s love for Huayen. His passion, enthusiasm and perseverance for Huayen are very hard to come by. Too bad that passion is temporarily missing!
(July 28, 2008)
On their way out, Chris said to me: “Mrs. T., I am going to miss you.” “I am not a Buddhist, so I can miss you, right?” How sweet!
I replied: “Sure, you could miss me even if you were a Buddhist.”
He asked: “You never miss anyone, so I assume Buddhist is not supposed to be attached to or to miss anyone?”
I said: “For a true Buddhist you CAN do anything. The key is HOW you do it, the motivation or aspiration, the know-how and the consequence.”
Yes, I hardly miss anyone physically, but I will miss their “inner-spirits or essence”. Last week, I missed Steven’s love for Huayen. His passion, enthusiasm and perseverance for Huayen are very hard to come by. Too bad that passion is temporarily missing!
(July 28, 2008)
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Letting nature takes care of its course
For the past few months, I have been trying to follow Ven. Haiyun HeShang’s teaching of “letting nature takes care of its course.”
I try to avoid having any detail planning or expectation on daily routines. Thus every day I allow life/nature to give me surprises. So far all the surprises are very pleasant or favorable.
When I told my sister about this principle, she said it would never work for her. She likes things to be well organized and in order. Yes, it is true that the principle will not work for her, as she is not a practitioner.
For the principle to work there is a prequisite, you have to devote one hundred percent of yourself into cultivation, then the dharma protectors will take care of the rest.
(July 26, 2008)
I try to avoid having any detail planning or expectation on daily routines. Thus every day I allow life/nature to give me surprises. So far all the surprises are very pleasant or favorable.
When I told my sister about this principle, she said it would never work for her. She likes things to be well organized and in order. Yes, it is true that the principle will not work for her, as she is not a practitioner.
For the principle to work there is a prequisite, you have to devote one hundred percent of yourself into cultivation, then the dharma protectors will take care of the rest.
(July 26, 2008)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Fortune or Misfortune
Last week my car would not start due to a dead battery. I went through quite a bit of trouble to install a new battery. It went through my mind that this incident was a small misfortune on my recently rather grateful days.
Later on, when I talked to my friend about this episode, she remarked that I was very fortunate to have the car fixed up, as I would be driving the car for a long trip out of town. It is much more desirable to have the car broken down then instead of during the trip. So my misfortune turned out to be a fortune instead!
We, human beings, tend to be shortsighted and have a very limited scope of viewpoint on happenings of life. We can hardly tell if certain events occur for better or for worse. Events can be good in the short run and bad in the long run or vice versa, good for some people and bad for others, good in one era and bad in another era. Moreover, good or bad is judgmental and depends on perception.
If we go down to the bottom (essence) of all phenomena, everything is governed by the principle of causes and effects （因緣法）or dependant originations（緣起法）. And among the millions of factors that lead to certain effects, our mind is one of the dominant factors.
For most non-practitioners, their minds are operated under or influenced by the law of “karma”. Whereas for the true practitioners, they understand how the mind operates and how karma works; they can work around the internal and external attributes (causes), and in turns alternate the effects as well as take charge of their own destiny.
Whether we are blessed or condemned is determined by how well we can understand or work around the minds, the law of karma and the dependent originations. That explains why sometimes a practitioner acts rather unreasonably or unexpectedly, as he or she can perceive phenomena on a higher plateau.
(July 23, 2008)
Later on, when I talked to my friend about this episode, she remarked that I was very fortunate to have the car fixed up, as I would be driving the car for a long trip out of town. It is much more desirable to have the car broken down then instead of during the trip. So my misfortune turned out to be a fortune instead!
We, human beings, tend to be shortsighted and have a very limited scope of viewpoint on happenings of life. We can hardly tell if certain events occur for better or for worse. Events can be good in the short run and bad in the long run or vice versa, good for some people and bad for others, good in one era and bad in another era. Moreover, good or bad is judgmental and depends on perception.
If we go down to the bottom (essence) of all phenomena, everything is governed by the principle of causes and effects （因緣法）or dependant originations（緣起法）. And among the millions of factors that lead to certain effects, our mind is one of the dominant factors.
For most non-practitioners, their minds are operated under or influenced by the law of “karma”. Whereas for the true practitioners, they understand how the mind operates and how karma works; they can work around the internal and external attributes (causes), and in turns alternate the effects as well as take charge of their own destiny.
Whether we are blessed or condemned is determined by how well we can understand or work around the minds, the law of karma and the dependent originations. That explains why sometimes a practitioner acts rather unreasonably or unexpectedly, as he or she can perceive phenomena on a higher plateau.
(July 23, 2008)
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Erin and I
I have known Erin for more or less three years. We have a common bondage, our love for Huayen.
We both benefit from the Huayen Dharma very much that we are willing to practice Huayen assiduously and enthusiastically. Moreover we like to share the gain we derived from the Huayen learning to other people by spreading the Huayen Dharma.
First and foremost we have to be a good practitioner ourselves- that is what we believe deep down inside. Then we need to conglomerate a group of colleagues with the same vision. The building of a solid foundation with good people and infrastructure is very important. We are both working in that direction gradually and in our own pace. The progress is painfully slow and full of obstructions. Maybe this is the fun part too…
What tied us especially close together is our frank and straightforward character.
Erin, thank you for acting as my big sister when I am feeble, for holding onto our dreams together and for offering your house as my inn.
(July, 22, 2008)
We both benefit from the Huayen Dharma very much that we are willing to practice Huayen assiduously and enthusiastically. Moreover we like to share the gain we derived from the Huayen learning to other people by spreading the Huayen Dharma.
First and foremost we have to be a good practitioner ourselves- that is what we believe deep down inside. Then we need to conglomerate a group of colleagues with the same vision. The building of a solid foundation with good people and infrastructure is very important. We are both working in that direction gradually and in our own pace. The progress is painfully slow and full of obstructions. Maybe this is the fun part too…
What tied us especially close together is our frank and straightforward character.
Erin, thank you for acting as my big sister when I am feeble, for holding onto our dreams together and for offering your house as my inn.
(July, 22, 2008)
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