Walk the Walk

I was reminded of a recent incident where I was making judgement and being insensitive. That is true. It is worthy of a reflection.

First about making judgement. I think we should always make observation and not judgement. When we judge, we are seeing things as right or wrong, black or white, from our own point of view. Judgement hurts others where observation does not.

I would be considered an educated person with 3 degrees under my belt. However, I don't really feel that way until I get into Buddhism where I felt really getting an education. People always equate level of education to virtuous behavior. Especially in Chinese culture, people value very highly of educated person, as if they are saint and understand the right from wrong. This may be due to the historical reason. In the old day, educated people learn Confucius idea which encompass a lot of moral education and how to be a good person. Today education emphasis mostly on knowledge acquisition. A highly educated person know a lot of things but not necessary know how to be a virtuous person. It is also important that people put into practice of what they learn. Walk the walk and talk the talk. You haven't learn anything unless you put them into practice.

Flower and Garbage

Rachael bought some really beautiful flowers yesterday. Within a week, those beautiful flowers will be in the compost bin. The compost will be used to grow new flowers. It gets me thinking. Am I looking at beautiful flowers or garbage? They are just manifestation of the same things base on conditions. One is not different than the other. Of course, there are other ingredients that make this happen, such as water, sunlight, soil and etc. You see the flower, you see the compost, you see the sunlight, you see the water ...

That kinds of answer the age old question: does the egg or chicken come first? Well they are the same thing. The egg is within the chicken and the chicken is within the egg. If they are the same, there is no question of which come first.

Does the rain come first of the cloud come first? Well again, they are the same thing with different manifestation base on condition. I guess with this reasoning and seeing all things are connected in some way, we can answer ANY what come first question. Clever, isn't it?

Heart Sutra

I learned the English version of the "Heart Surtra" first. The Sutra is very dense and contains very deep insights. Without detail explanation from a good teacher, it is hard to get the teaching. Over time, I improve my understanding bit by bit. The concept of "emptiness" threw my off and I set off to read books on this topic. At one level, emptiness means all things exist base on the right conditions and does not have it's independent nature. I tried learn the Chinese version of it and have many false start. First, I don't even know all the words, how to pronounce and let alone the meaning. My son got me through the pronunciation. He can recited the Sutra in Chinese fluently. I am working on memorizing the Sutra by copying it everyday. It is a short Sutra. This is the technique we use in grade school. Learn by repetition. It works. Knowing the English version and then the Chinese version, I have an easier time to under the Sutra in Chinese. The Dharma master did the translation in English already layout the meaning in a more plain and simple fashion. Reading the Chinese version help to re-enforce the understanding. I also come to appreciate the Chines version more, once I get pass learning the new words. It is so concise and beautifully written. It is like Chinese tea, come in small vacuum packed package but transform to great and complex aroma when you brew it. It is timeless treasure that once I learned it, it is mine, no one can take away from me. I hope I will have profound realization to come from this precious Sutra.

Meditation on a Hectic Day

It was a crazy day at work. So many different priorities. What seems frustrating is that most are busy works that produce no actual results. One could get really frustrated about this. I practiced patient. Take 1 thing at a time.

Went for a 10 miles solo bike ride after I got home. I felt great physically after the ride. It also helped to clear my mind. I find biking a good form of meditation. Most of the muddy thoughts in my mind settled when I ride my bike.

I did sitting meditation for 30 min as well. Haven't been doing it for a while. The first 10 minutes were really a struggle. My mind raced from 1 thing to another. My back was not comfortable. Neck was tired. Really wanted to give up and longed for the timer to sound. Probably after 15 min or so, I experienced sudden change. My mind became calm. My body relaxed. I felt the peace within. Now I wished the timer will never set off that may throw me off this state. Here I am. With nothing to do. Nothing to achieve. Just observe and experience my presence, the vast spacious of time and space. Hard to described but it felt like a breakthrough. I have a few of this experiences in prior meditation before. However, it is hard to replicate. Near the end, I slowly straighten up my back. I felt my body I never experienced before. I felt and almost visualized the movement of my spine, hip and joints. The sensation is hard to describe. Not sure what it was. Will see if this can be replicated. At the end, my feet were numbed. I have ways to go if I want to meditate for an hour or two without interruption.

The Joke Is On Us

Shared this story and reflection with my family last night. A man with nothing to do in an afternoon suddenly remember that someone across town owe him $2. He spent $6 round trip transportation cost empty handed with his debtor not home. My boys immediately found this illogical for someone to spent $6 to recover $2. There is something wrong with this guy. He must be stupid or something. Indeed, this does not make sense. Anyone with grade level education can figure this out. However, in real life, we fall into this kind of illogical traps many times. Most things in life cannot be easily expressed in absolute dollars amount for it's cause and benefit. It takes wisdom to look deep.

Here is an example. In a congested traffic, someone switched lane every few seconds to get to the lane that seem to go faster. At the end, he is probably 100 feet or so ahead due to his cleverness. Is it worth it? He may think, I am spending my time driving anyway, why not get ahead even by 100 feet. Has he consider that do so may increase the chance of accident, not to mention the certain increase in fuel cost? Do you think he spent $6 to recover $2 in this case? I think so.

There is a saying in Chinese "Man live to Eat". As if the main if not the sole purpose of a man's life is to eat all the good food in this world. After all, we only live once why not treat ourselves the best the world has to offer, pork chop, giant lobster, roasted duck, ... The benefit is the few minutes of our taste buds sensation. It sure feels satisfying for that 15 or so minutes. What is the cost? Well, I can afford it with my salary, no problem. Really? What about the hidden cost to your health? The obesity, the high blood pressure, heart disease and etc. Does it worth to have open heart pass-by surgery for satisfying your taste buds? I have no doubt there will be die-hard food lovers that will say yes. But, view the video of the surgery and what it does to your body may change your mind. Animals have to die for us to satisfy our taste buds. My boys recognized that this create bad karma. In one way or the other, we are going to pay for it with interest. Go look at the slaughter house, try to do it yourself, will you still insist on feasting on the animals? The cost of raising those animals consume so much food resources as feeds that could otherwise use to feed hungry people. Are we seeing those hidden costs? Are we spending $1000 to get $2 here?

The joke is really on us.

Different Angles

Took pictures of beautiful flowers that I put in a vase today. I tried taking the picture from different angles. From the side, from the top, slightly slanted, different background and different light exposures. Every picture looks different in some way. Those that are taken from the top view cannot tell they are the same flowers from the side view. I picked out the best shot which is taken from looking down on the flowers.

Same flowers look very different from different perspectives. It is the same that different people have different opinions on issues. Everyone is right from their perspective. There does not need to be just one right answer. It is not just black and white. I am right and you are wrong or vice versa. Our minds should be open and accept new ideas and respect others point of views. What we see is just one side of the view, far from the true nature of things. We need to look deeper into things with an open mind to truly understand.

By the way, the reason why the picture taken from the top look the best is because it is an unusual way that people look at flowers in a vase. People usually look at it at the eye level from the side. The different and unusual view makes the picture look more interesting. We can sure apply this observation in other things in life.