True Devotion comes from the Heart

True Devotion is not about being a subservient mindless zombie. Devotion is about being ONE with the deity's heart and mind by developing one's Higher Inner Qualities. Devotion towards one's Yidam Deity or "God" are lessons about serving others with a SELFLESS HEART. Therefore we should serve our deity ( God, Mother goddess, Guru, Divine etc ) with such a heart and treat everyone else ( whether they are High Status People or the most humble servant ) with the same attitude. From such a heart will eventually arise a person who is filled with Universal Love. A Universally Loving person is welcomed by all and loved by all in return. It is from perfectingthis Universal Love that nurtures our hearts and minds to grow into a Buddha's heart of GREAT COMPASSION.

The practice of devotion is being constantly mindful of what our goal is... To be truly PRACTISING devotion is to live a life that is an image of one's object of devotion. If we are to behave like hooligans and bandits, constantly raving in fits of anger, hatred and jealousy, we are in advertantly ANNOUNCING to the whole world that " My deity is Angersome, Hateful and Jealous!! " Therefore instead of pridefully announcing to the world that " I AM A PRACTITIONER OF HIGH ASPIRATIONS OF DEITY DEVOTION", isn't better for OTHERS to ask you " Hey what are you doing or taking to be so peaceful? Is it your God? Your Guru? Your Faith? I want some of that! "

True devotion towards one's deity is to lead by a life similar to him/her ideals MINUS the ego-trip of self advertisement of one's apparent virtues blasted via a Boombox Speaker... Strife to do the most difficult thing of all...

That is to make the LOUDEST announcement when one is in total silence. With no sounds, no words, no telling, no implying... just by being YOU, other can feel Devotion, Humility, Love and Joy all radiating without a single word said. THAT I find is the essence of Devotion that brings forth the qualities the practice of Devotion incubates.

Tainted and flawed Logic? or Celestial Wisdom?

I was on the phone with an old friend today... it became a heated but fun conversation when we came into a disagreement. We were kinda debating on certain key issues on human friendship, spirituality compared with politics.

As me and my friend are both hard headed "want to win" types, neither of us were willing to back down from our points of view... it was then I realised how stupid we must look if someone was sitting next to us listening/watching us repel each other with non-offensive but equally lethal verbal bullets. We had a really good laugh... but one thing he did say that got me thinking ... how in many ways most of us ( me very much inclusive ) think it that fashion.

He said to me, " If you are NOT supporting, then you MUST be against. If you DON'T attend a protest while being a member of that support group, then you must really NOT believe in that cause! If you are a Religious person and you don't attend the services of your Church, Mosque or Temple, then you really don't have faith since you do not render your support nor services...

On the surface, during the heat of debate, that line might sound scarcely logical. But on deeper analysis, I realised that truth or justice is never as black and white as we perceive it to be. Much of what we believe as truth or justice is pretty much a collective consent to a certain action or situation as agreeable, making it a largely GREY AREA. Take for example, the issue of "modesty". In some nations showing off one's abdomen and belly button is considered a huge outrage, whereas in others, if you have just enough material to make two large Oreo cookies to cover yourself you are OK by law ( although there might be still one or two googly eyes depending on the current state of the body.) But at the end of the day, does a well wrapped pilgrim lookalike person mean a more modest person? Does someone dressed like Lady Godiva racing naked on a horse , as a protest against taxes through Coventry town be considered immodest and improper?

So it seems to the general public in question, truth or justice is mainly based on perception and view of the socio-cutural background of the people we deal with... while thinking back about being told that just because I don't attend or join in a protest to save the Rain Forest would make me a false supporter of the cause or even a spy from an enemy cause... seems kind of illogical and childish. Furthermore, it a very extremist way of thought... It is like saying....

"Dame Edna and Osama B.L are the same person!!! I am Sure of it!!! I mean think about it!!! Have you EVER seen them in the same place at the same time? No? AHA! See? I AM right" from the line of logic I have proven Peter Parker IS Spider Man!! Woohoo for my superior logic!..NOT.

Then I began turning the tables back at myself... I looked back at the many conversations I have had with people in general... and realised I myself have been a huge contributor to this flawed and illogical way off thinking hahaha. Which reminds me of a story of myself awhile ago... I told a friend of mine while out of breath panting from running, "....... My Mom and I went to the hospital today, t...... " before I could finish there was a gasp of shock and dismay, to which I was queried, " OH MY GAWD! Is everything ok? Your mom ok? You ok?.." I said, " ...relax!!! There is nothing wrong with us both... if you would have let me finish, I was going to say... Mama and I went to the hospital today to welomethe birth of my Niece!!"

See how easily we assume a situation just by associating hospital+ people= illness? Thats why the Buddha even said in the Diamond Sutra....

"Things are not what the seem to be and NEITHER are they not!!"
- Gautama Buddha to disciple Subhuti in The Diamond Sutra

Hey... maybe me and Madonna are one and the same person!! Have you seen us at the same place at the same time? No?... there.... proven by my superior intellect and irrefutable logic... har har har... yeah right.

Promoting Peace By War....

Promote Peace by War... I reflected on those words last night. I have found there is irony there, true; but there is also a deeper ring of truth in that statement too.

Some of the major religious paths of the current world externally "seem" to exercise and encourage war, aggression and obsessive blind faith. Within the last few weeks after the bomb attack, I had the good fortune to peruse a few scriptures of several religious paths. And found that most scriptures give descriptions or battles and wars being fought. And at times, teachings were even given in the middle or the battlefield! And what you replied about the irony of promoting peace even if we have to go to war for, struck a cord in me. It's like Why is that? Why war? But looking deeper, I found most of their "wars" were divine expressions of what is going on within our hearts and these holy wars are NOT fought in the fields of mountains, Ice, earth ,air or water, but it is fought on a plane far more difficult and arduous than any planetary place can dish out to us.

I believe we CAN promote PEACE by going to war hahaha. No, no I am not a terrorist but the war is fought not with guns and bombs or weapons of mass destruction. The war is fought within ourselves and inside our hearts. The weapons of war are our practices of the Lord Buddha's teachings. The whole complete essence of what the Buddha taught was just 3 guidelines :

1. Harm No One
2. Love Everyone
3. Keep our mind pure (of negative thoughts or attitudes that harm ourselves or others I presume)

Thinking along those guidelines reminded me of a question someone asked me a number of years ago.... " Why is it that if the Buddhas promote peace, how come so many of them carry weapons and especially with so many hands ar?? And how do they do that? I have two hands already I can hardly make them cohesive"

Then I remembered one great teacher told me, that Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Protectors hold weapons not to harm others. Their weapons are to remind us of the long war we have to fight within our hearts. For example Manjushri holds a Flaming Sword is a blatant reminder of how important it is for us to cut away Ignorance and Delusions at its very root by the development of Wisdom. That's why the Sword in the right hand ( activity ) and the Prajna Paramita Text in his left ( reflection ) supported by a beautiful lotus flower.

The question about the hands I found kinda funny though (being quite a klutz myself with my limbs ) Kuan Yin ( or Avalokitesvara ) has a 1000 hands and Eyes!! Wow! That stumped me, I really don't know how she handles having a 1000 hands moving simultaneously, by I believe 1000 hands means helpful activities in saving, comforting and rescuing sentient beings from sufferings in 1000 directions (meaning wherever we are) just as having 11 heads/faces, and having 1000 eyes to keep watch on us to protect us where ever we are and whomever we are, big or small. 1000 eyes also depict her unsurpassable skillful means in seeing things from 1000 ways and angles to develop 1000 methods to help us beings who are in suffering, sadness or pain.

So to wrap this up before it becomes too long again, I believe we can promote peace through war, by using the weapons of Love, Kindness, Humility, Joyousness, Generousity, Patience etc etc given to us by the divine to wage an INNER WAR to curb and defeat the Hate, Anger, Greed, and the like that is festering within us. To outwardly USE the weapons of Love and Kindness for others, that our inner enemy of Hatefulness and Self-Cherishing be step by step totally destroyed. As WE aspire to be more like Lama Tsongkapa by applying the Flaming Sword of the Dharma which cuts away our Ignorance, then we can eventually practice the teachings to be more and more and more like the Buddha which at the moment lies dormant in our hearts.

May we eventually we able to conquer our Inner enemies of Ignorance, Hatred and Attachment with the Supreme Weapons of Bodhicitta and Shunyatta.

Reflecting on Om Mani Padme Hum

Reflecting on OM MANI PADME HUM

OM MANI PADME HUM


Evening came, the day sort of winded down; I sat down chanting quietly to myself the mantra of OM MANI PADME HUM whilst trying to still my tsunami mind, as I began to calm I suddenly remembered an image I once saw of our Divine Mother Kuan Yin Pusa. She was dressed in a Robe the Color of Moonlight, her face in a total expression of peace absorbed in meditative calmness and seated in the lotus position with her hands in a mudra of meditation while cradling a Pristine Wish-Fulfilling Jewel.

I started to reflect on how Om Mani Padme Hum relates in any way to an image of a lovely lady seated in meditation cradling a Gem? I first reflected on the qualities of Mother Kuan Yin, Gentle, Loving, Kind, Nurturing and Protecting. While holding the Wish Fulfilling Jewel symbolizes that she can fulfill all our virtuous wishes, prayers and aspirations, I then realized that the TRUE Wish fulfilling Jewel was not the pearl or gem in her hand, but HER qualities, for if we all are embodied with her qualities a huge portion of our sufferings would be automatically eliminated and the rest would be really much easier to pacify and quell.

While contemplating on Om Mani Padme Hum, it occurred to me a small part of what Mother Kuan is trying to impart upon us. The sound of OM, if I remember correctly from many years ago, during one of the teachings in KYCO when it was still located in Jln. 225, we were advised to be mindful when we chanted the OM at the beginning of a session because OM is the sound of Heaven, OM is the sound of purification and most of all within OM itself contains the energy of the creation, sustenance and destruction of the whole Universe! Therefore, I thought to myself, OM must be the embodiment of our Divine Mother, her power to create happiness for us, her loving care to sustain us till we reach our goal of Kuan Yin-hood and her tireless efforts to destroy all that brings us harm. Such is the loving personal attention Kuan Yin Mother gives to each and everyone who will call upon her.

While OM is the sound of Heaven being the 1st syllable of the mantra, I thought HUM must be the sound of Earth. I pictured OM MANI PADME HUM like a life-line of light to the heavens extended by Kuan Yin to rescue us from suffering, where HUM is the anchor-hook for us to hold on to while she rescues us. HUM I believe is also the sound of peace at the end of a bell. HUM is the sound of silence from where we hear the sound of quietude. An in HUM is when we hear the sound of Kuan Yin mother and feel her blessings in our hearts. HUM is therefore the sound of Kuan Yin’s Stainless Wisdom. So when we are able to develop Wisdom, we can follow that life-line and be rescued from suffering.

When I looked into the syllables MA and NI, MA came to my heart as Mother and NI as Father, for it is through the kindness of our parents that we even exist! From the combination of Ma and Ni, MANI arises, and MANI means Jewel. Each child is regarded as a most precious Jewel to every parent, which is why even within Kuan Yin’s mantra, she reminds us to always remember the kindness of the Mother and Father. It is therefore in each parent’s wishes that their children will grow up to be as valuable as a Wish fulfilling jewel… the very BEST that they can be. From that thought, I understood that Kuan Yin who is our Spiritual Mother AND Father also wants the same for us, that eventually we will ALL arise as Wish-fulfilling jewels to others, by removing the sufferings of others and bringing them happiness. She nurtures and develops us to a point where we eventually do not look for hope and love from others, but that we BE the giver of that Hope, and a source of that Love and Comfort for others.

With her wishes, Kuan Yin mother also shows us the method to achieve the state of being a Wish-fulfilling Jewel for others. She opens up the method to us in PADME. PAD is to develop selfless love for all beings, ME is to strive for the Light of Mindfulness to attain wisdom. In PAD I believe, Kuan Yin is telling us to; “go be kind, go be caring and go be helpful!!!” In PAD she gently encourages our practice with activities of Loving Service, and in ME she reminds us to reflect upon the pain of others, to help us make a resolution to be even more adamant in helping others out of pain and suffering, in short to develop the mind of Devotional Love. PADME also means Lotus which I think is also an indication apart from just activities of the body; we have to also sit on our lotus cushions and start to tame our minds and develop our inner Higher Qualities through meditation to match the outer activities, so that like the lotus flower, we will victoriously rise above the mud and grime of our own negativities, and be a source of Love and Light, just like Kuan Yin Mother herself.

So as I see it, OM MANI PADME HUM is a way of Kuan Yin Mother reassuring us that while we are still spinning helplessly around samsara between Heaven (OM) and Earth (HUM) her blessings and rescue efforts will never stop. Between Heaven and Earth is where she will envelop us all in her Precious Love, (MANI), to give us a chance to practice the blessed path of Love and Light while seated in the stillness of Contemplation and Meditation (PADME) to ultimately develop the mind of enlightenment.

Plagued by Problems or Blessed by Buddha??

Wow! What a turbulent 2 weeks this has been!!! Bombings, Forest Fires, Hurricanes with some VERY TIRED names, Earthquakes, Illnesses and so so much personal problems too! On a macro level natural disasters and on a micro level much obstacles!I now begin to see the inner subtle levels of WHY in Nepal, through the Oracle, our Protector had guided us to quickly recite so many Migtsemas... Firstly of course is to extend the life of our Guru ( or Gurus ) by accumulation of merits, since the Guru is Buddha, and Buddhas are Karma-less, the required energy source for a Guru to stay on earth is Merit. Secondly, Most of us are not able to do long retreats, hold pure vows or even meditate with focus... therefore the Protector has given us an alternative way to step by step prepare us for the teachings of Tantra by helping us all to accomplish some of the preliminary practices that are required for the higher teachings. Thirdly, for the Harmony and Success of our Kechara network.As time goes on, more and more layers of the grand plan is starting to unfold.


I feel the Protector was also looking out for us knowing full well the fruitioning of Global Karma. With the Mantra and Sutra Text recitations plus the mindful application of Harmony between one another, thereby creating much energy of Love, Unity, Strength, Friendship, Sharing, Support, Knowledge, Inspirational Hope, Joy, Happiness and dare I say, even Compassion... the Protector is really helping us to help ourselves!!! The world seems to be turning and flowing with pain, aggression, intolerence, anger and hatred this year much more than some previous years... and it was leading into this year our Kechara Lama has been... much more than before... using whatever ways and means he can in his human incarnation to push, prod, imprint, impress on, cajole, advise, scold or instruct all of us to practice kind heart, kind speech and positive mind. If we had been doing all that... I guess we have less to worry about during this turbulent times.The Protector knowing all this, has been subtly giving a method to protect ourselves! By creating a Force Field of Unity, Love and Compassion around us an Entity, effects of afflictive emotions like hatred and anger would not affect us so much. The grand pujas that are being done now in fact, seems to be also part of the Aegis of Love our Lama and Protector is providing for us, to ready us as a Family to face whatever upcoming challenges we may face, be it Global or Personal. We need the Merit store house, it is like our money vault during our battle against our inner demons and facing outer obstacles, it is our Cash for us to purchase more weapons to fight our own anger, hatred and all such negative emotions.


I came upon some of these conclusions coz within these two weeks much has been happening... Global disasters and wars, in our community here as well there is much personal challenges. I have seen many of my friends on the verge of falling into despair encumbered by personal obstacles, sudden illnesses, loss of jobs, Cursed/charmed by enemies, hauntings at their abodes and much more. I was imagining... what if we had not even started to pray... our situations could have been much worse off!!! Some of our Kechara friends in London had experienced this FIRST HAND, when during the day of bombing in the trains, they had "coincidentally" missed the train or somehow did not go to the danger zone even when they were supposed to, THAT is what I call the hand of Lord Setrap deflecting oncoming arrows of destruction.


Therefore... our kechara internal practice of Harmony, Unity, Kindness and Love sealed by Mantra and outer practices is the generated "Merit fuel" that the Protector uses to protect us. And thru the kindness of the Lama, having provided us with the Kechara Network of centres, shops and all; these nurturing qualities we are striving to develop will hopefully ripple all over, PJ, KL, Nationally and Globally. Thereby, sharing our modest droplets of practice into the Ocean of Goodness generated by all seekers of Peace around the world to counteract and calm the turbulence that is happening, transforming the harmful Warzone into a Garden of Peace and Tranquility.