The little things I consider make me happy are:

watching the sky in any shape and colour (during day or night)
gazing at the clouds that often float above my head and wondering where they are going
looking at the stars far far away and wishing to catch them and see what's inside them
remembering to breathe, because I tend to forget easily
touching the plants especially in the morning
smelling the flowers and checking whether they have smells or not, because some don't
following butterflies from trees to treess
listening to birds making sounds
paying attention to the rain falling
becoming one with the wind to feel that I am travelling anywhere unhindred
indulging in trance music and mindlessly whirling the body
laying on grasses  with my hands spreaded
jumping from heights into a river or lake
playing with animals, but only if they are friendly towards me
watching children running around and chatterboxing like a group of baby birds
watching cartoons that make me fall off the chair, because I love to laugh a lot
putting on sunglasses and making wacked faces

and so on...

There are many ways to celebrate peace.

I celebrate peace within:

It starts with the day. The alarm clock rings and I become clearly aware of it's sounds. I touch it and say thank you for reminding. Its 5 am and it's morning. I smile. A brand new day is waiting for me. Taking a deep breath of peace, I visualize the world and say "may all beings be happy and peaceful". I slowly rise, mindful of the little sounds that is making. It's still little dark, but the moonlights shines through my window. With its help, I switch on the light and the darkness is dispelled. And I wish that just like this light, I may be able to dispell my ignorance. Being ignorant, I act topsy-turvy. Now that I am acting wisefully. I take care myself and the world around me. The surrounding becomes peaceful. I walk in to the restroom, take my brush and clean the teeth. I see myself in the mirror and gaze upon for a while. I question "is this me that is stirring at me?" I make different faces. One is serious type and other is happy type. And I realize that I am the reflections of my intended actions. I become what I do. "Do people love me when I look serious and angry? or do they love me when I look happy, contended, smiling, sincere and caring?" I ask myself. "Definitely people love you when you are happy and caring" the mirror tells me. "Go out there and show that happy caring being of you, assaji, go" I am motivated and inspired to carry on my effort in making sense of my existence. I dry up the water on my face with the towel. It's 5:50 am. I walk in to the meditation hall which is filled with incense and there is a lovely vibration flowing around. The Buddha's statue looks bright with many colourful lights. His face looks gentle, calm, quite, unperturbed, contended and wise as if he has put down all the troubles and the burden of stress and permanently embodies peace and freedom within. "I want to be like him" I say. With half-lotus posture, I sit crossed legged. My hands are folded on top of another. I begin to take deep breaths and my whole body shivers. I feel amazing. It's so uplifting.

For me, peace is generated first within and then shared with the world. 

my favourite colours are red, black, and white. An example of this is this very rock kid girl you see :D. she has all the colours i like. silly i didn't know about it earlier, until recently! so i m excited.

What's yours?

Usually, it is translated as "the store-house consciousness". It is where all the karmic seeds (bijas) are stored. Mhm...what does it mean by that?...Okay, for instance, you've done something to someone when you were like 15 years old, and after many years, you met him/her again, and suddenly you remembered that action (remorseful or rewarding...depending on that particular action).  So now where did that come from? That did not just come by itself. That memory/experinece must have been stored somewhere in the sub-consciousness. According to Yogacara, it was stored in "Alayavijnana" and it came from there...yeah. Anyway, we have an earliest description of what is it like in the "Mahayana-abhidharma-sutra".  Lets see how it was defined there:

"anadikaliko dhatuh
sarvadharma-samsrayah/
sati tasmim gatih sarva
nirvana-adhigamas capi//

(Causal Element of beginless time
is the basis of all dharma.
Where it is there,
there is the whole phenomena of existence, as well as the realization of nirvana)

So, it looks like we have been accumulating karma from a beginless time. The mutual perfuming of the seeds (causal elements) give rise to all the dharmas (conditioned things). Because of that (positive and negative), we have Samsara on one hand and nirvana on the other. But it is all stored in that alayavijnana.  The whole world of our experinece is built in the "alayavijnana". All kinds of seeds are stored there and these seeds have the potentiality to give rise to anything anytime. That's why we experience all kinds of things (not everything at the same time), just like the waves in the ocean, it is always there, but they arise at different occassions due to the wind, etc. Now there is only one way left for us. That is to transform all the grossness, heaviness, badness, non-pliability (dausthulya) into calmness, lightness, pliability, workibility (prasrabdhi). And that transformation (asraya-paravrtti) is in a state of full purification (parinispanna). It is described as "such-ness" (tathata), because it is simply ineffable.

 
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Last 24th May, I had had the chance to go to a meditation retreat centre in a place called Korat, 130 km away from Bangkok. Some of the pictures are posted on my photo gallary. This retreat is conducted by Sayadaw U Jatila, a very highly experienced meditation master from Myanmar, who also teaches in USA in California occassionally. In fact, he has a huge centre in Myanmar called "Panditarama" where every year there are hundreds of yogis from all over the world. The centre is open throughout the year. During the uprising in Myanmar last year, Sayadaw has been teaching in USA, but he couldn't go back to Myanmar afterwards due to political unstability and subsequently invited to conduct a 3 months retreat in Thailand. That's when my friends and I heard about him teaching there. So we immediately joined for a week. I can tell you it was one of my best sacret liberating times I spent. I better not reveal what happened, as there is a danger of losing it and I believe it is for everyone to experience it for themselves.

Dear friends, if you are interested in going to Myanmar at some point in your life, I recommend you to drop by "Panditarama Meditation Centre". It will be a sacred experience for you. For more info, please visit: http://www.panditarama.org/

What is your purpose? (25 words or less.) If you had to describe your calling in life,  what would you say? What are you here to do? What gift is yours to give to the world?

My purpose is to change the world. The world is beautiful but due to misunderstanding we've made it a mess. I am here to clear misunderstanding.

What do you love, and how do (or will) your actions demonstrate this? (250 words or  less.) We at Gaia believe that following your heart is the best way to help the whole planet. What do you care about,  and what do you most enjoy doing?

I love helping people. It gives me a lot of joy and contentment. By helping I don't mean just giving some food or money, but even to smile sincerely is a form of help. As a monastic, I am trained to counsel people from all walks of life. If people are mentally happy, they contribute to world peace, stability and harmony. Assisting people to find this mental state is important in changing the world.

I care about children and their development in particular. For instance, if I see a little child selling flowers on the street, I can't turn away without giving him/her some money or a hug. For the past few years I have been volunteering as a teacher (English) at a children's school in Thailand that promotes early moral and spiritual values. I believe it is our responsibility as adults to lay a healthy foundation for children’s development. In the future I would like to be more involved in children educational projects and may open a Children Education Fund, where we can all support children in need.

Helping others is the noblest action.

Write your ideal job description. (250 words or less.) Forget about job titles like  'doctor' or 'artist' or 'lawyer.' If you could get paid just to live, how would you spend your time? What would you devote your life to?  What would your days be like?

People often designate me as a teacher, musician, psychologist, counselor, scholar, but in fact, I am all of these. Being versatile, I don't confine myself to a particular title; it is more fun to be without titles.

If I could get paid just to live, I would spend my time serving the impoverished. There are so many children without proper accommodation and education. I would immediately open an orphanage and raise them for a better future. I would devote my life to their welfare and overseeing their daily growth.

I will acquire a proper building to house them, a school to educate them and a hall to meditate with them. I know this is not going to be as easy as it may sound, but I am clearly aware of my goal and what I want to do in my life. I often feel people need me and are waiting for me. Maybe I am already on this journey, but need to wait till it manifests before my eyes.

My days would be very busy cooking for them, worrying about them, taking care of them, teaching them, walking with them and laughing with them. I would have a little room to sleep in and a somewhat a bigger room to keep a library for research. And before I know it, I will be 60 years old!

My purpose is to change the world by guiding children, our future.

The world transcends brith and death, it is like the flower in the air; [Transcendenctal] wisdom cannot be qualified as being or non-being; and yet a great compassionate heart is awakened.

All things are like the mirage; they are beyong the reach of mind and understanding; [Transcendenctal] wisdom cannot be qualified as being or non-being; and yet a great compassionate heart is awakened.

The world is always like a dream. It is beyond nihilism and eternalism. [Transcendenctal] wisdom cannot be qualified as being or non-being; and yet a great compassionate heart is awakened.

The wise know that there is no self-substance in a person, nor in an object, and that both passions and their objectives are always pure [in their nature] and have no individual marks; and yet a great compassionate heart is awakened in them.

June 03 2008
10:37 AM

It was raining as I took an umbrella and were ready to go to the downtown with my friend Ananda to an Indian market in Bangkok to get an International calling card, as we needed to call overseas to friends and family- the usual card charged a lot, but this International card didn't charge much, so we would prefer rather using the one that is cheaper. Anyway, as we walked down stair, my friend said "may be we wait here a bit and then go when the rain stop, otherwise we are going to get all wet". So we waited till the rain stopped. The bus station was half a mile from the temple. We crossed an over-bridge to reach the station. Bangkok is a big city and very busy. Cars, buses, motor bikes, taxis were running. The road was all wet. Then I sat down there and kept thinking to myself "wow life is so busy, everyone is rushing". My friend was standing for the bus number 80 to come, so we could get in and reach to that Indian market. Many buses passed, still that bus no. 80 haven't arrive. After about 10 minutes my friend said "oh there! it is, come, lets get in". So we got in finally and sat on the seats. One thing good in Bangkok is we monks can travel in the buses free, the fee is not charged, but not in other transportations like taxis and sky-train - it is only in Buses. Anyway, in about 30 minutes we reached that place. It was my first time to visit this Indian market and I was a bit amazed like "ah, this is awesome, in the heart of the city, this crowded Indian market with full of Indian people, stuffs, smells of burning incense, music and so on" I was smiling a bit. Well all that smiling stopped when we found out the shop we supposed to buy the International calling card was closed. Damm! we had to return without it. Then we went to Mahachulalongkorn University (where my friend was studying ) to submit an assignment to the Dean who was a monk. He spoke nice and even offered us drinks. At first my friend was kind of refusing "no Ajan, its ok, you take it". Then he told him: "in Thailand, if someone offers you something you have to take it and don't refuge, because you are getting without much effort. He also said: "sometimes if you request something, people don't give you" He was kind of funny too. My friend informed him that he was going to the meditation retreat centre tomorrow and he will not be attending some classes. The Dean said: "ok, that's good that you are going for meditation retreat, but don't get enlightened, because then you will not talk to us anymore" He was so funny in a way and made some silly jokes with us. He called another teacher of my friend. She liked my friend a lot, because he is nice in her class. My friend told me she even signed the paper to be his dharma-mother during his ordination last month. I said: "wow you are lucky." Then after about an hour, she arrived, tall looking with glasses on, with a Chinese costume on which made me think she had mixed parents (Thai and chinese, but no my friend said, just purely Thai). Okay anyway, she knew this meditation retreat centre and admired very much. She was so kind and she offered my friend the traveling expenses and said: "I am very happy for you". We then said good bye to her and came back to our residence.

I wasn't feeling very good that evening, as I was worrying about my studies in London. I haven't got all the tuition fees yet, not to speak of my accommodation. Anyway I was really down, feeling a bit discouraged in this pursuit of higher studies in the West and I kept saying "why is it so difficult to study there, life is already stressful, and this is making me more stressful, may be I should go to meditation centre and never return to this stupid education. I will be more peaceful there". Anyway, I shared my thoughts with Anna Varney on the IM and she encouraged me as she always did like: "there's time still (couple of months), you need to keep trying in this window of time, thing is not to give up and also to know what is meant to happen will". I guess what is meant to happen will. It was nearly 11 Pm at that time, so being weary and all that I decided to go to bed finally.

Originally posted at: Journal

Wesak is a day to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and great demise of Buddha Shakyamuni. It is also a day to reflect his wonderful teachings...

"Rely on the teaching, not on the person;
Rely on the meaning, not on the words;
Rely on the definitive meaning, not on the provisional;

Rely on your wisdom mind, not on your ordinary mind "My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience...
My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship.
My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river.
Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation."

Courtesy of HummingBird