I’ve had many funky out-of-body experiences. The first was during those foundation 16 years. As usual, thoughts pulled me away but instead of returning to the black screen, I found myself up in space. It was the deepest black imaginable, with little stars everywhere.  If I could reach out with my hand, I’m sure I…

Around 10 years into practicing the “letting go” meditation, I had another bizarre experience.  Unable to find an equivalent term in Dhamma, I resorted to the Hindu energy system: kundalini rising.  While meditating as usual, I felt a hot sensation rising up my spine. It continued up the crown and circled back. With every cycle,…

Black was my hair, with a tint of glittering redDown to the hip, waving, flowing like a waterfallI am my hair, as beautiful as it isThe little gesture, the hidden veil. It’s incredible how many identification complexes are centred around one’s hair, especially for an Asian woman. The unspoken statement of I’m cultured, I fit…

I have a friend, Jesse (not his real name), who comes home from exhausted. After unwinding, he still feels depleted, unable to be there for his wife and children. He asked for my suggestions, so I told him the classic story of the 2 monks. ~~~ There were two monks crossing the river with a…

Part 2 The Spread of the Dhamma When a new perception first enters a country, it adapts and absorbs some of the cultural practices and views. This has resulted in many different schools of Buddhism today. The core of what the Buddha taught is still there in the Pali Canon, but the cultural add-ons are…

Part 1 Gautama Buddha as seeker When the Buddha was still unenlightened and seeking truth, he, like us, sought out the local teachings and practices. Like other spiritual seeker of the time, the yogis, he shaved his head, donned a beggar’s robe, renounced his life and family and entered the forest. He learned practices under…

That particular day: I sat Incredible boredom: I sat Restlessness, itchiness: I sat Loud noise, sudden cough: I sat Breakfast come: I sat Lunch finished: I sat

A girl walking by and asked Jesse, “Why do you eat chili, if it gives you pain?” “I’m trying to find the sweet one”, replied Jesse.

Just as the elephant trainer, ties it to a post to calm its wild ways, its longing and fever for the forest: these 4 frames of mindfulness tie the mind so as to calm its wild ways of hindrances and unskillful mental states.

The Buddha is an exceptional being. There are 8 world systems that follows a cycle. In which civilisations emerge, evolve to their peak then decline, and another arises. For instance, beings of the first world system lived for 80 000 years. They created a golden civilisation, with many enlightened beings and moral values. The beings…

We often think that luck occurs by random chance or that blessings are bestow. In fact, we generate our own luck and pass it forward, which returns to us as blessings. Imagine, having a reservoir of universal or spiritual credits, much like money saved in a bank account. We can cash it out in terms…