Please Sign This Online Petition to Keep Om Retreat Alive!

Late Drubwang Rinpoche during one of the previous Retreats.


Text of the petition is as follows:

To: Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

THE 100 MILLION MANI RECITATION RETREAT was held annually by Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery of Singapore (PKS) for some 5 years, and have since became an inseparable part of our spiritual lives. Unfortunately, there's news that PKS might not hold the Retreat this year 2008.

This year's retreat was shadowed by His Eminence Drubwang Rinpoche's passing away in Singapore, a day before the Retreat itself. He had passed away on the same day he landed in Singapore. Despite bad health and much dissuasion from other Rinpoches, Drubwang Rinpoche insisted on his journey to Singapore lead the Retreat.

It was specifically explained by His Eminence Garchen Rinpoche during the Retreat that it is Drubwang Rinpoche's wish for the Om Retreat to continue year after year, after his passing.

I personally believe his choice to pass away a day before this event has great significance and he might have foreseen that after his passing, this greatly beneficial event will end abruptly. I also felt strongly Rinpoche's love for all beings. His teaching and message put forth through his actions are too profound and wide for me to put into words here.

Please send the message to all who cares for Dharma to appeal to the management of Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery NOT to let this annual Retreat end. Email them, write to them, approach and talk to them. Let them recognize that this is no longer just a PKS event, but a precious inheritance left behind by Drubwang Rinpoche and PKS management has the responsibility to keep it alive.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

_________________________________________________________________________________

Pls forward to your friends this message, as them to sign this petition at this address:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mani/petition.html

If you have a blog, do post it on your blog to spread awareness to it. If you can, please forward this message to your friends so more people can show support and keep the OM Retreat alive. Thanks!

~End of Post~






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自找苦吃的人生

聖嚴法師開示

沒有人喜歡受苦，總是希望快樂，所以會趨吉避凶、趨樂避苦、追求快樂。但是現實生活中，痛苦卻如影隨形、難以擺脫，而且追求快樂到最後，往往又都變成是苦的，這是為什麼呢?

這是因為追求快樂一定要付出代價和成本，否則這種快樂變成一種「負債」，苦就會接踵而至。就像一個人身上沒有錢卻想看電影，只有想辦法偷偷進電影院，起先一、兩次可能還不會發生問題，但是總被抓到的一天，被抓到之後，就有苦頭吃了。

不願付出代價所得到的快樂，終究會嘗到苦果，就算為了快樂而願意付出代價，也要歷經種種辛苦。例如，為了追求快樂，就必須先努力工作賺錢，好長一段時間後，才能擁有快樂的享受。但仔細想想，這樣的快樂豈不就是辛苦，甚至痛苦後的結果？所謂的「犒賞」、「獎賞」，就是辛苦工作之後得來的報酬。

俗話說：「天下沒有白吃的午餐。」就算只是吃一餐飯，也都是我們辛苦工作所得的成果，也是來自於老天的獎賞。古人說：「莫忘盤中飧，粒粒皆辛苦。」不要以為盤裡的食物得來容易，其實每一粒米都是農夫辛苦耕種得來的。一棵稻子播種之後，要好幾個月才能收成，這期間非常辛勞，只是大家吃飯的時候，很少會想到過程的艱辛。

人的一生之中，從呱呱落地到死亡為止，都在忙碌中度過，真正快樂的時候其實很少，因為只要有了生命、有了這個身體、要過生活，就必須付出代價，這就是辛苦。一般人以為夫妻結了婚、生了孩子，大概是快樂的，但是家家有本難念的經，孩子雖然很可愛，可以為你帶來很多安慰、快樂，但有時也會增加很多意想不到的負擔、困擾和麻煩。

為了化解生活中的煩惱和痛苦，現代社會出現了許多娛樂設施以及消遺休憩環境，例如PUB、KTV等，表面上提供人們很多歡樂，其實這種快樂都只是瞬間的麻醉，短時間內能放鬆頭腦，讓身體、五官受一點刺激，接受不同的訊息，得到暫時的調劑，但不等於真正的快樂。

這就像眼睛發癢時用手去抓，抓的時候覺得很快樂、很滿足，但結果卻是更紅、更癢、更不舒服。又像患香港腳的人，用熱開水泡、用手抓癢時，當下會覺得很舒服，但如果不小心抓破了皮，反而會更痛、更不舒服。所以，快樂不但是苦的結果，也是另一個苦的開始。

由此可知，人生本是苦多樂少，我們的一生汲汲於追求消滅痛苦的方式，都只是治標而已，非但不能得到真正的快樂，可能還會造成更大的痛苦。主要的原因，就是不知道痛苦發生，其實都是自己造成的。


●本單元文章同步刊於法鼓山全球資訊網 - 聖嚴法師





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How Mindfulness Works When Not Working

adapted from a talk by Gil Fronsdal January 1st, 2001

In practicing mindfulness, it can be helpful to remember that the practice works even when it doesn’t work. Perhaps this is explained best through an analogy.

Consider a mountain stream where the water is quite clear, and seems placid and still. But if you place a stick into the water, a small wake around the stick shows that in fact the water is flowing. The stick is the reference point needed to notice the movement of the water.

Similarly, the practice of mindfulness is a reference point for noticing aspects of our lives which we may not have noticed. This is especially true for mindfulness of breathing. In trying to stay present for the breath, you may become aware of the concerns and the momentum of the mind that pull the attention away from the breath. If you can remain with the breath, then obviously mindfulness of breathing is working. However, if your attempt to stay with the breath results in increased awareness of whatever is pulling you away from the breath, then the practice is also working.

Without the reference of mindfulness practice, it is quite easy for to remain unaware of the preoccupations, tensions, and momentum operating in one’s life. For example, if you are busily doing many things, the concern for getting things done can blind you to the tension building in the body and mind. Only by stopping to be mindful may you become aware of the tensions and feelings that are present.

Sometimes it is only through your attempts to be with the breath that you see the speed with which the mind is racing. Riding on a train, if you focus on the mountains in the distance, you might not notice the speed of the train. However, if you bring your attention closer, the rapidly disappearing telephone poles next to the train tracks reveal the train’s speed. Even when you have trouble staying with the breath, your continued effort to come back to the breath can highlight what might otherwise be unnoticed, i.e., the speedy momentum of the mind. In fact, the faster the mind and the greater the preoccupation, the greater the need for something close by like the breath to help bring an awareness of what is going on. That awareness, in turn, often brings some freedom from the preoccupation.

When staying with the breath during meditation is difficult, it is easy to be discouraged. However, that difficulty is an opportunity to become better aware of the forces of mind and the feelings causing the distractions. Remember, if we learn from what is going on, regardless of what is happening, the practice is working, even when it may not appear to be working because we aren’t able to stay with the breath.

Even when it is relatively easy to stay with the breath, mindfulness of the breathing can still function as an important reference point. In this case it may not be for the strong forces of distraction, but rather for subtler thoughts and feeling that may lie close to the root of our concerns and motivations. Don’t pursue those thoughts or feelings. Simply be aware of their presence while continuing to develop the meditation on the breath, so that the breath can become an even more refined reference point. When settled on the breath, the heart becomes clear, peaceful, and still. Then, like a mountain pool, the heart begins to reflect all that is around it.




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