Everything is Impermanence

"Observe everything as impermanence," said Sayadaw U Vimala. I know that all things are impermanent but this is not meditation.

In tonight talk which is based on the Maha-salayatanika Sutta, Sayadaw U Vimala relate how the Buddha advices us to observe impermanence so that wrong views can be abandon.

Observed impermanence in one of these five things when we see. Which five? The eye sensitivity, the visual object, the eye consciousness, the eye contact and the feeling that arises from the eye contact.

The same goes to hearing, tasting, touching and smelling.

Therefore, Sayadaw said there is no excuse that we had no time to meditate. We have time to see, hear, taste, touch and smell. We only had to observe this as impermanence.

Most of the time, beginners in vipassana meditation are more exposed to kayanupassana more than the other vedananupassana, cittanupassana, or dhammanupassana. Maybe when one had practiced to an advanced stage, one will be more readily able to practice dhammanupassana.

Nevertheless, tonight Sayadaw had reminded us about the four fields of mindfulness that one had to practice in Vipassana Meditation.

Saddhu, sadhu, sadhu.

Respect the respected

Ven. Sayadaw is in Singapore so today we had invited Ajahn Santi for lunch. Ajahn Santi gives a short talk on respect or homage. Ajahn said, one should practice respect to the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha) and also to our parents.

At the time of the Buddha, a man and his wife brought their son to give dana to a Bhikkhu. The Bhikkhu blessed the two adults but not their son. When asked, the Bhikkhu foresees that the boy is going to die in 7 days.

Shocked and frightened, the parent and the son went to see the Buddha. The Lord Buddha also blessed the parent and not the son as the Buddha also said that the son will die in 7 days.
Pleaded with metta, the parent requested the Buddha to save their son and the Buddha decided to do so.

Together with a large retinue of bhikkhus (arahants and senior monks), Lord Buddha proceed to their house.
After placing the boy on a platform, the Buddha and the monks seated around the boy and chants were offered for 7 days and 7 nights.

The presence of the Buddha, Arahants and celestial beings (Devas and Brahmas) distanced the petas and asuras from the boy. After the 7th day, the boy is still alive.
Years passed by and the boy grew up. When asked why did the boy still alive, the Buddha said that it is through the respect to the Triple Gem that the boy is saved from the evil ones.

This lesson from Ajahn Santi today showed that a simple act of paying respect had high effect on our lives.
Sadhu, Sadhu and sadhu.

My Jati Day

The late Bhante Suvanno once said celebrating birthday is celebrating one more year less to your deathday, so do good now.

Heeding this wonderful advice, Amy and I perform our usual dana at BMBMC in conjunction to my birthday today. I am fortunate to be able to perform dana to Sayadaw even though Sayadaw U Vimala is away to Singqpore.

Hair of the Buddha

I had heard that there are Buddha's hair relics and also seen some Buddha rupa (images) that showed Buddha having hair on His head.

The Bhikkhus are all bald shaven, are the creators of the Buddha images making a mistake?

Thus, I asked Sayadaw U Vimala before yesterday's lunch dana. Sayadaw said the Buddha had hair on His head and not bald shaven as with the other the 32 greater and 80 lesser marks.

This clarify a nagging feeling that I had when I observed my Buddha rupa in my house.

Pindacara at Kota Permai Market

This morning Amy and I decided to get up early (around 6:30) to go to Kota Permai Market which is about 4 km away from our house. We reached the market about 8 am and waited for the Sayadaws and samaneras who finally arrived at 8.30 am.

A number of devotees arrived soon after and Sayadaws and samaneras lined themselves up at the entrance of the market.

Today there are more people giving food, probably because this is the last day of this year novitiate programme.

In Malaysia, especially in Penang, Buddhists here are very generous when it comes to religious activities. They do not mind donating food, money and other kinds of offering to the temples, bhikkhus and others. Most of the time we have excess of food and money donated by the devotees and with these excess food and money we in turn donated it to other charitable societies.

A big Sadhu to all.

Pindacara at BM market

Today, Amy and I followed Sayadaws and 20 samaneras for pindapatta at BM market. We left BMBMC at about 8 am and reaches our destination in 20 minutes.

Some of the devotees and helpers were already there waiting for our bus. We spent about 30 minutes there and after bagful of food stuff, all of us proceed back to BMBMC.

Sadhu, sadhu, sadhu to all involved, most of all the young samaneras who endured the whole process with patience and obedience.

Samanera programme in BMBMC

Lord Buddha once said in Dahara Sutta
"There are these four things, great king, that shouldn't be despised & disparaged for being young.

Which four? A noble warrior, great king, shouldn't be despised & disparaged for being young. A snake... A fire... And a monk shouldn't be despised & disparaged for being young. These are the four things that shouldn't be despised & disparaged for being young"

Today and for the next 10 days, twenty four young men decided to forgoes their school holidays to become samaneras in BMBMC under the guidance of Venerable Sayadaw U Vimala.
More pictures can be seen in this link.