Be Happy

I wish all of you love and peace…

No need to look at other people’s do or don’t do, good or not good…

Just take good care of our own hearts and be happy…

This is the one thing that will benefit other people and ourselves…

Om Shanti,

Meng Foong

About Simplicity

Simplicity comes along with contentment, humility, gratitude and appreciation. When we are endowed with such qualities in our hearts, life is definitely happier even though it might not be easier. Life can be not easy but our hearts can be happy.

For people who find that any philosophies of yoga and Buddhism is too complicated and difficult to understand or to practice in life, know that we just need to be simple. We simplify everything that seems to be complicated, and from simplification of things will eventually lead to zero problem in everything. We don’t see any problems in things anymore.

For example, many people couldn’t grasp what is the attributeless Self, namelessness and formlessness, non-self and who we really are. If we can’t understand these few things, we can’t really know how to not attach to things, impermanence, our lives, our bodies and the mind. It is also very difficult for us to accept everything as it is without any judgments, comparisons, criticism and expectations. We also don’t know how to not having likes and dislikes towards everything that we come in contact with our senses. Because we will be attached strongly towards this physical body, its functions and life experiences, and identify ourselves with it and thinking that this is who we are and whatever related to this physical body and its life is what we are. We attached strongly to “our” mind, “our” senses, “our” thoughts and “our” feelings. We will also attach strongly to “our” wealth, properties, health, ability, appearance, self-image, individual identification, pride and arrogance, knowledge, experiences, social status, achievements, culture, relationships and what we like and dislike.

We will also attach to all the “ideas” that are being planted deep into our minds from “somebody” and “somewhere” and “who knows where it really comes from”, that telling us lives should be like this or like that, and we should be behaving in such and such way. And if we don’t comply to those ideas, we will be defined by the people who live in these ideas as weird, crazy, sinful and bad.

It is very difficult for us to understand the terms “we are not this body” and “we are not this mind”, and to let go all these attachments that we already have since we were small and still continue to create and accumulate more and more new attachments into our lives, and it’s very difficult for us to stop believe that this is what we are and life should be this way.

To simplify this philosophy of finding out who we really are, we just need to know what we really are not. We might be temporary being this and that, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, sometimes healthy, sometimes sick, from a baby to a young man to an old man to a dead body. But what is beyond this momentory appearances or transitory conditions of the body and the mind, is something that is unchangeable and eternal.

So, if anyone wants to know who we really are and still couldn’t find a true identity of ourselves, and start to give up searching or else we will become mad and lost our mind, then try to look at the other option – not searching for who we are but searching for who we are not. Very soon our minds will be wide opened and we can understand many things that we couldn’t understand in the past.

Apply this “the other option” philosophy in other things that we couldn’t solve their problems. We might find out the right answer to our long time stubborn problems that have been bothering us in our hearts and in our lives.

The more simple we are, the less problems we will have or the problems will solve themselves once we let go of them. When there is no problems, where is doubt, fears and worries?

May all beings be happy.

About Acceptance

Some people are confused about acceptance and letting go means giving up and not striving our best effort in anything. This is a huge confusion. It is normal for the arising of confusion towards many words and terms for their original or true meanings. Because many people have different interpretation of words and terms. And also different levels of understanding and different mentality will bring different translations for many things in life.

People who are negative will interprete almost everything negatively. While positive mind people will interprete the same things positively. Everything has both negative side and positive side. It depends on us which side that we want to see it and take it. Either it will make us feel better or worst.

But yoga and Buddhism teach us to let go both negative and positive qualities, see beyond all the names and forms, and accept everything as it is. Not having any judgments, comparisons, criticism and expectations. Not trying to interfere with the law of karma and impermanence. Accept the Truth as it is provided if we know the Truth of things. We can’t say anything to those who can’t see the Truth of things and ask them to accept things as it is. This will cause them more confusion, irritation and frustration.

The acceptance that we want to practice here is about give our best effort in any pursues but do not attach to the result. It also means renounce the fruit of our actions.

When we sincerely and honestly want to do something, we do our best without any expectations. It is like when we build the road for the convenience of other people to use the road, we don’t mind if people are grateful or not, showing appreciation or not, and it is not our responsibility if the road is damaged or some accidents happen due to the cause of nature or man’s fault.

We accept ourselves as we are, accept the forever changing condition of the physical body and the mind. Know that any feelings whether they are good or bad, they are very momentary, transitory and will disappear sooner or later. If we attached to any of these feelings that keep arising and passing away in our mind, we will be mad – sometimes getting very excited and sometimes getting very depressed. And from one mood can change to another mood very regularly – mood swing. But know that this is something very normal and common that is happening to almost everyone except those who know how to not attach to all these feelings and do not react to them. For this is a normal habit of all the minds of everyone, we need to accept this phenomena as it is, and not generating more negativity. But if we have the awareness of what is going on in the mind, we practice non-attachment and self-control to avoid doing something stupid that will hurt other people and ourselves. For those who have no awareness of what is going on in the mind and identify with the mind, and react towards the condition of the mind, then there is nothing we can do about it but to accept them as they are. Be compassionate towards all beings especially the beings that are suffering due to unaware of their own mind and forgive their reactions that are hurtful and selfish.

We need to accept the imperfection in us and in everyone as living beings being limited and conditioned by the impermanence and law of karma. We stop judging ourselves and others. We stop comparing ourselves with others or with our own self in the past. We stop having expectation towards others and our own self. Because we know that the condition of the body and the mind is forever changing not the same anymore. We can’t even judge ourselves and compare ourselves now with the past experience, how can we judge others and compare with other people?

We accept other people as they are and accept everyone for being imperfect as well under the circumstances of life existence.

We can’t please everybody in this world of many individuals with different types of understanding and mentality.

If we can’t let go the past and can’t accept what had already happened, and keep holding on to the past experiences and feelings, we are creating suffering for ourselves. It is not the unhappy happenings or the people that involved in the happenings that make us suffer. It is our own self had attached to all the happenings and couldn’t let go, and couldn’t accept the truth about something that had already happened and we can’t go back to the past to undo what had happened, nor can we preserve something that was very happy and beautiful, that is making us suffer now and will continue to suffer.

Acceptance is not separated from letting go. Letting go is acceptance. Acceptance and letting go is something that happens at the present moment now. We are letting go all the good and bad thoughts, feelings and sensations at this present moment now, from moment to moment. We do not attach to the past memories that come up to the surface. It is very good that these old supressed feelings come up to the surface. If we can stay detached and let them go, it is a very good purification process. It clears up a lot of “rubbish” and “burden” in our heart. We will become lighter and lighter.

Maybe yesterday I felt sad when I thought about something in the past, but that was already the past also. Now, at this present moment, all the thoughts and feelings (whether they are arising from the past memories or from what is happening now), we just be aware, watch them arising and passing away without paying any attention to them, not giving any values or meanings to them, not generating any reactions towards them and let them go.

If we can let go whatever that is happening from moment to moment and accept everything as it is, not resisting or fighting against the law of karma and impermanence, surrender ourselves for the nature to take care of everything, we will not have any fears and worries anymore. We will not have irritation, frustration, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, disappointment and unhappiness.

To accept that at this present moment now, this is what my body can do and cannot do. Accept that this is the ability of my physical body, and this is the condition of my body and the mind at this present moment now, without any judgments or expectations, and not to compare with others or with our own past experience. Be very comfortable with our own self, the body and the mind. If we cannot be comfortable with our own self and are very unhappy with the body and the mind, we are creating suffering for ourselves.

To accept that all my past experiences and happenings in life (whether happy or unhappy, right or wrong, good or bad) had already gone, it is the past already.

To accept that I have done my very best in all my pursues but whatever the results are, is not in my control. I can aim my bow and arrow towards the target, and shoot the arrow with full attention and effort, but whatever happens after that, either the arrow hits the target or a bird just happen to fly by and being hit by the arrow, it is not my responsibility anymore. Or maybe the strong wind blew the arrow to the side and missed the target, or the target fell onto the ground before the arrow hits it. We can feel sorry and compassionate towards that poor bird, but we cannot blame ourselves for that accident. It is nobody’s fault. Not the shooter, not the arrow, not the wind and not the bird. It is not our intention at all and it just happens due to a karmic reason why it happens during that time and at that place.

To accept that we all are imperfect and we cannot please everyone at the same time.

To accept that we all have to go through impermanence – birth, growth, decay, old age, illness, pain and death towards this physical body. But our true nature is not affected by impermanence and is forever exist without any qualities of name and form, and is beyond birth and death.

To accept that all minds are changing all the time, we cannot have judgment or expectation towards our own self or towards other people. Because our body and the mind will not be the same anymore from time to time.

To accept that whatever in the past had already gone and the future doesn’t really exist at all in this present moment now. We cannot hold on to the past or the future. We can only be at the present moment now, from moment to moment. Or else we will be creating lots of tensions, unhappiness, disharmony, disappoinment, frustration, fears and worries in ourselves.

To accept that there is no body in this world of life existence including all the saints and sages can avoid impermanence. We have no choice but to let go when impermanence strikes, and be grateful and happy while we are still here able to enjoy and experience so many things and to learn what is selflessness and non-attachment with this conditioned body, the mind and the senses.

To accept the truth as it is, accept everything as it is, accept everyone as they are, accept ourselves as we are. We can do our best for the benefits of everyone and the world, but we need to accept the law of karma and impermanence which is governing all the happenings in the world and in other people’s lives. We can only control and change our own karma but we cannot interfere or change other people’s karma.

Since we only have a presumable limited life span, very limited youth and strong body, why not we make good use of this life, its youth and good health to do meaningful things that will benefit all, let go all the unhappiness and discrimination, and be happy? Why do we waste our time and effort in meaningless arguments, conflicts, complaints, gossips, slanderings, harmful activities, wars, killings, hatred, depression and unhappiness? Many people who are very frustrated, angry and negative will not care about others because they are already very unhappy in life. We should be compassionate towards them and not being angry and frustrated about it. But we all can put aside our own problems and unhappiness, and dedicate our time and effort to benefit others. And this will really remove all our unhappiness and negativity. By being unhappy and negative all the time cannot remove the unhappiness and negativity in us but will increase them day by day. And by giving and sharing with others (loving kindness and compassion) without attachment to the fruit of actions, will remove all the sadness, selfishness and negativity in us.

May all beings be happy.

My Life – “Dedicated” To Yoga And Dharma

Om Namah Sivayah.

What is the most precious thing that we all are having with us all the time eternally that has never been separated from us and never will?

Not my decaying body, not my unrest mind, not my breathing, not my heartbeat, not my knowledge, not my memories, not my family, not my parents, not my children, not my spouse, not my friends, not my teachers, not my senses, not my ego, not my feelings, not my thoughts, not my house, not my job, not my success, not my achievement, not my duty, not my responsibility, not my wealth, not my health, not my beauty, not my youth, not my learning, not my happiness, not my unhappiness, not my birth, not my death, not my things, not anything that will change and disappear. Not the life, not the world, not the sun, not the air, not the water, not the earth, not the space, not the universe, not the heaven, not the hell. All these things will change and disappear also. Anything that will change and impermanent, is just temporary and momentary existing.

It’s my Self, the pure Self, not my selfish egoistic “self”. The only thing that is unchanging, unconditioned by impermanence, forever exist, pure existence, pure awareness, pure knowledge and pure bliss, is the Self – Satchidananda.

Even if we come to a stage that we are so tired with impermanence and all the unhappiness and suffering in life and had lost all the faith on all the things so called “family”, “friendships”, “education”, “community”, “relationships”, “religion”, “belief”, “faith”, “ancient teachings”, “culture”, “myths”, “fairy tales”, “science”, “black magic”, “dharma”, “meditation”, “enlightenment”, “the Truth”, or “God”, and stop searching for anything, feeling so meaningless and exhausted, don’t want to believe in anything at all, and don’t care about what is going to happen to ourselves and the entire world anymore, we will always know that this Self has never abandon us, never condemn us, never judge us, never give up on us and never expecting anything from us.

It is forever here with us, being absolutely faithful and loyal to us, comforting us, guiding us and supporting us. It is our one and only greatest teacher and companion, because all the other teachers and everything else (both living beings and non-living beings) that we perceive in this life existence is also a manifestation from the Self. There is no separation between the Self and “I”, and everything else (living beings and non-living beings).

I am that I am. I am not this, I am not that. No name, no form, no shape, no colour, no sound, no smell, no taste, no feel, no thought, no good, no bad, no past, no future, no cause, no effect, no likes, no dislikes, no craving, no aversion, no attachment, no detachment, no purity, no impurity, no birth, no death, no beginning, no ending, no ignorance, no wisdom, no fears, no worries, no realization, no enlightenment, no happiness, no unhappiness, no suffering, no end of suffering. Emptiness is form. Form is emptiness. The Self is everything. Everything is the Self.

Free, unlimited, unconditioned, eternal, content, peaceful silence.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.

When we stop identify with anything that is impermanent, and stop looking at other people’s good and bad, what other people do and don’t do, how other people act and react, and stop all the judging, comparing, competing, criticizing and expecting towards other people and our own self, we will be at peace immediately. No more fears, worries, irritation, frustration, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, low self-esteem, agression, depression, disappointment and unhappiness. No more looking for something to fill up the “emptiness” in us – the meaning of life existence, because we are full, whole and content.

Because at the end, nothing really matters. The world will still be what it is going to be. Everything will still be what it is going to be. Everyone will still be what they are going to be, either happy or unhappy, content or discontent, attaching or letting go. If we want to change “the world”, we just need to change “ourselves”. It is our own perception of the mind that is moulding the world that we are having now. If my mind is not there, the world doesn’t exist for me at all. There is no world when there is no mind. The world is a projection of the mind. It is because of my own mind and the senses, that I feel pain, pleasure, comfort, discomfort, happy and unhappy. If we don’t know this, we will be in unhappiness and suffering, full of irritation, frustration, anger, hatred and disappointment. We can’t control anything out there but we can control our own self.

The only existence is the present moment now from moment to moment where the awareness is. The past and the future doesn’t exist at this present moment now. We can only explain that now is the future for the past, and now is the past for the future. But the only existence is the present moment, from moment to moment.

By knowing this, I am sharing this understanding with others through giving yoga classes and giving dharma talk without the limitation of time and place. Anywhere and anytime I am not separated from yoga and dharma. Even when it seems like I am not doing anything, I am still having yoga and dharma in my heart all the time and through my thoughts, I continue to share yoga and dharma with all. Life is not separated from yoga and dharma. The entire life existence is yoga and dharma. It is not something that I do or believe or practice, it is what I live, the existence of “I”, the knower of the awareness of everything.

I am learning unceasingly while I am teaching. I gain or lose nothing while I am sharing. There is no gain and no loss. The path is no more just a path for me to walk on, but it is already one with me and not separated from me. I am no more doing the practices but I am the practice itself.

When I “dedicated” myself to yoga and dharma, I am dedicated to the Self, dedicated to all and everything, because all and everything is not separated from yoga and dharma. Yoga and dharma is not separated from the Self. When I am no more separated from the Self, there is no more “dedication”.

May all beings be happy.

“I Am Transparent”

One day I came across a young man who felt he had been insulted and mistrusted. He just smiled and said – It’s okay, I am transparent, although seeing tears in his eyes I know that he was hurt and felt sad.

Well, if we still haven’t detached from our ego and names and forms yet, we can use this saying to help us to go through difficult situations and to train ourselves to become strong and not bother about any insult or abuse.

Transparent might be used to explain namelessness and formlessness, but even being labeled as “transparent” is also a name and form. It is still bound by name and form. The person who said this still felt hurt, but was also being strong at the same time. There is still “a word” or “a sound” or “an action” being recognized as an insult but the person tries to endure or ignore the insult. There is still a person giving the insult and another person receiving the insult.

If we practice namelessness and formlessness, we won’t give any values to words, sounds, or actions. We see all negative and positive intentions are equal, all praise and censure are equal. When a person says something bad to us in a language that we don’t recognize, what is there for us to perceive as an insult? When a person does something bad to us in the way that we don’t recognize, what is there for us to perceive as abuse?

It is because we, or our mind, gives good and bad valuations to everything that we see and hear and makes us feel praised or insulted. It is our ego that likes praise very much but strongly rejects insults. If we can stop identifying with our mind and the ego, we will not be affected by what we see or hear. That is similar to the meaning of namelessness and formlessness. It is not that we can’t see or hear anything. The action is there, the sound is there, but if we give them no value at all, then “where” is the praise and “what” is the insult? When we are selfless, then “who” is being praised or insulted? When we realized that we are not separated from all, then “who” is there giving praise or insults? If there is praise or insult, “I” am the one who give it to “myself”.

We can’t deny that we have a body to experience pain and pleasure. We have a life to live. We have responsibilities that we need to carry out. We have family and friends that need our attention and love and care. We have happy feelings and unhappy feelings. Everyone, including rich and famous people, has to go through all these so called life experiences, including those people who chose to renounce the world and become a Sannyasin – a monk or a nun, except their responsibility now is towards everybody and not just towards their families and friends. Sannyasins also have feelings, but one of their duties towards themselves is to detach from their feelings and emotions and not be affected by them.

Not being affected by our feelings doesn’t mean ignoring them or suppressing them, but by not identifying with them and letting them pass away.

Please take note that real detachment is not about letting go of our relationship with our family or our partner, or being irresponsible towards our family and our work.

It is letting go of the expectations and judgments towards our loved ones, so that their actions and reactions will not affect our tranquility, clarity, faith, practice, self -improvement and self-control.

Real detachment is detachment from our own mind, our thoughts, our ego, our physical body and our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Once we become detached from all these “things” which are within our self, then whatever happens out there will not affect us at all. Everything out there will have no power to make us happy or unhappy.

And it doesn’t matter if we are with somebody or on our own, or whether we have a family life or are single and independent, or whether we renounce the world or stay in the world. Our faith and the meaning of life remain the same, our spiritual understanding and the goal of all spiritual practice remains the same.

It is not about neglecting or denying our life or what we are doing. It is about living in the world but not being affected by all the ups and downs in our life and all that is happening in the world. We see all beings are equal and everything that happens in the world is the same. Detach from the dualities of praise and censure, heat and cold, likes and dislikes, cravings and aversions, happiness and suffering, beauty and ugliness, young and old, strong and weak, healthy and ill, rich and poor, gain and loss, birth and death.

Detachment from duality and whatever we perceive with our mind and the senses is true detachment. We are being fooled and blinded by our own mind and the ego all the time. It is not the smart intellect that can give us peace of mind – in fact it gives us so many troubles, fears and worries.

Letting go of our fears and worries which make us so tense and anxious all the time is the real detachment.

To annihilate the ego is the essence of all detachment.

It is because of the ego that we need to practice detachment in order to transcend suffering. Without the ego, there is no suffering, there is no need for detachment and there is no need for Yoga practice. The world is okay, life is okay, everyone and everything is fine without this ego.

It is because of the ego that we have likes and dislikes, anger, greed, lust, jealousy, arrogance, depression and low self esteem, feel good or feel bad about ourselves and towards other people. It is because of the ego, we think that we are very good or not good enough. It is because of the ego that we want “this” and don’t want “that”.

All this makes us suffer and feel unhappy, whereas in fact “thinking” that our suffering is the fault of people and events out there, is what make us suffer and unhappy.

It is due to fears and worries that we want to be in power and in control of everything. If we truly understand the law of nature, we will stop wanting to control how things are, because we will have no more fears and worries, but we will have control over our own self and not desire to control anybody or anything outside of us. Our willpower is stronger than our mind, the ego and everything that can influence us.

A wise man will not try to manipulate or hypnotize anyone to do anything, even if it is out of a good intention because if manipulation or hypnotization works, people in the world could easily be manipulated or hypnotized to be good, to do good and the world would be in peaceful harmony. There wouldn’t be any wars or crimes. Although there were many saints and sages, like Buddha, in the world before, they didn’t use their power of enlightenment to manipulate or hypnotize anybody to listen to them and turn everybody into good people and take away people’s suffering with their great power. There would be no suffering in this world and no bad people in the world if any enlightened being could manipulate and hypnotize everybody easily with the power of hypnotism, to make the world into a harmonious place.

They did not.

Why?

Because of the law of nature, the law of karma and the Truth do not run by this way.

No doubt that the positive energy from an enlightened person can touch people’s hearts but it is up to everyone to think on their own, to act and to speak on one’s will. Everyone is the choreographer of their own destiny. If Buddha could have stopped all wars and suffering with his influencing power, he would have done it. But he didn’t, he just couldn’t.

Any act that is other than working on our own self-control is not the real practice for achieving liberation. Any so called short-cut that uses a certain type of manipulation or hypnotism or drug therapy which acts as an external energy to influence our mind or to control our thoughts, actions and speech, but not through self-enquiry, self-effort, self-control, purification and detachment, is not the path of self realization.

If a person sees some kind of image or hears some kind of sound in his attempt for achieving enlightenment by using external forces to help him and becomes attached to these phenomena, he might still be miserable and crave for more supernatural experiences by using such external forces. This is very far away from the Truth and self-realization.

If a person does all sorts of actions under hypnotism or under the influence of drugs without his own willpower to control his body and mind, and cannot perform the same actions without this external force, then this is certainly not the practice for self-realization, even if that action is supposed to be good for him.

Hypnotism is about influencing the energy fields in the body and mind, and manipulating the mind – it is an external force and causes temporary effect. If our mind is being controlled or influenced by an external force, it is not self-realization.

Anything that arises and passes away – momentary, impermanent or temporary, which changes, is not real. Using drugs or hypnotism to help someone get temporary relief from painful feelings or to perform certain acts or to experience something that is supernatural is not wrong – but it is not the end of suffering or the goal of our practice simply because it can’t permanently remove our ignorance – the cause of suffering. It can’t root out our ego, fears, worries, attachment to likes and dislikes, and it doesn’t destroy all our karma. It can’t liberate us from the cycle of birth and death – the body of suffering.

It is intuitional wisdom that leads us to liberation.

It is willpower and self-control – beyond all attributes, qualities, energies, elements, actions and inactivity, dualities, names and forms, which will free us from suffering permanently.

Prana affects or moves the mind, the mind affects the action and speech, but we learn to go beyond the mind, purify and control the mind. When our willpower is stronger than the mind (through self-control or self-restraint), the Prana (energy) no longer influences the mind and our willpower is the total controller of our action and speech. The Prana is influenced by the 3 gunas – sattva, rajas and tamas. Sattva makes us feel calm and peaceful, rajas makes us feel passionate and energetic, and tamas makes us feel lazy and negative. Our body and mind are governed by these gunas (energy). Vedanta teaches us to go beyond these 3 gunas, go beyond the energy and have total self-control over the body and mind. We should continue practice until we are one with all, where there is no internal or external energy, because there is no difference anymore. Internal is us, external is also us.

Real beneficial action for anybody should be done by oneself, with one’s willpower and with complete self-awareness.

Self-reliance and self-control is the path for liberation, absolute freedom. If we need to depend on anybody or anything to be “liberated”, it won’t be real liberation. This is the advice from all the saints and sages in the past.

May we all attain real freedom.