Enjoy The World But Free From Clinging And Craving

The world is not a bad thing nor a good thing. It is not a happy place nor a suffering place. It is just being what it is. The world is subject to impermanence. If we have resistance towards impermanence, if we are not happy with what is happening in the world, we will be very uncomfortable and unpeaceful being in the world. The world is manifested from the mind. When the mind stops, the world vanishes.

We are being in the world. We want to be able to be at peace while being in the world. Running away from the world won’t stop the mind. And thus we will still be unpeaceful due to the restlessness and dissatisfaction of the mind even though we are away from the world, away from everything. We can close our eyes and ears, not seeing anything and not hearing anything, we can sit still not moving the body, not doing anything, not going anywhere, but the mind is still unceasingly moving, constructing, scheming, imagining and acting. We can runaway from the world but we cannot runaway from our mind. It is the mind giving us all the dissatisfaction, irritation, frustration, disappointment, fear, worry, restlessness, disturbance, affliction, depression, aggression, greed, jealousy, anger, hatred, arrogance and all types of experiences. It is not the world causing us unhappiness or make us suffer. It is our own mind. The problem is not with the world but it is with our mind.

In order to be free from all these affliction, we need to know how to purify our mind and not attach to the mind. By not attaching to the mind, naturally we will not be attaching to the world even though we are in the world and are enjoying the world.

We can enjoy the world but not attaching to what we enjoy. That is without clinging and craving. Nor do we rejecting or resisting the things that we don’t enjoy.

Purification is very important for us to transcend the world. Having all the impurities in the mind, we are being affected and influenced by all these impurities unwittingly. We act and react according to these impurities – irritation, frustration, disappointment, fear, worry, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, arrogance, depression, aggression etc…

These are the places where we practice non-attachment and letting go. Through non-attachment and letting go, we are purifying the impurities eventually. The impurities will become lesser and weaker, and will have no power to influence us anymore when we stop react towards all these impurities.

We remain equanomous undisturbed by the impurities that sprung up in the mind. The mind will be calm and clear. With a calm and clear mind, we will have no problem even though we are in the mist of disturbance in the world.

We need to know how to give up all the clingings and cravings before we can really enjoy the world. If we enjoy the world with our clinging and craving to the enjoyments, it is not really “enjoyment” anymore because it will be mixed with fear, worry, expectation, greed, envy or jealousy, lustful desire, dissatisfaction and disappointment.

There is nothing wrong with enjoyment. It is the clinging and craving that is causing the affliction. If we don’t know how to stay detached from it, we will be in unhappiness and suffering, that’s all. It will be so meaningless and depressing if we cannot enjoy our lives while being in the world for our entire lifetime. If everything is colour-less, sound-less, smell-less, taste-less, feel-less, it will be so dulled. Imagine if we cannot enjoy the taste of the food anymore, or if we have extreme pain in the mouth or in the throat or in the stomach everytime when we eat, or we have pain in the lungs when we breathe, or if we have difficulties to pee or shit. If we cannot enjoy comfortably all these basic things that we have to do everyday for the maintainence of life, then what is the meaning of enjoying other things that are not essential to the survival of our physical body.

And so we should be grateful while we still can enjoy looking, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling, moving, breathing, digesting, peeing, shitting, walking, running, jumping and etc. As well as be thankful for the incredible function of the mind. But let us enjoy the world without the greed, clingings and cravings. Enjoy everything with gratitude, appreciation, gratefulness and contentment. And not harming ourselves or other beings while we enjoy the world.

We don’t need to look for the enjoyment or chase after any enjoyments, but we enjoy what is already in front of us at this present moment now. Enjoying our breath, our heartbeat. Enjoying what we eat, what we see, what we smell, what we hear, what we feel at this present moment now. Not longing for what we don’t see, don’t eat, don’t smell, don’t hear, don’t feel at this present moment now. This is real enjoyment without attachment and expectation. This is enjoyment without suffering.

There is nothing evil when the mind is pure. It is a beautiful mind when it is pure. A beautiful mind manifests a beautiful world. A peaceful mind manifests a peaceful world. A dissatisfy and lustful mind manifests a dissatisfy and lustful world. Without the function of the mind, there is no perception of the senses. It is like there is no electricity to light up the light bulbs, there will be no lights. Having the organs of eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin, but without the mind, they are not useful for us at all.

The mind wants to do evil actions and evil speech but “I” don’t give in nor react, not moving my body and my organ of speech, and thus the mind cannot act at all. We become the master of our mind, and not the mind mastering us. Be free from our own mischievous impure mind is the real practice in yoga. Watch the mind and not let the mind controlling us. When we are free from the impure mind, we will be free from all the affliction that exist in the world.

It is this mind that gives us delusion and ignorance. It is also the same mind that gives us freedom and enlightenment. Through this mind, we are experiencing the world. Without the mind, there is no world, no experience, no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no thoughts. Beyond the mind is complete silence, stillness, oneness. No more separateness, no birth, no death, no happiness, no unhappiness, no positive, no negative, no good, no evil.

May all be free while enjoying our lives in the world when we are still being with this decaying body with the function of the hands and feet, the organs, the senses and the mind. Make good use of this lifetime. Be kind to ourselves and to all beings.

Throw away the meaningless egoism. Free ourselves from the likes and dislikes that are generated by the ego.

Be happy.

Why Do We Practice Yoga?

Many people practice yoga now in the world. Maybe different people have different reasons why we want to practice yoga. The greatest goal of yoga practice is for us to realize the Self, to attain wisdom and to transcend suffering, be free. In order to achieve that, we need to purify our mind and still the mind, and yoga practice can help us to achieve that.

There is nothing wrong with people just want to do some physical exercise using the asana poses, or people want to destress by using the methods as prescribed in yoga practice, or just want to achieve good health and a strong body. Somehow yoga is available for everyone by manifesting itself in many ways in different names and forms.

In the tradition of yoga practice, we are doing some practices for purifying and strengthening the body and the mind to prepare ourselves to meditate upon the Truth or the Self, in order to transcend all the names and forms, and to attain wisdom to free ourselves from ignorance which is the cause of all suffering.

Non-attachment or non-identification with the body and mind is the basic practice. The body and the mind act as an instrument for us to attain self-realization. We need to appreciate and be grateful for the body and mind allowing us to know the wisdom and to transform ourselves.

Challenging our body to perform a lot of difficult and extra ordinary yoga poses does not bring us extra wisdom nor remove ignorance and unhappiness in us, if we don’t know the real meaning of yoga practice behind all the physical appearances, abilities and actions. Whether a person can perform any asanas or not, does not determine the person is free from suffering or not. It doesn’t guarantee that if we can perform such difficult asanas, our suffering will automatically be less or be completely gone. It doesn’t mean that if we can only perform simple asanas, we will not be free from suffering.

Transcending suffering or attaining wisdom has got nothing to do with the abilities of the physical body to do this and that. The asana practice and pranayama practice are there to help us to influence the prana in our body which is for calming the mind. It also will unblock certain energy blockage in us which will help us to release lots of physical and mental tensions which is part of the impurities in us that preventing us from realizing the Self. As well as it can bring us to the deeper level of our subtle consciousness. But all these can be achieved just by performing some basic asanas and regular pranayama practice.

It is not necessary that we need to perform complicated asanas which require super flexibility and strength. There are many people who can perform complicated amazing physical poses with they strong and flexible body, and there are many people can only perform simple physical poses due to inflexibility and physically weak, but that really doesn’t determine a person is free from suffering or not, is wise or not, is happy or not. Nor can it determine a person can “do” yoga or not. It is all happening in the mind beyond the physical level.

In fact, sometimes when our body can perform such complicated asanas can be empowering our ego and generate pride and arrogance in us. While if our body cannot perform those complicated asanas might upset our ego and generate frustration, disappointment and low self-confidence in us. This is due to attachment and wrong identification with our body and mind. This is lack of wisdom.

In tradition, yoga asana practice is to make our body flexible and strong (especially the spine for us to sit up straight), in order for us to be able to sit still for meditation comfortably, unmoved or undisturbed by the surrounding and to go beyond the bodily sensations. So that we can have full concentration, calmness and stillness of the mind to “see” our true nature – the Self.

It is the non-attachment towards the body and the mind, non-attachment towards whatever the mind perceives through the senses, the level of self-control over the thoughts, actions and speech, as well as the cultivation of compassion and wisdom, selflessness, dispassion and discrimination of the real and unreal, detaching from all the dualities of names and forms, thinning out the ego and eradicating all the impurties in our mind which are the real factors that indicate whether we will transcend suffering or not.

All the moral restraints and observances, asana practice, pranayama practice, withdrawal of the senses, concentration practice and meditation practice (yoga practice), and all types of different paths of yoga (Raja yoga, Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, Bhakti yoga, Kundalini yoga, Hatha yoga, Laya yoga, Nada yoga, Kriya yoga…) are there to purify the body and the mind, to free ourselves from evil thoughts and evil doings, and be free from all negativity, developing divine qualities, in order to render our mind pure and calm, stilling the thought waves, so that wisdom can arise in us. The dawn of wisdom, is the disappearing of ignorance. Without ignorance, there is no more suffering.

And this is the main purpose of all yoga practice – to allow wisdom to arise in us.

May all be free from suffering through yoga practice.

PS: This doesn’t mean that people who are not practicing yoga or Buddhism will not attain self-realization or wisdom and be free. Wisdom doesn’t belong to any cultures, philosophies or religion beliefs. Everyone, whether they are practicing yoga or not, are all having the same wisdom in the heart waiting to be realized and are entitled to be free as long as they know selflessness, non-attachment and letting go… Yoga and Buddhism is just one of the ways to realize the wisdom in us. Peace to all.

About Vichara – Self-inquiry

Self-inquiry is the main study in the path of Yoga. All the other yoga practices are there to help us in the inquiry of the Self. And this self-inquiry will lead us to self-realization. Self-realization is knowing our true Self. It can only be realized through a pure mind and pure intellect. By knowing our true Self, all the wisdom is unleashed. We will be full, content and at peace. It removes all the dissatisfaction, incompleteness and restlessness.

And thus all the yoga practices are there to purify our mind and the intellect to render our mind and the intellect pure and fit for self-realization. While all the divine qualities that we need to develop in our hearts is the fuel and light that keep us going and will lead us to the right direction towards self-realization.

There are many methods in the pursue of self-inquiry. But without a pure mind and tranquility, all the methods will not be effective.

The basic way is to purify ourselves first. Remove the impurities in us, such like anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, pride and arrogance, judgment, comparison, competition and expectation. Eliminate the ego. Develop non-identification with the body and mind. Letting go of the past and the future. Practice concentration and be at the present moment. Have control over our thoughts, action and speech. Letting go of all the doubts, fear and worry.

Develop strong faith, non-attachment, dispassion and right discrimination. Develop patience, forbearance, perseverance, determination, courage, cheerfulness, positive thinking, humility, simplicity, gratitude, contentment, acceptance, adjustment, accommodation, forgiveness, loving kindness, selflessness, compassion and wisdom. Renounce from the fruit of actions.

Abstain from gossiping, slandering, mocking, back bitting, meaningless conversation, telling lies, empty promises, lustful activities and immoral activities. Cultivate equality, sameness, oneness, non-separateness, non-duality.

Detach from the thoughts, feelings and sensations. Detach from likes and dislikes. Detach from craving and aversion. Detach from what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch and think.

Practice asana and pranayama to purify our mind and calming the mind. This is to render the body and the mind under controlled and strong enough to prepare ourselves for further self-contemplation.

Slowly develop strong habit in meditation, contemplating on the Truth. Engage in wholesome activities that will bring peace and harmony to oneself and other beings. Abstain from unwholesome activities that will bring disharmony and unpeacefulness for oneself and other beings.

Expand our minds. Expand our hearts. Develop unlimited and unconditioned compassion towards oneself and other beings.

Perform selfless service. Serve God and serve all without attaching to the action and the fruit of action.

Eventually we will know how to go beyond our body and the mind. We will go beyond all the phenomena in the world. We will be undisturbed, unaffected, uninfluenced by what is happening within and without our body. We will know that without this mind, the world doesn’t exist at all. Without this mind (our life existence in the world), who is this body? Where is my family? Who is my friend? What do I like and don’t like? What do I want and don’t want? What is good and not good? What is happiness and unhappiness?

Everything sprung from my mind. Without the mind, nothing exists, nothing matters, nothing to be perceived.

All the above practices are to purify our minds.

Once the mind is purified, everything will come into places for us naturally. We don’t have to go to anywhere to look for a teacher. The teacher is just right here within us. There is no use of reading many books, but not knowing the nameless, formless, eternal book of wisdom within us.

At the end, what is the purpose or reason for us to perform various types of yoga practices and wanting to attain self-realization? It is to acquire wisdom. And why do we want to acquire wisdom? So that we will have the knowledge to know the truth, remove all the doubts, ignorance and discontentment in us. Why do we want to remove doubts, ignorance and discontentment? So that we will be at peace, and attain true and lasting meaningful happiness. Why do we want to be at peace? It’s because we don’t want to have unhappiness and suffering. Why do we have unhappiness and suffering? It’s because we are ignorant, not knowing the truth, having painful sorrow, doubts, fears and worries. And why are we not knowing the truth and are ignorant? It’s because we don’t have wisdom, the pure knowledge. And why do we don’t have wisdom? It’s because of the veil of ignorance (impurities).

And So, everything that we do in the path of yoga is aiming at purifying our mind, remove all the impurities for us to attain wisdom. With wisdom, all our doubts, problems, unhappiness and suffering will be solved, disappeared.

This wisdom has got nothing to do with what our body can do and cannot do, nor it has anything to do with how many books that we have read in the world. Because all the knowledge that we can get through reading books cannot guarantee us true happiness and peace of mind. It cannot remove ignorance (not knowing what is real and unreal), anger, hatred, jealousy, greed, discontentment, pride and arrogance, irritation, frustration, disappointment, unhappiness and suffering from us. But the knowledge that we get from reading books can act as a subject for us to contemplate whether it is true or not true. This can help us to purify our intellect to develop discrimination of the real and unreal.

While wisdom that we all are having in us all the time, is the removal of all these afflictions and suffering. Because it teaches us and allows us to know the truth of everything, and to accept the reality as it is, and to let go. Wisdom is not something that we keep in the mind but it is what we live in. We live in wisdom and wisdom is reflected in our everyday lives, and keep us away from unhappiness, fear and worry.

May we all be endowed with all the qualities for us to move towards the state of no qualities.

May all attain self-realization (wisdom) through self-inquiry – Vichara.