The lamp in your heart

20/12/2003 [Heat(hot) & Cold, clean & dirty, good & evil] Before I went for my 7 days retreat, I have always wanted to write something on this topic, but never had the chance. There are indeed many things that we can learn from the above. I recently saw a statement. "Cold is not the opposite of hot(heat), but the lack of hot(heat).", "Evil is not the opposite of Good, but the lack of good." Before I proceed, to enter a would be heated discussion, I would like to say, that going into discussion is like describing a boat, but the description is not the boat itself. This boat upon reaching land, should be abandoned. Theories/studies should be applied & not held on to, they should be integrated into one's lifestyle as practise... [updating in progress]

16/12/2003 [7 days Amituofo Retreat] As I pen these text, I just came back from a 7 days Amitabha Cultivation/Meditation Retreat. As I write, I can feel an indescribable sense of tranquility. A sense of peace. A feeling that many things in life are actually "extra" & of no importance, even in the writing of this piece of text. What is the "intention"? In life many including myself often find/do many things that gives more problem or will use problems to solve things which are already giving us/me problems thus creating even more problems. At the end of the day, what is the intention? What are the results? At any time, we all have choices, choices determines what happens in the immediate or distant future. The 7 days are certainly not easy to go by, as it is my first taste of monaestic lifestyle. Having a strict discipline routine even stricter than the army, waking up as early as 4am in the morning, gratitude & dedicating merits before & aft