To My Love

Our Wedding Card

It feels so good to commit myself with the one I love, Gig. This line of blogging has been in parallel with the line of my relationship with her. Next two weeks our relationship will move from the girlfriend-boyfriend to wife-husband relation. Here I blog again to honor our love and care, throughout the time we are so close together and the time we live so far away from each other.

My dear, I know for so long that our souls are always connected. Our marriage in the next two weeks is not a reconnection of the two souls but a reaffirmation of the co-arising souls. We learn to heal and grow each other. We are mirrors to each other, reflecting deeply our own shadow. We are hands holding each other along the journey towards enlightenment. We are hearts radiating the love for the sake of all sentient-beings. We are heads envisioning the brighter future.

A Draft of My Integral Life Practice

My personalized ILP is now turned into:

Practices in the "Self" Perspective: Sila (bodily and mental relaxation), Samatha (one-pointedness), Vipassana (subject-object movement)
Practices in the "Other" Perspective: Bodhisattava Vow, Lojong, Tonglen
Practices in the "Process" Perspective: Sutra study, Tai Chi & Yoga - Vital energies flow through the Body Base, Heart Base, and Wisdom Base, Attuning self process with practice process and Kosmos process.

Podcast The Teachings on Lojong

I have already upload all the teachings on lojong and boddhichitta by Ven. Tenzin Palmo during the 3-day retreat at Chiangmai. Please click here for the link. It's about the Eight Verses for Training the Mind and meditation. Enjoy the light :-)

Lojong and Tonglen

Here is the practice I recieve from Ven. Tenzin Palmo in the retreat at International Women's Partnership center, Chiangmai, Thailand. 15-17 January 2007.



Eight Verses for Training the Mind
By Kadampa Geshe Langritangpa

1. May I always cherish all beings
With the resolve to accomplish for them
The highest good that is more precious
Than any wish-fulfilling jewel.

2. Whenever I am in the company of others,
May I regard myself as inferior to all
And from the depths of my heart
Cherish others as supreme.

3. In all my actions may I watch my mind,
And as soon as disturbing emotions arise,
May I forcefully stop them at once,
Since they will hurt both me and others.

4. When I see ill-natured people,
Overwhelmed by wrong deeds and pain,
May I cherish them as something rare,
As though I had found a treasure-trove.

5. When someone out of envy does me wrong
By insulting me and the like,
May I accept defeat
And offer the victory to them.

6. Even if someone whom I have helped
And in whom I have placed my hopes
Does great wrong by harming me,
May I see them as an excellent spiritual friend.

7. In brief, directly or indirectly,
May I give all help and joy to my mothers,
And may I take all their harm and pain
Secretly upon myself.

8. May none of this ever be sullied
By thoughts of the eight worldly concerns,
May I see all things as illusions
And, without attachment, gain freedom from bondage.

Meeting Venerable Tenzin Palmo

It's a wonderful moment to meet Venerable Tenzin Palmo today in her speech in Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. My friends and I gave her flowers and asking her to bless an Avalokiteshvara Tangka for our meditation room in Contemplative Education Center. It's the same Tangka that has been blessed by Venerable Kunga Sangbo Rinpoche in the Empowerment of Avalokiteshvara ceremony I joined last month.

In next two days, many of my friends and I will join a 4-day retreat with Venerable Tenzin Palmo at Ashram Wongsanit, Nakornnayok Province. My girlfriend will come from Phuket to join this event together with me. Venerable Tenzin's book inspires her so much.

Three years ago, I was introduced to listen to Venerable Tenzin's dharma talk while I started to learn about Dzogchen. Here is the link to the talk that has been inspired me and I believe it will inspire you as well. http://www.lamrim.com/tenzinpalmo/

Graduate then Work

It's been a month now that I already finish my complete dissertation named after several comments and revision as "Thai Entrepreneur and Consciousness Development Process: A Study Using Integral Methodological Pluralism (in Thai)" Right after submiting the complete version (815 pages of A4!) I have to move to my new room in the condominium at Mahidol University to work as a full-time lecturer in Contemplative Education Center, Mahidol University, an newly emerging center dedicating to integrate contemplation into educational system. Yes, we have several role models. One of the big role models is Naropa University, and actually, NU's Vice President, Dr.Peter Hurst, is coming to join our center in the next two weeks after his retirement.

Since the curriculum on master degree in "Contemplative and Transformative Learning" is still under construction, I have several other things to do here apart from the teaching job, from creating the "Journal of Contemplative Education," to condensing my dissertation into a pocket book, to conducting two research projects, to decorate our empty office :-)

It's my big transition period.

A Little Big Moment

"Om Ma Ni Pe Me Hung" flows into my heart chakra. December 10th, 2006, Venerable Kunga Sangbo Rinpoche transmits the teachings of Boddhisatva Avalokiteshvara to us in the Tibetan sacred-and-lovely ritual in a little land of "Rai Ruk Dharma-Chati" in Hua Hin, FOR THE FIRST TIME in Thailand. Around 40 people from different parts of the world come together to begin the teacher-student relationship with Rinpoche in this little big moment. The picture shows how he is empowering us the Boddhisatva Avalokiteshvara. Empowering the Body of Avalokiteshvara into our bodies, Empowering the Speech of Avalokiteshvara into our speeches, empowering the Heart of Avalokiteshvara into our hearts. He also guides us the Khyerim and Dzogrim practices in the ceremony.