House of Inward Journey

Friday, January 29, 2010

A N N O U N C E M E N T

Dear yogis,

Please be informed that
the Vipassana Meditation session
on 11 February 2010 (Thursday) and
the Metta Mediation session
on 16 February 2010 (Tuesday)
will be canceled due to
the celebration of Chinese New Year.

The Vipassana session will be resumed on
18 February 2010 (Thursday).

We would also like to wish all the yogis
a Happy Chinese New Year.

With metta, Beng

Sunday, January 24, 2010

WE ARE BACK!.... www.inwardpath.org

Dear Dhammaseeker,

All our publications are for FREE distribution.
You only need to pay for handling,
paypal services and postage charges.
If you happen to be in Penang,
kindly contact us @ 04-226 2893
Our Address @ 52D (3rd floor) Rangoon Road,
of Burma Road, 10400 Georgetown.

Map to

House of Inward Journey

click here

Dear Dhammaseekers,

For your attention our
website: www.inwardpath.org
is Under Construction

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Executive Vipassana Course in India

by Vipassana Research Institute

Vipassana Meditation As Taught By S. N. Goenka
in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

In 2009 a short film was produced that describes how senior business leaders in India from across industries & sectors cope with uncertainty and change in a challenging market environment. In a series of candid interviews, senior executives discuss how the practice of Vipassana meditation enables them to more effectively manage their own stress, increase employee engagement and productivity, face the pressures of competition, and make decisions from a base of personal wisdom and authenticity.

This film is available in English below:

http://www.executive.dhamma.org/en/index.htm

Meditation For Busy People: Stress-Beating Strategies To Calm Your Life

Friday, January 15, 2010

LIVING BUDDHISM

by Piya Tan © 2010

Buddhism is like good healthy food. It has to be tasted, eaten, fully enjoyed and digested. Only that way, we can really benefit from it. For maximum benefit, it is best self-prepared and taken fresh.
Avoid the canned import: they lack nutrients that locals need. Avoid the fast food version: they are badly unbalanced. Avoid the beautifully labelled large containers which are really empty. Avoid those foods peddled by suave well-dressed executives with easy promises: they are the same as fast-food but cost exorbitantly more.

Buddhism is a DIY (do-it-yourself) kit that anyone can use with proper initial instructions. But first we must know how to read, and to read properly. This is what keeping to the precepts is about: we try our best to act and speak in a way helpful to us and others, and to simplify our lives.

An uncluttered life is a good preparation for uncluttering the mind. Keeping to the precepts simplifies our lives so that we easily and effectively engage ourselves in mental cultivation or meditation. This is not about hours of seat-warming, but about quality time that we spend with our selves.

Buddhist meditation is knowing our own minds so that we know ourselves better. The more patient and non-judgemental we are with what goes on in our minds, the closer we are to knowing our selves. Simply watch the breath in a relaxed but sustained manner (we are, after all, admiring a life-long loyal friend). Whenever the mind wanders off, patiently bring it back to the breath: it’s like training your pet.

As we each befriend our mind, it returns the compliment. It listens more to us. One amazing thing we will notice is that much of those thoughts that crowd our minds are really unnecessary, even unreal. They mostly come from the past, and should remain there.

An uncluttered life (being healthy in body, action and speech) and an uncluttered mind (letting go of the past and turning the corner when you come to it) is an excellent way to cultivate great insight to further self-understanding. This is the miracle of the present moment.

The inner peace we gain through the breath meditation allows us to look deep into the present moment where our mind really is. The closer we look, the more we see of our true nature and personality. We can see that deep in our peaceful hearts there is so much good. It is because we have been looking outside of ourselves too much and looking at others too often, that we forget how happy we really are deep inside.

One very important advice to becoming truly happy: avoid negative talk of sin, guilt and bad karma (they only cause trouble). We are all we’ve got, and if we do not forgive ourselves, no one will. Then, we should learn to love ourselves and accept ourselves unconditionally: “I forgive myself. I’m OK; I’m well and happy.”

Meditation helps us to realize that we are capable of change: that it we can change our minds; that we need to change our minds. And if we change our minds for the better, we also help to change the people around us and our ambience.

When bad things happen, we begin to understand that there is no one to be blamed. Not God, nor karma, nor bad luck, nor the boss, nor the other person, definitely not us. Things happen when the conditions are right (or wrong): it takes a lot of conditions to come together for it to happen, and we are only one of the conditions. So we should not take all the blame.

The cultivated mind and happy heart allow us to see all such conditions in a helpful way, so that we really know what has gone wrong. A scientist would not curse his experiments if he fails to find an answer. He would look out for patterns of behaviour and events that conduce to such problems and avoid them, and work on those conditions that allow him to move on in a positive way.

Our sufferings and inabilities are not punishment for things we have done in the past. They are telling us that some parts of our lives are still not yet strengthened, and some skills that we still need to learn. When our head is clear and our heart cool, we will know just what to do.

The next time you think you cannot solve your problem, try observing a toddler who is learning to walk. He or she stands, tries to take a step, falls flat, stands again, falls again, and so on. But the toddler never gives up, and he or she is now able to walk very well. That toddler was you!

Monday, December 28, 2009

METTA & VIPASSANA MEDITATION CLASS 2010

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to inform that our meditation teacher Visu and his wife Barbara are back from Europe after a five-month teaching stint — leading metta and vipassana retreats at various European centres.

Visu will resume his meditation classes at House of Inward Journey (52 Rangoon Road, Level D, Penang) every Tuesday and Thursday beginning on Jan 19 2010 until further notice.

The program is as follows:

T U E S D A Y

8:00pm to 9:00pm — Metta (Lovingkindness) Meditation

9:00pm to 10:00pm — Dhamma Talk and Discussion

T H U R D A Y

8:00pm to 9:00pm — Vipassana (Insight) Meditation

9:00pm to 10:00pm — Dhamma Talk and Discussion

For those of you who have been attending Visu's classes from February to June this year you are most welcome to resume practice with Visu.

For those who have not have the benefit to practice with Visu you are most welcome to now take the opportunity to do so.

If you have friends who are interested in learning meditation please invite them to come along. Visu will give simple and precise instructions to newcomers and beginners.

For the talk on Tuesday Jan 19 Visu will elaborate on the benefits of metta practice — why it is so helpful in our everyday life. This talk is aimed at motivating you to maintain a strong metta practice.

We will appreciate if you can send us an SMS or email or give us a phone call to confirm your attendance.

I can be reached at my mobile phone 012 4302893.

Email: inwardpath@hotmail.com

If you have any enquiries please contact me.

With metta (lovingkindness),

Sunanda Lim

* * *

More information below on Metta and Vipassana Meditation:

M E T T A (Lovingkindness)

May all beings be happy.

May they be safe.

May they be peaceful.

May they be healthy.

May they take care of themselves happily.

Metta is a Pali word meaning lovingkindness, goodwill, friendliness, benevolence, non-hatred, non-anger, non-irritation and non-annoyance.

Metta Meditation is the cultivation of lovingkindness, friendliness, benevolence, and goodwill through the continuous generating of wholesome thoughts and well wishes towards oneself, loved ones, friends, people we know and all beings in general.

Metta practice helps to free our hearts from hatred, anger and ill-will. It has a very positive effect on both oneself and others and is conducive to improving our relationships. We come to be more patient, tolerant, loving, friendly, kind and understanding in our relationships with others.

Metta meditation provides a wonderful complement to Vipassana (Insight) meditation as it helps us to develop concentration that can aid and support our Vipassana practice.

* * *

V I P A S S A N A (Insight)

Vipassana or Insight meditation is the direct and clear seeing into the true nature of mental and physical phenomena. It involves the application of mindfulness to closely observe our mind and body processes during formal sitting and walking meditation and in all other activities.

With practice we gain calm and peace as well as insight into our mental conditioning, behavioural patterns and habits. We learn how to cultivate, sustain and strengthen wholesome and joyful states of mind while diminishing the unwholesome and painful.

We will develop a skillful approach that is conducive to peace, joy and happiness in all aspects of our daily life.

Our practice is based on the Buddha's Discourse on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness. These are Body, Feelings, Consciousness or Mind States, and Dhammas/Phenomena. We will learn how to observe and investigate all these in our direct and immediate experience.

In due course we will come to understand what the Buddha called "The Three Marks of Existence" — Impermanence, Suffering/Unsatisfactoriness, and Not-Self.

The deep and profound understanding of these fundamental truths will lead to the liberation of the mind from all clinging and delusion that lie at the root of all suffering. Peace, release and happiness are the fruits of the practice.

Vipassana promotes true happiness, fulfillment and freedom in life while leading the practitioner to the ultimate and highest peace and happiness of Nibbana, the end of all craving/greed/attachment, hatred/anger/aversion and ignorance/delusion.

* * *

THE TEACHER

Visu (shortened from his full Pali name Visuddhacara) has been practising the Dhamma and meditation since 1982. He was born in Penang, Malaysia, in 1953. He was a journalist for 12 years and a Buddhist monk for 17 years before he returned to the lay life in 2003. He has studied with several meditation masters, notably Sayadaw U Pandita, Sayadaw U Lakkhana, Sayadaw U Jatila and Ven Sujiva. He is married and has led retreats in Asia, Australia and Europe. He is the author of several books including “Curbing Anger Spreading Love,” “Drinking Tea Living Life: Applying Mindfulness in Everyday Life and Critical Times”, “Loving and Dying” and “Hello with Love and other Meditations.”

Visu’s emphasis in his teaching is on the integration of the Dhamma in everyday life while striving for the ultimate release of Nibbana. He stresses the importance of cultivating lovingkindness, joy and happiness in the present moment while on our journey towards Enlightenment.