Dear Reader — this blog is a direct continuation of the last entry, Wrong Views on Suffering and Happiness —What, How, the Lie and Why Part 1 — if you have not yet read that post yet please head back there and read it before you continue. How: My 3s (memory) and 4s (imagination) plus self and self belonging give rise to my sense of happiness and my quest for it. Me…
Dog Series – Adoption – Unbalanced Information
Earlier this year, my wife and I was wondering how it felt like to have a dog. We watched some Youtube videos about puppies, how cute and adorable they were and how dogs were so smart and fun to play with. I can say that my wife is a dog person and so am I. One day, she looked at a dog adoption website and found this one particular dog…
Wrong Views on Suffering and Happiness –What, How, the Lie and Why Part 1
Without further ado: My homework on my wrong views about ‘suffering safe zones’, the two sides of suffering and happiness, and whether I can really call something sukka if what is outside of it is dukka… This contemplation around the topic of suffering will be divided into 4 parts: What suffering it really is /looks like, how my wrong views about it arise and why they arise/the purpose they serve…
Suffering and Preserving
Mae Yo once told me to go look at the idea of preserving, to contemplate on refrigeration, because us humans are always trying to preserve. I’m no different, I’m always trying to either preserve a particular space/time/self, or– as my recent NY life has shown me– get back to the good stuff I failed to preserve. But thinking about the women and the wine glasses, the interdependent nature of suffering…
Women and Wine Glasses
Mae Yo’s homework always sounds so simple, “go and see the two sides of comfort and suffering.” But seriously, what does that even mean? I understood that I was supposed to be having some deep penetrating insight into the relationship between Sukka (happiness) and Dukka (suffering) but I was stuck. It was time for a tool, not just any tool either, but the big guns…I needed an Ubai. For days…
“I Deserve It” – Consistency
After I realized that the “reward” that I deserve is not really a reward after all (previous blog), now I start to look at the purpose of having to finish those tasks. When I work everyday for 7 to 8 hours a day, why do I do it? I gained money out of it. I need the money to pay mortgage, utility bills, buy foods, and other expenses. Did I…
Blurring the Boundary of Suffering
When I returned from Hawaii, my mule encounter fresh on the brain, I made an appointment to talk to Mae Yo. I had, after all, identified a huge tendency of mine, a deep wrong view in which I divide the world into neat little partitions: areas of suffering and areas of comfort. I live for those corners of comfort, my spaces of refuge from suffering — that peace, that joy,…
“I Deserve It” – Reward
Many times in my daily life – after a long day of working hard, my mind keep saying that now I deserve a break. I have spent 7 hours of working, my body deserves a break. Then, there was this occasion where I went on a hike. I walked for 4 miles non-stop and the final destination was just 0.5 miles ahead. But my feet were so tired that my…
Stupid as an Ass
Eric and I were on vacation again, Hawaii’s Big Island, sitting on a mule drawn carriage taking us on a tour of the Waipi’o valley. It was impossible not to enjoy a beautiful day, in a beautiful place, as the mules plodded along the path. But then, we hit a rough patch in the road, slippery from mud and puddles, and the mules began to lose their footing. They struggled…
It’s All About Self, Self, Self –So What About Self Belonging???
If self is the storyteller, self belongings are the props that help make the story believable. They are the accessories that make the outfit, that make the whole thing pull together…Enter, the pink skirt: With my organization’s big annual gala in mind, I start trolling ebay looking for the perfect outfit. As soon as I saw that neon pink, silk, Oscar De La Renta skirt, I knew it was mine….