The Soul Mate Phenomenon

The Possibly of Meeting a Soul Mate is a rare and amazing occurrence which is called, in Pali, Boopayayneeawaht. In English we translate this event as "Soul Mate". It suggests that, in a former existence, two "souls" had mated. And now, in this lifetime that energy has drawn a couple together. However, it is better to think of "soul mates" not as people who have been cycling around linked with us, but as energies to which we have a great amount of affinity. Unity with our soulmates produces a unique state of bliss. Many of us have a sense that there is someone or, perhaps, several someones out there who have been life partners many, many times before this birth. If we think about this from the perspective of our biological family, a soul mate can be compared to a sister or brother, a very special pleasant or unpleasant relationship . We must have some special affinity to these people in order to be reared together in the same nest. I personally regard a soul mate as a person who is dedicated to helping us move beyond the heavy karma and difficult life lessons that we need to master. They haven't arrived here in order to devote their life to the pursuit of our happiness! Soul mates are delighted to support our spiritual evolution. Sacrifice for the other is the heart of a true soulmate relationship. Your practice with the skillful tools I incorporated in the Kit will greatly enhance the opportunity to meet and mate with your Boopahsahneeawaht. This is one of the perks of spiritual life. You are not likely to find this kind of person through a dating service!! But you will be in a position to meet him/her when you are karmatically primed to do so, and, for many of you, the time is ripe to work within that kind of relationship. With a soul mate you will be able to come to understand more refined energies such as healing, humility and self-sacrifice. They bring urgency to your life and encourage you to make the best of every situation. The Other Edge As with everything there is also the reverse. There are other kinds of beings with whom we have affinity from previous lifetimes. These persons want to pull us down. They are enemies of our spiritual and social lives. They drag us into addictions, into misdirected views, into hatred, prejudice, and bias. They encourage selfishness, greed, laziness and ill will. They engage in dishonest or coarse livelihoods. Often they bully us, they rob us of our self-esteem and integrity, they intimidate, create confusion and despair. While they have a certain fascination for us (like king cobras and serial killers) they are definitely bad news. Unfortunately, there are many more of these negative kinds of persons who rejoice in our unskillful behavior than there are soul mates who cherish our development. Mindfully making use of everything in the Kit is a powerful way to draw help and support such as this into your life. The Spiritual MA "In coming to understand who we are and what we are here to do (and then to do it) we close the gap between who we think we are and Reality"                                  While you are at this site I want to provide you with the opportunity to understand something about Mindfulness-Awareness (MA) and its profound effect on our mentality. Although you might not realize It, all along I have been suggesting the value of strengthening your mind with Mindfulness-Awareness. Mindfulness-Awareness is when the alertly waiting mind refuses to become embroiled in the past or future. This mind-state is present, is focused, and is introverted. This situation amplifies energy. Awareness avoids our Involvement in matters of little or no consequence. Insight, the product of awareness, is a kind of magic. It turns us towards higher pursuits and releases us from endless distraction. Awareness will stop the mind, just as holding the breathe will, but in a much more firm manner. Because the mind is clear, you can become aware of your motives before you act. Therefore, you will make far fewer mistakes and leave less and less negative residue behind In your daily life. Your actions will come out of a clear, unhesitating mind-space. Earlier I discussed how the brain mind and the Heart are substantially different. They are not in the same dimension. They are not in the same world. So very much depends on your shifting from the mind to the Heart. These two domains are on a sort of "toggle". When the brain is on", the Heart is "off". When the Heart is "on" the brain mind is "off". This concept can be helpful for those of you who understand the world of computers and metaphysical mathematics. The point I am trying to make is that real Happiness arises only out of the Heart. The whole of spiritual life is directed to living in the Heart. This can be called "returning home", "merging with God", "Being with the Guru", "Being in the Lap of Jehovah or Allah", etc. It is the nature of the world to give this transpersonal, beyond time-space many names so that people can decide the name they prefer. What I am talking about is above and beyond names. This is an energy you can only know for yourself. It points toward that which is beyond greed for things and beyond fear of the unknown. The materials I have assembled in this Kit will work in synergy to take you out of your mind and into your Heart. The key to switching from the mind to the Heart, what I call "In-traction", is using a skillful technique that will work to keep returning you to the Heart. This Is what I call a skillful means that can help break the unskillful pattern of thought proliferation. Every time you go against your propensity to involve yourself in the mind, you strengthen your mind, you develop boon and you fortify your commitment to true maturity. You will understand a deep a fundamental Truth, which operates in this world. And that Truth is that the whole of the future radiates into infinity out of this present moment. To evolve, to transform, you should turn inward toward the present. Transform your life!! Make the present your abiding. You just need to get on with it. In the guided meditation on the Kit's tape you will be led beyond conventional thought. The tape is designed to relax, to inform, and to generate boon. The tape will guide you, explaining the correct way to sit, and how to allow your mind to relax. Through this relaxation, you can learn to take control of your consciousness. Begin in this way. Sit in a comfortable position. A chair is fine as long as you can sit comfortable without experiencing too much discomfort. Allow the mind to relax. Just say to yourself "relax". This suggestion is capable of empowering a transition process. Then, you will wait patiently as youand listen for a sound that resonates behind all mental phenomenon. Something like a buzz. This sound will emerge when you just sit patiently waiting, not wanting, just waiting. Everyone can hear this sound. It is recognized in much the same way as when we peer into a 3-D image or visual puzzle, just looking, soon the animals and birds appear! . Through the process of attending to our inner world, the world of Spirit, we develop perspective. With perspective we don't follow our conditioned tendency to absorb into our moods, our feelings, our hope, or our dreams. With perspective we see these conditions as passing clouds in the sky of consciousness. This sitting quiet insight practice produces a visceral experience of who were are and what we are here to do. Sitting quietly opens us towards intuitive understanding. It is ignition key that widens and deepens our worldview. It is a posture beyond religion. Karma, "Re-loaded" As you explore your inner world, thereby deepening your understand of the-way-things-are, you will realize the power of karma and the consequences of your actions. Your foresight and insight will give your leverage and control over your future. Your mindfulness-awareness will give you the courage and confidence to face anything in life including death. Your awareness that your actions have meaning in the universe will inspire you to continually conduct yourself in wholesome ways, especially through the practice of generosity, ethics, and meditation. Your good and harmless lifestyle will increase your chances of a good rebirth and speedy enlightenment. How one dies depends largely on how one has lived. Ultimately, the role of our karma in this birth is unpredictable. All we can talk about is probability. We would be wise to increase the probability for positive energies to mandate our destiny. Do the best you can, and you will live and die without anxiety. The few crucial moments of consciousness before death could well determine a future lifetime of celestial bliss, or human pain and pleasure, or suffering in a woeful plane. You can only be prepared, smile and accept that moment of death by preparing ahead of time. As this understanding pervades your consciousness, you will be able in a strong position to help friends and family. Your actions will be in line with your mind and your mind will be balanced in the Heart. What is to be gained from this program? 1. Ease of mind 2. Better rebirth 3. Disposition to focus on one's life towards spirituality 4. Maximized life force, for your own good, and for the good of others 5. Detachment from the mundane and distracting 6. Enhanced ability to heal --that is, to allow the body to heal itself naturally 7. Warm contented feelings in the heart from having nurtured Metta 8. Spiritual fellowship and association with spiritual community 9. Considered discipline to guide your life 10. Ability to circumvent danger Just beyond this page you will find a form you can make use of if you would like me to send you the Kit I have assembled. If you feel that you have gained something by reading what is contained on these pages, the Kit will help you to deepen this knowledge and further increase your chances of a meaningful life and a favorable rebirth. We would be delighted if you recognize the value of our efforts to provide you with these materials via the Internet. However, if you just contemplate this information, I will also be delighted. Regardless, feel free to print out this material (as well as the material in the Kit) and give them to friends with my blessing. Let me close by saying once again that the lack of understanding of karma is the most dangerous and menacing problem facing the world today. It is, and has always been, the most problematic situation in society. It is far worse than the AIDS pandemic, cancer, heart disease, the black plague, SARS and all the other diseases we know of in the world. So much of its danger comes from the fact that it is invisible and that one needs boon to see it. Regardless of whether we see karma of not, all of us are subject to disintegration. Every day, every hour, every second our body inclines towards dysfunction. Right now it may be functioning well enough, but behind this apparently evident reality our body Is straining to maintain Its life rhythm. It Is fighting a losing battle against the sands of time. One day, in the not too distant future, this body we depend upon will succumb to the ravages of the environment. And the forces of karma will determine our destiny. While we are alive we are in a position to develop wisdom and compassion. In doing so, not only do we live happier, more beneficial lives here and now, but we set ourselves up for a favorable rebirth when that event arises. In developing wisdom and compassion ("In-traction") we need to quiet our noisy minds and to develop more generosity through sacrifice. As we increase our boon, we build a wall of protection around ourselves as our actions cease being the actions of emotions and impetuosity and become the actions of patience, endurance, sharing and forgiveness. < Prev

The Present " Awake and Present, same-same"

The Present

E-mail

"Awake and Present, same-same" by Ajahn Sumano Now, I want to introduce you to an extraordinarily simple way to awaken to the present: the present is the Path to the Spirit. It is your present! Begin by closing your eyes and holding your breath. Hold your breath only as long as it is comfortable to do so. What you will discover is that this activates an enhanced awareness and puts the thought process into abeyance. It grounds to a halt the train of compulsive thought that provokes the confusion we often experience. Of course, you can only make use of this technique for a minute or so. You can't hold your breath long enough for it to become a practice. But now that you know how this feels - this feeling of being In the present - you can use it as a template. Next you can learn to slow down thought through carefully watching your mind, this will eventually allow you to stop all thought. You will know when this happens from remembering how you feel in the present moment when you hold your breath you will have experienced a taste of the present moment. When you are in the present moment you will have arrived into your life-stream; you will be present. Present-moment-awareness will come to know the still, tranquil mind. The template-of-presentness which you now know will become indelible. You can use this throughout your life to breakout from the past and future. In the next stage of your practice you will find a sound ringing in the background of your mind. This sound is the existential background sound that rings in the silence. Turn your attention towards listening for "the sound of silence". As soon as you turn toward the sound, you should feel both the body and mind relax and settle down onto a cloud of calm-tranquility. This is the core of meditative prayer. As I said earlier, silence is the heartwood of all religions and is the quality that lifts the mind into the Heart. Immersing in silence brings about relaxation and subdues thought. The mind is strengthened. This strengthening can and should be called "boon". It is this strong, "boon-full" mind that is able to meet anything and everything with clarity and fearlessness.  Finally, after you have spent some dedicated time becoming proficient in inclining towards the sound of silence, you can develop another stage in which you turn awareness towards noticing change. At this stage, you could benefit by doing retreat under the guidance of a skilled teacher. Now is the time to begin by holding your breath. Recognize that this is the right time to begin your spiritual life phase or your wouldn't be reading this page. Right in this lifetime, in this mind-moment, beginning from this present moment onward. The time to begin is always only in the present moment. The time to free is always in this present moment. You can use the stopped breath technique to deal with pain. Simply by momentarily holding the breath, pain is diffused, it is reduced significantly, and the natural healing process is able to get on with its work. When the breath is held there won't be the struggle to avoid or run away that signifies the arrival of fear. Have your child use this technique while visiting dentist or doctor, he or she will be surprised to find that the feelings of pain that we usually try and run away from lose their intensity and transform into interesting sensations. The fear factor that pain has held over us can no longer generate dread or fright. Fear can no longer intimidate. Whenever we are in a painful situation all we need to do is hold the breath just long enough to allow the pain to diffuse so that the natural healing process easily engages. Simple is profound ...ah,simplicity With this practice we will learn what-things-really-are. We will shift our priorities. We will become aware that much of what we do, we do out of habit. We pursue habitual, culturally indoctrinated activities rather than truly meaningful pursuits. When we notice this we begin to let go of the unnecessary activities in our life and begin to invest more and more time and energy into what needs to be done. The truth is always in the here-and-now, when you are awake; you are in the learning mode. When you are awake you are present. The present is the mother of the future. Living from present moment to present moment frees us from the past. The heavy karma of the past resolves itself. "...and the painted ponies go up and down. We're all trapped on a carousel of time." by Joni M. Karma You may be still be asking yourself, is Karma real? What and where is it? Karma is real. As discussed earlier, it is the positive and negative stuff that sticks to our life stream. The karma we accumulate is entirely the result of the personal intentional choices we make. It must be stressed that all karma is born out of intentional action. This aspect makes it clear that we are the creators of our karmic destiny...this is Natural Law. We make the choices (these choices are not exactly free as they depend upon the boon, which chooses our choices!). When we act with generosity and selflessness, and these actions lead to feelings of satisfaction and contentment. We also do foolish things, and this leads to feelings of regret. That's just the way things are. Karma is a real energy mechanism that is impersonal and immutable. Wherever we go our karma comes along. I can guarantee you that you are here right now as a result of your karma. After this life-span where "you' go depends entirely upon your karma. To bring home the point as powerfully as I can, I will elaborate. The karma we accumulate is entirely the result of the personal intentional choices we make. It is born out of intentional action. The positive and negative energy that is left behind from our intentional actions sticks to our life stream. This is a Natural Law. The choices we make are directly dependent upon our boon. We perform acts of generosity and selflessness, and this leads to feelings of satisfaction and contentment. We also do foolish things, and this leads to feelings of regret. That's just the way things are. Karma is a real energy mechanism that is impersonal and immutable. Wherever we go our karma comes along. I can guarantee you that you are here right now as a result of your karma. After this life-span where "you' go depends entirely upon your karma. Bad karma (dire/unskillful karma) is the energy that, even before its fully ripened, can produce a terrible rebirth. Here in this lifetime we can see how often and how painful ill-fated relationships can be. We all know of violent, jealous, exploitive, loveless, deceitful, sexually abusive, STD infected, ill-fated relationships, etc. These come about as a result of negative karma. Negative karma is also the force behind extreme poverty, low I.Q., frail health, and chronic bad luck. It is much of the force behind road accidents, theft, sexual molestation, and "being-at-the-wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time". If you wish to produce karma leading to these kinds of events and relationships all you have to do is live carelessly, abuse drugs and alcohol, lie, cheat, be greedy, selfish, or lethargic. We can call this life at the periphery...life in the darkness. Whenever there is a lack of circumspect awareness at the time we perform a deliberate action, problems are likely to arise for ourselves and for others. All intentional activities carry a karmic risk. The result of this kind of negligence (rather than attentive-alert-awareness) drives us into fumbling behavior. It may be simply an improper, ill-timed comment or gesture. It could be an exaggeration, sarcasm or a comment intended to disparage another person. The net effect of this inappropriate response to a situation will be a sense of disharmony and unease. Again, we can rely on the Law of Karma that operates with unbiased justice. It guarantees that good karmic energy produces a good rebirth. All acts of goodness contribute to a favorable rebirth. We can characterize it as the storehouse of beneficial energy which, when ripened, lead directly to favorable living in this life and the next ones. "Consider the state of the world and reflect upon the good fortune to be somewhere where bombs don't regularly explode around us, where bullets don't whiz by us as militia fight civil wars, where people don't disappear, where we can access sufficient food and clean water, where our children our likely to live in safety and attain an education, where we have the right to speak our truth. Many, many people live in this world in such wretched poverty that all they can manage to do during a brief life span is to survive and procreate. Recognize that you are in a temporary situation that can provide you will the opportunity to serve yourself and all other Beings." by Ajahn Sumano There are six possibilities, or six worlds, where we could be reborn, which are known as "realms of abiding". Some of them you really don't want get trapped in at all. You may not have recognized that you have visited these realms already. You have. For they are, at the least, psychological states of being. You have experienced them in this life when you were caught in rage, jealousy, hatred, etc. There are hell realms that simulate being addicted (craving for something continuously but never getting quite enough), or simulate physical or psychological slavery (feelings of having no freedom whatsoever. There are hell realms into which beings fall that simulate a desolate, desperate poverty realm where pain and hopelessness goes beyond the imaginable. These are negative mind states that produce heavy karmic repercussions. There are also beautiful, concordant realms of mind simulated when we are living skillfully in harmony with Nature. Then, the mind is free from wanting and free from fearing. You have visited these realms when you felt compassion, love, and generosity. You have visited them when you sacrificed for another, when you fed a stray dog or cat, when you dropped a coin into a homeless or disabled person's cup. I want to prevent you from falling into the hell realms. Uplift your life by employing skillful ways of living in this world. Unskillful ways of being in this world are very, very dangerous. Because foolish activities are the major determinant responsible for driving us spinning into the next life hell realms. On the other hand, spiritually dynamic activities have value in this life, as well as the next one. Much of my motivation in presenting this holy tool KIT. is to help as many beings as possible to understand the value of wholesome mind states and the impact it has on our life and on our death. Then, to point to ways you can replace unenlightened, coarse habits of mind with enlightened ones. This web site is designed to provide you with the opportunity to circumvent the worst possible case scenarios. Being born a human is a phenomenal event, in itself. More so if we are born with all our faculties intact with and the emotional and intellectual capacity to explore and investigate our lives. All of us have been born into an environment where we have in abundance all four of the requirements for life: food, shelter, clothing and medicine. That surely signifies that we already have great deal of boon going for us. We are in an ideal position to skillfully continue our evolutionary journey. And we are in a position to earn an auspicious rebirth. We would be very foolish to blow it all. The Kit I have assembled is for some Earth beings that have all this "good stuff" going for them. The other billions of humans on this planet are outside of our ability to serve in this way. They must bear the great difficulties and challenges involved with their karmic predicament. Life is just too overwhelmingly tough for them. They know only the day-to-day struggle. We can all do our part by sending loving kindness to them and sharing the boon accumulated through our goodness. Protection We all need protection from falling into some of these lower realms that are also present right here in this life. Sophisticated people may look upon themselves as post-modern, scientific, rational, educated and intelligent. None of this conceals the fact that most of us are ridden with fears. Subconsciously we all recognize just how frail and vulnerable we are. Even a small accident causes great pain to our body. And as for our mind, we are battered with pain continually. We feel pain when we don't get what we want, when we get what we don't want, when others demean us, when we are not appreciated or respected, when we are deceived, when we clash with loved ones. There is some ancient "software" that works for people like us. Since we can't walk around in a suit of armor not relating to others or lock ourselves up in a vault, what can we do? The answer is simple: we can control our actions and by so doing we can refrain from doing/indulging in the unnecessary and unworthy. The standard I use is to refrain from killing things, minimizing the use of drugs or alcohol, refraining from adulterous relationships, and speaking positively are boundaries that keep us out of trouble and are means of providing protection for ourselves. This is a model of protection that have been recommended by wisdom grounded people in all cultures, in all religions, in all times. These are all modes of protection that have been recommended by wisdom grounded people in all cultures, in all religions, in all times. It puts us in alignment with the appropriate realm that we humans need to abide in. When we are well protected, we can block out the unskillful energies, which exploit our weaknesses. Be it addictive substances, sensuality or whatever. With a bit more strength to work with we can avoid a lot of personal distress and avoid troubling our friends and family. Kindly work to incline your life towards lives natural harmony. Getting Going The Kit I have assembled is for some Earth beings that have all this "good stuff" going for them. The other billions of humans on this planet are outside of our ability to serve in this way. They must bear the great difficulties and challenges involved with their karmic predicament. Life is just too overwhelmingly tough for them. They know only the day-to-day struggle. We can all do our part by sending loving kindness to them and sharing the boon accumulated through our goodness. On the cassette tape that Is part of the Kit, you will hear several monastic reflections chanted. The chants have been adapted for your use. You will easily be able to chant along with them and soon find that you have them memorized. Once in memory you can make use of them to enhance protection and increase your understanding of "the-way-things-are". The Loving-Kindness, or Metta Chant The first and last chant on the tape is the loving-kindness or Metta chant. You will find that by inclining your mind towards loving-kindness, ill-will will be converted into positive energy. As remnants of ill-will dissipate, loving-kindness will take anger and convert it into compassion. This is the way to banish hostility from your life and replace it with friendliness and goodwill. This chant will help us to heal emotional scars and brings us to a point in time when we can forgive and accept the pain that we, previously, had not been able to bear. This is a kind of "fast-tracking" through time and space. When we become capable of forgiving we mature spiritually. This is something that will just happen on its own as one moves out of the past and relinquishes concerns about the future. In the present, wisdom and compassion lead our life out of the ruts and limitations of the past. Chants on "the-way-things-are" The next chants on the cassette tape Included In the Kit are reflections on the- way-things- are. Reality in metaphysical terms is just this; things come and go and are dependent upon other dependent conditions. Where they go depends upon underlying conditions. Those of us in the human realm will leave this condition and be driven by our karma and boon to the appropriate abiding. Chants on the brevity of our lifetime The tape will provide you with a perspective on time and the fact that we are continually run out of it. "The days, weeks, months and years pass quickly. Ask yourself, how well are you using your lifetime?". Protection Chants There are several chants on the tape asking the "devatas" to watch over and protect us. The notion that there are angels who can look after us and protect us from harm is part of our intuitive psyche. They are acknowledged in just about every culture. We can assume that there are angels who recognize the difficulties and dangers we face and endeavor to shelter us. If there are no such angels we lose nothing. In fact we become rather more humble in acknowledging the vulnerability of our situation. Meditation and Silence The last segment on the tape is a guided meditation, incorporating aspects of all the major spiritual traditions. It will be a tape you can make use of your whole life to remind yourself of the point of this life and where to find true meaning in the midst of this seemingly crazy world. This guided meditation will help you develop tranquility, strengthen the mind and will lead you toward Insight. It will open your life to new vistas.

Life and Work for DELIGHT - 19

Dear Son,
       To know yourself clearly make you calm. A peaceful person
       discovers relaxation. He feels light. Besides, calmness can initiate
       wisdom and energy for your body. You will know and receive the touch
       clearly and can discuss with other people quickly with sagacity. Your wits
       are quick and harmonize you with nature, environment and society. These
       reasons make your thoughts harmonize with nature. Thus you will become
       an inspiration for other people, for them to search for peace and relaxing
       tension, as you have made yourself a sample. You and your society will
       perceive that life has more usefulness. Work and life will have great value
       and make you proud of your work.
     
      (Translated by Daviras Dhanagom, Ph.D.)

 

Life and Work for DELIGHT - 18

Dear Son,
       I must tell you that if each day you let your suffering, worry and
       tension burn your time and energy, you will have little time and energy
       left. They will not be sufficient for containing freedom, freshness, light-
       heartedness, calmness and peace and to be useful for others and oneself.
       However, I have a measure to ease heavy tension of your body and mind.
      
       Now, how would you know that you and others are under heavy
       tension ? You will know by observing your body as a priority, which is
       not the same for every body. But the majority of people will have such
       symptoms, i.e. your blood will be abnormal. The muscles of the face will
       be tensed. Headache comes often. You get fatigue easily without any
       reason, the heat within the body increases as well as body odor.
       Digestion and excretion are not normal. Face and eyes are not bright.
       The hair will fall out and change colors quickly. You are inert, cannot
       make sharp decision, worry and become moody easily. Besides, there
       are many more symptoms. Most of the symptoms are the results of
       tension. This is not all the abnormalities of the body.
      
       It will affect environment work and society; all affects are bad.
       The metabolism of anybody with tension will be quicker than those
       without tension, which causes abnormal heat in the body. The organs,
       glands and kidneys will work more heavily. There will be more excretion.
       The person sweats more and has more body odor. The heat in the
       body increases. Now imagine such a person in society or will be in a
       society. What will affect society ?
      
       Over and above, if society has more than one person of this kind,
       what would happen ? What follow is the excretion, emotion and the
       expression of emotion, which, if unacceptable, there will surely be a
       problem. The problem will be a barrier in joining society. These will
       affect the work both directly and indirectly. Those who are involved in
       problems will suffer and have no energy to finish the work. This is a
       direct problem. If he could finish his work, the work will not be complete.
       If the acceptance of society is needed, it will not be just enough. This is
       indirect effects. Now you see when you are wrapped up in worry and
       tension, it will not be good for anybody.
      
       Therefore you should not let them happen to you. If they should
       happen unknowingly, you have to get rid of them. Do you know how to
       get rid of them ? If not, I will tell you. There are two methods to get rid
       of them: the absolute truth and the conventional truth methods.
      
       Today we don’t have enough time. I could not explain both within
       little time. I would conclude and cut it short by explaining how to get rid
       of tension, let it out with the method of conventional truth.
      
       To get rid of tension with the method of conventional truth is to
       softly relax like an old saying “Fish can live in hot water, but cold water
       kills the fish”. Therefore, if you want tension to die out from you, you
       should slowly adjust the emotional tension with calmness. Stop doing
       things, give ten or fifteen minutes to yourself. Do not let any thing disturb
       your body and mind, breathe in clean pure air. Be conscious of the slow
       and gentle inhalation and exhalation. Let out the confused and hot
       exhalation. Then be conscious of every moment you inhale and exhale.
       Do this for 5 to 10 minutes or more. Then you would know what happen
       to you. For sure you get your real feeling back and finally calm down.
       Give all attention to the feeling inside the body. Absolutely, do not let your
       work, things or all creatures appear in your mind at this moment. Be calm,
       relaxing and know what goes on. If you find any part of your body tensed,
       may be your forehead, neck, arms, legs or shoulders, use all your feeling
       to inhale to the tensed point and let it out with your exhalation. This can
       be compared with a pipe of water, stuck with something. The owner can
       open the pipe by putting in water to wash out that piece of remnant.
      
       Breathing out tension has to be done gently, slowly, clearly and at
       ease. Be with yourself all the time. These actions will create fine concentration.
       The concentration will enable you to unite all the thoughts into one. Your
       body and mind harmonize in the work. It enriches and builds up efficiency
       for the work. When you want to talk, talk with a feeling that it is important.
       Get the meanings of the words gently and politely. Your daily life, the
       inhalation and the exhalation have meanings and importance for you. Besides
       giving you life and energy, it also gives you lessons, firmness, success, peace
       and happiness. It is a proof of values and living. You will be happier. It
       enlightens the work you are doing. It will not be as heavy as you used to
       think. You will have a friendly feeling towards your work, in spite of thinking
       that it causes problems. Work and life are not heavy and tensed as you
       thought before.
      
       When you feel calm and awakening, you will be free to use your
       energy continuously. You will discover excellent means in your work,
       whatever you have to do or even in your rest, you will have quality and
       gentle rest and relax happily. You will be able to touch fully the core of
       life.

Life and Work for DELIGHT - 17

Dear Son,
       I will tell you the usefulness of calmness. It enables you to
       prevent the energy from scattering and combine it. In your mind, you
       will be able to put your thoughts in order effectively. You would realize
       what you need and you will be able to manage the obstacles with
       confidence, clarity and cheerfulness and move forward smoothly, in
       harmony and in accordance with the touch to work and life. Work
       and life will harmonize with the force from knowing yourself. If barriers
       come to the work, instead of refusing you will be willing to do what you
       ought to do. The touch and honest admission will be a strong foundation
       of work, strong and capable. When the result of work comes out, it will
       reflect the quality of cool calmness which you use for a foundation of your
       work. You will be able to touch its taste and will be soaked with joy from
       the work.
      
       Nevertheless, I must warn you that you will become clear water but
       flow knowingly. This may arise from pressures and tension in daily life,
       which makes it difficult in taking care of the calmness and smoothness of
       the mind. This is because the pressure of the world is changes. The
       pressure on emotion and the environment often causes worry, fear, tension
       and heavy-heartedness in you. All touches will be dismal. You will not
       know what you want, and what you must do. Your thoughts will be scattered.
       The energy will be confused or over what it should be. Disturbances and
       the lack of efficiency will make you more tired, more bored, more tensed
       and worry more.
      
       These things will replace clear knowledge, calmness and coolness
       and the ideas set in levels. These are the obstacles, the problems which
       make you spend your time uselessly. The result is sorrow and worry which
       slow you down in your work. Worry and tension will burn down your energy
       and time tremendously without any usefulness, so that you don’t have time
       and energy to carry out and complete the work. Your mind will disturb the
       organs in your body and make them tensed. This makes it difficult to work
       fully and happily.

Life and Work for DELIGHT - 16

Dear Son,
       Let me tell you something, if you wish to have a better life,
       begin to train yourself by beginning to do everything with good attention
       and seriousness. You may begin with easy work. Pay attention to it
       and see how you use your energy. Have you touched the smell, steps
       and problems of the work clearly and how clear ? You may use your
       energy to work fully or not. Have the feelings of attachment, concern
       and seriousness arisen stably ? Were you pulled or induced to forget
       and drift along in pleasure, laziness and others besides that work ? If
       so, you must stop them by building up inspiration, paying attention to
       your deep worry until it becomes consciousness. When you are
       conscious of yourself, you will know by yourself what you want and
       should do. You will accept the work which has to be done though it is
       repetitive, regular, you will do it happily. Your conscience also helps you
       to discover arising differences in the work because you give importance
       to your work.
      
       Such differences and consideration will enable you to use the
       force of time wisely and continuously. Tolerance and perseverance
       will naturally come. You will feel firm towards your own will. This
       does not happen because of compulsion. It is voluntary, willingness
       to work joyfully. Experiences of life occur as every moment passes
       by; there will be only complete learning. Attention and carefulness,
       clarity will be enlarged and you will enter the society of the world
       and the universe.
      
       These reasons will make your inner self strong. You will be
       able to do things you used to think that you could not do. But you
       have done it easily. Work and life will become a stage, on which you
       could show the art of using force. When life is an art, you will only
       be fresh, excited and clear. Work will inspire you to search for new
       experiences of life continuously. You will discover the way to natural
       creativity. Your deep and continuing consciousness gained from your
       learning will help you to discover the light of force and wisdom.
       Through work you could express your thinking. It strengthens you
       and makes you brave and energetic, besides helping you to be interested
       in the work. Your life will proceed in the right direction and bring you
       the zest of life wherever you are. When you are able to give importance
       and meaning to work, you will be overwhelmed with delight, in stead of
       feeling afraid and sad.
      
       When you understand and give value to life and work and are
       brave enough to face work, easy or difficult, you go one step at a time.
       I guarantee that your work and time will not be wasted. Therefore you
       should look and think carefully and analyze problems. What you have
       already done and what you are going to do in the future, is there anything
       to be remedied ? Knowing oneself, learning and looking at oneself are
       the top of knowledge. There is no school in the world which teaches you
       to know yourself as much as knowledge of the Dhamma. There is no
       school and no teacher who is capable of advising us to do our daily
       activities correctly and without any fault in duty like the school of nature
       and the school of the Dhamma and the school of Kai Nakon that you
       have.
      
       Therefore I would like to warn you with my kind heart that you
       should pay more attention to learning about your life and your soul,
       including actions. Then, I think happiness, excellence, success or
       whatever you wish, you will certainly get some day, if you try to do it.
      
       A Calm Person Will Discover Relaxation
      
       Flowing water and still water which one do you think looks firm
       and is ever ready for any situation ? Which one aborbs and receives
       more touches ? As for me, I would choose calm water. If you don"t
       believe me, throw a stone into the flowing water and observe the response.
       You will see that it makes a circle in one minute, then the scattering
       water will be swallowed and disappear with the flow of water. But, if
       you throw a stone into still water, you will see a delicate response, clear-
       cut and distinct. The heaviness and the lightness depends on the attacking
       object, be it big or small, heavy or light, long or short. Finally, the
       scattering waves will gently subdue and become still.
      
       To compare these two kinds of water with human beings, what
       category of people will you choose ? For me, I would compare a
       confused and excited people with flowing water, a calm person with
       calm and smooth water.
      
       Now, can you see how water is connected with a person ? If
       you still cannot see it, I will tell you. Confusion and excitement arise
       out of pressure, tension, worries, fear, uncalmness and ignorance.
       Whoever possesses these characteristics will be like flowing water,
       being unable to be still, which shuts off acceptance that comes to life.
       Though the touch is recognized, it will be haphazard. It does not bring
       any clear benefits and sometimes it may be unbearable.
      
       The still water can be compared with a person whose inner
       self is calm and this leads to smoothness of the body and words,
       similar to a person whose eyes are wide open. He can look and
       respond to near and far incidents, inside and outside clearly, besides
       being able to absorb deeply the taste of thing which comes to life.
       His mind is distinct and open clearly. You will respond and know
       yourself straight forward. Such characteristics will help you to touch
       it and the environment around openly like water which is still and calm,
       ready to receive the touch and absorb the taste, the odor, the shakiness
       and ends-up gently.

Life and Work for DELIGHT - 15

Dear Son,
       I would like to warn you that time is the carrier and destroyer of
       life and all things. Then, will you let it pass by without doing anything ?
       If you do not want to lose the usefulness of life, you must take action in
       every activity with close attention seriously and attentively, with observation
       and examination, in order to learn good points and bad points, the gain
       and the loss of the work. You will learn the result of work, life and methods
       of work and lay out appropriate goals continuously. It will be a tool for you
       to prevent the loss and reach the success of work and life. If you work
       without observation and analysis, you will use your time and energy
       inconsiderably which does not fit for the world.
      
       For example in minor work, you use plenty of time and energy. But
       to delicate work, you do not pay much attention. To tell the truth, the lack
       of observation and consideration will not help you to know which piece of
       work is small, which is fine and delicate. This makes you miss the
       usefulness and result of work. Now, what will happen ? Disappointment,
       worry and tension will come around. You must accept the result of your
       being good for nothing. When discomfort arises, what follow are :
       negligence, failure and stop doing things. In spite of turning to observation,
       consideration and finding means to solve the problem, you pay attention
       to other things and leave the work to other people to solve.
      
       Now, you become unreliable in the eyes of others. The conflict
       between you and other people arise. Your happiness, friends and your
       society will slowly reduce, withdraw and finally disappear. I think your
       life is sad.