法鼓山 outdoor meditation retreat

Went to 法鼓山 outdoor meditation retreat last week and was a very eye-opening trip. Stole a few tips on meditation from them too :) The day was rather slow moving to experience yet very packed with programs after the end of the day.

What a wonderful day to start with a super downpour :( But some commented that the downpour made them realize impermanence! And all thanks to the organizer, the whole event still commence smoothly. And here are some of my reflections _/\_

A great way to stop my drowsiness when i meditate! We are taught that whenever we felt restless or drowsiness we can just lift our hands slowly from the 界定印 posture to our chest area and putting it back. But throughout the gestures we are told to be mindful of the every minute feels and actions when we move our hands. Such action could be as long as 2 to 3 mins for me. It works marvelous for me. Let me know if are keen and I will be happy to demo.

Next we are told to do an ultra slow walking meditation! Imagining 1 min half a step!
We are also told to land on our toes than the heels which I usually do. Reason explained is the toes are more sensitive to touch and thus easier to be mindful at.

Then we were also taught 大地观 meditation. The feeling was incredible. Main obstacles is not to get distracted by snoring sound as we are in a open lying posture :P We are taught to lie in the arms of Mother nature, feeling one with it. The venerable then said words in a calm and mellow tone about the earth having supported our daily task and what we have give back to nature? I thought it could be brought to any Green Campaign! Quite a few participants were very emotional over the exercise. Again, let me know if you want to find out more :) One of my fav exercise.

Next come makan! First 3 mouthful, we need to chew 100! times before we swallow. I confessed I only chew 20+ to 30 then the food just make its way down my throat. But I did stay mindful enough and I seat facing the wall! How nice, been some time I can eat without thinking of other things other than eating.

After makan we were asked to experience walking by balancing a totally filled bowl of water. Its filled up till you can see the surface tension of the water! Makes me think of the Sankist orange juice commercial :P But I made greatly lot of realisation from that activity. I thought I was very calm until I need to balance these bowl. My hand trembles and spilling the water accidentally makes my mind fluctuates greatly. But strange enough and seems like my mind is capable of influence the water. When I am concentrated, the water was calm. When I started to have wondering thoughts, the water gets agitated. The water has become the reflection of my mind. This is the first time I felt so clear in reading my mind! The feeling was incredible. Through initial meditation, we can observe and deal with larger mental fluctuations. But when a meditator goes into deeper concentrate, finer disturbance arises and task were to harmonize these finer thoughts as well.

Last great activity which I was rather comfortable in was doing 直观. We are told to observe sights and sound of any particular object yet not giving it further thoughts. Meaning when we see a flower, our mind still treat it as flower and not to describe any physical attributes of it. Coincidentally I have tried it before on my own a few times with no guidance. I thought I was smart enough to devise this method :) But instead of using eyes, I use hearing. Lesser distraction and better in making sure I never fall into further describing of the object of concentration.

After all this, we are split into groups for sharing. That is where we all learn wonderful lessons and experience from each other.

To conclude, meditation is a means, a method to change our sensory experience into wisdom. One should not "like" or "dislike" meditation. It is a core training curriculum in Buddhism and yet is not the ultimate liberation. We should also not get attached to the ways of meditation, place or even our attitude towards it. And also, like all Buddhism practises or even for any knowledge, we should all apply it to daily life. Failing to do so makes the practise "useless" to own self.

If not wrong, these 1-day meditation retreat was organised regularly. Do contact them to sign up for it :)