12th 100 Million Mani Recitation Retreat

http://maniretreat.sg/

Attended this retreat all the way through XMAS! And I love doing it. This annual chanting retreat was organised by Drikung Kagyu, initiated by the Late His Eminence Drubwang Rinpoche, and continued by His Eminence Thritsab Rinpoche.

Basically what the participants does in the retreat is to sit and continuously chant OM MANI PADME HUNG to reach a collective count of 100 Million. And this year we achieved the goal. This feat is only possible by having the lamas leading us as well as the volunteers taking care of our needs.

Its a real test of faith,endurance and fitness. Just half way through the first day, by whole body aches. Very clear indication of my aging body haha. Out of 5 days, I missed 2 days. 1 due to sickness and 1 due to other appointments.

A nice way to wrap up the year actually. Sad to say, this few days are the most hardworking days I work on my spiritual practice in the whole of 2012. The year is filled up with volunteering, and busying over studies and work. In this retreat I tried my best to observe noble silence and because of that, I manage to achieve a more settled mind and moments just being with myself.

The continuous chanting does have some meditative effect and the moving of the lips allow myself to stay more awake than doing a sitting meditation for long. But still doze off at some short moments. I also tried to do some visualization of Chenrezig (Guan Yin) by chanting through the stanzas in the chanting booklet. But I could not really hold the visualization for long. The Tibetan style of doing dedication of merit is also very elaborated and detailed. I also like how the lamas chant using the throat voice.

I am not considered a Tibetan Buddhism practitioner yet I do like how they do their puja, scholastic approach to the Sutra as well as how they arrest their action by their intention.

This event also affirm my belief that actual practicing of the Dharma should still fall back to activities that are more solitude, quiet and personal. Only by having time with ourselves, can we really explore what goes on in our head as well as the myriad of phenomena of the external world.