Thursday, January 25, 2007, 01:05 PM - General Topic
Our first initial two-hour TWDD meditation teaching took place in Milton, The Inner Sanctum Yoga Studio. It was a very special and successful session - it is our continuing effort to introduce to the western world this powerful meditation style from the Chinese-Tibetan Vajrayana tradition in the New Year.
Words from people who attended this session:
" Hi Jemma and Wen,
Thank you so much for the time and effort you took to guide and teach me (and others) yesterday. I am pleasantly surprised at being able to finish almost 2 hours of meditation. Even more shocked that little outside thought came in and how time seemed to have been distorted in my mind. It was my biggest fear that I'd be bored and not be able to last that long. Amazing. Yes, it took effort--a lot of effort. But it wasn't torture.
I am honoured and blessed.
- Prab "
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Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 09:36 PM
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Monday, October 23, 2006, 11:49 PM - All About Meditation
Last Saturday night, My dearest friend Ji Wen - who had in the past 10 years studied and practiced full time under Master Haikong in the White Tower Temple, text-messaged me that the Canadian Embassy had finalized both her and Master Haikong's visa permission for their 20 day culture exchange visit in Canda. It has been a long waiting for this news to come, and it finally here!I still remember 8 years ago when I first met Master Haikong in his temple, like many others, I was skeptical about meditation and being extremely offended by the religious settings around the temple. Master Haikong, however, despite our negative and ignorant attitude, patiently guided us through the entire meditation process and tirelessly gave Dharma teaching to help each of us to overcome obstacles in our lives. During the seemingly extremely short days in the temple, he had inspired all of us by not only teaching and giving advices, but also merely his physical presence. 8 years have passed since, and I can say that meeting with Master Haikong is by far the most important experience in my life of all times!
The lessons I have learned from Master Haikong helped me come to the realization that no matter how much time and energy we spend in finding and chasing after happiness by trying to make more money, getting better houses, planning more trips, getting more degrees and keeping our lives busy, however hard we may try to make this the best of all possible worlds, this is not happening to us! We pay a lot of attention to our home and our bodies; we clean them, adorn them, spend money on them, decorate them and constantly repair them. But how much attention do we give to the real home - our mind? How often do we clean out our mind? How much do we exercise it? How much do we adore it? How much nourishment do we give it? All our life experience come through the filter of our mind, if our minds are in chaos, it doesn't matter where we are and who we are, we will be in chaos; if our minds are at peace, it doesn't matter where we are and who we are, we will be in peace.
Looking inward is the only way for us to reach out to our own mind.
Master Haikong spent 10 years intensively contemplating and meditating in a mountain cave, determined to find a meditation method that can be accepted and practiced by ordinary people without the limitation of race, age and religious beliefs. - TWDD meditation was created during this 10-year solitude retreat. It has been taught to and practiced by millions, and proven to be a extremely powerful tool for us to push open the door and windows of our mind to let the sun shine through, and, to take control over the well-being of our mind and find the happiness within.
Yes, Master Haikong will be with us in Canada in the next two weeks. We invite everyone come to our home and meet with this loving, compassionate, knowledgeable and humorous Meditation Master!
-- Wen
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Wednesday, January 18, 2006, 05:07 PM - Share Your Stories
By Jemma FongPublished in the printed version of Moods Magazine Winter 2006, p.27
Living with a chronic condition resulting in daily pain and monthly periodic acute flares that flatten me in bed for days seemed to be my only “norm” I knew for the past two and a half decades. Increased stress of any sorts would worsen the situation causing a vicious cycle as I became more stressed with my inability to perform at my optimum. Doctors, therapists and alternative health practitioners helped as much as they could through medications, manipulations, exercise and homeopathy, but overall, most came to the conclusion that “I just need to live with the pain”. Deep down I knew I had to find a way to control it, rather than “it” control me.
Over the past seven years Wen, had been telling me about her experiences with a Buddhist Master in China. She would tell me about some of the events witnessed during a Tibetan Tantric Buddhist meditation teaching. She mentioned some cases where very ill people with varying diseases from cancer to joint pains, were healed through practicing this type of meditation -- they showed remarkable improvement in their health. She was quite confident that if I had a chance to meet this Master, I would also have a chance to heal. It seemed like a dream far away, but that dream came to fruition this past summer of 2005.
After listening to Wen, and having a general understanding of how the Chinese approach to healthcare differed from Western Society, I was intrigued to learn and experience more. I also believed that being of Asian decent (although raised Caucasian), prompted this desire to explore my roots and the culture. Buddhist meditation has been in China well over 2000 years – I figured it must have value – why not open my mind and heart to this experience! Despite being in a foreign land and not understanding the language, I actually felt quite at peace and comfortable being in China. A huge part of me felt “at home”.
In the mountains of Sichuan, beside a little town called, Zhong Jiang, stands a white tower high on a mountaintop. The White Tower temple sits just below filled with sounds of chanting, bells ringing and the smell of incense. Mantra music repeats softly in the background loud speakers throughout most of the day, filling the air with peace and tranquility. We spent 5 days in this tranquil paradise. It was extremely peaceful and safe feeling with the high walls all around us. Monks of all ages, dressed in yellow robes, practiced daily.
Finally, I had the honour of meeting the master of the temple, Master Hai Kong, who is also the creator of this type of meditation. His teachings have helped millions of Chinese people with their physical and psychological healings. On the second evening of our stay, I was invited to participate in an empowerment ritual held by Master Hai Kong and the monks. It was a two-hour affair, and although I did not understand a spoken word, I watched in awe as Master Hai Kong performed his prostrations, while the monks sang chants and bowed to the Buddhas. I observed all of the surroundings and took it all in.
I was then to perform my own practice, repeating the mantra in a standing meditative form for two hours non-stop. It was difficult, because the pain of walking round and round was hard on my hip joints, but I persevered. It was so important to get beyond this point, so they kept encouraging me to continue. The opportunity for having this experience was extremely privileged, especially having this individual attention. Master Hai Kong is well known in the Chinese Buddhist community and is revered by many students from all over China wanting to learn from him. He usually only performs these empowerment rituals four times a year to hundreds of students at a time. To have my own personal ritual, and to be given the opportunity to practice meditation and learn Buddhism from this Master was a gift of a lifetime (and many more if you believe in Buddhism). The rest of the holiday I continued to practice daily for about five hours while staying at the temple and, to this day, continue this practice at least once daily. The results are staggering. I no longer live on Tylenol every four hours, I have reduced my Lupus medication (under the guidance and approval of my Rheumatologist) and my overall strength and emotional state has improved tremendously. I have noticed each day the pain becoming less and more manageable and energy levels increasing.
How can Master Hai Kong’s meditation teaching help one’s physical and psychological being in such an effective way? Master Hai Kong’s meditation style is the first step of the “Talismanic Wheel and Diamond Dharma” (TWDD) teaching, which originated from the Tibetan Tantric Buddhist Yellow Sect practice -- streamlined from the same lineage of the HH Dalai Lama. From 1982 to 1992, during his ten year retreat, Master Hai Kong simplified the most powerful meditation practice process and reformed it to better fit the pace and lifestyle of modern times. In 1994, for the first time in history, he opened up the first step of his teachings to the public. Since then, (over ten years ago) TWDD meditation has been practiced by millions of people from all over China. This form of meditation has proved to be extraordinarily effective and powerful in healing various physical and psychological challenges.
Having an open mind and heart to this Buddhist meditation gave me hope and an opportunity to gain control over my daily pain. Wen and I believe it can also help many others.
Inspired by these positive results and knowing how it has helped many people in China, Wen took a brave step and asked Master Hai Kong if he would teach her his techniques and grant her permission to teach this form of meditation to people in Canada. Master Hai kong delightfully accepted the request and spent five days training Wen to channel his energies. He then taught her all the steps she needed in order to deliver this great teaching. There are only 25 other students who are personally trained by Master Hai kong and have been given permission to teach this particular technique. Wen has now become the first teacher to bring Master Hai Kong’s practice to the western world.
All you need, in order to learn the initial channeling of energy, is the willingness to learn. Now through Wen’s instruction, you may learn to use the meditative stance and a special mantra to help you focus. The purified energy from the Buddhist Master will then help you to sweep away the distress and self-grasping which has stopped you from uncovering the healing abilities that are already within you. With this effort you too will be able to possess a great healing method and work towards your own recovery.
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Friday, December 9, 2005, 03:15 PM -
Om Mani Padme Hum People who learn about the mantra naturally want to know what it means, and often ask for a translation into English or some other Western language. However, Om Mani Padme Hum can not really be translated into a simple phrase or even a few sentences.
All of the Dharma is based on Buddha's discovery that suffering is unnecessary: Like a disease, once we really face the fact that suffering exists, we can look more deeply and discover it's cause; and when we discover that the cause is dependent on certain conditions, we can explore the possibility of removing those conditions.
Buddha taught many very different methods for removing the cause of suffering, methods appropriate for the very different types and conditions and aptitudes of suffering beings. For those who had the capacity to understand it, he taught the most powerful method of all, a method based on the practice of compassion. It is known as the Mahayana, or Great Vehicle, because practicing it benefits all beings, without partiality. It is likened to a vast boat that carries all the beings in the universe across the sea of suffering.
Within the Mahayana the Buddha revealed the possibility of very quickly benefiting all beings, including oneself, by entering directly into the awakened state of mind, or Buddhahood, without delay. Again, there are different ways of accomplishing this, but the most powerful, and at the same time the most accessible, is to link ones own mind with the mind of a Buddha.
In visualization practice we imagine ourselves to be a Buddha, in this case the Buddha of Compassion, Chenrezig. By replacing the thought of yourself as you with the thought of yourself as Chenrezig, you gradually reduce and eventually remove the fixation on your personal self, which expands your loving kindness and compassion, toward yourself and toward others, and your intelligence and wisdom becomes enhanced, allowing you to see clearly what someone really needs and to communicate with them clearly and accurately.
In most religious traditions one prays to the deities of the tradition in the hopes of receiving their blessing, which will benefit one in some way. In the vajrayana Buddhist tradition, however, the blessing and the power and the superlative qualities of the enlightened beings are not considered as coming from an outside source, but are believed to be innate, to be aspects of our own true nature. Chenrezig and his love and compassion are within us.
The True Sound of Truth
An old story speaks about a similar problem. A devoted meditator, after years concentrating on a particular mantra, had attained enough insight to begin teaching. The student's humility was far from perfect, but the teachers at the monastery were not worried.
A few years of successful teaching left the meditator with no thoughts about learning from anyone; but upon hearing about a famous hermit living nearby, the opportunity was too exciting to be passed up.
The hermit lived alone on an island at the middle of a lake, so the meditator hired a man with a boat to row across to the island. The meditator was very respectful of the old hermit. As they shared some tea made with herbs the meditator asked him about his spiritual practice. The old man said he had no spiritual practice, except for a mantra which he repeated all the time to himself. The meditator was pleased: the hermit was using the same mantra he used himself -- but when the hermit spoke the mantra aloud, the meditator was horrified!
"What's wrong?" asked the hermit.
"I don't know what to say. I'm afraid you've wasted your whole life! You are pronouncing the mantra incorrectly!"
"Oh, Dear! That is terrible. How should I say it?"
The meditator gave the correct pronunciation, and the old hermit was very grateful, asking to be left alone so he could get started right away. On the way back across the lake the meditator, now confirmed as an accomplished teacher, was pondering the sad fate of the hermit.
"It's so fortunate that I came along. At least he will have a little time to practice correctly before he dies." Just then, the meditator noticed that the boatman was looking quite shocked, and turned to see the hermit standing respectfully on the water, next to the boat.
"Excuse me, please. I hate to bother you, but I've forgotten the correct pronunciation again. Would you please repeat it for me?"
"You obviously don't need it," stammered the meditator; but the old man persisted in his polite request until the meditator relented and told him again the way he thought the mantra should be pronounced.
The old hermit was saying the mantra very carefully, slowly, over and over, as he walked across the surface of the water back to the island.
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