Harlem & Jill

 「當我們注視一朵花時，我們會問：『是誰在盛開？』 深觀這個問題，就能碰觸到無相。

 仔細想想， 我們所說的每一句話都是在對自己講。我們所做的每一個反應都是對自己的反應。不是嗎？ 心中產生了印象、認知，然後對那個印象和認知發生反應，採取行動應對，終究是在回應自己的心。

 「作為一名修行人，我們的目標並非賺很多錢，而是轉化自己內心的痛苦，活在平靜和幸福之中。當我們看到家人及朋友幸福，我們的幸福會成倍增長。這種收穫不需要等待十年，現在馬上就可以獲益。」 this is not the exact quote from a book from Thich Nhat Hanh, but I find it more resonate to me this way. This is like a reminder, a bell of mindfulness, calling me back to my awareness of the right path.  We all know what is the right thing to do and what is the right mindset to keep, but sometimes forgetfulness has us and we lose our direction.  The light of wisdom is always within ourselves like the moonshine in the sky. all we have to do is to stop and listen. With enough clarity, The road will show itself to us naturally. #Jill

 I have gotten a few questions on my mind. The first one came earlier as I was trying to practice, mindful breathing. The question is, Why should we be mindful and pay attention to our breath when it works so well automatically. Heaven, human species evolved such a long way to make breath automatic? Even when I’m not aware of it, it works so perfectly. So why do I have to be mindful of my breath?  And somehow, I have preliminary answer to it. Being mindful of our breath is not for breathing better. Breath is the lifeline for us to come back to the present moment. it is the lifebuoy we can cling onto in order to save ourselves from hell, from the traumatized the past and from the worrisome future. it’s wonderful that we can always have this lifeline with us. as long as we are a life. We will still have a breath that can save ourselves at any time. so being mindful of our breath is not for breath itself, but for curing our mind and bringing us back to the hearing now The second question

There was a time when I had this question on my mind: If there are countless after lives, meaning we will come back again and again, until an infinite future, why do we have to practice diligently this life?  Why can’t we just play around and have fun this life and then in one of our after lives, we start to practice. It will never be too late because we will have infinite after lives.  But as I learn more and more about mindfulness practice, I realize that Buddhism practice is not for reaching an ultimate goal to become enlightened. Mindfulness practice is to become happy, and to reduce suffering.  So why do we have to wait until future lives to start becoming happy when we can become happy right here and right now? you can be happy right here and right now and when you do that, you are enlightened, you are a Buddha. # Jill Yang

Sometimes I come up with my own 公案, a philosophical dialogue or question to contemplate. This is a recent one: Master: The Buddha is not confined to his skin. He is everywhere. So if you only see the Buddha as someone in a physical body, you are wrong. The Buddha is present in the entire universe. Student: Dear Master, why do you say the Buddha is everywhere in the universe? I can't see how the Buddha can be found in the farthest star or at a time before the Buddha Shakyamuni. Master: What Buddha? This came to me after I listened to a Dharma talk from Thich Nhat Hanh on "there is action but no actor". Whenever we wonder "who" is doing "what", "when" and "where", we are caught in the wrong perceptions and are blinded by wrong questions. It's like asking "where is the parallel universe?" That's a false question because space and location are in the universe, not the universe is in the space. And this also came to me

I just read about a news article showing a poll that says 6 in 10 U.S. adults support protecting the rights of embryos to some degree. It mentioned a court ruling in Alabama state, which says embryos, even fertilized outside the womb, have equal rights as humans do. This ruling almost forced IVF treatment centers in Alabama to halt operation because if embryos are indeed humans, they are basically killing hundreds of lives every year as they dispose unused embryos!  Absurd as the "embryo equals human" argument seems at first glance, it actually leads to a deeper, philosophical question: when does life begin, and when does it end? According to the same poll, 3 in 10 Americans believe the statement: "human life begins at conception," which sounds perfectly logical. But when put into legal context, not so much. The Article 7 of the Civil Code of Taiwan stipulates that " An unborn child is considered as if it were already born with regard to its interests, except