Good Luck in your exams =)

Dear all,

Good luck in your upcoming exams!!!! Study hard, study smart and do your very best!!!

May luck be on your side always.

Smile!!!! =)

Best wishes from

IMU Buddhist Society

Spiritual Friends

Everyone of us comes into Dhamma through some friends. Isn't that true? We tend to forget that especially when we are reminded so often on being self reliant... paccattam veditabbo vinnuhi ti… to be attained by the wise, each by himself.

On many occasions, the Buddha emphasised the importance of having spiritual friends supporting one another in our journey out of samsara. Some notable examples were his own and Yasodhara, Venerable Sariputta and Venerable Moggallana and many more. The Buddha corrected Venerable Ananda that spiritual friendship is the whole, not half, of the spiritual life.

In many suttas (Raga-vinaya sutta, Sikkha Sutta, Chavalata Sutta, Hita Sutta, Sedaka Sutta) the Buddha explained the different kinds of practitioners and why when one practises for the benefit of oneself AND for the benefit of others is the foremost, the chief, the principal, the best and the supreme.

So, we encourage everyone not only to practice for oneself but do his part to share and help others in their spiritual journey too. We can recall how the Buddha exhorted the first 60 Arahants to go forth for the good of the many, for the happiness of many.

"There is so much misery all around. If we can wipe the tears of even a few people who are suffering, we have paid back a little of our debt of gratitude to the Buddha and to the Sangha, the chain of teachers who have maintained the tradition from ancient times. May all of you develop Dhamma strength. May you all keep growing in Dhamma, and help others to grow in Dhamma. May more and more people benefit from your service. May the wheel of Dhamma keep rotating. May the light of Dhamma spread throughout the world. May the darkness of ignorance be dispelled. May more and more people come out of their misery. May all beings be happy, be peaceful, be liberated!"

- S.N. Goenka


One Paged Dhamma

The Right Way

“If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking.”



-Buddhist Proverb-

Attachment

How do you let go of attachment to things?

Don't even try. It's impossible. Attachment to things drops away by itself

when you no longer seek to find yourself in them. In the meantime,

just be aware of your attachment to things. Sometimes you may not

know that you are attached to something, which is to say, identified, until

you lose it or there is the threat of loss. If you then become upset, anxious,

and so on, it means you are attached. If you are aware that you are

identified with a thing, the identification is no longer total.

"I am the awareness that is aware that there is attachment."

That's the beginning of the transformation of consciousness.

(Excerpt from A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle)

Love is Natural

Your task is not to seek for love.

Your task is to seek and find all the barriers you have

built against it.

-Rumi-

Steve's Quote

Apple of Wisdom

Reminder from Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

[...]

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Mindfulness Meditation 6.10.2011 (Last class)

Perhaps the most important component of our practice,

is the very Reason and Purpose of it.

When the reason and purpose of it is questioned,

that is how, our practice thrives.

Also,

to remember and not forget,

To cultivate love and gentleness with ourselves,

on the journey to Truth and Freedom.

So let's meet, if Wisdom and Understanding is what you seek :)

Heart of a Buddha

Peace comes from

within.

Do not seek it

without.

Heart of a Buddha

To be

honourable in thoughts,

sincere in words,

good in deeds

is to have

the heart of a Buddha.