Inge Santoso - Learn and Grow!

Happy Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T12:00:00.000+07:00

This year is the year of water dragon. Since I do not have a photo of a water dragon, I use this photo of red dragonfly perching on a lotus bud. I took this photo in August 2008 at Amanjiwo Hotel, near Borobudur, Indonesia.

Happy Chinese New Year!

May this year bring you good health, luck, prosperity and happiness!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Living Without Guilt and Regret – Ajahn Brahm, 7th Global Conference on Buddhism, 10-11 December 2011

2011-12-30T12:30:00.001+07:00

This is my notes on Ajahn Brahm’s session entitled “Living Without Guilt and Regret”.

If you want to be a better person, do not feel guilty about things in the past. If you keep on thinking about your mistakes in the past, you become a worse person because you lose self-respect and motivation, and you may become depressed. The mistake of the past becomes ball and chain prohibiting you from achieving success in the future.

If you make a mistake, you should:

admit it or acknowledge it
let it go
learn from it

Adopting from modern psychology technique, if you have done bad things in the past:

Bring it up, acknowledge it by writing it down on a sheet of paper, clearly, neatly and in detail.
Write it on toilet paper!
Read it! Because it is written on toilet paper, you tend to associate what’s written there with sh**… past mistake = sh**
Put it in the toilet bowl and flush…let it go!

Feeling guilty and regret is like putting a used toilet paper in your pocket! If you think putting a used toilet paper in your pocket is a very stupid idea, then keeping feelings of guilt and regret in your mind is just as stupid, so let it go!

Learning from past experience

There is a story about a chicken farmer. As a chicken farmer, every day you deal with eggs and poo. You collect the egg, not the poo. [In Indonesia, they collect the poo for organic fertilizer Hahahaha]

Do you want to remember the poo or the eggs? Of course the eggs! That’s why remember what went right, remember from the success in the past, you will feel good, happy and have motivation to do it right again. You learn more from what’s right than what’s wrong.

We need to change how we look at the past. You can’t re-create the past, so it does not help at all to look back all the time. It is a waste of time to look at the past, just let it go. If you keep looking at the past, then you stop attending to the present! Too many people linger too long in the past and they are not paying attention to the present moment.

If someone call you a pig, you simply let it go, just do not remember it. If you keep repeating it in your mind, then you are letting them to do it to you again and again.

Sometimes people have a belief that if we don’t have regret, we don’t have punishment, and then we will not be deterred from making the same mistake. Well, it does not work that way! What we need is inspiration, to be more compassionate, generous and loving. Those good things work!

Why do we feel guilty? We feel guilty because we do not have enough metta, compassion. We need to treat ourselves with compassion. If I can forgive other people, I can forgive myself.

You can only feel one thing at a time, if you feel guilty, then you are not doing anything useful. If you dwell on guilt or regret, you cannot make progress. If you want progress in life, you have to let the past go.

Sometimes we feel guilty because we felt that we’ve done a bad thing, but then again who know whether it was good or bad? So basically, if you feel guilty, remember good or bad, who knows? Perhaps it was not wrong after all.

Remember that we always do what we think is the right thing to do at that time. We make a decision based on what’s the right thing to do at that time. We do not purposely make a wrong decision or do a wrong thing.

Sometimes we make a bad decision because we use too much rational rather than too much feeling. Remember to follow your heart and not just follow your head. If you are in doubt, do a coin toss. To find out what you really want to do, watch your feelings when the coin goes up in the air. Which side do you wish to come up, the head or the tail? If you wish the head to come up, then you know that what you really want is what the head represents.

End of notes.

As we approach the end of year 2011 and new year 2012, let us apply what we have learned from Ajahn Brahm.

Let’s remember the good times, successes and what we have done right this year. Let go our feelings of guilt, regret, anger and hurt. Learn from our experience but let go the emotional baggage, so what we are ready to fly and soar in the coming year!

May your life be full of love, peace and happiness in year 2012!

May all beings be happy!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

The Saman Dance–7th Global Conference on Buddhism, 10-11 December 2011

2011-12-19T17:07:00.001+07:00

Buddhist Reborn’s Saman Dance

It was awesome to see the Saman Dance performance by Buddhist Reborn. Although it was their first, it was so good. I believe that there will be more performances to come.

May all beings be happy!

Making the Law of Kamma Work in Our Favor – Ajahn Brahmali, 7th Global Conference on Buddhism, 10-11 Dec 2011

2011-12-19T07:40:00.001+07:00

This is my notes on the talk by Ajahn Brahmali. He spoke so fast so I tried to take notes as fast as I could.

What is the law of kamma?

A lot of people often use the word “kamma” or “karma” to describe bad luck or fate. For example, if someone lost his wallet, he would say, “It was my kamma.” It is actually a misunderstanding to describe our kamma simply as our bad luck or fate.

We also often use the word “kamma” to justify other people’s misfortunes. For example, when someone got sick, we would say, “It was his kamma.” If we use it like this, we tend to lose compassion and kindness.

There are a few things that may or may not happen because of what we did in the past, such as:

Weather. Weather changes not because of what we do in the past.
Accidents. If we are born as human, we may have accidents, not due to particular actions in the past. Even death can happen due to accident.
Sickness. Sometimes we are going to be sick. When we go to the doctor, instead of saying that something is wrong, we should say that something is right with us.

When you are born as human being, you can expect suffering, sickness, and problems. We need to understand that there is no alternative, we need to just accept that it’s the way it is. We need to cultivate this kind of thinking.

How to reduce the impact of problems in life?

caring; to be careful and do things the right way
practicing Buddhist teaching

For example: Ajahn Brahmali told a story how people often asked him to bless their new cars. He said that he agreed to bless the car and the blessing would work on one condition, that they would drive carefully.

The simile of the salt.

If we put a spoon of salt in a glass of water, when we drink the water, it will be salty. If we put a spoon of salt in a pond, when we taste water, there will be barely any saltiness. If the salt is our bad kamma and water is our good kamma. If we want kamma to work in our favor, make sure that we increase the amount of good kamma so that the bad kamma becomes a miniscule problem.

May all beings be happy!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

www.ingesantoso.com

Meditation for Working People - Dr Wong Yin Onn, 7th Global Conference of Buddhism, 10-11 Dec 2011

2011-12-16T14:25:00.001+07:00

First of all, I would like to thank Dr Wong Yin Onn for giving me the slides of his presentation. Please note that: the words in [ ] brackets and blue color are my additional notes, thoughts and opinions. I also changed some of the slides order.

Meditation for Working People, also known as Meditation for Non-Meditator.

In this age of multi-tasking, we never do less than two things at once. We read while we eat, and it works because we get things done. We are Control Freaks. But when it comes to calming our mind in meditation we can’t simply because it would require us to sit still, let go and do nothing.

OVERVIEW

The real Buddhism is not books, not manuals, not word for word repetition from the Tipitaka, or it is rites and rituals. The real Buddhism is the practice, by way of body, speech and mind that will destroy the defilements, in part of completely…

Though a person may never have seen or even heard of the Tipitaka, if he carries out detailed investigation every time suffering arises and scorches his mind, he can be said to be studying the Tipitaka directly and far more correctly than people actually in the process of reading it. – Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

The Buddha’s Dhamma was a psycho-ethical outline as well as a practical path for experiencing the truth in day to day life.

It had only one problem and one solution. The one problem is the suffering of mankind and the one solution is the attainment of a state where there is no suffering at all. The path is the three stepped middle path of sila (moral precepts), samadhi (one pointedness) and panna (right understanding).

The Secret to Happiness

Formal meditation helps the mind to rest from its usual state of frenzied thought. It does not make life’s problems disappear, but it gives us a much clearer picture of our problems and to respond rationally with wisdom. [Meditation is not about running away from life’s problems, but meditation helps us to be calm and focus on the solutions]

What should we expect from meditation for working people? What is the desired goal? It is awakening. In more detail, the goal is a step by step improvement in our understanding of life, leading to an improvement in our conduct and having peace, happiness and security as we walk this path.

To walk a spiritual path we need to stay centered and at peace within ourselves. Resistance brings up negative energies of anger, hostility, judgment and fear. It is often preferable to “turn the other cheek” and maintain one’s spiritual composure. Many a times, the suffering is not worth the suffering. [I remember my own experience in meditation. Sometimes my legs felt so painful, yet in my mind, I could choose not to suffer from the pain]

Do you want to be right or do you want peace? We can choose to resist evil, strategizing, worrying, being angry, feeling miserable or we can choose to let go.

Certainly there are situations when we have to dig our heels in and stand up for ourselves. But it is important to weigh the cost of putting up a fight against the gratification of feeling victorious or vindicated. To “Lose” is often to “Win”

MEDITATION INCORPORATED IN DAILY LIFE

Meditation trains our minds, allowing thoughts and emotions to pass across our consciousness without lingering to distract us. It is NOT trying hard to empty our minds; it is a seismic change in the way we see the internal and external world.

It is an endeavor where the harder one tries to “do it”, the harder it is to attain. It is NOT what we do, but what we didn’t do that matters! We do not resist emotions or arising thoughts but merely see it and not be entrapped by it. It is present moment awareness, inspect not expect, letting go!

Besides sitting down, closing the eyes and watching the mind, can we ‘meditate’ while attending to everyday business? How can we make Mindfulness as a Way of Life rather than a practice separate from daily living?

1. Minding the mind

We can all benefit from a greater awareness of how our mind works. Meditation here and now, amid the ups and downs of life. If we want to understand our mind, we have to watch it while it is happy, angry, sad, fearful, etc.

The Dhamma encompasses all aspects of life, it is all inclusive. When watching the mind becomes a constant habit in daily life, the cycle of reacting mindlessly to the external environment is broken.

Formal meditation is important but it even more important to extend it beyond the meditation cushion. It is not postures that lead to enlightenment, though it is useful to help the mind quiet down.

In meditation we learn to realize the impermanent nature of things. Realize that there is a huge difference between “There is suffering” and “I am suffering.” Only when we cease to be involved with our emotions can peaceful equanimity emerge; simply watching the emotions instead of being the emotion. We must constantly remind ourselves that “this too shall pass” and sit and watch as it passes away. As we do so, peace and happiness reveal themselves on their own, like the sun revealing itself from behind the clouds.

To experience peace does not mean that our lives are always blissful. It means that we are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life. [I have experienced this myself. If you want to read about it, please read here]

To the untrained person, whenever there is a conflict between the rational mind and the emotional mind, the older brain which controls the emotion will win hands down!

Understanding this is very important for those of us who wish to train our minds to be logical and objective, for we are going against the grain of millenniums of evolution. This is why diets fail and men have affairs!

Can we better integrate our three brains? It turns out that meditation integrates the brains. It rewires and harmonizes them. It lets you see through the blandishments of consumerism and much other falsity. Harmonizing one's brain is a slow and patient project. Evolution has not had time to integrate our brains. Meditation is a way of choosing to help evolution reach its moulding hand inside our head. Three brains are swell, but three brains in harmony are bliss.

[If you want to read more about these three brains, go here]

2. Metta meditation while driving

[Dr Wong told the story how he did metta meditation while driving the long stretch between Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur. We can practice metta while driving, wishing the cars around us “may all beings be happy”, even those fast cars zigzagging past us (they definitely need our best wishes)]

3. The Game Boy

4. A Modern Gong for Present Moment Awareness

[We can make our watch or mobile phone to beep every hour and when we hear the beep, we just pause and watch our mind for a minute or so]

Present moment awareness is “keeping the body and mind in the same place”

5. Walking

If we can walk, then we can meditate. Just walk slowly in a calm, quiet place like a park. Let the mind be at ease, let go and just be aware of our steps as we walk. Be with the steps that we take, living each moment as we experience it. Please note that it is obvious that we should walk only where our personal safely is not in question.

If you are still struggling with thoughts, do not judge yourself harshly. Simply acknowledge that fact and mentally note, “just thoughts, let it go, just thoughts, let it go” until you really do let it go. And if that does not work the first time, then may be the next time, or the next time. Even if you were stuck in a tsunami of thoughts throughout the walk, you had a good exercise.

6. Mindful eating

Pay attention to what we eat. How many times have we savored the first bite or two only to be swept away by thoughts, planning or worrying? Eat a meal in a quiet contemplative state. Don't push away thoughts when they arise, but don’t let them encompass us, either. Notice the taste of the food, its texture and how it makes us feel as we eat it.

7. Mindful talking

Pay attention to what motivates our speech. Most of the time, we’re taking to someone in auto-pilot mode or fight-or-flight mentality. If we stop to look in and understand “why” we’re about to say what we intend to say, it makes it more likely that we’ll speak with kindness and compassion. When mindless, we often let some really painful or thoughtless words slip.

8. Sleep

A wonderful way to meditate is to spend the 5-10 minutes that we spend lying on the bed before falling asleep in meditation. No pillow talk. Just follow the breath going in and out. Just look at the thoughts that arise and fade away. Was it an “in-breath or out-breath” before you fell asleep?

When we make an effort to turn our attention inwards, we are reconditioning ourselves. (Before this we were only looking outwards!) This looking inward can become habitual; a new conditioning where the minds focuses on itself frequently and regularly.

Where is the balance between worldly and spiritual pursuits?

There should be no boundaries between the spiritual life and daily mundane life.

The foundation of all spiritual practice is to let the Dhamma be the GPS of our lives. We learn to let go of our greed, have contentment and gratitude. We keep our precepts. We must earn a living and have righteous wealth but wealth should not be the one and overriding aim of our lives.

In conclusion,

Mindfulness meditation in daily life brings out the best in us. Its right effort whereby we promote only the wholesome and disconnect the unwholesome from transmission.

Meditation doesn't require burning incense or to sit cross-legged. There
are many alternatives. We could sit comfortably, stand, walk or lay down. Many forms of meditation are based upon the awareness of breath. Through our practice of the different styles, we will find the one
right for ourselves.

Now all that is left to do is set time aside each day to reflect, relax and
meditate. By creating a daily practice, we can expect to achieve greater
clarity in our lives. You will be amazed by life changing results it offers. [As of today, I’ve practiced meditation for 867 days in a row and I certainly enjoy the benefits of this daily practice]

May all beings be happy!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Metta Meditation to Overcome Ill-Will by Ajahn Sujato, 7th Global Conference on Buddhism, 10-11 Dec 2011

2011-12-14T17:17:00.001+07:00

Ajahn Sujato opened his talk by sharing about a trending “We Are the 99%” movement in USA. While in Buddhism, it is “We Are the 100%”. It is “may ALL beings be happy,” not “may MOST being be happy.”

Buddhism has the ideal of “may all beings be happy”, but in everyday life, it may seem unattainable. That’s why it is important to practice, little by little, and start where we are.

Some points on metta meditation

Get a feeling of our body. Start where we are.
Have a sense of patience. It is not something you can push. In meditation sometimes the slower, the better it is. It is about to experience now rather than wanting to experience the next.
Recognize the emotion that you are feeling. Whatever it is you are feeling, just notice it. It is not about working out where this feeling comes from. Simply feel…what does anxiety feel like? What does happiness feel like? It is not favoring or opposing, but just watch the emotions.

Metta, loving kindness, is a real feeling. We can catch that feeling and hold it like holding a little bird in our hands. Do not hold it too tight; do not hold it too loose.

When you practice metta meditation, the feeling becomes part of who you are and it will stay with you. The more we practice, the more we know how the mind works.

Guided metta meditation session. First, by feeling the body, then feeling metta inside your body towards:

yourself (may I be happy)
loved person (sometimes it is better not to use family members because you tend to have mixed emotions when it comes to family members) (may loved person be happy)
neutral person (may neutral person be happy)
disliked person (may disliked person be happy)

(If you want a copy of the guided metta meditation by Ajahn Sujato, you can download it here)

May this note be beneficial to you all.

May all beings be happy!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Applying the Middle Path in a Life Full of Conflicting Demands – Ven. Master Guo Jun, 7th Global Conference on Buddhism, 10-11 Dec 2011

2011-12-14T12:28:00.001+07:00

This is my notes on the presentation by Ven. Master Guo Jun at 7th Global Conference on Buddhism, 10th December 2011.

CONFLICTS

How to solve conflicts in life?

be optimistic? not to be pessimistic
be objective? not to be subjective
be rational? not to be emotional

The practice of middle path is to go beyond subjective and objective because objectivity is made of many subjective parts. Ven. Master Guo Jun gave an example about travelling on the plane. When it was stuffy on a plane and the passengers needed more air, they wanted to open the plane door. Although the passengers thought that they were objective in coming into conclusion to open the door, it was actually a collective of subjective opinions. When the pilot did not agree, one against many, the pilot was seen to have a subjective opinion. The solution is not to be objective or subjective, but to be realistic.

Extreme Middle Path Extreme

Subjective Realistic Objective

Realistic is to go beyond appearances, to look at dependent origination and to look at cause and effect. The practice of the middle path is to go beyond dualities. The Platform Sutra mentions 36 pairs of dualities. There is actually no definite meaning in reality. For example, if your height is 170cm. Is it tall or short? Tall or short compared to whom?

In the core of all disputes, conflicts and disagreements, there is an attitude of “You are wrong. I am right.” People are attached to thinking that they are right.

There are two types of conflicts:

within the self, for example about what to choose, what to do. This type of conflict usually arises because of lack of wisdom.
between self and environment/people. This type of conflict usually arises because of lack of compassion.

Problems arise because we tend to have a lot of compassion when it comes to our own faults, to have a lot of wisdom in seeing other people’s faults.

Extreme Middle Path Extreme

Rational Compassion Feeling

Logic Wisdom Emotion

Being realistic = wisdom + compassion

Being realistic starts with the relaxation of the body and mind.

Relaxation creates calm, clarity, understanding and compassion. It is like the surface of a pond, when the surface is calm then it reflects what is outside, too see something as it is. When the water of the pond becomes calm, impurities start to settle and you can see inside the pond clearly.

Understanding comes from deep listening that results in an open mind (wisdom) and an open heart (compassion). Misunderstanding is often caused by not listening, resulting in conflicts.

The session ended with 10-minute meditation accompanied with music.

May all beings be happy

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Fostering Peace in Multi-religious and Multi-cultural Communities–Ajahn Brahmavamso, 7th Global Conference on Buddhism, Jakarta 10-11 December 2011

2011-12-13T23:02:00.001+07:00

This is my notes on the keynote speech of 7th GCB delivered by Ajahn Brahm. Please remember that it was written based on my personal notes and not a transcript of the speech.

Since the keynote speech was delivered after lunch, the time when many speakers dread to speak, the graveyard shift of conference, Ajahn Brahm appropriately opened his keynote speech with a ghost story. Not only the story captured the participants’ interest, but the moral of the story also set off the topic. The moral of the ghost story was that the people who were buried in cemetery, regardless of their race, religion, age, gender, were able to reside together in harmony. If dead people can do it, can we who are alive do the same?

Is there a solution to inter-religious harmony?

To answer this question, Ajahn Brahm told a story from his book “Opening the Door to Your Heart” entitled The Most Beautiful Sound.

An uneducated old man was visiting a city for the first time in his life. He had grown up in a remote mountain village and now he was enjoying his first visit to his children’s modern homes.

One day, while he was being shown around the city, the old man heard an awful noise. He had never heard such noise and he wanted to find its cause. He found that the grating sound came from a room in the back of a house where a small boy was practicing on a violin. When he was told that it was a “violin”, he decided he never wanted to hear such a horrible thing again.

The next day, in a different part of the city, the old man heard a sound that was enchanting. He also wanted to find its cause. Following the delightful sound back to its source, he came to a room in front of a house where a maestro was performing a sonata on a violin.

At once, the old man realized his mistake. The terrible sound that he had heard the previous day was not the fault of the violin, or even the boy. It was just that the young man had yet to learn his instrument well.

The third day, in a different part of the city, the old man heard another sound that surpassed in its beauty even that of the maestro on her violin. What was that sound that moved the old man’s heart more powerfully than anything before? It was a large orchestra playing a symphony.

It was the same with religion. When we come across a religious enthusiasts causing strife with his beliefs, it is incorrect to blame the religion. It is just that the novice has yet to learn his religion well. When we come across a maestro of her religion, it is such a sweet encounter that it inspires us for many years whatever their beliefs.

When every member of an orchestra was a maestro of their own instrument and they had further learned how to play together in harmony, then it would be the most beautiful sound in the world.

Learn our religion well and let us go further and learn how to play with other religion in harmony together.

Ajahn Brahm continued telling his story about how he was interviewed by a journalist regarding the news of a US marine flushing a Quran down the toilet. The journalist asked, “If someone took Buddhist holy books and flushed them down the toilet, what would you do? Ajahn Brahm answered, “First, I will call a plumber.” The journalist commented that it was the most sensible thing he heard all day. Then Ajahn Brahm continued by saying that you could flush books, destroy statues or vihara, but you could not destroy compassion, forgiveness and peace.

You need to differentiate between the container and the content. Churches, mosques, temples are just container; it’s the content, the people that are important. Buddhist statue is a container, but it is the content such as peace, virtue, compassion and forgiveness that are more important. What’s important is the Dhamma, not the book.

Instead of focusing on the container, remember the content, what Buddha actually teaches: virtue, peace and compassion.

Ajahn Brahm also shared his story about his friendship with a Benedictine monk. Once they had a discussion about what do the Buddhist feel about God. The Benedictine monk said that every human being was always searching for God. Ajahn Brahm said that Buddhists were always in search of truth, compassion, peace and virtue. If every human being was searching for the same thing, then God also meant truth, compassion, peace and virtue. In conclusion, seek what’s in common between religions to live in harmony.

In a nutshell, to foster peace in multi-religious and multi-cultural communities, we need to:

Learn our religion well and learn how to play with other religion in harmony together
Focus on the content instead of focusing on the container
Seek what’s in common

May all beings be happy!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Practicing What We Have Learned

2011-12-13T08:13:00.001+07:00

(don’t be offended by the photo Mom…smile! hahaha)

My mother and I entered Balai Kartini’s auditorium to attend the last session of 7th Global Conference on Buddhism after afternoon coffee break only to find that our seats had been taken. Although we were told that we were allowed to change seat after each break, most people did not change seats to keep things convenient. It was definitely faster to know exactly where to go when we came back from breaks.

Anyway, when I found that someone had taken my seat, did I think bad or negative thoughts? Yes, I did. Did I feel negative emotions? Yes, I did. Even after listening for Dhamma for almost two days, negative thoughts and feelings still arose.

These were my initial thoughts and feelings:

How dare she take my seat? It was the perfect spot for taking photos. Why did she take mine when there were other seats available on the same row?
Why did she create a disturbance? When she took my seat, I had to take someone else’s seat and it just made everybody on that row feel annoyed and uncomfortable?

What happened after I had these negative thoughts and feelings? What did I do? At first I tried to tell her that it was my previous seat and I would like to sit there again. She said that the MC had told us that it was free to change seat, therefore she decided to do just that. Once again I tried to make her understand that there were five of us in the group and moving one seat actually created an inconvenience not to one person but to five people. She stood her ground citing her right to sit there. Since the session was about to start, I decided to just move to other seats that were available in the middle of the row.

What was happening in my mind while I had that conversation with her? I was actually quite aware of my thoughts and feelings during the whole process. I believe that it is my meditation practice that actually helped me to be aware of the rising thoughts and feelings. Since I was aware of these thoughts and feelings, I could analyze and manage them. When I saw the feeling of annoyance rising, I remembered Ajahn Brahm’s advice not to let anything that happened to destroy our virtue, peace and compassion. I thought changing seat was just a small change, anicca, I would not let it ruin my feeling of peace and happiness. I decided to put what I learned from great speakers of the conference into practice!

In addition to deciding to be peaceful and happy no matter what, I asked myself a question to build up my compassion. The question was: “What else can it mean?” Then I started to think about positive reasons why she moved to my seat. These were some of the reasons that I thought of:

perhaps she wanted to take better photos of the speakers because my seat was really one of the best spot to take photo
perhaps she wanted to have a chance to give respects to the monks by standing in Anjali when they passed the aisle
perhaps she had a stomachache and needed frequent trips to the bathroom
perhaps the people who sat next to her were stinky and she could not stand sitting beside them anymore HAHAHA

Anyway by thinking these thoughts, I started to have a feeling of compassion towards her and the feeling of anger, annoyance disappeared.

At the end, I was actually grateful to have this experience because I had a chance to practice what I have learned and felt the benefit of the practice. I can especially feel the benefit of my meditation practice in a situation like this, such as being aware of my thoughts and feelings, understanding anicca, and letting go.

What would you think, feel or do in a situation like this? Would you have felt angry? Would you still keep the anger and hatred even until now? Once again, remember what Ajahn Brahm taught us: remember what went right instead of what went wrong. Choose to remember the good times of learning Dhamma from great masters during the conference instead of losing one lousy seat!

I hope this story can help you to choose to think, feel and do the right thing when similar situation arises.

May all beings be happy!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Living Without Fear and Anger – by Ringu Tulku Rinpoche at 7th Global Conference on Buddhism in Jakarta

2011-12-12T14:15:00.001+07:00

On 10-11 December 2011, I attended the 7th Global Conference on Buddhism in Jakarta. The first speaker was Ringu Tulku Rinpoche on the topic of Living Without Fear and Anger.

This is a summary of Ringu Tulku Rinpoche’s talk.

ANGER

The problem with anger is when we are not able to deal with anger. Anger causes destructions and harms not only to myself but to other people. We often keep the anger and hatred in our heart, thus keeping the hurt and eventually harm ourselves. We also have many regrets after we say or do something in uncontrollable anger.

What is anger? Anger is a disturbed peace of mind. It often creates malevolent feelings and brings an aura of unease.

We often react to a situation with the feeling of anger because we don’t know there is an alternative to anger. First, we need to learn to see the purpose of anger. Anger usually arises when we are not satisfied or something was wrong. Second, we need to transform the feeling of anger so that the purpose of anger is served without causing unhappiness to ourselves and others.

Some people say that we need anger to stand up against injustice. When there is injustice, when something is not right, you can have either anger or compassion. What we need to understand is that the emotion of anger and compassion come from a similar source. The difference is how you look at the situation.

If you focus on the person who does the wrong thing, then you have anger. If you focus on the issue, then you have compassion. If we focus on the issue, there is no need to be angry to the people.

Although some say that anger provides energy and power, compassion actually provides more sustainable energy. Anger is like a flare of fire. It flares up, then it’s over and you lose all the energy afterward. On the other hand, since compassion beneficial to everybody, there’s an enthusiasm to keep going, thus creates more sustainable energy in the long run.

How do we deal with anger? We need to see WHY you are angry, find the issue. Then we find solutions to that issue, solutions that can benefit everybody.

Is it easy to deal with anger? No, it is not easy because we have the habit to be angry.

Sometimes people say that we have the right to be angry. Yes, we have the right to be angry, but we need to remember that being angry does not solve anything. Therefore, it is better to focus on the issue and be compassionate.

FEAR

Fear is being afraid that something bad is going to happen. Fear is suffering because even when everything is fine in our lives, fear can still bring unhappiness. For example, although work is not stressing us, but when we have fear and start worrying, then it will bring stress and tension.

We need to remember that worrying does not help us. Nobody says that something will not happen just because we worry about it.

What do we need to do? We need to our best to prevent negative things from happening, but since we cannot be sure that we can change everything, then it is not useful to worry. Worrying does not change anything and it only brings pains. Uncertainty is a natural phenomenon. It is a fact and we need to accept it. Just prepare and do our best!

Since having fear and worrying do not change anything, it is wise to learn how to let go of fear.

Some people say that we need fear to survive, to avoid danger. It is not fear that enables you to survive and avoid danger, it is wisdom!

For example, crossing a road in India.

If you want to be able to cross a road in India, you need to be unafraid. You must be clear in your mind and have the presence of the mind. You don’t panic and you walk slowly across the road. In order to survive crossing the street, you must have wisdom and not fear.

In conclusion,

Not anger, but compassion!

Not fear, but wisdom!

Instead of living with fear and anger…live with wisdom and compassion!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Update on Prosperity Jars Money Management System

2011-12-07T17:56:00.001+07:00

I learned about Prosperity Jars Money Management System at T. Harv Eker’s Millionaire Mind Intensive Singapore in 2008. You can read on how I began to use this system here.

Since I started the system in 2008, I have adjusted the system to suit my personal needs, but the basic was still the same. When I receive money as an income, I divide it into 6 different accounts:

10% for Financial Freedom Account (FFA)
10% for Long Term Savings for Spending Account and Debt Repayment
10% for Education Account
50% for Necessities Account
10% for Play Account
10% for Give Account

Over the years, I still divide them into 6 different accounts, but I adjusted the percentage for each account. I also put any money left in the necessities account at the end of a month into FFA. In addition, I increase the percentage for Education Account because I tend to spend a lot on training and seminars.

When my Financial Freedom Account started to grow, I began to look into suitable asset allocation. I had investments in mutual funds, property and stock market. I also bought some insurance for protection.

After applying the system consistently for three years, the results were amazing. My personal net worth increased more than 180%! In these three years, I also travel more (India, Alaska & Canada and Macau), give more, and enjoy myself more!

The system really works!

For the system to work, I was required to make some changes in my life, such as:

being more disciplined in applying the system consistently
automate regular savings and investments
tracking expenses in detail using Microsoft Money
changing my spending habits, less impulse buying and utilize what I have for longer period
eating lunch/dinner before shopping for groceries
keeping track of all investments and balancing them at least once every 6 months
rewarding myself for applying the system
many more

It was not easy but it was definitely worth the effort.

If you want to learn or know more, please do not hesitate to contact me. This system has helped me tremendously, I hope I can help you to achieve the same or even better result.

Learn and Grow

Inge Santoso, B. Com

End of Year Evaluation 2011

2011-12-05T12:06:00.001+07:00

Yesterday I did my end-of-year evaluation at Excelso, Solo Square. I tried to write down every good and bad things that I did or happened to me in the year 2011. I wrote down more than 75 things good things and less than 10 bad things. The list was not final because I knew there were more but I just couldn’t remember offhand.

Out of the good things that I did or what happened to me

21% related to spirituality, personal development and learning
17% related to meditation and Bali Usada
15% related to seminar, coaching, teaching
9% related to buying things
8% related to writing
8% related to friendship and connections
6% related to travelling
3% related to financial goals
13% related to random things

The negative things were mostly about wasting time for unimportant things such as watching DVD (hundreds of DVDs), playing Zuma on Facebook, Facebooking, and chatting on Blackberry. Then making many poor choices in the area of health, eating too much, not enough exercise. I hope I can improve and do better in these areas next year.

What am I going to do in the future?

Continue doing the good things that I’ve done
Prioritize and make better choices in the area of weakness
Balance things out

I have not decided the theme for year 2012. Do you have a suggestion for me?

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Can You Grow Beyond Your Talent?

2011-12-02T15:53:00.001+07:00

According to Daniel Coyle in his book The Talent Code – Greatness Isn’t Born, It’s Grown, “Skill is a cellular insulation that wraps neural circuits and that grows in response to certain signals.” The more time and energy are put in the right kind of practice, the more skill can be developed. So it is definitely possible to grow beyond your talent!

If you want to know more stories on how people develop their skills through right practice, I recommend you to read the book.

Now…I want to share my personal story on this topic.

As you may know from my previous post, I started learning meditation in August 2009. A few months after attending my first meditation retreat, Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1, I re-attended it with my mother in October. When we came back from the retreat, my parents and I went to see Mr. T who had a “supernatural” power and had a discussion about meditation. He asked me why I would practice meditation because I did not have a talent for it. I told him that I found meditation to be beneficial for my emotional health. He said that it was true, yet he warned me not to be disappointed if I could not be successful in developing my meditation skill to higher levels. Since I practiced meditation mainly for my health, especially my emotional health, I kept practicing diligently despite his warning.

In 2010, I started attending Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2 and learned a great deal more. I learned to be more adept in developing my harmonious mind, as well as practicing deeper techniques. At the end of the year, I met again with Mr. T. He asked me whether I still practiced meditation. I told him that I practiced every day for about 45-60 minutes with the method I learned in Tapa Brata 2. He told me that I had a good progress. He was wondering who my teacher was because the teacher had to be a good teacher to be able to teach me to achieve this kind of progress. I told him that it was Mr. Merta Ada who taught me. He just nodded and told me to keep going. I supposed he was curious to see how I would turn out.

Just before I went to Tapa Brata 3 this year, I met with him once again. He did not say anything during our discussion, but when I was going to walk to my car, he suddenly told me that I had been successful in my meditation practice. He told me that I should be able to succeed in my later practice if I decided to pursue it. I was actually quite surprised when he told me this because personally I did not feel so much different in my practice between now and two years ago when he told me I had no talent for meditation.

From my story, you can see how you can still be successful although someone said that you had no talent for it. Skill can be learned by the right kind of practice!

I was actually glad when Mr. T told me that I had no talent because if I was successful, it was because of my effort and hard work. For most of my life, since I was at school until now, a lot of people saw my success and often told me that it was due to my talents and my parent’s supports. They rarely said that it was due to my own effort! I felt fortunate to have a lot of supports and talents, but sometimes I longed to be appreciated for my effort.

With meditation, I can finally prove how I can also be successful based on my own effort. I do not say that I have no support because I do have supports from my teachers and meditation friends, yet they can’t do the work for me, only I can sit and meditate!

How much effort did I put into my practice? Since I attended Tapa Brata 1, I have practiced every single day! Until today, it has been 853 days. I attended Tapa Brata 1 twice, Tapa Brata 2 three times and recently Tapa Brata 3. I also attended two meditation retreats with different teachers. No easy feat but well worth the effort!

I want to see how it will be like when I hit 10,000 hours of practice! I still have a long way to go but I certainly enjoy this journey.

I hope this story can inspire you to keep practicing, keep going, keep developing yourself. Other people can say that you have no talent, but if you really want it, you certainly can grow your skill beyond your talent!

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

My Meditation Journey - Bali Usada Tapa Brata 3

2011-11-28T21:21:00.001+07:00

835 days had passed since I started my meditation journey by attending Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1 in Cisarua, Indonesia. Now the journey continued by going to Bali Usada Tapa Brata 3 that was held in Baturiti,
Bali.

Before starting the course, I was feeling a bit nervous because I heard from earlier attendants that it was quite hard. They said that every sitting was around three hours and there were sittings from 4AM to 9.30 PM. When we arrived at the center, I saw the schedule….Aah it was not that bad! Although there were seven sittings in a day, each sitting lasted maximum 1.5 hours. I was so relieved and my feeling of confidence returned. Yes, I could do 1.5 hours…no sweat! So, to my meditation friends who hesitates to take TB3 because of the length of each sitting, have no fear!

I am not going to bore you with the details about my day-to-day experience during the retreat, but I will tell you more about interesting things that happened, the lesson I learned and my feelings after the retreat.

Frustration

On Day 8, I felt really hard to focus. I couldn’t hold onto my meditation object, the flow of the breath going in and out. I was distracted by the sound of a wall clock going tick tock, tick tock. I tried to focus on the breath, but somehow my breath followed the rhythm of the clock, tick –breathing in, tock – breathing out. I was actually panting instead of having my breath slowing down. I tried to focus back on the natural flow of my breath, but the same thing went on and on. Even when I tried to slow down the breath, my breath still followed the rhythm of the clock, tick-tock-tick – breathing in, tock-tick-tock – breathing out.

During 7PM sitting, I could not stand it anymore. I felt so frustrated and I could feel the rush of anger mixed with despair and hopelessness swelling up in my chest. I got up and I went out of the meditation hall. Even after I went out of the room, I could still hear tick tock tick tock all over the place! I could not hold it anymore, I hastened back to my room and I just cried and cried and cried! After about 5 minutes or so, I started to calm down. I stopped crying and I went down stair to seek Mr. Merta Ada for a consult. I felt so much better about the consultation and he suggested taking down the clock in the meditation hall. The next day I took down the clock and my sitting sessions on Day 9 were so much better.

I found that I was easily influenced, distracted and annoyed by monotone sound like the sound of the clock or metronome. I hope I can train my mind to overcome this obstacle better in the future.

Silly Fear and Quirk

We had a 2-hour break at noon, so I usually tried to rest and sleep until 1.45PM. It was usually raining around these times. I used to enjoy sleeping when it was raining outside, but during the retreat, I had an extreme fear of the rain. I could not sleep well and I often woke up suddenly feeling so worried. I felt as if something bad was going to happen. I think this was caused by past trauma when my house’s ceiling crashed down on top of my work station and library earlier this year. You can read the story about it here.

Another quirk was the need to go to the bathroom over and over again just before going into a sitting period. I could go to the bathroom twice within 5 minutes. Once again, I think it was related to past trauma. You can read about it here.

Being Happy

During the retreat, we were often reminded to be happy. It was more about enjoying the process rather than desiring result. Sometimes it was not easy to be happy when I felt that I could not hold the object, the feeling of stress and frustration often lingered. Fortunately, I often reminded myself about a story called the two-finger smile in Ajahn Brahm’s book where he went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror and just smiled. So I just watched myself in the mirror, putting a silly grin on my face for a few seconds before a sitting session. Hahahaha

Another story about being happy actually happened when a sitting session went really bad. It was an early morning session that started at 4.30AM. I just could not concentrate, my mind drifted so often and I might have fallen asleep a few times. I tried to straightened my posture to overcome it, but I couldn’t hold any object for more than 3-4 minutes. After more than 1 hour in this kind of state, I started to feel a sense of despair and I just wanted to give up, open my eyes and ended the session. Then suddenly in 5 or 10 minutes before the session ended, I could simply let go and I felt one of the happiest moment in my life. I felt so happy realizing in my body that I was the one who had the freedom to choose to be happy, no matter what the result was. It did not matter whether I could or could not hold the object, I could still be happy. This feeling of freedom was quite exhilarating until I could not stop smiling that morning.

Peace and Harmony

In my personal experience, the most noticeable difference between TB3 and TB12 was the level of peace and calmness. When the breath started to feel so subtle even disappearing, I felt so peaceful and calm, so serene. It was such a beautiful feeling. I even did not know there could be such feeling of peace because I’ve never experienced it before TB3. The feeling of peace was so expansive, it was like on top of the highest mountain and I could see and feel everything and there was no horizon, no boundary, it was simply unlimited.

I thought this feeling of peace could only be felt during a sitting session, but I was wrong. When I arrived at Jogja airport last Saturday night. There were so many people in the arrival hall because there were 2-3 flights landed almost at the same time. There were only two baggage belts, so a lot of people crowded around the baggage belt, even jostled each other to get their luggage. Somehow, although I was in this kind of situation, my mind was so peaceful. It was calm like a lake water, so tranquil and serene, that even if stones were thrown into the water, it would not have disturbed the stillness of the water. I was actually quite surprised to discover that I was able to feel this state of peace and harmony in the midst of chaos.

All these beautiful feelings were just a tip of the iceberg because I did not even ‘succeed’ in this retreat. I can’t help but wonder if these feelings were wonderful already, what will the bliss feel like? It has to be the most beautiful feeling ever! I hope I have the chance to feel it in my lifetime.

So…

Finally, I want to thank Mr. Merta Ada, Mr. Agus and Mr. Budi for their guidance during the course. I want to thank all my meditation buddies who travelled this TB3 journey together with me…you are all so awesome! I also want to thank everybody who was involved in making this journey possible! Thank you!

To: my meditation friends. If you have the opportunity and the time to do TB3, please do so. It is a wonderful process to go through. The journey may not be smooth, it may be going up or down, but it is definitely a journey worth taking! I hope we can continue this journey together…May all beings be happy!

Learn and Grow!

My Review of D-Lux Laptop Messenger Racing Stripe

2011-10-21T15:03:00.001+07:00

Originally submitted at Timbuk2

A Racing Stripe Messenger with laptop protection.

Awesome bag, just right for me

By Inguzan from Solo, Indonesia on 10/21/2011

Pros: Comfortable , Attractive, Durable , Roomy , Good Strap Length

Cons: Not enough compartments

Best Uses: Day Trips, Office, Computer

Describe Yourself: Practical, Comfort-Oriented

Was this a gift?: No

I use it as daily bag, going with me everywhere I go. It is a perfect bag for me, the size is just right. Unfortunately the pockets are too flat to be useful. My Macbook Air fits perfectly and the padding offers adequate protection. Awesome bag! I wish I can afford to buy more. The delivery cost to Indonesia and custom tax equalled the price of the bag.

My new timbuk2 with NC16 pin

(legalese)

Honesty and Money From Beyond The Grave

2011-10-03T14:09:00.000+07:00

Last week was a weird money magnet week for me.

First, at the beginning of the week, there was a friend who asked me to help her invest her money. She was going to transfer the money to me straight away, but I refused, because I had not analyzed her risk profile. I was glad that she would trust me, but it would be unprofessional of me to simply accept that money without any sorts of assessment and agreements.

Second, on Wednesday morning I went to Bank ABC to do some banking transactions. I did some deposits and withdrawals from several accounts for business purposes. I should have received Rp 7,000,000 from the teller at the end of the transactions. After the teller finished doing the transactions, she stood up and gave me back my bank books and deposit slips. Apparently she forgot to give me the Rp 7,000,000 cash, so I asked her about the money. She was embarrassed that she forgot to give me the money, so she started to prepare the cash. I told her that I needed some small denominations too. I wanted some 20,000s, 10,000s and 5,000s. She started to get money out of the drawer, she took out more than 10 bundles of 50,000s and started changing the elastic bands with the paper money bands. While waiting for her to finished changing the bands, I was chatting on my Blackberry 9900. After a while, she asked me to watch her put the money into the counting machine, she took 12 bundles of 50,000s, 3 bundles of 20,000s, 3 bundles of 10,000s and 2 bundles of 5,000. I was quite amazed to see that much money. I only withdrew Rp 7,000,000 and she prepared to give me Rp 70,000,000. I could've said nothing and she would have given me the money! I told her nicely that I only withdrew Rp 7,000,000 not Rp 70,000,000. When I told her that, it was only then that she realized she had made a grave mistake. You should've seen her face, it was a mixture of shock, surprised and relief. She looked like as if she had just woken up from a state of dream or hypnosis and back to reality. She brought all the money back to her desk and started counting correctly this time. While counting, she muttered how glad she was serving me who reminded her of her mistake. She thanked me profusely while giving me the correct amount of money at the end.

I imagined how it would have been like if I had not told the teller and simply took the money. It would be disastrous for her, Rp 63,000,000 was a lot of money. It could've have been the total of three year salary for her. On the other hand, what kind of person I would have become, had I taken that money? I believe that my integrity worth so much more than Rp 63,000,000.

I posted this story on Facebook and one of my friend, Chuang, said:

I imagined if I was in the teller’s position, I would feel so relieved and glad that there was still a good person who was honest to return the money…and since I know that the teller was a person just like me, I would return the money. The value of money decreased with time and could not be taken beyond death, but we can always bring honesty, even to the next life. (Chuang, I translated this the best I could. I hope it meets your expectation hahaha)

I completely agree with what Chuang has said.

Third, the weirdest of all! On Saturday afternoon, I had two missed calls from unknown number, so I called back. A lady answered the phone and I asked her why she called me earlier. These are the conversations:

L: Are you Inge Santoso with hand phone number of 0856xxxxxxx?

I: Yes.

L: I called you because my husband just passed away last week and when I cleaned his desk, I found an envelope with some amount of money in it. Your name and phone number were written on the envelope. Did my husband owe you some money? If he did, I would like to give you the money.

I: I’m sorry. What was your husband name? I don’t think anybody owed me any money.

L: My husband’s name is A.

I: I am sorry, I don’t think I know him. I am sure that he did not owe me anything. You can keep the money.

L: OK, thank you then.

After that phone call, I was thinking…how weird! Even someone who had died wanted to give me money. It was like getting money from complete stranger beyond the grave!

Anyway, I am glad that I could still make the right choice in each situations.

What would you do if you were me? Please write in the comments.

Learn and Grow!

Does the Solution Still Apply?

2011-05-14T08:28:00.001+07:00

Last Saturday, five of my friends and I went to Sizzler Kelapa Gading to have lunch together. After we finished lunch, we wanted to go shopping at Kelapa Gading Mall. Since we were carrying a lot of stuff, we decided to put our things in my car which was parked closest to Sizzler. I told my friend to bring an umbrella from the car because I saw the sky was very cloudy and it was going to rain soon. My friend said no. She said we would only go shopping for a little while. We would’ve finished our shopping before the rain started.

By the time we finished shopping, we saw that it was raining heavily. It was impossible to get to the car without being soaked wet. One of us suggested renting an umbrella to get to the car. Another one suggested to get a driver to pick us up. We argued whether the car was big enough for the six of us with additional child and baby sitter. We started walking towards Mall 3 while discussing the best solution to our problem.

After 15 minutes or so, we finally decided to rent an umbrella to get to the car. When we walked back to Mall 1 and arrived at the door, we saw that the rain had completely stopped! There was no need to rent an umbrella at all.

By the time we reached a decision and had a solution to our problem, the problem had solved itself!

Lessons:

Sometimes we waste so much time and energy discussing, arguing about solutions to our problem, by the time we make a decision, the problem has changed and our solution is not applicable anymore
Sometimes a problem can solved itself if we give it time. Our impatience often creates more complications to a simple problem. It does not mean that we do nothing at all, but we should make our decision with a cool and composed mind.

Learn and Grow!

Life Is Like A Stock Market

2011-03-22T13:43:00.001+07:00

Last Sunday I attended Buddhist Fellowship Indonesia’s “Beautiful Heart and Peaceful Mind” event at Central Park Ballroom, Jakarta. The speakers were two great masters from two Buddhist traditions, Ajahn Brahm and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

In his talk, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche shared a story about his friend who was a stock trader. He said: “Life is like a stock market.” I kept thinking about this and I would like to share with you what I had contemplated in the last two days.

First, life is like a stock market because it goes up and down. It is changing all the time. Although the stock market index might not change at the end of the day, the movement during the day would be unique to that particular day. As in life, there isn’t a day that is exactly the same.

Imagine if the stock market is flat all the time, then nobody can make any money. Life that is flat will be boring. It is the change that makes every day colorful and interesting. Therefore we should accept, even embrace change if we want to be happy in this life.

Second, life is like a stock market because it is shaped by many conditions. There is no single explanation why something happens; it is usually a combination of things that causes something to happen. In stock market, we can never determine the exact cause why did the price go up or down? There are so many factors that can influence the price of a stock. Since we can never know the exact cause, it is wise to learn to see things as they really are, life as it is.

Third, life is like trading in the stock market, it is full of dissatisfaction. For example, when we think the price is low, we would buy the stock. After we bought the stock, the price went down and we became unhappy because we could not buy at the lowest price. On the other hand, when the price is high, we would sell the stock. After we sold the stock, the price went up and we also become unhappy because we could not sell at the highest price. Either way, there is a chance of disappointment and anguish. Even when we are right and make profit in trading a certain stock, the happiness will not last because we always want more.

What should we do then?

Mingyur Rinpoche gave this advice: “Let go but never give up!” It means that we should try to do our best to create the best condition but do not cling too tightly to the end result.

Like in the stock market, we study the market to our best ability, we make decision to buy or sell to the best of our knowledge, and then the market shows us whether we make profit or loss. Nobody profits all the time and nobody loses all the time.

In life, we also need to do our best. Sometimes we make right decisions, sometimes we make wrong ones. Even when our decision turns to be wrong, we should learn to let go and learn from the experience. Remember that we are not right all the time and we are not wrong all the time.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Good, Bad? Who Knows!

2011-03-17T14:37:00.001+07:00

On Chinese New Year while everybody else was having fun with family, I was not feeling well. I had a sore throat, headache and my body was feverish. I took a Panadol and sleep, hoping that the next day I would feel better.

The next day, I felt no better. I decided to go and see a doctor in the morning. Since the doctor was only a block away, I just walked there. When I arrived in front of the doctor’s clinic, I saw a “CLOSE” sign hanging in the window. “Aaah more bad news,” I thought.

Since the other doctor only practices in the evening, I decided to stay at home and rest. I was sleeping most of the time, only waking up to eat lunch. I didn’t even do my ritual of reading blogs on my notebook computer that morning because I couldn’t stand the glare from the screen.

That afternoon I was sleeping comfortably accompanied by the sound of heavy rain. The sky was quite dark, the air was cool. I thought, “What a perfect weather to stay at home and sleep!”

Suddenly my sleep was interrupted by the sound of loud crash! I thought, “Oh no…the maid who cleaned the house must have broken my new vase!” I quickly got out of bed to have a look. When I opened my bedroom door, this was what I saw:

The ceiling had collapsed and water was pouring on top of my desk like waterfall. It was basically raining inside my house! Water drenched my computer equipment, my chair, and my books! The collapsed ceiling was all over my work desk. I quickly jumped through all the debris and started pulling the plugs. (It was a dangerous thing to do with all the water flooding the whole area. I had a brief thought about the danger of being electrocuted, but somehow I still decided to do it). After pulling the plugs, I quickly grabbed my notebook bag and other bags from behind the desk. Then I started to worry about my books. Fortunately the design of the bookcase was such that the water couldn’t get in, it just flowed straight down outside the bookcase door.

After the crucial few minutes, the maids and workers came in and they started to help minimizing the damage. Two of the workers went up to check the drain and clear the blocked drainage so that the water stopped pouring inside the house. Everybody else was frantically busy to mop and clean the place. After about one to two hours, we finally finished cleaning the whole place.

While they were mopping the floor, I moved all my gadgets to another room and started to check the damages. Most of them were alright but I still spread them out and let them dry.

I didn’t even bother trying to save my printer, monitor, keyboard and networking equipment on top of the desk because they were really soaked!

What’s worse…I had two guests staying over at my place that night! I was sure that they were quite shocked to see the condition of my place. I was glad when they were very understanding and sympathetic.

The aftermath….

I still went to the doctor that evening. After taking the medicine I felt so much better.

The next day, workers started to fix the ceiling and they worked real fast. Within three days, everything was back to normal.

Almost all of the gadgets and computer equipment work normally, even the monitor works! The printer also works again after a minor service. I thought the toner would be useless after getting drenched in water but they are still usable. The only thing that couldn’t be saved is my logitech dinovo keyboard.

Some afterthoughts:

Being ill that day was actually a good thing because I was home when the incident happened and I could save most of my electronic gadgets and equipment. If I wasn’t home, the maids and workers wouldn’t have known what to do and what to save.
It was a good thing that I was too sick to work because otherwise I could’ve been injured if I was sitting on my desk when the ceiling collapsed. Moreover my notebook would have been on top of my desk and it would have been soaked wet and all my important data during the week lost.
I was able to remain relatively calm during the whole episode. I didn’t feel sad nor upset watching my things got soaked. I believe that it is attributable to my daily meditation practice. I was able to accept that things happened as it was. I was able to focus more on the solutions rather than the problems.

So….

Good, bad? Who knows?

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B. Com

Doing The Right Thing

2011-03-16T15:12:00.005+07:00

On August 5, 2010 I ordered some books from Amazon.com. I bought five books for USD 95 and the shipping cost was USD 30. The estimated delivery date was September 3, 2010.

By the end of September 2010, I still hadn’t received the books, so I contacted Amazon. They asked me whether I’d like to get a refund or to get the books sent again, this time by expedited shipment. I chose the latter. The new delivery date was November 04, 2010 for the three books that I ordered. The other two books were out of stock and had to be sent separately. They also said that if I had received the original shipment, I should have sent the books back to them.

I actually received the two books that were sent last earlier than the other three books because they sent them by DHL International without additional charge. The other three books I received in December 2010.
That’s not the end of the story…

Last week I received a notification letter from the post office that I had received a package from USA. It turned out to be the five books that were sent in August 2010. Those books finally arrived after more than 6 months.

Now I have two sets of books!

What should I do? I have three options:

Keep the books without telling Amazon that I actually received them
Send the books back to Amazon
Inform Amazon that I received the books and pay for them

If it happened to you, what would you do?

Would you be tempted to take option no 1? Frankly, the thought crossed my mind! I know that it was not the right thing to do, but the temptation was there. It is impossible to prevent the thought from arising in our mind; the most important thing is being aware of the thought and decide what to do with it.

I decided to take option no 3. I informed Amazon.com that I received the books and I’d like to buy them. I asked them to waive the shipping cost and they agreed.

I chose no 3 because I did not want to bear the burden of guilt for not being honest. Although no one else would know if I had decided to take the books, there is one person who will always know, ME! I can’t hide nor run away from myself.

I do not share this story to brag about how virtuous I am, but I want to encourage more people to do the right thing when the situation arises.

Learn and Grow!
Inge Santoso, B. Com

India – A Personal Experience, A Journey of Faith

2010-12-10T12:17:00.003+07:00

Last month I went to India and Nepal with my meditation friends and Buddhist Fellowship Indonesia group. It was a Buddhist pilgrimage so our itinerary was centered on Buddhist holy places in India like Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Kusinara, Sankassya, Rajgir, Nalanda, Vesali, Kapilavatthu and Lumbini in Nepal.

I’ve never been to those places except Lumbini. I went to Lumbini in the year 2000 on a 46-day China-Tibet-Nepal backpacking trip with Beijing school friends. At that time we planned to continue our trip to India, but there was a big flood so we cancelled our trip to India. My journey to India continued a decade later. After 10 years, I finally set foot in India.

Although I was interested in Buddhism, I was not a Buddhist when I went on this pilgrimage. My motivation was to visit India with my meditation friends and hopefully had time to meditate and feel the vibration of those holy places. Therefore, unlike my Buddhist friends who felt inspired, touched and even grieved when we visited Sankassya, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, I did not have any special feelings towards these places. Please do not get me wrong, I did enjoy the journey and I felt happy with the experience, but I just did not feel the connection and I thought that I would feel this way during the entire trip.

Then…something happened.

Kusinara – India

On November 14th, 2010, we visited Kusinara where Buddha attained Parinibbana and he laid to rest between two sala trees. Our group quietly entered the temple and knelt down to pay respect. I also knelt down and put my palms together in front of my chest in anjali position like everybody else. After a while, our tour guide, Ki Ananda started to chant “Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammā sambuddhassa” (Honour to Him, the Blessed One, the Worthy One, the fully Enlightened One) I followed his cue and started to chant as well. When I chanted “Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammā sambuddhassa” for the third time, suddenly my tears started to flow; I was so overwhelmed by a flood of emotion that I just could not describe. Then when we continued with Tisarana, Buddham saranam gacchāmi, Dhammam saranam gacchāmi, Sangham saranam gacchāmi and so on, I just could not hold myself together, I was sobbing, tears flowed down my face, my breath became very shallow and my body was shaking. At that moment, I remembered something, I remembered a certain feeling, but I really could not describe what it was. I could not remember a specific memory from the past but I knew in my heart it was true and real. I felt that I have found something very precious to me and somehow a faith arisen.

This trip to India has a significant and precious meaning for me and hopefully my BFI friends also have theirs.

May All Beings Be Happy
Inge Santoso, B. Com

Do Positive Feelings Improve Results?

2010-06-08T12:59:00.001+07:00

Yesterday I was trying to help my university students to identify their feelings towards learning Chinese language. I asked them to write 10 different feelings they associated with learning Chinese as fast as they can. I also asked them to write two or three reasons for each feeling.

The three dominant feelings are proud, stressed and confused. Learning a second or third language, especially Chinese is not easy, so it is understandable that they often feel confused. Most of them feel stressed due to the number of Chinese characters that they have to memorize. Despite the difficulties in learning Chinese, they feel proud because they are seen as being able to take on a ‘hard’ subject. A lot of people perceive them as smart and they receive a lot of praise.

One thing that drew my attention was how their feelings towards learning Chinese influenced their performance in class.

There are two classes, Class A and B, with 17-18 students per class. When I tallied the feelings for each class, I found that in Class A, the students have more negative than positive feelings towards learning Chinese. While in Class B, they have more positive feelings than negative ones. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why Class B consistently outperforms Class A.

Does it mean that if we want to be better in something, then we need to have more positive feelings toward it?

Please share in the comments about what you think.

Learn and Grow

Inge Santoso, B. Com

How We Get Our Belief System and Values

2010-06-04T06:18:00.001+07:00

Yesterday when I had breakfast at Diamond Restaurant, Solo, Indonesia, I overheard a family having a conversation with the restaurant manager. The family consisted of a father, a mother and a teenage boy; I assumed he was in high school. The conversation roughly went like this:

The manager asked the boy, “Hi. At this age, learning to speak English is very important. Don’t you want to go overseas to study?”

The boy didn’t say a word, but the father answered, “He does not need to go overseas to study. I think Indonesian Universities are good enough. Anyway what’s the point studying overseas if after graduation he still has to come back here and continue the family business?”

The manager said, “There are many advantages of studying overseas. First, you can speak English well. Second, you can meet a lot of people from different countries and have friends from all over the world. Having a lot of contacts can help you expand your business”

The father again said, “Well, I can’t speak English, yet my business is doing well.”

The manager asked, “Sir, don’t you want to expand your business?”

The father answered, “No, I don’t want to expand anymore. I’ve been offered to expand by several of my business partners but I refused. What I have is enough.”

The manager said, “Sir, this is the first time that when I asked that question, the answer is ‘no’. Other people usually answered ‘yes’ when I asked them whether they wanted to expand their business.”

When the food came, the manager left after thanking them for the conversation.

The father continued to ramble about the futility of having the children studying overseas. He even said, “What’s the point if he has an overseas education if I am bankrupt and he has no capital to start a business? Perhaps sending him study overseas makes me bankrupt!”

The mother said, “Don’t speak like that. It is not good to speak about bankruptcy or negative things.”

The father told the mother, “You don’t know anything. I don’t care; I talk what I want to talk about.”

During this conversation, the boy was just nodding his head, agreeing to what the father was saying. The mother looked a bit disturbed because she seemed to want the best for her son.

I know that it is not my place to judge, but the conversation made me feel concerned, especially when I saw the boy kept nodding to what the father was saying. He was agreeing to what the father was saying, taking the father’s belief system and values without realizing or even examining them. Perhaps he even thought the father’s negative attitude was not negative at all.

What I witnessed yesterday is how most people get their belief system and values. They get their beliefs system and values from people who are closest to them, mostly parents, other family members, teachers, coaches or other influential people in their environment.

We rarely question or evaluate what they tell us, we just accept them as truth because that’s what we are taught to do since we are young. We see our parents, our teachers as the ultimate authority, they are ALWAYS RIGHT. There lies the problem, they are NOT ALWAYS RIGHT. That’s why we may need to go back and evaluate whether our belief system and values are helping or hindering us in life.

Lessons:

Don’t just believe everything you hear, see, or even what you think and feel. Examine them again; you may see them differently from different perspectives.
Listen more closely to what other people are saying to discover their belief system and values. You may discover interesting things in the process.

Please share with me in the comments if you have similar experiences as above or even how you changed your belief systems and values after something happened in your life that shattered your beliefs.

Learn and Grow!

Inge Santoso, B.Com

My Meditation Journey Continues… Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2

2010-04-22T13:10:00.001+07:00

Happy faces after finishing Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2 in Tawangmangu. The course was held for 12 days from 30 March 2010 to 10 April 2010.

This 12 day Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2 course can really transform how you use your mind. The main objective is to train your mind to become a skillful harmonious mind that can be used to proactively heal and maintain good physical, mental and emotional health.

Before attending Tapa Brata 2, I’ve attended Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1 course twice in the last 9 months and I found them very beneficial for my health, especially for my emotional well being. After attending Tapa Brata 1, I feel more relaxed and calm. I become more aware of my feelings and emotions thus I am able to control my emotion better than before.

I used to struggle a lot with the feeling of anger. Before attending Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1, whenever I got angry, other people suffered. After attending Tapa Brata 1, whenever I got angry, I suffered the most. Why? Whenever I was angry, now I could feel my body was burning inside, it felt so hot. I could feel wild energy shooting here and there attacking my inner organs, very uncomfortable! No wonder wise people say that anger is harmful for your health. After that experience, whenever I feel the emotion of anger rising, I do my best to be aware of it, let it go and never let anger run its course.

I’ve been meditating every day since I attended Bali Usada Tapa Brata 1. I usually meditate 45-60 minutes a day. Sometimes I meditated for 90 minutes because I wanted to prepare myself to attend Tapa Brata 2. I heard from previous participants of Tapa Brata 2 that it was very challenging.

How did I feel about the course? It was tiring mentally, physically and emotionally. It was definitely a very demanding course in terms of mind training. I’ve never used my mind as intensive as this before. I’ve attended many seminars and programs by Anthony Robbins, T Harv Eker, Silva Method and many others and none of those programs can beat Bali Usada Tapa Brata 2 in terms of mind training.

I thought attending Anthony Robbins’ Date with Destiny was demanding because the seminars went well into the night and we jumped, we screamed, we danced, we did a lot of things there, yet I felt more tired just by sitting and concentrating my mind during TB2.

During the course, I felt many different kinds of sensations, feelings and emotions. Sometimes I remembered things in the past so clearly, I felt that I was there. Sometimes I was even astonished to discover my own subconscious thoughts. It was a very interesting experience!

Although I found the course to be very challenging, it was well worth it. I definitely recommend this course for anyone who wants to transform their mind and life to a whole new level. The transformation is not superficial as I have experienced after attending other courses, it is a real transformation. Once you’ve experienced it, you would know it in your heart.

A bit of warning:

I recommend for anyone who is interested in attending Tapa Brata 2 to at least attend Tapa Brata 1 twice and meditate regularly at home for about 60 minutes every day.

After finishing the course, sometimes there may be some bad reactions lingering for a few days. Do not worry, just keep meditating and it will balance itself.

Finally I want to thank Mr. Merta Ada and his assistants, Mr. Suardika, Mr. Budi Waluyo, Mr. Sutedjo who made the course possible. Thank you for your guidance and support. I also want to thank you my dear father, Mr. Djoko Santiko who allowed us to use the villa in Tawangmangu to hold the course. Last but not least, I want to thank you all my friends who attended the course together, Joseph, Hijau Berlian, Wulan, Tining, Jenny, Juniar, and Cha Cha. Thank you for the friendship, love, and support so that we could successfully finish the course. I hope we have an opportunity to attend another course together again.

May all beings be happy!

Learn and grow,

Inge Santoso, B. Com

The Tallest Building in the World in 2010

2010-01-09T05:46:00.001+07:00

Burj Dubai is currently the tallest building in the world at over 800m tall. I had a chance to take this photo when I visited Dubai on Dec 26, 2009. If I visit Dubai again in the future, I’ll go to the observation deck on level 124, then I can tick off my life goal of going to the tallest building in the world.

Learn and Grow