Precious Lessons, Priceless Gift
In the previous journey where my former teacher was heading a project of building a Dharma learning centre, I was always curious about what the team was discussing during the meetings, how the website was being done so intricately, how the funds were being raised so easefully and how the video was being produced so beautifully. I could only rejoice when the team leaders presented the progress of the project. Deep in my mind, "How did they do that?" was an incessant, unnoticed brew. That was until I bumped into this journey of awareness and wisdom. Being more mindful and aware of the mind activities, I began to see that the opportunities that came were actually manifestations that had ripened from those previous wonderings. Due to causes and conditions, I was led from one opportunity to another, and they all turned out to be lessons for forgiveness.
As I stumbled upon the opportunity of doing the website for the Sri Langkasuka Retreat Village, it didn't occur to me that it was not as simple as just slotting in the text and the images, making some adjustments here and there, and voila, the website would be ready for viewing! Designing a website requires information about website designing, content creation, and coding – the whats and hows, and just as equally important, a right attitude. I had the opportunity to work with Teacher Tuck Loon, who did most of the design work and troubleshooting all the hiccups that arose one after another throughout the process. It dawned on me that to arrive where Teacher is, requires consistent fundamental information about the job, the know-hows, and undergoing trials and errors – all a process each and everyone has to go through. And the support for this process is having a right attitude.
I noticed that without the fundamental information about the workings of a web page, we could still put in the contents, but we would not be able to troubleshoot when problems arose. Solving problems requires information about the workings of that field and the know-hows to use that information to make it work for us. The information cannot work for us if we do not know how it works in the first place. More crucial too, without the basics of you-need-to-know, we don’t even know where and how to start, what more solving problems. “What is this problem called? What words to use in the search engine?” I can’t even start!
We encountered a problem and Teacher was figuring out how to write a series of codes to get the effect he wanted. When I couldn't be helpful due to a lack of know-how, I decided to start somewhere. Since it was about writing a coding script, I could learn about HTML and CSS. I went to YouTube and found a 1-hour HTML and CSS course for beginners. I was totally lost after 10 minutes of the course, but I decided to stay on. Though only less than 2% of the content made sense to me, there was more ease and peace than frustration and complaints. There was an understanding that without prior information on a certain subject, further connections that could bring about more understanding of that subject would not take place. It also understood that its intention was not merely to finish the course and got answers to solve the problems, but simply to learn. It learned about what was not known before and other possible information that could be helpful, and how the mind responded to whatever states of mind surfaced throughout the course.
Throughout this learning curve, I appreciate even more the Right Information that has been offered to us. Without the basics of you-need-to-know, I really can’t start. Having those you-need-to-know but not understanding them, I can’t even use them, what more working with them and how to make them work. This learning curve opens a new arena of practice altogether, where meditation is no longer about “finishing what you are doing now so you can get to the cushion”. It is about learning how to use the information to make it work. When there is a block in the practice, besides recalling the right information and applying the information, I learn to question, “What am I not understanding about this information? How to work with it? How to make it work? What other information do I need to connect to this so it makes sense?” and etc.
When I begin to see how the journey unfolds, I can't help but express my deepest gratitude and reverence to Teachers and the community of practitioners. Every understanding that has arisen is not exclusive of the support from each and every one of us. As many more learning opportunities will be coming our way from this retreat village, may we take them as a means for learning and forgiveness. May we never waver from the Path. May we always be guided. May we learn the skill to learn: unlearning what is not beneficial and learning what is beneficial until what needs to be learned has been completely learned. And so it is.
If you are appreciative of the teaching and inspired to support this noble endeavour, we invite you to be a part of it by making a pledge at bit.ly/srilangkasuka now, offer your expertise, and spread the word to others. Do visit www.srilangkasuka.com for more information.
With immense gratitude,
Stephanie Chua
31 Jan 2023