Off to Retreat

I will be going for a meditation retreat tommorow. So there will be no update of my blog until next week. I guess it will be the same for most of my fellow bloggers, who will be away for retreats too. So i supposed the blog world will be very quiet for the period.

Just like what happened in dec 2002, i was given 2 retreats to choose from. In the end, I chose to join in a chinese retreat at Malaysia instead of a local Theravadan one. It was a good experience and we even had to do the cookings ourselves. It was a good break.

This time, I have to choose between joining Ven Kai Zhao's retreat (Theravadan) and another Mahayana retreat by several Chinese venerables. My previous encounter with Ven KaiZhao was indeed rewarding, but I thought I wanted to experience guidiance under some new teachers.

I looked throught the time table for the retreat and found it very relaxing. Although each sitting is 2hrs, comparatively there are much less sitting sessions than most other retreats. Instead, there are Dharma lessons.

Since there wun be any intensive meditation practices, I wouldnt expect or anticipate my meditation to be pushed to a higher level. In fact, I see it as a good break from work (6 weeks in the working force already). It shld also be a good chance to throw myself back to a Dharmic atmosphere, a place for me to learn and feel the Dharma, and hopefully to push my motivation to cultivate well up again. This break is too important for me.

Haha it seems that i am already harbouring a lot of expectations. But like what Ven Kaizhao taught us, we shld make some well wishes to ourselves, that before any meditation sitting, we wish that we have a nice and good sitting. I also wish myself a good and fruitful retreat.

And I wish the same for those others who are attending the same retreat or the other on-going retreat. Hopefully my allergic cough recovers soon, if not i am going to disturb my fellow yogis... awww