3 calm and peaceful days

There're been a lot of thing happened since my last post. But it seems nothing matters much now, maybe it's the effect of the retreat that I joined last week in Taiwan.

So, I’ll just talk about the retreat.

It was a Zen Meditation Retreat, introduced by a family-friend. I think he intended to invite my parents instead of me, but my folks were busy, so I took their place. I didn't know what to expect at first, well... I never really prepare anything; I just go with the flow.

So, what happened is i arrived in Taipei; picked up by a friend. And the next day i was sent to the Zen center. I didn’t even know where it is in Taiwan... somewhere near Taipei... Hahaha

The class was very relaxing, the Zen master was so patient and he was teaching it right from the very basic: how to sit properly!!!  The monks and nuns are very helpful. I know some of the basic of meditation before, I never really try to do it; always have an impression that it is something very hard to do. 

But at there, they were teaching us slowly, bits by bits, and one step at a moment and adding it up on progress. It suddenly doesn’t seem to be so scary at all; it actually seems do-able, even for a commoner like us.

The retreat was quite packed, we had morning call at 5am and finished up at 10pm; we had some chanting class, listen to some dvd – sermon by Master ShengYen, meditation class, work out, and of course: meals. It was all vegetarian meals, and amazingly they tasted so nice; you’d feel like giving up meat is a piece of cake. Hahaha. In fact, there were cakes and tidbits prepared for us whole day. What a relaxing retreat!

But if you are going to ask me, what do I get from the retreat... 

All I can say is I get a 3 calm and peaceful days. That’s all.

I know many other participants may say they saw lights; some saw visions, some can play with the energy that flows in the body; some even get out-of-body experience...

I didn’t get any of it; I don’t even want to know about what they experienced. 

I am pretty content with my result: 3 calm and peaceful days.

I have joined the 3-days DDM Zen Meditation Retreat - this was the 6th gen. (法鼓山第6屆自我超越禪修)   If you ever wanna join such retreat. Check this website out: http://www.dharmadrum.org/