Meditation - All Conditioned Things are Anicca

"Anicca vata sankhara, uppadavaya-dhammino;

uppajjitva nirujjhanti, tesam vupasamo sukho."
All conditioned things are impermanent; They arise and pass away.
To live in harmony with this truth; Brings the highest happiness.

This meditation is aimed to:

• practice to attain harmonious mind
• release negative reaction from your body, cells, molecules, till the smallest part
• be healthy and prosperous
• be calm, peaceful from within, and balance
• reach mindfulness and discernment

- G U I D AN C E -

• sit in a meditation posture (relax your head-neck, shoulder-arms, chest-tummy-sex, both feet, buttock and back)
• pray as per your beliefs
• emanate “May All Sentient Beings be Well and Happy” from your heart to 12 directions (this exercise is effective to expand your mind in a broader level):
1. entire body
2. entire place we're residing in (the house, meditation center, on the plane, etc.)
3. surrounding neighborhood
4. upward
5. downward
6. frontward
7. backward
8. right direction
9. left direction
10. the earth
11. the earth surrounding (solar system, milkyway, surrounding galaxies, etc.)
12. the entire universe

I. BREATHING / HEALING MEDITATION

1. Concentrate in observing breath when breathing in and out and be aware of Anicca (impermanence) → FEEL the breath characteristic on each nostril: warm/cold sensation (fire element), breath length/expansion (wind element), smooth/pause (water element), heavy/light (earth element); there are 12 breath characteristics.
2. FEEL the 36 body parts and 7 Chakras (while progressing, you may go back to concentrating on breathing at any time if you feel uneasy during releasing negative reaction from your physical body, indicating that your body requires more oxygen): head (+2 chakras); front neck (+chakra); right shoulder; right upper arm; right lower arm; right palm; right lower arm; right upper arm; right shoulder; base of the neck; left shoulder; left upper arm; left lower arm; left palm; left lower arm; left upper arm; left shoulder; chest (+chakra); abdominal (+chakra); sex organ (+chakra); right tight; right leg; right foot; right leg; right tight; sex area (+chakra); left tight; left leg; left foot; left leg; left tight; buttock (+base chakra); lower back; middle back; upper back; back neck.
3. To focus on the pain / not healthy / sick / uneasy part of your body, FEEL the respective chakra and the area.
4. To finish step 3: with your mind, wipe the entire front body from head to base, continued to back part from base to head (this is like the sensation of feeling water flowing from top to bottom of your body).

The 7 Body Chakras

II. LOVING-KINDNESS MEDITATION

1. Concentrate in observing breath during breathing in and out (no need to observe Anicca)
2. Exercise to expand loving-kindness wave: "May ... be Well and Happy" (I myself, 5 closest relatives, 5 closest friends, 5 neutral persons, 5 problematic persons; and consecutively back to I myself); mention the name.
3. Emit the loving-kindness aura to the entire universe
4. Emit the loving-kindness aura to the loved or the deceased ones or any particular target of being
5. Go back to observing breathing in and out
6. Recite 3x "May All Beings be Well and Happy"

"Train your muscles with heavy materials (dumbel, barbel) to make them stronger;
Train your mind with the lightest material (breath concentration) to make it sharper" (Ada, 2013)

Reference:
Bali Usada

酸辣汤 - Hot & Sour Soup

Prepare:
1. Fresh ginger, chopped fine
2. Black fungus, cut thin and long
3. Tofu, cut long about 1 cm thick
4. Shallot, cut long diagonal
5. Corn flour, mixed with water (thickening agent)
6. Egg, beaten mix with salt
7. Rice Vinegar (dark color one), sesame oil, salt
8. Coriander leaves for garnish

How to cook:
1. Put no. 1 & 2 into boiled water, wait for a moment to soften the fungus
2. Put no. 3 & 4
3. Pour 1 spoonful of vinegar, mix well
4. Put no. 5
5. Splash beaten egg using a spoon till finish
6. Add sesame oil, salt
7. Splash one more 1 spoonful of vinegar, mix well
8. Sprinkle with coriander leaves

Suan La Tang (reference)

Buddhist Teaching, The Essence

"Sabba papassa akaranam
Kusalassa upasampada
Sacitta pariyodapanam
Etham Buddhanasasanam"
To abstain from all evil
To cultivate the good
To purify one's mind
This is the teaching of the Buddhas

Jangan berbuat jahat
Perbanyak kebajikan
Sucikan hati dan pikiran
Itulah inti sari ajaran Buddha

DON'T JUDGE!

Within a glance, a person can make a very accurate judgment on a subject that he has been familiar with. The person himself sometimes can not explain on what basis he can make such an accurate judgment. He simply trusts his instinct interconnecting all related experiences from his conscious and unconscious mind.

People who have been exposed long enough to a subject can be very fast in giving accurate judgment to that subject. The longer the exposure to the subjet will be the more accurate the judgment he makes upon that subject. A long exposure is like a constant practice in improving your skill. Like people say, practice makes perfect.

An artist knows whether a piece of art is exclusive or cheap.
A pro saxophonist can directly tell whether someone is excellent or poor in playing the instrument.
A curator recognizes whether a collection is a fake or a real one.

In our daily life situation very often we make an instant judgment on something or someone, however eventually we realize that we misjudge them. The chance to make wrong judgment is higher when we are not familiar with the thing, person, task, or situation we are dealing with.

Often our judgment is also distorted by the benchmark, general idea, principal, common misbelief that have been implanted in our head. The combination of too easy judging thing and the distorted mind exacerbates the situation into an autistic state resulting in a very poor judgment eventually. This brings disadvantage not only to the one who is being judged, but also to the person who judges.

To be fair and aware off, do not judge things, persons, tasks, or situations if you don't need to. Make professional judgment if only people ask for it as they might think that you are the expert. It is important to keep your mind opened, not to rush and take a little pause to allow your mind refreshed, then you can make a much better and fair judgment.

Reference:
Blink (Malcolm Gladwell)

Yogyakarta: time to refresh myself

Yogyakarta is a nice comfortable place located under Mount Merapi in Central Java. The place is rich in art and culture. You can visit many ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples, the artistic and historical palace of Keraton Yogyakarta, and the very famous main street in Yogyakarta called Malioboro.

When you are in Malioboro, you will find a relaxing atmosphere among friendly local people and a lot of interesting things to see. Along this street, you’ll see souvenir stands side by side selling knick knacks and traditional foods.

As a food lover, of course I am willing to browse every corner of Yogya to experience new things for my culinary journal. This time I got information from my friend about a small alley near Station Tugu (the starting point of Malioboro St.) where on one side of the alley you can see several coffee stands (warung kopi). At the other side on the pavement, they lay carpet for customers to sit in and enjoy the drink. Heaps of youngsters from different communities come to this place just for chitchat and gathering with their friends.

All warung kopi here have more and less the same menu: nasi kucing (translated: cat rice, because of small portion of rice wrapped in banana leaf), egg satay, and many kind of fried snacks (gorengan). However, the main specialty of these warungs is “kopi (coffee) Joss”. This was the one that I aimed for. They put coffee powder and sugar in a glass, and poured hot water. Then they put burning charcoal in it. I asked they seller why they put burning charcoal in the coffee. He simply said that it makes the taste better. I tried it and I liked it though. The coffee didn’t taste too strong nor too sweet. It’s just nice to sip it and enjoy the night.

At this chance visiting Yogya, I also ate traditional gudeg Yogyakarta. Gudeg is characterized by the dominant sweet taste of the dish. It contains young jackfruit, eggs, sambal krecek (beef skin) and chicken. All are sweetened with sweet soy sauce. To eat it once would be ok for me, but not for everyday (as it is too sweet).

So, to end this writing, I would say that Yogyakarta is really worth to visit. Many tourist destinations have historical, artistic, and educational values to experience. And the foods can be challenging for food lovers to explore. I would certainly recommend anyone to come to Yogyakarta to spend their holiday!

Thanks to Radhika for the Kopi Joss info!

Happy Tiger Year

Chinese New Year 2010

Steam Egg - 蒸蛋 (zhēng dàn)

I remember when I was a kid, often mum or grandma cooked this for our meal. It's tasty and very simple.

Beat an egg. Add salt, pepper, fried onion, sesame oil, a bit of minced meat. Pour water up to double height of the egg surface and mix it well. Add nori seaweed on the top. Steam it.

I use microwave with second low heat for 7 minutes. The bowl needs to be wrapped. The result, texture is very soft and the taste is great.

Salad

Ingredients:
1 cucumber (sliced), 1 red capsicum (sliced), 1 lime (squeezed)
pour sesame oil, salt, pepper, honey, fried garlic
add Thai basil leaves and dried seaweed if you like

Thanks to inspiration that brought this idea to mix whatever ingredients I can get from my fridge and garden

Anchovy Steamed Rice

It seems that I haven't done cooking for ages since I stay here in the mess without kitchen. No more enjoyment of cutting, experimenting with mixing ingredient, and having gathering and eating together with friends :(

Now I only have a rice cooker and a microwave. Well, every night I cook plain rice and get confused what to eat with. Not until I get this idea to make Anchovy Steamed Rice.

Here are stuffs that I pour into my rice cooker:
1. rice
2. water
3. pepper
4. dried Anchovies
5. dried kelp
6. fried onion
7. fried garlic
8. fried peanut

And the result is just amazing. It tastes very good.

*Bon Appétit*

Great City Great Fireworks