Meditation #1

One day the noise vanishes
And I meet myself.
That's when I face
The real wind,
The real fire,
The real water,
The real forest,
The real iron,
The real marketplace.
The real that was just a narrative before.
The real within--

meditating is not as complicated as it seems

My first experience of meditation was in 2010. I guess it was the most stressful event (the biggest drama because I was still a drama queen) triggering me to join a meditation group in South Tangerang.

It was weekly, guided by a teacher who happened to be a teacher of almost everything called “magical” by all of the students. He taught us how to move objects without touching it, how to self talk, how to sense energy around our body or objects, how to telepath, etc until we realised that those things are not magic; they are simply natural based on each of the students’ gifts and/or training. My fellow meditators were those among others who communicate to animals, who draw someone’s “spiritual condition”, who “read” numbers, who heal using gemstones, who read tarot cards, who do past life regression and so on and so forth.

Me? None, I just sing and write poems although Pak Sonny Sumarsono Wuryadi (our teacher) said I would be a healer overseas — please note I didn’t even have a plan to move by then. And now I am not even a healer; I am still healing myself with no end. ๐Ÿ˜€

All those skills emerge only after we silence ourselves. Without silence no one can truly eject their inner gifts to the surface for one’s self (and others) to acknowledge. But silence is sometimes scary. To me especially my first silence was not comfortable: all those inner noises that were suppressed by busy work, packed schedules, noisy environment suddenly had to face the only noise that is more eloquent than a blunt message.

It took me around one year to be able to finally meditate “quietly” but still in a short time. And it was still guided, either by music or by recorded teacher’s instruction. Sometimes when exhausted, I would meditate while lying down (then falling asleep ๐Ÿคช).

Although not gaining any “magical skills” like others, I earned calmness and gradually claimed back the reality after getting hit by my own life lessons. It was a basic skill that gave me courage to say no, confidence to be different and spirit to contribute to life.

Thank you, Seroja. You have equipped me with simple tips of meditation: “silence your surrounding, listen to your own noise even if that noise is the only calm you gain” and “you can sleep in your meditation because sleeping is the deepest state of meditation”.

I bless you Pak Sonny and all my fellow Seroja meditators. We might not meet anymore but my prayer is reaching you anywhere you are.

Touched

This heart has been touched
By a breeze secretly blown
By the air of love.

i will keep learning, unlearning, relearning

life is beyond what eyes can see; even eyes can’t see what’s blocked by a sheet of paper

voice can be cancelled by a block on the ears

touch can be blocked by leather gloves

taste can be blocked by a no to appetite

but this heart will be wide open to inner journey whatever they think, whatever they say, whatever they do

Early morning after QS Arrahman

One Hot Day Out

It is very hot in Bangkok but I really want to sit down meditating before praying in a place where people pray. A place of praying is one of best places as in that area human beings are willingly connecting themselves with power beyond their own, God’s or whatever they call the power is.

I went to Wat Pathum Wanaram Rachaworawihan near the hotel and it really is a serene spot among this busy city.

This hot day out has turned to a serene cool within.

Thank youโฃ๏ธ

in bloom

ready to bloom

Wat Pathum Wanaram Rachaworawihan

wherever i go, i won’t miss — i won’t iss praying (my own way), it can be in mosque, shrine, temple, church, meditation center, hotel room, where.ever i feel my heart is showing me a space โ™ฅ๏ธ — praying hall of Wat Pathum Wanaram Rachaworawihan

wherever i go, i won’t miss eating — lunch before temple ๐Ÿ’•

Why

None ever knows why,
All happen through unknown plan
Swarming around light
Celebrating unknown-ness
Night after night with no end.

kind of amazed that Daniel Goleman is into meditation ๐Ÿคฏ

Centred

It is not out there
What is searched is here waiting.
A centred sparkโ€”

โ€”โ€”

keep centred โ€” thanks, Beloved for all the blessings

๐Ÿ’•

no one can shake an ancient rock

Serenity, Joy and Beauty

This serene moment
Has brought me joy
That sparks beauty
Anywhere I am.

Let them interpret
A picture
As they wish.
That is their life.

Mine is here and now.
No one is accurate
In defining me
As serenity, joy and beauty
Is a luxury
Differently designed
For each of reality.

โ€”โ€”

a line of serenity

me and myself in joy

even when tilting, my eyes see beauty ๐Ÿ’• not your definition of beauty, it is mine and mine only

I Bow to The Divine in You

The bow that launches
Is the arrow that is shot:
An exhibit by the
One
That honour is inevitably
Gorgeous
For that
Respecting
From that
Witnessing.

Salute to the bowstring.

โ€”โ€”

I have learnt how to genuinely respect my teachers and other human beings even more after learning meditation in Bali Usada โ€” I humbly thank you, Pak Merta Ada. I bow to the divine in you and all my fellow Tapa Brata participants ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ

it was a sunny day so Pak Merta Ada invited us all to end the Tapa Brata with 1-hour meditation under the blessed bodhi tree โ€” hope health and calmness be granted to all of us โ™ฅ๏ธ

Pak Ishak giving his testimony about the noble silence, Ibu Lady his wife video shooting him โ€” the oldest participants in this Tapa Brata 2 we all cordially respect

canang under a tree as a daily respect to it for being part of the environment protection

torch ginger is the most grown herb in Bali Usada meditation center โ€” yummy and fragrant when cooked

๐Ÿ’š


Three of us stayed in bungalow #4 for 12 days of which in 1st-11th we didnโ€™t talk to each other. We just took turn of using bathroom, switching on/off light at 3:30am and 10:00pm, making sure towel racks were sunbathed, replenishing toilet tissue, cleaning bathroom. All were done in silence in between meditation sessions, physical exercises, meals and lectures. Only at the last night after Tapa Brata was officially summed up, we could not stop sharing about our life journey until 2:00am.

Tami is 32, Fitri is 33 and I am 48: I am the oldest but I am the baby in meditation โ€” they meditated 1.5 hours without changing position, I did but could not stop โ€œngereogโ€ in the last 5 to 10 minutes.

My age doesnโ€™t mean anything with these 2 ladies of harmonious mind.

See you again, my little sisters! Anicca!
๐Ÿ’•

ngereog literally means performing reog dance; Tami used the word to describe someoneโ€™s intense movement during meditation due to muscle stress ๐Ÿ˜‚

Ibu Lady, Srimurni and I showered by the morning light right after morning meditation and no shower (yet) โ€” Srimurni was one of those could not stop talking to me after the Tapa Brata ๐Ÿ˜„

pure friendship is such a magical bond ๐Ÿ’•

good time

Good time, Beloved,
Sitting silently, centred.
Grazing on the timeโ€”

โ€”-

Life is never bored of reciting how grand a name when zoomed in and how tiny its reality when zoomed out. Oh! It is the other way around, tiny when zoomed in and grand when zoomed out.

donโ€™t disturb, sheโ€™s enjoying her good time as if sheโ€™s real – is she?

What is your name, dear? Deer!

what is an animal as sturdy and cold as metal? this! is it real?

Are you a buck or a stag? You donโ€™t look like one. Or, you look like both?

Hungry Caterpillar

Caterpillar feet
March on a twig. Oops! They flip.
Scary acrobat!
It looks up to the blue skies,
Prepares to cocoon itself.

โ€”

Butterfly is never really born. It is a natural breakthrough after the hungry caterpillar is willing to go fasting and liquidize itself in seclusion. When it is time, a butterfly comes into being.

You might be not a colourful pretty butterfly but cocooning should have taught you that your present being is the output of a long resting period after such a long euphoric period of being a hungry caterpillar. The euphoric being is gone, replaced by a winged soft being flying and dancing celebrating the moving air around its body.

Your wings might be just pitch black but they are the result of how sincere you are in a transformative sleep hanging in a weak twig, without knowing if youโ€™ll be slapped down when the twig is broken, without knowing that youโ€™ll be aborted because of the wet, without knowing that the end is the end or a transition point. You just donโ€™t know but you accept your not knowing.

You might not be as pretty as the most beautiful butterfly out there but…. Youโ€™ve gone through the same quality of cycle – not less not more. Thanks to fair Mother Nature.

To be โ€œbornโ€ winged, fly, help the flowers pollinate before fruition and magically create graceful move with super powerful effect….

Donโ€™t be upset for being a flipping hungry caterpillarโ€™ coz when youโ€™re transformed, your flapping wings can blow a typhoon!

May all caterpillars be happy…..

Rike Jo

Universe Moves Us – haiku

Universe moves us,
Forcing life between two polesโ€”
Swinging pendulums

Singapore – Apr. 23, 2020 / 18:00

โ€”

We are constantly in motion, tracing lined-up momentum among extreme points in life.

If we think we stand still, thatโ€™s a momentum on which we meditate before pushed to the next vector.

A split second stillness,
An infinite balancing.

May all beings be happy.