I received the news that the cancer in my mouth that I had over twenty years earlier had resurfaced for the second time. After having surgery and another biopsy I was told that the cancer had spread and they recommended I have more surgery along with radiation treatment.

After surviving the ordeal of treatment for the second time I later found another lump.

Things were not looking good for me being able to enjoy a long life. My partner looked at me with so much love and compassion in his eyes as he asked, “Where would like to go or what you would like to do before you die . . .I will do whatever and go wherever you like?

I was so touched by his loving kindness and replied, “I am very happy where I am at the moment but I would like to hold the hands of His Holiness the Dalai Lama before I die!”

I later decided to go to India on a spiritual pilgrimage and become ordained as a Buddhist nun. On my return I had the great fortune of attending the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama while in Sydney.

I could not believe my luck when I found myself staying in the same hotel as His Holiness and having the good fortune to meet him in the lobby.

It was the most surreal moment of my life when he greeted me by lovingly placing my hands between his. . . making my dying wish come true.  I was spellbound being in the presence of such a holy man. I was awe struck by the tangible power of his compassion.

In this profound moment I realised how compassion was SO much more powerful then anger and war. I tasted the possibility of compassion being the solution to all wars and could see clearly how His Holiness can stay resolute in choosing compassion over war with the Chinese Government. I pray the Chinese Government have the good karma to be in his presence to feel this powerful compassion to be able to let go of their fears enough to at least sit down and engage in peace talks with His Holiness.

At the time his hands embraced mine I remember thinking, “Now I truly can die happily!”

It seems, up until this moment at least I still have the good karma to still be enjoying this precious life I have been given. I couldn’t have had this life in the first place without my parents and I am so grateful to them for giving birth to me.

Facing death is a true blessing as it helps us to deeply understand how important it is to live and love well. It helps us to see clearly that this precious life can be taken from us without any notice. In fact most deaths are like that.

My journey helped me to understand on a very deep level many things that on reflection I only understood intellectually when teaching on impermanence for many years.

I am so grateful for getting cancer as it taught me to not take life for granted.

But it is, “Meditation” that keeps this memory alive in me and shows me ways to enhance my life in ways I never imagined.

I would like to share with others just a few of the many insights meditation has shown me.

This life [that could be so short] needs to be lived mindfully, in the present moment, in order to be called a well lived life.

That every moment we are not mindful by dwelling in the past or the future is the very moment we are robbed of truly living our life.

How we constantly live in the past and the future and miss the present.

How in the present moment there are miracles all around us that we cannot see because we are not there.

Cancer woke me up to how short and precious this life is and how important it is to not miss it.

Meditation clearly shows me how stress causes dis-ease and how meditation can cure mental and physical illnesses. It helps me to not to forget and lose this great gift I was given of being able to practice being present.  It reminds me how important it is to have peace and calm in my life Meditation has shown me that, “Pain is inevitable – Suffering is optional?”

I am truly blessed and am ever grateful to my teachers who have so generously shared with me the precious gift of knowing how to meditate in a way that has bought me so much happiness and peace in my life and allowed me to see the many miracles that are all around me if I can just stay in the present moment – If I can just learn to sit and be with myself and dwell in the bliss of simply sitting with myself.

But most of all it reminds me how grateful I am to have such a wonderful tool in my life to help me stay calm, peaceful and free of suffering.

I am so blessed to be able to share this precious gift with others by facilitating Calm Abiding Meditation Courses and Weekend Retreats at the Oddiyana Dharma Sanctuary

Now my dying wish is…

“May all beings find the gift of meditation to find true happiness and be free from suffering!”

Choeying Dolma
(resident teacher)

For more information on learning how to meditate and finding peace and calm in your life please click here .

BUDDHA BOOTCAMP 

CALM ABIDING MEDITATION COURSE & WEEKEND RETREAT - starting at the end of February 2010

The theme for the next course comes from one of our great forefathers Mahatma Ghandhi, whose famous, most relevant, quote for our modern times, “Be the Change You Want to see in the World”, to me, is the most eloquent way to describe what meditation can do for you.   

It helps us to stop looking “out there” for happiness. It helps us to stop trying to change the people and our environment to achieve happiness.

It helps us to empower ourselves to be the “Director of our own Happiness”. A happiness that is not dependent on other people or our environment.

It is dependent on our willingness to just “sit” and find out about the most interesting person on the planet . . . OURSELVES!

NEW DATES AND TIMES
WHERE:
The Oddiyana Dharma Sanctuary – 14 Layde Court Urangan

PHONE:
4125 5530 or call Choeying on 0408 257 071 (bookings are essential)

DATE:
SUNDAY 28^th February – SUNDAY 28^th March

TIMES:
8.30am to 2.00pm (Registration 8.00am) Sunday 28^th February 2010
5.30pm to 8.00pm (Registration 5.30pm) Wednesday 3^rd March 2010
8.00am to 2.00pm Sunday 7^th March 2010
5.30pm to 8.00pm Wednesday 10^th March  2010
8.00am to 2.00pm Sunday 14^th March 2010
5.30pm to 8.00pm Wednesday 17^th March 2010
8.00am to 2.00pm Sunday 21^st March 2010
5.30pm – 8.00pm Wednesday 24^th March 2010

Retreat:
7.00 am to 6.00pm Saturday 27^th March 2010
7.00 am to 6.00pm 2010 Sunday 28^th March 2010

PRICE:
The Full Course: $70 (pensioners 10% disc) includes course materials

WHAT TO BRING:
A notebook and pen.
A plate to share for lunch each Sunday at “The Sanctuary Tea Gardens”

IMPORTANT: Wear baggy cool clothes. Tight clothes (even stretchy shorts and jeans) cut off circulation and create obstacles to your meditation.

Please click here to learn more..

This is a very big question that takes more than five minutes to answer so I have borrowed concepts from Thich Nhat Hahn who I believe is the world’s expert on love. Okay, Love has many parts and levels. 

However ,when trying to understand love we also need to contemplate what is NOT love. Most love we experience is clouded in attachment especially when our minds are obstructed by our delusions mostly, in this case our desire, passion etc. When we “fall in love” as they commonly say it is mostly due to our karmic connection with the other person and the delusions of desire and passion. We  deludedly think this passion will sustain our love forever and are devastated when it doesn’t. We don’t see that love is like a a beautiful garden – it only stays  vibrant and alive and beautiful with tender loving care,  nourishment and the understanding of the needs of the soil, plants etc. 

I have attached the rest as it is easier then typing on email. (download pdf here) Of course as always these are just intellectual concepts and are not very useful unless one meditates Firstly find self love and then the ability to love others. If we cannot love ourselves how can we possibly love anyone else. We will continually expect the “other’ to fill this loveless barron self and this is a recipe for destoying self love – we become a barron dessert thirsty for love  destined to a life of looking for love, “in all the wrong faces in all the wrong places” as the song goes! 

I hope you benefit from this and may you meditate to find “self love” so abundant that you have no choice but to share this abudnace of love with others.

Love and prayers

Choeying
www.oddiyanadharmasanctuary.org