Reflection on Blogging

I went to pray at a temple located in the east recently. I am happy that my dharma friend whom I knew at my former workplace inform me whenever there is meditation retreat or dharma talks at the temple. He is now happily retired and really focus on following Buddha's teaching. I find Buddha's teaching helpful in daily life. I learn to live in the moment and let go not so positive feeling by the end of the day by perceiving all skandhas are empty. All living beings are made of the five skandhas of form, feeling sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness which accumulate to form the body and they are known as the five aggregates of clinging. The five aggregates arise through causes and conditions, therefore they are illusory and not permanent. 

Most of the problems come from the five skandhas namely form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. For example, there are some people with not so good intentions and will just say unpleasant things. So if you know this person is not so nice, just treat what they say as 'sound', nothingness with no meaning attached to it and not pay any attention to what that person said and redirect your attention elsewhere like reading. If you really don't like the sound and find it noisy, just turn on your favourite music and listen to it. Do not be attached to unpleasant feelings and thoughts, and just let go of not helpful thoughts. When we observe that the five skandhas are empty,  it doesn't mean it is nothingness. It means we have understood that it is the law of dependent origination and no longer cling to it. Everything is just arising and cessation. 

I like sharing Buddha's teaching in another blog, Heart Sutra and Buddhism here . I hope it can help people to reduce suffering. Actually I only update the Buddhism blog only about once or twice a month as I'm busy with work. So I'm quite surprised that the Heart Sutra Buddhism facebook page has more than 1600 likes and followers now but this blog page only has about 235 likes. Maybe someone up there is encouraging me to continue to help people whom I have affinity (有缘) by sharing Buddha's teaching. I believe most religions lead to the same path and people have the freedom to choose the religion that resonates with them. For me, I choose Buddha’s teaching.

众生由色、受、想、行、识，积集而成身，故称五蕴。五蕴是通过因缘和合才现前的，所以说他是虚幻的，不是真实存在的。