This year’s 16th 60-day special retreat at Panditarama Hse Mine Gon Forest Meditation Centre, Bago, Myanmar, under the indefatigable and competent guidance of our Grand Meditation Master, Ovadacariya Sayadawgyi U Panditabhivamsa, aged 93 will begin on 1 December 2014 until 29 January 2015. After the end of this retreat, it will then be followed by the 6th Annual Panditarama Dhamma Family Gathering and the celebration of Panditarama’s Silver Jubilee or 25th Anniversary of the founding of Panditarama Shwe Taung Gon Sasana Yeiktha from 30 January 2015 to 1 February 2015. Every yogi will be given a booklet regarding daily schedule, guidance for meditation, rules and chanting upon registration at the meditation centre. Some basic guidelines that must be adhered by yogis while practising this intensive Vipassana meditation are : 1.Meditators should stay alone and observe silence. 2.Meditators must refrain from talking. 3.Meditators must keep reading and writing to an absolute minimum. 4.Lay meditators must observe the eight precepts. 5.Meditators must strictly adhere to the meditation teacher’s instructions and should not practise according to other meditation methods. and so on. Last year, foreign yogis from more than 20 countries all over the world attended this special retreat. Yogis had to wake up at 3:00am Myanmar time (4:30am Malaysian time) and practised intensive walking meditation and sitting meditation throughout the whole day until 9:00pm Myanmar time (10:30pm Malaysian time). Besides the alternate days of interview or yogis’ meditational report to each respective Sayadaw, Sayadawgyi would deliver an encouraging and inspiring meditation talk in Burmese every day (except on Uposatha days) at 6:00pm inside the male meditation hall which was then translated into English by Sayalay Ma Vajiravudha. After the one-hour talk, all mindful yogis had to make aspirations and share merits with all beings. Let’s learn this Pali chanting. Imāya dhammānudhammapatipattiyā Buddham pūjemi. With all my practice, I pay my respect to the Buddha. Imāya dhammānudhammapatipattiyā Dhammam pūjemi. With all my practice, I pay my respect to the Dhamma. Imāya dhammānudhammapatipattiyā Sańgham pūjemi. With all my respect, I pay respect to the Sańgha. Addhā imāya patipadāya jarāmaranamhā parimuccissāmi. Actually by this practice of Vipassanā meditation, may I be liberated from the universal suffering of ageing, sickness and death. Idam no puññam āsavakkhayāvaham hotu. May our merits lead to the extinction of mental taints. Idam no puññam nibbānassa paccayo hotu. May our merits be a good cause for the attainment of Nibbāna. Imam no puññambhāgam sabbasattānam vibhājema. We share these merits with all beings. Sabbe sattā imam puññambhāgam labhitvā sukhitā bhavantu. May all beings obtain the share of these merits and be well and happy always. Sādhu! Sādhu! Sādhu! Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! “In a land where there is so much material progress that you can get almost anything you want at the touch of a button, Americans must be living as if they’re in the deva (celestial) world.” When Sayadawgyi said at a retreat in America to find out how the Americans would react, a woman yogi responded, “Bhante, our life is such that the heart is scorched in an air-conditioned room.” “That must be just your own opinion,” Sayadawgyi said to which she replied, “I’m not the only one, Bhante. Almost everybody in America must be in the same situation.” Other yogis who were listening to the Dhamma talk supported her statement. “It’s true, Bhante. Other people are like here too,” thy said and even added, “Our life is like that of the hungry ghost, the thirsty ghost.” So in order not to get scorched in an air-conditioned room, you must drink the cool water of Satipatthana that cools the heart. You must eat the food of Satipatthana that can appease and quench perpetual hunger and thirst.” -Sayadawgyi U Panditabhivamsa, Raindrops in Hot Summer, page 150 & 151- Big or small, be mindful once and for all A beacon of Dhamma light to share with you all.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 22:02:53 +0000
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