See interview with this amazing and underrated guitarist here.

Jimmy Wyble Solo Guitar

Jimmy Wyble Solo Guitar Sentimental

King Crimson – Three of a perfect pair

Lark’s Tongue in Aspic Part 2

Back to guitar videos.

The playing in these videos is impressive. Have you ever heard so many guitars in tune and in time before? Learn more about Robert Fripp at his diary and here. Fripp teaches a Guitar Craft Course. Read about Eric Tamm’s interesting and at times hilarious experience here.

Ah so much easier to post videos than to write.

Robert Fripp – Crafty Guitarists Pt1

Robert Fripp – Crafty Guitarists Pt 2

Robert Fripp – Crafty Guitarists Pt3

See press release below from Asian Civilizations Museum. Worth going if you have an interest in Buddhism. I’ll be there this evening!

Press Release: 31 October 2007 Trace The Spread Of Buddhism Through The Journeys Of Well-Travelled Monks On The Nalanda Trail

The spread of Buddhism from its birthplace in India to China and Southeast Asia is told through the amazing journeys of well-travelled Chinese monks in a new exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum. On The Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia focuses on the pivotal role played by the ancient university of Nalanda in India, a key centre of Buddhist learning which attracted Buddhist pilgrims from far and wide more than 800 years ago. Key highlights of the exhibition are the bone relics of Buddha and a stunning display of Buddhist art, including rare paintings from Dunhuang that will be on view from 2 November 2007 to 23 March 2008. The exhibition will be launched on 1 November 2007, 7.00pm at the ACM by Guest-Of-Honour Mr George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Singapore.

One of the most important exhibits on display are the bone relics of Buddha, excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India in 1898 from a stupa site in Piprahwa, in Bihar, India, near the birthplace of Buddha. On loan from the National Museum, New Delhi by special permission of the government of India, the relics are from the only archaeological find that can be linked directly to Buddha himself.

“Visitors can expect to see some of the finest Buddhist art, including many artefacts which are leaving India for the first time. These wonderful artefacts from India, China, Central Asia and Southeast Asia are tied together through the amazing stories of Buddhist of monks and pilgrims on the Nalanda trail,” said Dr Kenson Kwok, Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum.

The exhibition opens with a section on the life of Buddha and features early depictions of Buddha in art. Buddhist art originated in India in 6th to 5th century BCE and later evolved through contact with other cultures as Buddhism spread to Asia and the world. Buddhist art begins with the phase where direct representation of Buddha as a human figure is avoided (aniconic). One example is the oldest artwork in the exhibition – a 3rd century BCE carved sandstone pillar depicting a devotee praying to Buddha who is represented by a throne, under the hoods of a naga called Muchalinda. This scene comes from one of the eight important events in Buddha’s life, which correspond to important sites of pilgrimage in India for Buddhists today.

The theme of pilgrimage continues with a focus on the momentous journeys made by monks such as Faxian, Xuanzang and Yijing. These great monks braved peril and uncertainty to travel from China through Central Asia via the Silk Road to India, in search of Buddha’s teachings. In the exhibition, this trail is illustrated through Buddhist art from these regions, which the monks pass on their way to Nalanda. This also offers the visitor a glimpse of the variety of styles that Buddhist art took on as it travelled through Asia.

By the 1st century CE, images of the Buddha in human form began to emerge. Earliest examples from this phase come from Gandhara (in today’s Pakistan) and Mathura (in northern India). These include masterpieces such as a large stone sculpture of the Bodhisattva Maitreya from 2nd – 3rd century CE Gandhara. Other star pieces include a sandstone Buddha from the Gupta period in the 5th – 6th century and an 8th century sculpture of the deity Lokanath from Nalanda in Bihar. Exquisite bronze figures include more star pieces from the Patna Museum in Bihar – a 10th century CE bronze of a standing Buddha in abhaya and varada,symbolic hand gestures representing peace and compassion.

“These are artworks of international repute that are recognised as national treasures in India. These bronze and stone sculptures are of extremely high quality, and this can be seen in the highly refined physical features of the bodies of these statues. It can be observed that Asian art in this period – around the 10th century – was in fact more advanced than western art of the same period,” noted Dr Gauri Krishnan, exhibition curator and Senior Curator, Asian Civilisations Museum.

She added, “To have so many examples of such high quality in one exhibition is exhilarating, and we feel very fortunate to be able to present such a show in Singapore. Securing these loans was by no means an easy feat, and we are thankful to our lenders who have lent us several top grade artefacts some of which are being shown for the first time.”

Among these are rare sutras and paintings from the famous Dunhuang grottoes along the Silk Road, on loan from the National Museum New Delhi. These include silk paintings that have been specially lent for this exhibition, and some of which have not even been shown before. Dunhuang, located on the Silk Road between China and India, is where the world’s oldest printed book, the Diamond Sutra, was discovered by famed archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein. Other objects such as whimsical animal figures, eye shades for desert conditions and even a child’s shoe give insight into the way of life of travellers, traders and monks along the Silk Road.

From the Silk Road, pilgrims and students traversed India to reach the university at Nalanda. One of the world’s first great universities, the ancient university of Nalanda drew students from all over the world for over 700 years from the 5th century CE onwards. The university was mainly devoted to Buddhist studies, and had well-known masters and a lively intellectual climate. From Nalanda, these monks took scriptures back home and to Southeast Asia, furthering the spread of Buddhism in these regions.

Highlights from the Nalanda site include a large inscribed plaque recording a donation made by a ruler of the Shailendra dynasty in Sumatra, to a monastery in Nalanda. The guilds of the monasteries at Nalanda were also famous for the Buddhist art they produced. Some of these sculptures, bearing the Nalanda stamp, travelled to Southeast Asia especially during the period of the Shailendras in the 6th to 7th centuries CE. Artefacts such as these highlight the historic ties between the two regions.

“This exhibition is one of our most ambitious to date, and is engaging and exciting on many levels. For visitors interested in religion, the exhibition offers them the chance to see a rare treasure – the bone relics of Buddha. Art history buffs can trace the evolution of Buddhist art through some of the best and most important Buddhist art available today. Finally, the spread of Buddhism reflects the historic ties that bind us in Asia to one other,” enthused Dr Kwok.

On The Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia will be on show at the Asian Civilisations Museum from 2 November 2007 to 23 March 2008. Visitors to the exhibition stand a chance to win a trip for two to Nalanda, Rajgir and Bodhgaya courtesy of Indiatourism.

Admission Charges for On The Nalanda Trail (2 Nov 2007 to 23 March 2008)

Adult : $10 Concession : $5 (Full-time students and age 60 years and above) Family Package : $25 for maximum of 5 persons

· Free for children under 6 years old and below and NHB Season Pass Holders. · Discounted admission on Fridays, 7pm – 9pm. · Admission charges may vary during special exhibitions.

About the Asian Civilisations Museum

The Asian Civilisations Museum’s mission is to explore and present the cultures and civilisations of Asia, so as to promote awareness and appreciation of the ancestral cultures of Singaporeans and their links to Southeast Asia and the World. The Asian Civilisations Museum first began its operations at Armenian Street in 1997, which closed at end-2005, and will re-open in 2008 as a brand new Peranakan attraction. ACM’s flagship at the historic Empress Place Building opened on 2 March 2003.

Address 1 Empress Place, Singapore 179555 Museum Front Desk: +65 6332 7798 Public Programmes Hotline: +65 6332 3284

Opening Hours Mondays : 1pm – 7pm Tuesdays – Sundays : 9am – 7pm (to 9pm on Fridays) Continue Reading »

Back in 1979, when I was living in Pune, India, as a starry-eyed devotee of the infamous guru Bhagwan Rajneesh, something happened that has disturbed me to this day. A man who had just come down from Kathmandu after completing a thirty-day Tibetan Buddhist meditation course killed himself. I had met him the night before, and we’d had coffee together. I don’t remember what we spoke about, but he was friendly and didn’t appear distressed. But the next day he climbed to the top of the multi-storied Blue Diamond Hotel and leapt off. The Bhagwan, at his first lecture after the man’s suicide, tried to reassure us by saying the man had already reincarnated as a more enlightened soul. But I was quite upset and remember thinking how strange it was that someone should kill himself after a meditation course. Isn’t meditation something you do to get–at the very least–peace of mind? I wondered whether he might have had a mental illness and perhaps shouldn’t have taken the course in the first place. Even if he had, shouldn’t the meditation have helped? It didn’t occur to me that the meditation itself might have caused a mental imbalance that tipped him over the edge–that meditation could be dangerous for some people. Has such a notion ever appeared in the mainstream media, let alone the myriad New Age magazines?

More here.

See also Is Meditation Right For You? and retreat fallout.

Back to my experience at Dhamma Malaya.

First some pictures.

This is a picture of me and my teacher from the 10-day course I did at St. John’s Island. We had a different teacher for the 3-day course.

The room I stayed.

The meditation hall.

The reception and office.

When I reached Dhamma Malaya, I remember feeling honoured and privileged to be among the students to attend the very first course at Dhamma Malaya. The 3-day course at Dhamma Malaya was significant to me in several ways even though at times I did consider myself insane to go through the meditation routine again, which I still found tough despite completing a 10-day course in August.

First, it deepened my theory, understanding and practice of Vipassana. People like me don’t really get it the first time round. I struggled with the Vipassana technique during my first 10-day course. And I realised that I had missed one key instruction when I practised at home, that is, instead of lingering on, I should have moved my attention to another area once I feel sensation in an area. Second, I understood the importance of sitting still for Vipassana to work effectively.

Second, I managed to stay awake during all the 430 to 630 am sittings. I stayed in the hall throughout the two hours and was able to do Anapana meditation even though my mind was not alert enough to do Vipassana.

Third, I managed to sit through all the Adhitthanas, which required a meditator, to sit one hour without opening their eyes, hands or legs for three times a day. See another blogger’s account of Adhitthana here. She also has a series of posts on Vipassana.

Back to the purpose of this post – my experience. On the second evening or night, during Adhitthana if I don’t recall wrongly, I experienced something that was very unusual. By that day or the day before, I had taken the cushion away while meditating because there were no more small cushions and the large cushion, I found too saggy and uncomfortable. So, I sat only on a thin piece of cloth that covered the floor I sat. It was a cold night. I was working hard to remain equanimous and extremely still in my posture. Suddenly, I felt a grip like a brace on the two sides of my lower back, at the same level as my hip. This was an area that I normally have no sensations. And then lo and behold, something extremely unbelievable happened. My left lower back started to emit out an intense amount of heat. The heat emitted was so intense it felt supernatural! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that in my life before.

You may have seen kung fu shows of fighters sitting to meditate or heal/channel energy to someone, there would have been a classic scene where immense heat is emitted from the fighter’s body and the heat was shown as steam. It felt something like that. (Has recordmymind lost his mind? Is he losing his mind?) I was thinking to myself, the poor guy at the back, if he’s sitting too closely, he must be feeling the effects of the heat. But I did not manage to check with him after the course.

It could have been an extremely powerful delusion brought on by the rigorous conditions of the meditation course. Perhaps my mind was playing tricks on me after I sat still for an hour. But I swear, it felt real, that supernatural heat that came out. Maybe I’m going insane. So be it, I suppose. But that was what I experienced. Like I said, it was a cold night, but my shirt was wet and the sweat soaked through my underwear, my pants and the cloth I was sitting on. But I don’t discount any other more scientific, natural and less mystical explanations of what happened.

The next day, I described my experience to the teacher, who told me that I was shedding some sankhara of anger or passion. When I mentioned that I normally don’t have much sensation in my lower back, he told me that we never know which part of the body the sankharas come out.

I’ve extracted from here one explanation of sankhara, which sounds just about similar to what I understand (although the term should be properly understood as part of a four-fold Buddhist theory of consciousness. For more details, see article by Goenka here.):

The traces of suffering from earlier lives are present in each individual as sankhara (Sanskrit: samskara). The presence of sankhara is the result of various painful events and experiences which have befallen one in this life and in previous lives. They manifest themselves as subconscious traces in the mind and are present as impurities. They will bring pain in the future. They must be eliminated completely lest they go on provoking reactions in the mind. These reactions are the reason why the wheel of samsara keeps turning. The goal of Vipassana, therefore, is to learn how to act instead of react. Sankhara is the manifestation of karma, the energy of karma. Each individual is a victim of the karma created in earlier lives, but Goenka claims the manifestation of karma in the form of sankhara can be erased. Contrary to one’s karma the things you do now will determine the type of life you will get next time. “The moment that all sankhara are eliminated a sensation of no-death will arise because no sankhara will emerge to pollute the mind, and this is the ultimate state of nirvana which no word can describe.”

Digression: see also another interesting article by S. N. Goenka called “What Happens At Death?“.

I attribute this unusual experience to the fact that I had been working hard, meditating seriously, to the best of my ability, once the course started at Dhamma Malaya. I think meditating is like cooking potatoes or eating. The first minute, the potato is not cooked. The first mouthful of rice you swallow, you are still hungry. But you keep going and eventually, results show.

The next significant experience worth reporting happened on the last day of the course, during the metta session, the sharing of merit and loving kindness with all beings. For some reason (maybe from working too hard at meditation), when I heard the sentence “All of you have acquired great merit”, my body started shaking (slightly similar to yoga postures that challenge your tummy) and tears started flowing from my eyes. I wasn’t sobbing dramatically but the tears just flowed while my body shook and shook. (Those of you who’ve had religious experiences might understand what I’m talking about.)

And while all this was happening, the guy sitting just behind me on a chair farts. Loudly.

A religious experience indeed.

As promised earlier, part 2 of the video. A Simple Path – Part 2

Here’s a temporary digression from the topic of meditation.

Since it is the freshest in my mind, I will first record down my experiences at the 3 day course in Dhamma Malaya. Before that, here is what happened en route to Dhamma Malaya.

Arrived in Kuantan’s Makmur bus station at 4:30 am after leaving Singapore’s Lavendar Street at 10 pm the night before. I eventually joined a group of 2 Malays and 1 Chinese guy in a taxi to look for boarding. We alighted at Jalan Taman along Jalan Besar. This is where I eventually stayed the night.

In this room I slept from 530 am to 830 am

Check out the toilet below. See if you can guess where the “shower head” is in the first picture. Notice in the second picture, the pipe doesn’t connect to the floor, it is truncated halfway. That’s right, you feel the water from the pipe dripping to the floor! Hahaha.

I paid 37 Ringgit for a room in the hotel above after having a cup of Horlicks and deciding not to wait another 2 hours to get a room at a cheaper rate of 20 ringgit at the hotel opposite, which has no air-conditioned rooms. By the way, the indian food stall here is not bad. I backtracked and had a plain roti prata here as my first meal the next morning after failing to find food for a couple of hours due to the fasting month. In Singapore, plain roti pratas aren’t tasty. But the one here was. So check it out if you ever have the chance.

I left the budget hotel at about 830 am and walked for more than an hour trying to find the tourist office. The people in Kuantan were all very friendly but they either didn’t understand where I was going, gave me wrong directions or I just couldn’t understand/follow their instructions. Actually, I think what happened was this I gave them the wrong address for the Tourist Office based on something I read here.

Despite not finding my way, I managed to take this picture of the Kuantan State Mosque.

Well, I eventually met “Boy”, this friendly Malay guy who gave me directions to the tourist office. While I was still making my way to the tourist centre according to Boy’s instructions, he drove up in a car, horned at me and asked me to get into his car as he was going in the same direction. He was very friendly, with family in Singapore. It turned out that the tourist office was just behind my hotel, maybe less than a 10 minute walk! He suggested that I visit the beach Teluk Cempedak Beach and then go to Megamall.

Before he dropped me off, he asked why I was in Kuantan and whether I was alone, I told him I was going to Gambang, Dhamma Malaya for meditation. “Meditation?”, he asked and questioned whether I was going to some organization, whose name I didn’t recognize. I shook my head and just mentioned “Vipassana” and “Dhamma Malaya”. I wasn’t sure whether he knew what I was talking (his understanding of English was spot on) or just found my reply plain strange and bizzarre. I suppose not many Malays in Pahang come across a lone Chinese male visiting Kuantan for the express purpose of “meditation”.

But this was a great and friendly guy. Cool guy. I wished I had gotten his contact so that I could show him the same kindness when he visits his family in Singapore (“Orchard”, “Jurong”).

I eventually got a map from the Tourist Office, hunted for food with no success and got back to the Indian coffeeshop opposite my budget hotel. I took a taxi to Teluk Cempedak. Walked along the beach, took some pictures (see below), had a coke at Macs before hailing a taxi to Megamall and then to Terembung Mall. About the malls I have nothing to write about, except for this: very hard to find food!

I walked back exhausted to my budget hotel at about 1 pm. Showered. Slept two hours or so and then left at 3 plus pm to Dhamma Malaya. The taxi ride to Dhamma Malaya cost me 34 ringgit (I was one ringgit short of 35), which was 9 ringgit more than the negotiated rate of 25 ringgit but I didn’t mind at all due to the rough dirt road the taxi had to travel. The taxi driver asked me what’s this place and why was I here. I said “meditation” and struck a pose to show what I meant. But he didn’t understand what I was saying. He just took my money and drove off after I alighted.

Oh well…at least I know why I went there.

Some of you may have been very patiently waiting for updates on my Vipassana meditation experience. And on my part, I need to write about it to get it out of my system, before I can move on to something else or other posts on the blog. Whatever I write here, I hope it is of benefit to some reader who would be encouraged to take a 10-day Vipassana Course as taught by S.N. Goenka in the tradition of U Ba Khin.

It’s been more than one month since I returned from my first 10-day course and almost two months since my last post. Since that first course, I did two more courses. A 1-day course in Singapore on 30 Sep and a 3-day course from 4th to 7th Oct in Dhamma Malaya in Kuantan.

Doing Vipassana Meditation has been a life changing experience for me. I’ve always searched very hard for a path. This may be because I have a religious gene. I’ve always wanted to work towards self-mastery and self improvement but did not know how. “How?” was always the big question in everything I wanted to work towards, be it overcoming my weaknesses (having some awareness of the great store of faults within me that my loved ones were kind enough to warn me about) or practising the morality and purity of mind that all great religions teach. And now, through Vipassana meditation, I feel I’ve discovered my path and the “How” to answer my questions. Wonderful, indeed is this technique, so simple, so deep and so effective.

I feel it from very deep within that I’ve changed, that I’ve benefited greatly. Some of the benefits (even from attending the 10-day course, a first baby step on this path) include:

<li>

More positive attitude of mind. During the meditation course, I’ve started to learn how not to be deterred or disappointed by constant failure but to always work arduously, continuously, patiently and intelligently despite repeated failure. This is an extremely valuable attitude to bring home.

<li>

[protect] I have less sexual passion in me. [/protect] I found it easier to control my unhealthy and previously daily addictions, which have dramatically declined. I consider this a key change given how I’ve lived my life for the past 13 years.

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I have learnt to be more sensitive to my body, especially my stomach, in what I eat and the quantity I eat. I’ve always been sympathetic to the animal rights movement but out of force of habit was not able to become a full fledged vegetarian. After the first 10-day course, I managed to eat less meat by having at least one or two meals each day consisting fully of rice and vegetables. When I eat meat, this is normally only when dining with my wife or when my wife cooks. I’m not a full fledged vegetarian yet though I have become a 30% or 50% vegetarian.

<li>I make a constant effort to sleep and wake early. I am sleeping earlier than I used to. There is limited success in waking early at this point. But as said in point 2, I keep trying. No negative attitude. No discouragement. No anxiety. No self flagellation. No self-abuse. No meanness to self. Only a smile whenever I fail. But I keep trying.</li>


[protect]<li>I don't react as much to provocation in the past. If my wife is angry and hurls angry words at me, I don't respond with a tank of gasoline to her fiery words. The best that I manage to do now is to observe my impulse and retain enough self control to stay silent, allowing the anger and tense atmosphere to fizzle out. I'm not at the stage where I can say the right words to calm her down, but at least now I am able to stay in control, not react blindly and worsen things. This is a great improvement compared to the past, where I used to react with equal if not greater anger and negativity to her anger, worsening things for both of us and harming both of us and the relationship greatly in the process.</li> [/protect]

[protect]That said, my wife has not mentioned that she has seen any change in me though she did mention I have become more patient and has encouraged me to continue to go for the 3-day course in Kuantan even though she fell very ill during my first 10-day course. Her silence and encouragement for me to go on the 3-day course could mean any or none of the following, I can’t say for sure which: She wants to see how lasting the changes in me are before she says anything (you know how speaking too soon can sometimes destroy the magic of something or cause deeper disappointment); she thinks I thinks it helps me so she encourages me to continue in my practice, she genuinely sees me changing for the better because of the meditation and hence she wants me to continue to benefit from it through continued courses, she saw my emotional reaction and repentant attitude and recognition of all the wrongs I’ve done to her after the first course and hopes that such feelings in me will continue to surface if I keep going for the meditation courses. Any of the above, none of the above. It doesn’t matter. In me, very clearly, like someone who has drank water and knows that the water is cold, I know that I have taken the first step on the path of change. [/protect]

I leave you with a video on Vipassana Meditation by S.N. Goenka. In my next post I will talk about my experience at the courses and post the next video in the series below.

Dhamma Podcasts: A Simple Path – Part 1