Rev. Master Daizui served as the head of the O.B.C. from November 1996 until his death on 4th April, 2003. As a tribute to him, on the third anniversary his death, I have republished his teaching on ‘Mindfulness’ with bows of gratitude.

Rev. Master Daizui latter expanded on the text on mindfulness in his book ‘Buddhism From Within’ published in 2003. Here is a paragraphs from the chapter, ‘Radical Sobriety’, p 56.

“The essential ingredients of this practice (Mindfulness) are to pay very close attention to what one is doing, to be fully aware of it, and when one’s attention wanders off to something else, to bring it back again. In the practice of Mindfulness, attention and awareness are applied without inner reactions to the things one is aware of. It is a neutral sort of observation of oneself and the world, uncompleted by thoughts, feelings, judgments, and the like. The heart of this type of practice, in other words, is simply to be fully aware of what exists, with nothing added and nothing hidden from view. This way of training is bound to assit a Buddhist with what he or she is trying to do: just to be aware of things, large and small, on a daily basis cannot help but lay the groundwork for being able to view the entire universe for what it really is. Mindfulness is a type of truthfulness; it is the truthful perception of exactly what is really there”.

This afternoon I went out of town to do a House Blessing Ceremony, followed by a memorial for a young man who died four years ago. At the end of the memorial the mother read a poem by Kahlil Gibran from ‘The Prophet’. There is no way that I can reproduce the steady depth of feeling and emotion as she read the poem, On Children, for her lost son. His three siblings stood silently listening.

The father then read a verse, with equal depth of feeling.

The dew is on the lotus – Rise, Great Sun
And lift my leaf and mix me with the wave.
Om mani padme hum, the sunrise comes.
The dewdrop slips into the shining sea.
The Light of Asia
Sir Edwin Arnold

“Learn important Buddhist principles while playing these specially designed computer games. They have zero violence and lots of Buddha Dharma”!

It looks like these games are suitable for children of any age. Unfortunately they are well beyond my ability to comprehend, a child of around six could have a wonderful time with them though. You will need to get Micromedia Flash Player and there is a link you can follow to get it.

Oh, and I see there is a link to download the entire Dhammapada onto a mobile phone!

Have fun.