Leisurely pace

It's been pretty uneventful these last few days. I've discovered I can easily sleep in quite late! We went to an amazing free photography exhibit of the World Press Photo Contest, which showcases amazing and often heart wrenching photo journalism. The exhibit can be viewed online as well. It exposes so many social issues such as this haunting photo of a girl who has birth defects potentially related to agent orange use during the Vietnam war. I was previously unaware of the potential link.Here is another study on the issue Association between Agent Orange and birth defects: systematic review and meta-analysis and a CBC report

We've spent time walking around and looking at the architecture. We went o the Petronas Towers at night to see them lit up. We also found some vegan dark chocolate at the nearby mall grocery store.


We spent some more time at the Guan Yin Temple enjoying a meal and dharma talk. The people were so kind, helping us find a place to sit and a serving of the extra special soup offered that day. A little lizard tried to hop a cab ride with us to the temple. The driver pulled over so J could safely release him.


Tomorrow we take a bus to Melaka where we will stay for five nights at The Hangout Hotel. We are upgrading to a room with private bath. Two weeks with shared bath gets a little tiring. Things have been quite affordable here. A nice bus for two is about $14.00 Canadian to Melaka which is about 120kms from here. We spend around $10.00 Canadian for two restaurant meals with drinks. We could even eat for a lot cheaper but we enjoy supporting the lovely veg restaurants.


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Way of the Bodhisattva

We've been in Kuala Lumpur for the last 2 nights and we are staying for 5 more. We are staying at The Reggae Mansion Hostel which is conveniently located right in the heart of china town and has 2 vegetarian restaurants within the block. We had delicious meals at both the Water Lilly Vegetarian Restaurant and Yin Futt Kuok. Below is a photo of the black pepper faux ribs and the Tom yam noodles from Water Lilly restaurant.


Today we made the 6 km round trip walk to view the Petronas Towers, which is 88 stories in height! We also went to the Prajna Guanyin Sagely Monastery which is part of the The Dharma Realm Buddhist Association . We had a lovely time. We listened to part of a Dharma talk (and hope to return to hear more), viewed the temple, spent time in the reading room and had a lovely vegetarian buffet lunch. We picked up 2 books (available by donation); one is a Buddhist dictionary Buddhism from A to Zand the other is parables on the role of vegetarianism and kindness to animals within Buddhist teachings "The Stories of Refraining from Killing and Liberating Lives".

One of the main statues in the temple is of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. One definition of a Bodhisattva says this; What do we mean by Bodhisattva? Bodhi means enlightenment, the state devoid of all defects and endowed with all good qualities. Sattva refers to someone who has courage and confidence and who strives to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Those who have this spontaneous, sincere wish to attain enlightenment for the ultimate benefit of all beings are called Bodhisattvas. Through wisdom, they direct their minds to enlightenment, and through their compassion, they have concern for beings. This wish for perfect enlightenment for the sake of others is what we call bodhichitta, and it is the starting point on the path. By becoming aware of what enlightenment is, one understands not only that there is a goal to accomplish but also that it is possible to do so. Driven by the desire to help beings, one thinks, For their sake, I must attain enlightenment! ... Bodhichitta, then, is a double wish: to attain enlightenment in itself, and to do so for the sake of all beings. (A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night, p. 12) A great site for the basics of Buddhism is The Big View.



J and I have started to intensify our meditation practice with (hopefully) daily sessions. Today we followed a guided mindfulness based mediation which I received a copy of through the terrific Mindfulness Mediation course I took a few years ago. It was facilitated by Dr Speca via the University of Calgary continuing education. For online mindfulness resources check out one of my favorite websites Mindful.org

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