Chan at the Workplace (9)(10) — Admitting Mistakes and Dressing for Success

Chan at Work — Admitting mistakes
“All my evil karma was created by me from present and old
because of my greed, hatred, and ignorance
born of my deeds, words, and thoughts
I now confess openly and fully”
Confession = honesty + humility = good for the karma and the soul
First important step to self-improvement and work-improvement is to admit [...]

Chan at the Workplace (7)(8) — Keeping Commitments and Finding Right Answers to Problems

Chan at Work — Keeping commitments
“Beautiful but scentless flowers that bear no fruit
Are like words of one who leaves you unfulfilled
But as scented flowers bearing fruit
Are like words of one who carries them to fruition”
You see a gorgeous rose and eagerly smell it to savor its fragrance, only to be disappointed and let down because [...]

Chan at the Workplace (5)(6) — Establishing Priorities and Anti-Procrastination

Chan at Work — Establishing priorities
“The wiseman who hurries when it’s time to hurry
And slows when slowness is the thing,
Is deeply happy because he’s got his priorities in line”
Peter Drucker, grandfather of modern management consultants and business thinkers — the challenge of a manager is to realize that 10 things need to be done but [...]

Chan at the Workplace (3)(4) — Becoming a Fabulous Employee and Staying Focused at Work

Chan at Work — Becoming a fabulous employee
Start by doing great work!
Don’t kiss up — no one is impressed by that!
Focus on the basics:
• Start your day before your boss; be calm and collected
• Stop working after your boss; be willing to stay a little later to tie loose ends or help a coworker; go the extra [...]

Chan at the Workplace (1)(2) — Developing a Vision and Choosing the Right Job

Chan at Work — Developing a vision and vision for oneself
Successful organizations = mission and vision statement
Successful person = personal mission and vision statement
My Statement — be immersed and surrounded by peace and joy; to be connected to the wisdom and intelligence of the universe; to help living beings including ferrying others to Buddhaland; to [...]

Chan at the Workplace

In the upcoming Retreat 2008, a one-hour seminar on “Chan (Zen) at the Workplace” will be held. Harry will be the speaker. I introduced Harry before, praising him as the rat in Ratatouille. Other than being a cook, Harry is also a veteran IT manager in a 2,000 employee company, on a challenging job spending [...]

Daily Wisdom — Eliminate Thoughts by Focusing on Chakras

By Chan Master Wu Jue Miao Tian
Translated by Shilo, Harry and Ronald
Eliminate Thoughts by Focusing on Chakras
You have to eliminate wandering thoughts and achieve the state of “thoughtlessness”. When you get started for meditation, your mind is often full of wandering thoughts. The more you intend to remove them, the more futile you are. [...]

Five Sitting Zen Guidelines

坐姿如鐘 Sit As A Bell
背直如松 Spine Like A Pine
身心放鬆 Relax Body & Mind
精神集中 Center With All Might
腦海空空 Think Of Nothing
For me personally, the hardest part has been the last two: Center with All Might and Think Of Nothing. It is still challenging. And I know this is true for many people, too. So in addition [...]

Shall I help? What I did Last Time

I was doing my weekly grocery shopping. I was walking to the supermarket. On the way there, there is a driveway that is sort of a shortcut. Along the driveway are buildings that all seem abandoned. Cars pass by occasionally; very few people.
As usual, I walked on the driveway. I saw two boys in their [...]

Shall I help? A Dilemma That Takes Some Wisdom

One of our Zen practitioners was facing the following dilemma that probably everyone of us has faced once or twice in life, too. At least I do.
I was in Taco Bell to buy lunch. While I was waiting for my order, a young male came to me. He said, “hey bro, could you [...]

New Zen Class for Beginners

If you have time every Sunday afternoon, do try to join our meditation session:
Fine tune our health. Quiet our monkey mind. Cultivate our stillness, so to let our Inner Spirit to be in sync with the universal life force and wisdom.
In turn, our relationship improves, outlook brightens, opportunities open up.
Don’t just take my word for [...]

Chinese Herb

My current house mate is an acupuncture therapist to-be. In her acupuncture school, she used to study herbs, but not any more. She gave up on it because it was too hard. Knowing some Chinese language may help, but I am sure that understanding each herb and its medical use is hard for everybody.
At least, [...]