The Five Hindrances

These are the five hindrances that impede our meditation practice towards mental development. They are the obstacles that we often encounter in our progress on the spiritual path. The first of which is our pursuits for sensual pleasure or desire. We should also watch out for the other four minefields of ill will, sloth & torpor, restlessness & worry, and doubts. In order to combat them, we need to have strong mindfulness, loving kindness, perseverance, peace of mind, and wisdom. So do not give up your fight to overcome the five hindrances. 

Developing a Good Mind

We need to maintain a clean & healthy mental body because it will affect the astral/emotional, etheric, and physical bodies. There is a saying, "What you think, you become" which proves that your mind can affect you immensely. You might have a strong physical body, but if you have a weak mind having lost the will to live, you are actually weaker than someone with a weak physical body but has a strong mind having the will to survive,  Hence take care of your mind. One of my teachers like to say this, "You will know if your physical body gets hurt, but do you know if your mind gets hurt ?". Do not harbour any unwholesome or unskillful thoughts. Maintain your calm & composure. Be mindful of your various sense bases throughout the day.  Do not be drawn into unnecessary thinking to drain your mental energy, not to mention creating bad karma with potential negative thought forms.  Therefore, good mental development is key to a healthy & meaningful life. 

Karma and Feng Shui

Many people are quite obsessed with having good feng shui, They would not hesitate to spend money in seeking all means to boost their health, wealth, career, or relationship issues. But little do they know that karma overrides feng shui. This means that even if someone has good feng shui, all it takes is for his bad karma to come along to spoil his gains. Hence, do good deeds like service & tithing to generate good merits for positive karma. If you have past bad karma, start to avoid evil and do good to ensure a good rebirth. If you have the blessings of good karma, press on to do good to ensure your good karma continues on. But the ultimate "luck" is when you have both good karma and good feng shui manifesting at the same time.

Letting Go

Living in the past is a delusion. The past had already happened, it is gone forever. The reason why some people cannot forget about the past is because their mind keeps on playing back past memories. It is like playing an old tape recorder many many times, be it pleasant or unpleasant memories. These thought forms are not real at all because the past events or people are no longer the same as before. Hence, do not fall prey to your thought forms as they are not real. Clinging on to them will only bring you eventual pain and suffering. Move on to live mindfully in the present moment, and cherish every moment you have now. Be mindful of the word "impermanence", which means nothing is eternal. All things are subject to change.   

Spirituality & Prosperity

Unlike what many people believe, spirituality and prosperity can go hand in hand very well. In Buddha's time, there are some kings who managed to attain very high spiritual development despite living among the riches because they were not soiled by their immense wealth. Whether you can have both qualities will largely depend on whether you have the very good karma or not. With prosperity, you can use your wealth to do more good things to generate more merits for yourself and your loved ones. With spirituality, you can have high morality to spread and cultivate good virtues to others. This is the best fortunate win-win situation to be in.    

Spiritual Progress

It is indeed a blessing of good karma to be on the spiritual path. While we can progress well in our meditation practice to realise certain spiritual experiences, it is more important to habitualise the virtues in our everyday life. All other people need to do is to look at our behaviour to determine whether we are genuine spiritual practitioners or not. It is no point being able to attain high meditative states of inner peace, tranquility & emptiness if we do not exhibit such a calm disposition in our dealing with people and situations outside of our meditative mode operating in the mundane world.   

Be Your Own Fortune Teller

Trust your gut feel. Chart your own destiny. Do not be easily misled into believing that other people can read your life destiny, especially from dubious characters that pose as "credible" soothsayers or fortune tellers. There is no point trying to know about your past or predict your future. The best insurance you can have right now is to plant a good seed so as to reap a good harvest in the future. It could well manifest tomorrow or even in your next life time, nobody knows for sure. Therefore continue doing good and avoiding evil, and leave the rest to the law of karma to take effect.