The Prayer Wheel

Almost every religion has its symbol.  A cross for the Christianity is a symbol that  Jesus died on a cross.  A crescent moon is for the Muslim because the Prophet Muhammad received God’s inscription on a night with crescent moon shined on the ground.

Buddhism is not a religion; however one would see a wheel symbols in Buddhist temples.  Here is the  story.

One day, Anata ( a disciple of the Buddha) and Buddha was waiting for the traffic to be clear on a busy day.

Anata told Buddha, “Since we have to wait for a while, could you teach me about life.”

During this time, a chariot was passing by.

Buddha pointed in the wheel of the chariot, then say, “Life is like a wheel.  The spokes of the wheel divided the life into 4 quadrants:  The first quadrant is about 5 senses, sight, voice, tough, smell, and taste;  the second quadrant is about the structure of the body, the arms and legs, the internal organs; the third quadrant is about our emotion, love, fear, anger, empathy, jealousy; and the last quadrant is about the relation, the relationship among all other quadrants.

The hub of the wheel symbolizes the awareness of our 4 quadrants.  An awakened one is the one who is aware all the time about this quadrants.

This turns out to be one of the most important teaching of the Buddha.

About Self Compassion

A student is failing in every test that I have given to the class during the whole semester.  I also notice that the student is sick.  He had some bizarre behavior in the classroom.  In a 55-minute class, he would walk out of the classroom and went to bathroom 2-3 times.

About 2-3 weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Dean of the Students notifying the instructors including me that the student have a medical issue, asking instructors for making conditions helping the student to succeed.

Then few days ago, the day before the third exam, he walked into my office.

The moment he walked into my office, I told him that I know why he came to my office.  I told him what I can do and what I cannot do.  What I can do is to reopen the quizzes that he can take again to make up some of the grades.  But I told him that I would not send him to the next level chemistry class because he will not succeed in the next level class.

He agreed and thanked for my consideration and generosity.  Then he began to tell me his story, with tears rolling down his face.

“ Dr. Chen, I like to tell you I am not the person you are looking at now.”  reflecting his deep pain inside of him.

“Since I moved out of my parent’s house, I wanted to show to my parent, and my friends that I am capable of being an independent adult, I work 50 hours a week to pay my rent, my bills, and my tuition. Thus on top of 50 hours-week of work, I also register as a full time student. “

“I used to be over-weight, I had a poor self body image.  In order to reshape my body image, I work out excessively, and at the same time, I began to eat less, to the extent that I become a compulsive exercise and compulsive eating disorder. Over a short period of time, I lose excessive weight to the point I blacked out one day behind the wheel; that was the time I was diagnosed with severe eating disorder and compulsive behavior”.

“The reason that I need to go to bathroom so frequently is that I have severe bladder issue; if I do not go to bathroom, I would have accidents.”

The student has been seeking help from medical doctors and therapist.  Obviously, he is seeking the way to heal his compulsive behavior.

“How is your relationship with your parent? “, I asked  a probing question.

“Distant”, he said.

“ Do you have close friends ?”  I asked.

“No.”  he said.

“ Find your supporting tribe, or get an animal”.  I said, “ Loneliness does not heal;  in order to heal, one must connect to others, either a  friend, or a pet such as a dog or a cat.”

I continued to tell him about self-compassion.

“ There is no need to prove yourself to anybody.  Just because you exist, and you are here, you are already loved.”

I told him to love himself just the way he is.  His body image is fine.  If he can have self compassion, he might be able to heal his compulsive behavior.

This short conversation turns out of my first coaching session.

My Story on Sauna and WBC

I learned about the benefits of regular sauna from Dr. Jefrey Gladden in his “Living Beyond 120” weekly podcast.  He said that he had read a scholarly report from Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA).  In that report, the investigators had followed approximately 300 Finnish people of 40-60 ages for 20 years to study their risk of cardiovascular, cancer, and dementia disease against their regular use of sauna.  The investigators reported that those who uses Sauna at least 4 times per week, and 20 minutes at a time in dry heat sauna have 60% reduction of the risks associated with those deliberated disease.

When I posted this finding in FaceBook few month ago, many of my FB friends including doctor relatives brushed them off.  So, I decide to try on my own.

For many years (more than 10 years) , my White Blood Cell Counts (WBC) have been low (lower than 4.0).  Lower WBC means I am quite susceptible to some chronicle debilitating disease.  My WBC was more troublesome in last three years.  My WBC have never been higher than 3 (Normal range is 4-11).  When it hit the bottom low of 2.2, my doctor decided to send me to a hematologist.  I have been observed by a hematologist for 9 months.

After learning about the benefits of the sauna, I decided to take actions and to see if the sauna can improve my WBC.  In the last 2 months, I diligently sit inside a heat sauna room for 20 minutes, at least 4 times per week.

Today, I have an appointment with my hematologist. The technician took the blood.  The results show impressive improvement of my WBC.  The new WBC is 5.1.  My WBC had not been this high for the last 10 years.  It is quite amazing.

I cannot say that my WBC improvement is completely due to sauna, because I also did follow other healthy habits including intermittent fasting, hiking 2 hours in the nature every day and meditation.  All those healthy habit helps.  But, sauna could be another relatively easy way to achieve health benefits.

Warrior 3

On May 26, 2019, the Fox Valley Outdoor Meetup had an organized hiking event at Barkhausen Reserve, at Suamico, WI.  The place is about 40 minutes drive from Appleton.

Around 25 people showed up.  I was in this trail several times last year and I like the trail very much.

The trail is about 4.5 miles long and well-marked.  There were many things of the Nature to observe and to be immersed.  During the walk, I conversed with a mother-daughter pair. The mother is a recent UWGB graduate and the daughter is a middle school graduate and will be in high school in the fall.  The mother is about in the 30’s, and the daughter is in the teens. There were also other people I had conversed with. There was an an armature Nature photographer. There was a gentleman working at IT.  There was a lady who worked at home as a medical coding specialist. Most of them are in the 40’s or 50’s. But there are few who are in the 20’s and 30’s. I am the only one in the 70’s.

One thing out of hikers’ expectation was that the trail was still wet; and there were many places on the trail that was covered by the muddy water.  Almost all hikers came unprepared. Although no one wore sandals, many came with tennis shoes. I went with a regular hiking shoes. Few places on the puddle, there were occasionally some broken tree branches placed across the puddle which allow hikers to walk through without getting wet on their shoes or pants.

The youngest hiker, the teen girl who just graduated from middle school, beaming on her face, walked balanced and was also like dancing on the wood branch and walked easily across the puddle.  Everyone applauded. The mother proudly said that her daughter is a trained ballerina.

Then the mother came next.  She did walk across the puddle, but not as gracefully as her daughter.  Still everyone applauded to encourage this mother-daughter pair.

Many other people tried; but one by one they fell into the puddle, making mess on their shoes and their pants.  Seeing their fellow walkers fell onto the mud, many of them chose either to walk straight through, or chose drier spots on the puddle and jump through the puddle.

I came next.  Thinking that I practice Warrior 3 pose every morning, this task should tell me if my training was sufficient or not.

Everyone was watching.  They wanted to find out if this old folk made fun of himself or he could succeed just like the mother-daughter pair.

When I finally walked through the puddle unspotted, everyone applauded.

The Warrior 3 practice every morning finally found its usefulness in the real world.

Three questions

Once upon a time, there was a queen who was looking for enlightenment.

Once day, she disguised herself as a simple peasant trotting many miles in the mountain to come to an old woman living alone in the hut on top of the mountain.

By the time the queen arrived, the old woman was working on the field, planting vegetables on the field.  The queen asked the old woman three questions which were:
(1) When was the most important time, and what was the most important thing to do at that time?
(2) Who was the most important person to serve?
(3) What was the most important thing to do in his or her life?

After listening to the three questions, the old woman, though nodded, continued to work on the field.

The field was large.  The queen thought without another hand to help, the work would be there forever, and she would not get advice from the old woman.  So, the queen took another equipment and help out the old woman working on the field.

They worked until sundown, taking break only for water and lunch.  It is getting late, and the queen still did not get the answer. The queen was about to leave.

“Wait,” the old woman stopped the queen by pointing her finger to the wood where they saw a man staggering in the wood, with blood gushing out his stomach.  The two women rushed to the wounded person, and found proper cloth to stop the man from bleeding.

It was getting really dark.  The queen and the wounded man stayed in the hut overnight.
On the next day, the man saw the queen, and kneeled down in front of the queen and asked for forgiveness.

“ You probably do not know me; but I was your sworn enemy who was trying to kill you.  Many years ago, your soldiers killed my brother and took away our perpetual. “

“ I learned that you were coming to see the old woman in the hut.  I was hiding in the bush waiting to ambush you on your way back to your palace.  But you did not show up.”

“So, I decided to find you, but your soldiers spotted me, and stabbed me in the stomach.  Without your help, I would have been bleeding to death.  Please forgive me.”

The queen immediately forgave the man and promising him when she was back to palace, she would provide the man with her own physician and gave back the property.

By this time, the queen still did not get the answer.  She was very disappointed and was about to leave.

“ Wait, your questions have been answered. “. The old woman said.
“What is that?” The queen puzzled.

“ Yesterday, if you did not work side-by-side with me, you would have been stabbed by this would-be assassin and would be dead.  Therefore, for yesterday afternoon, the most important thing to do is to work side-by-side with me on the field.  I was the most important person for you to serve at the time.”

“ Last night, if you did not help the would-be assassin, he would have been dead. You and the man would never have another chance to reconcile. Therefore, last night, the most important thing to do was to help the man stopped bleeding; and the most important person to serve was the man who was bleeding.

“Remember, the most important time in”now”, right at this moment.  The most important person to serve at this moment is the person, you are now interacts with.  The most important thing to do for our life is to serve another human being”.

This is the lesson taught by this old woman to the queen.

Remember, Remember

"Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted.” 

This is a famous quote from the poet, Sylvia Plath. It says that live and experience every moment of our life at the moment, because this experience does not last forever. 

As I am living in the 70’s, I now fully appreciate the meaning of this phrase.

About 20 years ago, I was an active alpine skier. I had been several times at the ski resorts such as White Cap, Marquette Mountain, etc and ski at ease.  Then the fortune turned.  About 6 years ago,  I had hernia disk.  Recently, I had some IT Band, leg and   hip problems, I don’t think I can do the alpine ski any more. 

I play tennis almost all through my life.  About 40 years ago, I was at a tennis camp. We played tennis approximately 7-8 hours per day for 5 days. Now, because of the shoulder and hip problems, I have not played tennis for years. 

The lessons I learned from these experiences is that I need to capture the moment when I am still capable.


This winter has a lot of snow. I went out to the wood a lot, because I am still able to do x-country ski and enjoy the outdoor. Who can say that this experience will last forever.

Where is Mara?

Today, at the church, the House of Hope (HOH), came to the church (Memorial Presbyterian Church, or MPC) told Valley immigrants’ stories.

After the service, we had a potluck, and I sat with Greg, a member working at House of Hope and had interesting conversation.

Greg was a retired Catholic Prists, now working at HOH for social justice.  Then he mentioned that he had visited different religion sites including mosques, synagogues, Sikh temple, etc.

“Have you visited Zendo, or any Buddhist temple?”

“Yes, there is one on Spencer Street?”

“Is Buddhism a religion?”

“Not exactly”.

“Tell me more.  I am intrigued”.

“There are a lot of similarities between Christ and Buddha teaching.  For example, in the Bible, Matthew 1:1-11, Jesus was temped by the devil for 40 days in the wilderness.  In Sanskrit Sutra, Buddha meditated under the Bodhi tree was tempted by demon (Mara).”

“Isn’t that amazing?”  Greg said.

“Yes.  But there is major difference between Christianity and Buddhism.  In Christianity, devil is something external to our body.  But in Buddhism, the demon is inside of us.

According to Buddhism, Mara or demon is our shadow.  Each one of us has seeds of Christ, or Buddha, but also has seeds of demon.  Which seed will manifest depends on which seeds we water.  Thus, each one of us has the potential to become Christ, but also has the potential to become a demon.

Buddhist major practice is to become aware of ourselves, or to be awakening which is the first step to become Christ or Buddha, but not the devil.”

“So, true”.  Greg nodded his head.

I am amazed the retired Catholic priest is quite open-minded.

** Zen Master, Thich Naht Hanh put this thought beautifully in his most famous poem, Calling Me My True Names.  Here are the lines:

I am a frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond. And I am the grass-snake that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate.

And I am also the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hands. And I am the man who has to pay his “debt of blood” to my people dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. My pain is like a river of tears, so vast it fills the four oceans.

Imperfection could be a good thing

A young monk regretted that he did not have a good master in the monestery.  Comparing with the master of his friend, his master was hot tempered, speaking too many jokes, some of them are even inappropriate.

Ten years later,  this monk met his friend and had small conversation with his friend.

“How is your master?”

“I have distanced myself with my master?”

“What had happened?”

“My ‘perfect’ master is so critical of everybody, and we can no longer tolerate his daily criticism”.

The young monk finally realized that his imperfect master might not too bad.  Although he had hot temper, he did not hold the grudge.  He was not so critical of us.  When he spoke of bad jokes, he even gave us pocket money.

After all, imperfection is not that bad.  Learning how to love imperfection is a great Zen teaching.

May I have one more week to live?

The Death Angel was knocking on the door to tell a person his time is up.  The Angel comes to claims his life.

“Dear Angel Death, May I have one more week ? I have so many things to take care of.” The man begins to bargain with the Angel.

“Didn’t I give you 52 weeks last year, and many more weeks before that.” The Angel says.

No one is a better teacher than Death.  Death teaches us to live fully at each moment.  Death teaches us possessions are useless; and all beings ( gender, racial, etc.) are equal.  If we know Death is the ultimate reality, we will not waste our life in thought and clinging but live our life in full experience.

Catch a big fish

A fishman was fishing on a river bank.  From time to time, he kept small fish but let go big fish.

“Why do you do that?”

“Because I have only small container to keep small fish.”

“Why din’t You bring a big container for big fish?”

Thus if our mindset is small, we can only attract small abundance.  We can always change our mindset to attract big abundance.

Double Vision

First day of the year, we have snow.

While I was shoveling the snow this morning, suddenly I saw everything 'double vision'.  Alerted, I took out my eye glasses trying to do some massage with my eyes and realizing one of the lenses fell off the frame. The lenses must be on the pile of the snow.

So, I had no 'double vision' issue; but lost one of the lenses in the snow which will made me handicapped at least a while because I simply cannot work without eye glasses.

Few years ago, I lost keys in the pile of the snow.  The keys were finally recovered by our neighbor after 3 months.  During this time, I even used a metal detector trying to locate my keys.

Now, a metal detector will not work because a lenses is not a metal.

The only way to find the lost lenses was to trace back the steps and be very mindful in watching every 'suspicious'  clue to identify the object.

Well, I found it.  This must be the luckiest thing of the New Year.

Who would be my neighbor?

Mr. Takusa is talking to a wiseman.

“I am about to move in and settle in your town.  What kind of neighbor do I expect?”

“What kind of neighbor do you have now in your current place?”

“Oh, they are nasty, selfish and not very friendly.”

“Well, you would have the same kind of neighbor in your new place.”

Few days later, Mr. Suzuki is talking to the same wiseman.

Mr. Takusa is talking to a wiseman.

“I am about to move in and settle in your town.  What kind of neighbor do I expect?”

“What kind of neighbor do you have now in your current place?”

“Oh, they are most kind, compassionate, and friendly persons”

“Well, you would have the same kind of neighbor in your new place.”

The moral of the story, “All relations are the mirrors of our conscious.”