A Here and Now Retreat in Portland Oregon 24-26 May 08

[supawan]

Registration Application
Here and Now Retreat with Supawan Green
Saturday, May 24 to Monday, May 26th 2008
9 am to 5 pm all Three Days in Downtown Portland, Oregon

Your Name: ___________________________________ _____Male ____Female
Last First
Mailing Address: ______________________________________________________________

City: ______________________ State: ___________________ Zip: _________________

Day Phone: ________________ Evening Phone: __________________

Email Address: _____________________________ Occupation: ___________________________

How did you hear about this retreat? _______________________________________________

Do you currently meditate? ___Yes ___No How long have you practiced? ________________

COST of the retreat: $50.00 if postmarked by May 10th. $65 if after May 10 or paid at the site.

Make checks payable to the Tipitaka Study Center. Mail this form along with your check to:

Tipitaka Study Center, 1505 NE 46th Avenue, Portland OR, 97213

Upon receipt of your registration form and full payment, you will be sent a confirmation and additional information about the retreat. Cancellation Policy: Cancellations received by May 10 will be fully refunded. Cancellations received after May 10th will not be refunded. Spaces at the retreat are filled on a first-come first-served basis. Payment must be made by check. We only accept registration forms sent by US mail. Please DO NOT E-mail registration forms. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Registrations mailed after May 20th may not arrive in time. In this case, bring your registration to the retreat at 8:30 am on May 24th.

Partial attendance at this retreat is not permitted, nor are late arrivals and early departures of a non-emergency nature. (This includes early departures on the last day of the retreat prior to the final clean-up.) It is most respectful of the continuity of the group energy as a whole, for the smooth running of the retreat, and for your own experience of full introduction, completion and closure that all participants plan to attend the full retreat. The registration fee includes tea, coffee, water, morning and afternoon break snacks and lunch on site. Students with special dietary needs should bring their own food. Out of area students need to make their own overnight accomodations. Hotel information is available at <www.travelportland.org>. Retreat location will be 315 SW Fifth Avenue, 4th Floor Portland OR 97204, the SW corner of 5th Ave. and Oak St.

Spend 3 days with renowned Thai author Supawan Green <www.supawangreen.in.th> as she guides you through a series of informal talks leading you to the destination of the ‘Ultimate Truth’. The crucial knowledge that Supawan feels humankind should know is offered to you in this retreat, where you will be able to find your ‘true self’ through meditation techniques taught by the author of such books as ‘Einstein Questions, Buddha Answers’, ‘Do You Know What a Normal Mind is?’ and ‘The User Guide to Life’. As far as I am concerned, Here and Now is universally the most magical, wonderful and simple experience bestowed to all of us by Mother Nature. But without the right tools to Here and Now, it becomes a myth; an unreal, far-fetched, fantasy despite being under our noses! To get to Here and Now, you need to learn a handful of Buddhist concepts and use the mental skills of The Four Foundations of Mindfulness. I have simplified this massive notion to "bringing our mental self back home". Once your 'mental self' reaches your 4th home, that is exactly how you can live your life in Here and Now. The Four Foundations of Mindfulness are widely practiced by tens of millions of people all over the world. To glimpse the magical wonder of Here and Now, everyone must try this practice at least once in their life time. This is your golden chance! For more information, please contact supawanpg@gmail.com. or istimm@pacifier.com.

[supawan]

Please download the file for the Portland registration form here.

PDF
http://uploads.bizhat.com/file/16297
DOC
http://uploads.bizhat.com/file/16298

See you in Portland.
Thank you.
Supawan

[supawan]

On 24/01/2008,
Dear Achan Supawan,

May I introduce myself. I am the friend who was unable to be at the book discussion group on Monday evening, January 21, 2008.

My family and Sally and Ian's family have known each other for around 40 years, and a few years ago my youngest daughter married their youngest son. The couple now have twin boys, age 2 years, so I am a grandmother not only of them, but also my daughter's 24 year old daughter from an earlier marriage. In addition, I have another daughter who has two daughters, one of which has a son, age 6. So in all, I have three grandaughters, two grandsons, and one great grandson. My son and his wife have cats at present--they are uncertain about having children but love our family's young ones.

Our family is ethnically diverse: we have an African-American, a Latina, and an American Indian, as well as persons of European descent. We are also spiritually diverse: we have a Muslim, Siddha Yoga devotees (my son and his wife), Christians of no particular sect, and agnostics.

My son, his wife, and I all share a Tibetan Buddhist foundation, though none of us would call ourselves Buddhists. My son, my daughter with the twin boys, and I also share a background in Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and Yoga. My son is a 6th degree black belt in Chuan Fa and one other Kung Fu school whose name escapes me at the moment. I share many religious occasions with my Muslim daughter and her friends at the mosque. With my Christian daughter, I share much in the way of a basic faith in the teachings of Christ and observe some of the holidays.

So, my participation in the retreat planning is more of sharing years of experience in organizing events and my background as a teacher of English language arts. I live 23 miles from Ian and Sally's house in Portland, in a town called Hillsboro and would like to invite you to take MAX from downtown Portland to my place which is quite close to a MAX station if there is time. Hopefully, I could introduce you to a couple who have an import store in downtown Hillsboro with mostly goods from Thailand (the wife is Thai). There is also a Sri Lankan monastery nearby. If you are interested we could exchange more information about time and details.

It is with pleasure that I anticipate your visit. Thank you for wanting to share your knowledge and experience of the teachings of the Buddha with those of us here in the western section of the United States.

Peace,

D'Averil Ibbotson


Dear Mrs. Ibbotson,

Thank you very much for your email of self introduction. It is extremely colorful and interesting. So, you and Ian and Sally's family are related. Ian and Sally have been so helpful and done marvellous job for this forthcoming retreat. I am very impressed with their work and you must be one of the work force too. Well done and thank you.

I will very much have problem to pronounce your name when I meet you. Thai people are not very good with the r and the l, are they? I am sure you must have noticed. But once you teach me how to pronounce your name, I will learn. I am especially nervous to be around English teacher, one of whom is my youngest son, Colin age 21. He is not an English teacher but he has to learn the RP accent as he is in a drama school in London. He notices my handicap English more than his father does and correct for me. But I don't mind, I like people to correct my English, that's how I learn.

I will be very delight to meet you and go to visit Hillsboro. Ian must have told you of my time in Portland. Please arrange with Ian as my schedule in Portland will be really up to Ian and all the retreat organiser to arrange for me. I don't have a clue of what I can do here apart from the 3 days retreat. It might be a good idea to do it during my 2 free days after the retreat. Barry and I will take the MAX...whatever that is....to see you. Barry has been studying the map of Portland as guided by Ian. I leave the map reading to him as I am useless....ha ha. Men love to hear this, don't they?!

Having seen the website of the bookshop Ian introduced to me, I just realise that Portland have a huge spiritual community. It sounds very uplifting to know that people here are searching for spiritual fulfilment and not material gain. I really hope that my knowledge will be of some use to all of you and the potential participants of the retreat.

I really look forward to meeting your ethnically diverse family. You all seem to be very open-minded with all your diverse believes and live in harmony. I am very impressed. I wish we can do better in the larger scale as far as world community is concerned.

I hope you don't mind I post our correspondence onto my website as I did to others unless requested. That's how I can talk to my other supporters on a more regular basis. It's my way to keep on sharing my knowledge with them. I am sure readers will like your interesting mail.

I look forward to meeting you all in Portland.
Take care,
With metta,
Supawan

[supawan]

On 27/01/2008,
Hello Supawan P.Panawong Green,

Your retreat offer sounds like a very interesting and rewarding experience. Two questions about the 2 - 3 day schedule:

a) I apologize if I seem ignorant but in any of the Teaching classes, is actual meditation taught?

b) If the meditation instruction is my main request and I plan on staying 3 nights, what is the cost?

Thank you for your reply,

Ed




Hi Ed,

My teaching is made up of 2 parts, lecture and meditation. You must first of all understand why you need to meditate (for what ultimately) and how exactly you can meditate to achieve the goal.

My 3 days retreat will cover both nature in a systematic approach. The cost depends which one you want to attend.

Here and Now Oregon will be $60. You find your own accomodation. More info on this webpage http://www.supawangreen.in.th/forum/viewforum.php?f=20

Here and Now Thailand will be around 4000 - 5000 baht. The Thailand retreat haven't yet planned for 2008. But the price is normally inclusive with lodging for 2 nights.

I don't know where you are based. If you are in the UK, please write again, I might do something very informal at home to reduce cost. I don't charge for my knowledge. All these charges are purely cover food, venue, lodging and admin cost.

Hope this helps.
best wishes,
supawan

[supawan]

2008/5/12

I'm interested in attending the retreat that's scheduled for a couple of weeks from now. I should explain that I'm very new to meditation and Buddhism. My question would be that of protocol. What should I wear and what should I bring to the daily sessions? Is there a nearby hotel to be recommended? I realize this is short notice, but this would work out good with the holiday weekend it covers. Do you still have capacity at this late date?


Craig
Ketchikan, Alaska


Dear Craig,

Thank you for your interest in my forthcoming retreat in Portland. Yes, we do have a place for you. The clothing protocol is very simple. You wear whatever that you feel most comfortable. I haven't seen the venue myself as I am now still in the UK and will leave for the US in a couple days. However, I understand that you can choose to sit on the floor or chair, as you wish. We will do some Tai chi qi gong movements. As for closing eyes meditation, we will do some but not a long sitting anyway, so don't worry if you can't sit long.

This course is best for beginners as I will go through the theory first and then guide you into the practice face to face which is much easier than teaching through written words.

So, please don't worry about anything at all apart from coming to Portland save and sound and look forward to the new adventure that might bring you long lasting peace.

Please find out more details in my webpage http://www.supawangreen.in.th/forum/viewtopic.php?t=802 and please also do a bit of pre-retreat home work by reading these two chapters of my new book on this page http://www.supawangreen.in.th/forum/viewtopic.php?t=899
This will help you to make the most of my teaching.

Ian or Sally Timm will write to you and advise the hotel in Portland for you.

Have a save journey to Portland and I look forward to seeing you.

with metta,
supawan

[supawan]

2008/5/13
Dear Supawan,

Thank you for your personal response and valediction of metta. Ian gave the same when replying to my inquiry of him about the retreat. Sally suggested several hotel options and also explained the MAX to use to travel from the airport. They also accepted that I have to leave in the afternoon on the last day to get a flight back to Alaska in order to be able to attend. I currently work for a southeast Alaska tribe that contracts with the federal government to provide health care for its members, and I must be back by Tuesday morning. I was very impressed by Ian and Sally's assistance.

As for sitting long, that will be no problem; I have had that pastime all my life. My father still recollects how many hours at a time I would lay on the dock at the lake in the summer and just watch the minnows swimming and schooling at a very early age. "Watching minnows" became a metaphor for when I became contemplative and seemed to be listening to the lesson of whatever I was looking at.

I am so excited to finally learn from a teacher face to face that it was churning through my sleep all last night. So far I have only the books and audio recordings I have managed to find online after hours of Googling. But even my first guided meditation in the audio recording was a very powerful experience for me. I'm sure I will learn new things that will help me in reviving and expanding on the meditation techniques I seemed to come by naturally as a child, but nearly lost after becoming too absorbed in the business of living as an adult in the corporate world.

Thank you again for your personal reply, and I also say,

with metta, Craig

Dear Craig,

I am glad your journey plan is sorted. Ian and Sally are indeed very helpful and kind. That's how we have this retreat organised.

The last piece of jigsaw puzzle will be revealed on the last day of the retreat. I strongly advise you to have a copy of the DVD when it's finished so that your learning process will be completed.

I hope you don't mind if I put your email on my website. In fact, I had posted your first mail on but leave your last name out. This mail is very interesting.

with metta,
supawan

[supawan]

The following webpage is the feedback from my students in Portland.
http://www.supawangreen.in.th/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4135#4135

supawan

[supawan]

This summary might not make much sense to readers who haven't been through the direct teaching with me as I use lots of props for teaching.

Summary following the retreat in Portland, Oregon 24 – 26 May 2008


My books titled The User guide to Life: The Moral Diet and The Law of Karma will help reduce the number of Jerrys entering your house. If you can follow all these guides without much resistance, your rubbish thoughts will be reduced in big chunks. Less Jerrys means less stress and fewer headaches.


Direct means to a happier life

Cultivate the skill of bringing the mental self back home – knowing your breathing, movements and sensations – this is the direct means to a happier life and the source of your inner strength. The means and the end will come together. Once you are skilful, you will feel good straight away the moment you come home.

Bringing the mental self back home will reduce further the population of Jerrys. This is because every problem comes with Jerry. So, always round up all your troubled thoughts – no matter how big or small – to mere ‘Jerrys’ and then kick Jerry out of your house by knowing your breath, movements and sensations (1st and 2nd home). This makes it easier for you to handle your problems of all natures.

When your mind is in a mess – Jerrys attacking you from left, right and centre – under such a circumstance, don’t try to resolve your problem by forcing yourself to think of a solution. It won’t work. Instead, tell yourself that you are being bullied by Jerrys and then do your very best to bring your mental self back home. Try to maintain your mental balance for as long as you can manage. Then, it is very likely that the answer to your problem will enter your head spontaneously. You may wonder why you didn’t think of that simple answer before.

If you are being bombarded by a huge army of Jerrys and it is impossible to calm your tortured mind down by bringing your mental self back home, you must try to add ‘white Jerrys’ into your head so that a few ‘black Jerrys’ can be forced out of your mental home. To add white Jerry into your head is by chanting loudly either with voice (if you are alone) or in your head. Find a meaningful word that has an effect on you or inspire you, i.e. God, Buddho, Oom, Guan Yin or even the name of your loved one. Also rub your hands together or rubbing your hands/fingers on an object i.e. stones, beads, tip of a pen, while you are doing your chanting. This can reduce the army of Jerrys quite effectively. You must work hard under such frightful circumstance until you feel you are in control over your mind, otherwise, it is more than likely that you will make a wrong decision – if one needs to be made.

The most difficult task is to tackle the delusion and mental hologram created by Jerry. So you must be one step ahead of Jerry: find a way to remind yourself – stickers, posters – and get yourself out of your mental hologram as quickly as possible. Break away from your illusive thoughts by holding on to reality – the breathing, movements and sensations.

A reminder of the following equations:

No thoughts (no Jerrys) = here and now = the innocent perception = the ultimate truth
Thoughts (Jerrys) = past and future = illusion = mental hologram = trouble = problem

With direct experience of bringing the mental self back home, your housework chores will never be the same again as they become a gold mine. These are not menial jobs like most people think. Every movement, breath and sensation are the truth. Live with the truth, lean against the truth and you will be safe, secure and well rooted. This is how you earn your eternal life. You won’t be swung up and down the scale of emotions when being challenged. Leading an eternal life/immortality according to this meaning is very much possible; everyone can afford such a noble life by engaging in this very simple and single practice – bringing the mental self back home!

Your structured meditation practice (mindfulness with breathing) will boost your ability to come home quicker and remain home longer during your daily activities. So engage in structured meditation if you have time. If not, go straight into the practice of coming home daily.


Tips for the 3rd foundation of mindfulness

The 3rd foundation of mindfulness cannot be taught in full detail. You have to go through it yourself and find out all the glorious details on your own. I can only tell you that the calmness/the stillness of your mind is your ‘host mind’ or the nature of your 3rd home whereas Jerrys are your mental guests which can be both good and bad.

To claim your ultimate mental freedom is to go beyond both good and bad thoughts. How you can do this is by following the allegory of sitting tight on the platform and watching the Jerry-train passing the station without jumping onto it. This is precisely how you can be above good and bad Jerrys – the direct path to the ultimate truth/God/Nirvana/eternity. Leading a life beyond good and bad will make you feel at peace or happier.

Practicing the 3rd foundation of mindfulness is very complex without clear guidance. Having gone through the face to face teaching with me, I am sure you will, from now on, do it with clarity. The 3rd foundation is all about constantly watching your thoughts/Jerry while you are awake or conscious. But do it in a way like you are sitting tight on the platform and watching the train of thought passing the station without jumping onto it.

Should you however be dragged on to the train of thought by persistent Jerry, make sure you jump off the train the moment you are aware of it. Otherwise, Jerry will always take you to the terminal - drifting with your thoughts until you are exhausted and stop thinking yourself. Don't worry, your mental self is in energy form, you can't break your leg or neck by jumping off the train of thoughts. It will do you much good instead because if you don’t jump off the train quickly, you will be a punch-bag for Jerrys. During those critical times of riding the Jerry-train (being engulfed by Jerrys), some non-practitioners might be prompted by deluded Jerry to kill themselves due to Tom (mental self) being very weak. Jerrys are extremely clever in creating a stage show in your head and heart. They can make an absolute trivial matter into a huge mountain or make you feel like you are staring into an abyss! Don’t be fooled by nasty and deluded Jerrys. The tip is to make your own stickers/placards and place them around your home and work place to constantly remind yourself.

Jumping off the train of thought shares the same meaning as the balloon popping we did during the retreat. I want you to see how easily you can get rid of your constantly changing and delusional thoughts/Jerrys. Do it in the same way you popped the balloons by instantaneously coming home to your breath, movements and sensations. That is how exactly you can pop the balloons of thoughts – the same as popping the illusion and returning to reality.

I highly recommend that you watch the film called ‘The Matrix’ – make sure it’s the first one. This film will help you to see the nature of delusion clearly. Once you are trapped in the illusive world, you don’t stand a chance of knowing your dark, ignorant predicament. That’s why the Buddha said: ignorance is the most evil nature of all evils.

The only way you can escape from the illusive world is by being told and guided by A REAL KNOWER. In the same way that Leo was guided by Morpheus in The Matrix to the real world, humankind is guided by the Buddha’s wisdom to the real world too, which is represented by the 24 terminologies in my Moral Diet book. (page 26)

Thanks to the Buddha, our first teacher, who shared this ‘Buddhist gospel’ (good news) with the human race. It doesn’t matter what your religious and political beliefs are; each and everyone of us must get to ‘the real world’.

Apart from the balloon-popping, which I believe each and every one of you will always remember, I think the train image (attached at the end of this summary) can give you clear perspective as how to be a 'train spotter'. Give yourself at least ten years (if you have time) to watch your thoughts in this manner.


Vipassana is the only science in Buddhism

This observation of your thoughts is the only scientific way – due to having an observer and the observed – that you will gain rational knowledge and profound wisdom about the illusive nature of your thoughts, memories and feelings (Jerrys).

I often say that the only science in Buddhism is vipassana and definitely not the concept about the rebirth. The term ‘vipassana’ means: inner sight. Through watching your inner sights (made up of thoughts, memories and feelings) by using your mental eye or the 6th sense (the crucial tool), you will consequently see the magnificent artistic work of Jerry – good and bad alike. Only then will you realize everyone is being deluded by Jerry in an enormous way!

Vipassana/the four foundations of mindfulness/bringing the mental self back home is pure science on the mental level. You must begin this scientific process by separating the mind into Tom - the observer and Jerry - the observed. Then, you can use this scientific means – sheer observation – for as long as you need to until your ultimate mission is accomplished – attaining the ultimate goal of life/jail breaking! Only then will you understand your life in relation to this gigantic universe.

The final frontier (and the truth) is not out there in space, it is right here in front of your nose when Jerry plays no part in your head and allows you to have the innocent perception. Remember the meaning of truth I explained on the last day of my teaching. It is everything that you can perceive right now and right here which constantly moves along with your senses/the innocent perception. That is the moment when your life train is moving at the same speed as the God-train – resulting in the stillness – and allows you to reach out for the blessed apple from The Tree of Life.


Have you got ten years to spare for this epic life journey?

Watching the train of thought without jumping onto it will help you to see clearly the illusive Jerry but it takes time. I would say one needs at least five to ten years to be able to see the illusive thoughts clearly and become wiser; if not, it may take a life time depending on one’s perfection (parami).

Most of the non-practitioners do not stand a chance to know this secret about ones’ own destructive and illusive thoughts. Consequently, they are deluded (by Jerry) or are trapped in this epic life-jail for eons. The life prison (samsara) can be compared to a ring road. Humans have to circle around this tedious ring road of life for eons until they are lucky enough to find a real knower who can guide them out of this ageless prison. Only the extremely lucky ones (with high perfection) will bump into a knower of jail-breaking!


The natural progression

The practice of the four foundations of mindfulness (the four homes) has a natural progression of effects. Provided that you always bring your mental self back to your 1st and 2nd home, you will naturally progress to be a ‘train-spotter’ as well as having the ability to distinguish your host mind/still mind from a furnished mind/Jerry-infested mind.

Whenever you practice until you have reached your still mind (3rd home or host mind), keep your mind still and absolutely quiet, then enter the 4th home by having the innocent perception as you were taught during the retreat with me. Keep on doing the above and extend your innocent perception from 1 second to 5 seconds to 20 seconds or as long as you can manage or until the next thought/Jerry enters your mind. You don’t need to maintain the innocent perception all the time as we need to use thoughts from time to time. The skilful practitioner can enter the 4th home or having the innocent perception quite instantaneously – wherever and whenever.

However, the random innocent perceptions are the crucial key moments allowing you to have direct experience with the ultimate truth, God, the tree of life or Nirvana. The more often you have direct contact with the ultimate truth, the wiser you will become and probably the quicker you will leave this life-prison too.

Use your thoughts/Jerry if you must in the way that you leave home to work and run errands, but when you finish, always come home – come back to the truth/kingdom of God. By doing this, you won’t get lost in your mental jungles and will always feel safe.

If you can do all the above, you will progress steadily and naturally. One day in the future, hopefully in this life time, the powerful mental magnetic field between Tom and Jerry will be totally destroyed and disconnected. That is the same as jail breaking and when you will have a taste of real freedom.

Patience is another crucial tool that can kill Jerry quite effectively!

All about the only ONE truth


During the retreat, if you had graded yourself either one, two or three in the experience of the “innocent perception”, it meant that you had glimpses of the ultimate truth in nature. That experience is the vital source of your true wisdom from now on. Provided that you can connect to this experience on a regular basis, you will profoundly understand life and its meaning.

There is only ONE ultimate truth. This final entity is however called by different names and I gave 24 synonyms in my Moral Diet book (page 26) so that the words can accommodate people of all beliefs.

The ultimate knowledge contains all the supreme qualities of being absolute, ultimate, wholesome, complete yet simple, ordinary and normal. Please don’t overlook it as it is extremely simple and right in front of your nose. Simplicity and ordinariness become difficult matters for intellectuals because they get used to the complexity caused by Jerrys.

Intellectual knowledge has the nature of activating the human mind to constantly think without offering the ultimate goal as why you need to use your thoughts in this way and no means as how to stop thinking. The absence of these two factors make intellectual knowledge become a double-edge sword which comes back to destroy humanity in a big way too. It’s high time the world community such as the UN recognised this wisdom.

Please don’t even think about colonising Mars or other planets for the survival of the human race. Don’t be easily fooled by scientists only because they claim to be experts. Such a pointless grand idea is nothing more than the artistic work of Jerry! All fields of intellectual knowledge happen within the dark walls of ‘life’s prison’. What good is it if humans still take their evil ignorance about ‘the real world’ with them to Mars? Knowing Jerry, I have no shred of doubt that we will end up fighting with the Martians!

This is not your first life and is hardly your last life. So long as you haven’t found ‘the real world’, you will have to come back to earth until you find someone who can guide you to it. Your mental self/true self has been travelling around this life prison/samsara for eons. The most you can do is to live in peace and to die in peace, but while you are still living, use this opportunity to quickly grab the wisdom that will help you to reach ‘the real world’. You can read more about this huge subject in The User Guide to life: The Law of Karma.

Self endorsement

No one can endorse the ultimate experience for you but yourself. By often going into your 4th home or the innocent perception, you will be able to see for yourself all the absolute qualities about the ultimate reality I mentioned earlier. When you come out of the ultimate experience, you can check on your experience by referring to the Buddha’s teaching to Bahiya:

when you see, just see; when you hear, just hear; when you smell, just smell; when you taste, just taste; when you feel a touch, just feel; when you can do all these, you are at the gateway to Nirvana/truth. Samyutta Nikaya V, III, 15.

Then retrieve your innocent perceptions again and see for yourself whether you are doing just that or not. Your ultimate experience is the extra that you have gained in learning directly from me.

The four foundations of mindfulness are the natural progression and a complete cycle. The innocent perception is your 4th home which once you reach, it engulfs the other three homes – making one big home. By perceiving your movements, breathing and sensations as they are, you have already known the truth or put your life in the hand of God – with the effect of you feeling happier.

Your religious books are only the means (a boat) bringing you to the ultimate truth/island. Once you have experienced the truth/the innocent perception, your reading consumption will gradually and naturally be reduced. Reading too many religious books may create more doubt-type Jerrys and the habit of analysing, both of which can prevent you from directly experiencing the truth. You should become more selective as far as religious/Buddhist books are concerned. Between written words about the truth and the actual experience of the truth there is no comparison. The books about an author’s personal experience in walking the Buddha’s path until finding the truth may inspire you better than the pure scholastic texts.


Formula for World Peace

Bringing the mental self back home can cause an individual to lead a peaceful and happier life. If this skill can be practiced by most individuals in the world, we then have a very simple formula for achieving World Peace.

If A represents World Peace, the formula is A = X+Y+Z
X = inner peace in all women results from bringing the mental self back home.
Y = inner peace in all men results from bringing the mental self back home.
Z = morality in all women and men results from bringing the mental self back home.


Supawan’s motto

Live in peace and die in peace by always bringing your mental self back home!


I hope this summary helps and inspires you to keep up with the practice.
Please also help me to spread this piece of ‘good news’ – jail breaking – to people in whichever way you can.

It was a pure joy in spending the May Memorial holidays sharing my knowledge with you all in Portland – such a beautiful green city. May you all be blessed with good progress in your practice, excellent health and a very peaceful life.

With metta,
Supawan Green
July 2 2008

[supawan]

The magic of Tai chi qi gong exercise


By just moving slowly and breathing deeply through this unique and serene exercise, the following magical results will happen.

Physical gain

Deep breathing will blast any congested energy in your body and activate good energy/blood circulation. Good energy/blood means good health. Tai chi qi gong has been known as the means to the prevention of all illnesses and enhancement of longevity.

Deep breathing is about harnessing the positive chi (oxygen in simple term) in your field of energy or ‘dan tien’ (existing two inches below your navel); this allows the good energy to seep through more areas of your body. Good energy/oxygen means good blood and good health accordingly. Deep breathing is therefore a form of therapy as it makes you feel physically good right away due to the higher dose of oxygen you harness in your body.

Mental gain

Shallow breathing causes an overactive brain and invites unnecessary mental guests/Jerrys into your head resulting in stress, worries, anxiety all the way up to depression, breakdown and suicide, whereas deep breathing creates the high level of self awareness which leads your mental self to return to your mental home – resulting in you feeling happier.

That’s why panic-attacked patients are always reminded to breathe deeply so that they can regain self-control. The significant reason behind this ‘breathing therapy’ apart from the additional oxygen is the higher level of self awareness due to taking a deep breath. As a result, the mental self/Tom of the panic-stricken patient, which previously was in the nature of a ‘lost soul’, is being pushed back to his/her 1st home/breathing. Once the true self is being led home through deep breathing, it means Jerry is being kicked out of the patient’s head too – resulting in the patient feeling safe, secure, balanced and well rooted. These are the reasons why panic-attacked patients can feel better in such a short time – while taking a few deep breaths – and subsequently have the ability to regain control over their troubled minds. So long as patients of this nature can regularly control their breathing – by doing Tai chi qi gong – their panic-attack symptoms may well disappear altogether.

I don’t think that the medical professions are aware of this extraordinary fact. Should they know this profound hidden wisdom, medical science will have a wonderful alternative for treating mental patients. This easy solution (deep breathing through doing Tai chi) will drastically reduce the use of anti-depression drugs which tend to have a placebo effect anyway – according to experts at Hull University, UK. The extract below is from the BBC website on the 27th February 2008

“New generation anti-depressants including Prozac and Seroxat only help a small group of the most severely depressed, according to a study carried out by the University of Hull.

Many individuals believe the drugs do work for them, but researchers claim that this could be a placebo effect - people feel better simply because they are taking a medication which they think will help them.

Prescriptions for anti-depressants hit a record high of more than 31 million in England in 2006. The government has promised more investment in talking therapies, which ministers see as a better alternative to drugs.”

Your self-built vicious-circle

An overactive brain causes rough and rapid physical movements and actions which in return invite more Jerrys into your head. More Jerrys means more stress, worries, anxiety and all the nasty trimmings. A vicious circle is soon formed from the point of quick and shallow breathing. It looks like this:

Quick and shallow breathing ---> more Jerrys ---> overactive brain ---> stress, worries ---> rough and rapid physical movements ---> quick and shallow breathing ---> more Jerrys ---> overactive brain --->

This vicious circle will trigger you to lose control over your mind. Without being rectified, your mind, which is made up of Tom and Jerry, will entangled itself and rapidly increase its twists (portrayed by a rubber band in the retreat). The more twists your mind has, the quicker and easier it can break. Consequently, your mind will change its nature to something similar to a runaway train which can crash and break at any moment. I am sure all adults know how frightening this predicament is. Depression, mental breakdown, madness and suicide are the obvious symptoms of the crashing of the individuals’ runaway train due to having too many twists between Tom and Jerry. Such is the nature of your true self being bullied or rather fiercely attacked by a whole army of Jerrys.


Creating a happy cycle through Tai chi qi gong

To break up this vicious cycle, you must begin with slowing yourself right down but it is easier said than done, isn’t it? While your mind is running at 100 miles per hour, how on earth can you slow yourself down? The Eastern wisdom has just the right answer for you.

This is when Tai chi qi gong can become very handy. This ancient unique exercise is the exact ‘brake’ you can slam on so that your mental runaway train can be slowed down. By using the discipline of a strict regime of daily exercise of Tai chi qi gong – breathing deeply and moving slowly – your mental-train will automatically and gradually slow itself down to the level that you can have good control over.

Slow and serene movements create a less active brain. This eastern exercise will slow down the thoughts entering your mind – delaying the arrival of your visiting mental guests. The mental space in between Jerrys gives you the required dose of peace, quiet and harmony that everyone yearns for. This is the key factor for a happier life.

By doing Tai chi qi gong, the nasty vicious cycle will be turned into a happy cycle instead. It looks like this:

Breathe deeply and move slowly (doing Tai chi) ---> feeling physically good--> less active brain ---> less Jerry ---> peace, quiet, happier ---> having good control in body and mind ---> wanting to do more Tai chi ---> feeling physically good….



A positive mental habit, a crucial factor for jail-breaking!

In breathing deeply and moving slowly via Tai chi exercise, you gradually build a new routine of the positive mental habit of training your mental self to be home. This will enable you to be more aware of your daily activities of sitting, walking, bending, stretching, touching and so on – returning to the 1st and 2nd homes/the nature of the truth. This positive mental habit is the crucial factor for your individual jail-breaking.

Provided that you keep up with your Tai chi qi gong exercise on a regular basis, this positive mental habit will grow and become the best ever investment and treasure from which you can reap endless fruits. Your time of being a ‘lost soul’ wandering in your mental labyrinth like a runaway train will become the past that you won’t miss at all.

No matter what you do and where you are, you can always bring your mental self back home by turning the rubbish into gold. The usual daily activities that most people view as menial mundane jobs are actually your gold mine. Please do them contentedly and mindfully and you will know what I mean by turning rubbish into gold.

Don’t wait till tomorrow or after you get home or until you can join the next retreat. Tomorrow never arrives! You don’t know what is around the corner and you can die any time. So, quickly move forward on your epic journey towards the jail exit by always coming home through your daily mundane activities.


World Peace via Tai chi qi gong

If Tai chi qi gong becomes a compulsory exercise in schools, colleges, universities and workplaces all over the world, World Peace can easily be achieved through the means of Tai chi qi gong. As long as all individuals are guided to breathe deeply and move slowly, their mental selves (Tom) will naturally be pushed back to their 1st and 2nd homes. Jerry will always be kept under control and resulting in peace and quiet in the minds of all men and women – reaching their 3rd and 4th home.

If A represents World Peace, the formula is A = X+Y+Z

X = inner peace in all women results from doing Tai chi qi gong.
Y = inner peace in all men results from doing Tai chi qi gong.
Z = morality in all women and men results from doing Tai chi qi gong.

This method for World Peace is realistic, pragmatic and much easier than the method used by many world politicians which often involve killing people for peace – a very strange way of thinking! The question is how loud I have to shout before the world community hears my voice. Your guess is as good as mine!


Making your own judgment!

All I said above are the real secrets of living a peaceful and happier life which, I hope you can see, is logical, practical and not far-fetched at all. Please don’t be fooled by the so-called hidden secrets of whatever nature because those secrets cannot help you to find real peace and happiness. To the contrary, an external search will initiate more Jerrys in your head especially when it is about the secret of creating more wealth.

Words of real wisdom are not necessarily recognized and made a best-selling book as there are more ignorant people in the world than wise people. The Buddha compares the number of wise people to the horns of a cow whereas unwise people to the number of hairs of a cow. Finally, only you and you alone can make your own decisions. My duty is merely to deliver this secret of living to you as best as I can.


I hope this brief summary about the magic of Tai chi qi gong helps and motivates you to do more exercise. My Thai staff will do their very best to rectify the use of the Tai chi DVD so that it can be used here in the US.


May you all be blessed with health, patience, inner peace and abundant wisdom.


Supawan Green
July 9, 2008