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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
July 04
In order to maintain mental stability, we always need to “screen out” what is coming into our minds through the five doors of contact--eyes, ears, nose, tongue and physical contact. If we indiscriminately pay attention to all negative things we have heard or seen, we will definitely die of despair and agony because we know those things are only partially true and most of them are fabricated. However, as people usually say negative things when they open up their mouth, we should carefully choose what to see or hear; otherwise, we will never find any single day of peace. Worse, being too much concerned or feeling hurt about what other people say unfairly about us implies we have already been enslaved by those criticisms and can never find peace of mind. Therefore, from now on we will choose to "focus" only on what is productive and "forget" all kinds of negativity we have been exposed to. We will no longer allow anyone to crush our minds. Do you like this technique of mind cultivation? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
July 03
The Buddha is absolutely right in warning us to choose the kind of people we want to be associated with as the thoughts, emotions and feelings of other people can easily affect the state of our minds. People in general do not change. Their world outlook has been conditioned and deepened for so many years since their birth that it is extremely difficult to change their behavior. How many people who...m you try to preach and have followed your advice are there? Very, very few simply because people do not change. Some may even scold you or say nasty things about you when whatever you try to say afflicts their interests. Quite often, it is difficult to find the "white force" or people who act according to moral conscience. Nowadays, from my observation ninety percent of people fall under the spell of "dark force" or insatiable greed, hatred and wrong views. These people are rarely satisfied with what they have and are always jealous of and compare themselves with others. They constantly look for materialistic acquisition and new sexual partners. They can easily lose their temper when the world does not turn out to be the way they expect to see. Last, they always entertain wrong views. They cannot tolerate seeing things "change" not in their interests. They have deep and strong attachment in what they believe and try so hard to control the world. For these reasons, if you want to be peaceful and enjoy every single moment in your life, try to avoid the "dark force" because they don't change and they can hurt you without regret or try to control you in their grip. We definitely cannot live under their control. We must protect and, in some cases, unleash ourselves from their control and domination. Do you agree with my argument and why? (Please don't assume I have a problem in working out the relationship with anyone. That's purely your speculation! This is a moral and philosophical discussion.) |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 28
Humility is the key to success and happiness. Whenever we are humble, people we come into contact with will definitely like us. The way we speak and carry out ourselves will impress other people instantaneously. We speak softly, act nicely, listen more attentively and have a natural smiling face. Who else will not like such kind of person? On the contrary, when we are arrogant, we will not restrain ourselves in what we are speaking. We will challenge other people right on the spot with the arrogant tone of voice and a contemptuous manner. We raise the voice and eyebrows, shrug the shoulders and look contemptuously at another person. We speak with a curt voice and feel so bored to continue the conversation. These kinds of manners and the words we say will surely ignite anger and frustration in the eye of another party. To wrap up, we should stop being arrogant and stop thinking we are superior to others in terms of being older, wealthier, more experienced, more educated, more good-looking, more cultivated, and more intelligent etc. Without thinking in dualism we will show no traits of arrogance in our expressions. People will love us and the whole world will definitely open and lead us to success and prosperity. Do you agree with my view point? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 26
According to Aristotle, you can start thinking only when you have memory. This fact is universally proven and practically useful for those who aspire to acquire new skills. Without knowledge of the fundamental principles in a given field, whatever you express either in writing or speaking is considered merely speculation. It can never reflect the present reality or become accepted by any knowledgeable people. For example, if you want to speak or write in English, you definitely need to have a keen memory on all the essential grammatical rules so that all the sentences you make are understood immediately by English speaking people without any interpretation. Besides, you have to remember high-power vocabulary to express your thought from your mother tongue to correct English. Last, collocations and idiomatic expressions play a very important role in combining vocabulary and grammatical rules all together in grammatically correct and comprehensible English sentences. This language example confirms the belief that you need to have good keen memory of basic but necessary information first before you can think or express yourself critically. Memory of the essential fundamentals is the prerequisite for learning a new skill. Do you agree or disagree with this observation and why? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 22
If you want to be mentally strong and become fearless, you should learn to "train" yourself to accept all realities about you. You begin by accepting what kind of person you are dump or bright, crooked or moral, stingy or generous, egocentric or broad minded, ugly or beautiful, short or tall, dark or white, dirty or clean, rude or polite, poor or rich, vulgary or sophisticated, uncertain or confident etc. Once different aspects of your true character, both physically and mentally, are spelled out, you have to learn to embrace them wholeheartedly. Don't fool yourself that these are not true. The second step is to ask what you can do to improve certain qualities about yourself, such as becoming more intelligent, more hard working, more generous, more open minded or more outspoken etc. The question is whether you want to improve yourself or not. If yes, what action should you take to remedy all those weaknesses? Last, you should bear in mind that those who neither accept who they are nor make any improvement in their lives are not different from trees that never grow, waiting until all the leaves fall down, becoming withered away and dying in the end. So each day we are still alive, we should try to perfect ourselves by starting to correct all our pitfalHenson that when the last day of our lives approach, we will look back with tears in the eyes and with pride in the heart that we have done our best as fully-developed human beings. We will never feel regretful of living in this world. It would be the most fascinating moment to see the overall picture of ourselves, especially all the achievements we have made. That's for me the essence of living a full life. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 21
Control your destiny, or someone else will. This sentence always reminds me of taking full responsibility for my life rather than following someone's advice and throw responsibility on him when things do not turn out to be the way I want. Worse and more often, other people such as our parents or siblings really enjoy imposing their views on us as if they had all the right answers to the problems i...n our lives. Yet, we are still unhappy because what they tell us to do does not really reflect our needs and wants. If not fully aware, we choose to do what others say and end up with frustration or boredom. Tragically, it is too late to make corrections or we may be too old and too exhausted to do something else. Therefore, from now on, it is time for us to ask ourselves seriously whether we are content to live our lives in the way that others impose their world view on us. Or should we wake up from trance and walk by yourselves until we reach our long-sought destination? I would like to wrap up by saying that we should follow what the Buddha preaches we all should depend on ourselves, not on others, to lead our lives. Do you agree or disagree with this notion and why?
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 19
We have been taught since we were young to be "mindful," but there are few who really understand what it is and how to develop it. Mindfulness is the mind's ability to feel conscious of what is going on in the mind and the body. Regarding the mind, we know what we are thinking about, how we feel as the result of that thinking and how to put an end to mental bondage or grievances with the use of specific Dharma. As for the body, we have to be conscious of our body movements and gestures such as sitting, walking, standing or lying. We definitely have to come to understand what "body consciousness" is or how it looks like. Nevertheless, in practice we cannot be mindful all the time. Probably in one day we are truly mindful less than half an hour. What happens to us for the whole day? The answer is we are mindless because we keep thinking about myriad things and cannot put a stop to our thinking. We end up each day with frustration, agony, hatred and confusion simply because we do not know clearly what we are thinking about moment by moment. We think we can, but in fact we cannot. As a result, we keep doing most of the time unprofitable things and sometimes even destructive stuff. We have no control of our life. The remaining energy left is channeled to fixing problems we have created. For these reasons, mindfulness is highly regarded as the only instrument that can put down grievances and help channel our energy to constructive and desirable purposes. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 13
'Everything happens for a certain cause' is the motto I always cherish. It teaches me to think very carefully about what the nature is trying to teach me or, specifically, what a new skill I should learn in order to survive and excel. Indeed, I am not a kind of sadistic guy who is preoccupied with unending problems and negativity. However, in my view each time we encounter a problem and can solve ...it, we become stronger and wiser. The question is how to handle a problem effectively and figure out the best solution. Interestingly, when a problem arises. it is always something new or never thought of before. Rarely are we troubled with the same kind of problems, such as being provoked to listen to harsh and abusive language, being cut through in the line while we are waiting or being gossiped for nonsense stuff. Therefore, we should never and ever get panic or discouraged when we face pressing problems. Tell ourselves that the nature is trying to help us develop ourselves to perfection. Besides, there is no end to problems in life as long as we are still alive. So, under no circumstance should we live in worry or anxiety at all. The most important thing to do is not to create unnecessary problems ourselves in order to save enough energy to handle other new problems arising from the external condition. Ask ourselves what the nature is trying to teach us after we have gone through each problem. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 13
In order to get rid of a bad habit of doing something, we need to take these four steps. First, we have to perceive irreparable danger as the result of that given habit. For example, to eliminate a habit of gossiping we have to perceive the immediate of danger of anger and revenge coming from the person who happens to be our verbal target. Once having heard our verbal abuse, he or she will definit...ely retaliate against us by whatever means available. Is it worth enjoying saying a couple of words and later suffering from retaliation? Second, try to find something new to do in place of that habit. In this case, we should change the way we speak. Instead of spending time gossiping or talking discursively, we should make use of our time more productively, like preparing for studying abroad, having a side-line job to increase revenue or increasing knowledge in our job responsibilities by reading and researching. Third, step back and see all the remarkable things happening to us after we have decided to do some more profitable in place of an old bad habit. Cherish that moment of happiness so that we are more motivated to keep doing that new activity. Last, make your new activity a habit of your life in order to cement it. Good life needs reflection. It does not occur automatically, but definitely comes from self introspection and the passionate desire for excellence. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 11
In my life, I rarely believe in my own thinking because 99% of the time it is overclouded by personal prejudices. Conscious or unconscious thinking always leads to an egoistic and judgmental attitude of knowing what is right or wrong, good or bad, and appropriate or inappropriate. In short, in thinking there is a tendency toward self righteousness and the urge to control the world. Under the influ...ence of thinking, I claim to be the only person in the world who knows all the answers to solving paradoxical problems. Then, what do I believe in if I cannot rely on my own thinking? I trust "my feeling", but surely not emotions, as the navigator to help me go through twists and turns in my life. Feeling can manifests itself only when I am serene, compassionate and unattached. For more than ten thousand times of my personal experiments and observation, feeling never lies and can never be wrong as long as I can create the necessary conditions in my mind for it to emerge, such as serenity, compassion and non-attachment. At the same time, body consciousness at all time is a prerequisite for feeling to emerge. I think life is short and we cannot afford to make any more mistakes, take wrong routes or waste time trying to fix problems. Feeling can definitely lead us to a happy and content life. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
June 11
Life is meaningless if we are never happy at each moment of the day. We should stop thinking and worrying about what we are supposed to do for today, and start focusing on watching the state of our own mind whether we are happy, unhappy or equanimous. Once we start looking into the mind continuously moment by moment, we will miraculously experience the state of mental tranquility. It is only within these few moments of mental tranquility that the mind can really repose because it does not fall under the spell of incessant thinking clouded by worry and anxiety or past grievances. Once we get used to experiencing this kind of mental tranquility, our thinking will become sharper and keener. We will be able to prioritize and rationalize daily activities which will help us not only to survive, but also to fulfill our life objectives. Besides, mental tranquility can help reduce the level and intensity of greed, hatred and delusion, all of which can exercise power over us in the form of discursive thinking. Accordingly, we will feel less mentally and physically exhausted and can start living a real life, the life we choose to lead, not the life imposed on us by others. Happiness from within will shine out automatically and then we will appreciate the feeling of "being alive" as we can cherish each moment of happiness. Make it a part of our habit all day and night, nonstop, and then the miracle will happen to you. Good luck and take action now. I will be very pleased to share your spiritual experiment. Please let us know what happens to your mind and whether you can experience a new form of happiness at all. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Sometimes we have to learn to forget all the miserable things that happened to us. For me, it is the best way to make sure we will not suffer from them twice. From my observation, I always feel good every time I forgive those who abused me verbally or physically, with intention or no intention. It is a superb feeling of forgiving and quite an easy thing to do by simply forgetting the whole episodeand never entertaining any thought on it at all. In retrospect, I was also part of the problem because I believed in other people's word without questioning their true intention and got betrayed as a consequence. From that time on, I have grown much more mature and have a better understanding of life. I no longer believe anyone, but am always open to different ideas and make my own judgment. I am ready to bear all responsibility for whatever may happen as the result of my decision. For this reason, I thank those unfavorable incidents to be my teacher who teaches me to grow mentally and spiritually. Learning to forgive and forget is the essential part of good life as it can root out hatred and revenge and push us to go on with our lives. Do you like my perspective on this aspect of life?
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
There are three things my mother always teaches me and I shall never forget. First, never feel regretful for what you should have done in the past. "Think straight, don't be greedy and do what you feel" is what I usually hear from her. Second, be satisfied with what you have. She often cautions me, "Don't compare yourself with others. If you have little money, spend less and then you will never feel poor or jealous of other people." Last, never feel fearful of making mistakes as long as you think carefully and do not cause anyone trouble. She warns me that if I always feel anxious and fearful of making mistakes, I will not go very far because I will not take any action. "If you fall down, just wake up and keep walking. This is it. Nothing special". For me, what is important is how to put her preaching into practice. Do you like her preaching?
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
I think talking too much and all the time significantly drains a lot of our energy. Everyone knows we should avoid this behavior, but we can't. Can anyone tell me why people talk all the time and is there any way we can extricate ourselves from this cycle? In other words, how can we talk less and get more productive work done? Thanks in advance. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
"Real gold fears no fire" is a teaching I received from my mother since I was young. It gives me mental strength, especially during the time when I am not certain of myself whether I am doing the right thing. According to my mom, if whatever I do is based on ethics and morality, I do not have to care whether other people would endorse or approve my behavior or not. The question is whether what I a...m doing is really morally right and I am sure I do not use my egocentric judgment to justify my behavior. Moreover, although I may be right, she adds, I should not be arrogant; otherwise, other people will hate and obstruct me in whatever endeavor I turn to. If I can practice this, the world world will open up for me. Do you like this philosophical outlook? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Whatever strengths you have always come with soft spots that can shatter your life if you cannot handle them well. You may have a good look, a charming personality and emotional sensitivity that draw other people to your attention. However, these special blessings can cause you mental distress and chronic pain if your lover cheats on you. You will become too emotionally sensitive and deeply wounded to go on with your life. Or, you may be a person of high concentration and discipline, always getting work done and assume leadership. However, your workaholic mentality and over dedication to work can cause you mental distress and physical diseases, like arthritis, stomach ulcer, migraine or a heart attack. You may be a deluded-type person rarely having problems with others, but you may not have any initiatives and creativity that are essential to pave a way for your work success. On the opposite, you may be very articulate, always having opinions about everything. Your verbal articulation ability may turn into a nightmare if you cannot restrain yourself from criticizing people, especially your boss and those in influential positions. Besides, your talkativeness may use too much of your body energy that you consequently suffer from shortage of breath, migraine, allergy and arthritis due to the lack of adequate oxygen circulating throughout your body. You may be a man of strong faith in your religious belief or attachment to certain figures and never allow anyone to talk about them in a negative way. However, do you realize that you rarely use your intellect to approach the world and only live according to someone's guidance? Last, you may be so intelligent that you obtained an advanced degree, an excellent GPA and admission to distinguished academic institutions, but you are not successful in your life. You just never apply what you know or memorize to design the course of your own life. These six examples are intended to remind all of us that there are always two sides of the same coin. We should always find the pros and the cons in whatever we have or are experiencing. Good luck and take care. Go on with your life with confidence and direction. I am always here to support you no matter where you are and thanks for catching up with this Facebook. I LOVE YOU ALL! |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
If you could stop believing in your thoughts, you would be the master of your soul and destiny. Unprofitable thoughts always pop up here and there causing us a lot of concern and anxiety. Within a second we are worried about unfinished work or some mistakes we have made. We are anxious to wait for someone or something to happen. We keep guessing about what will happen next with no peace in mind. If we believe in these discursive thoughts, our mind will be enslaved forever and we will never experience peace and serenity. On the contrary, we should practice a skill of not believing in any discursive thoughts that pop up without restraint. Then, we intentionally create a new set of thoughts to solve problems, define short and long term objectives in life or choose what to think or to discard. We should harness our thoughts and use them as "servants", not our masters. We should thank the nature to give us a servant since we were born. Believe me this servant is very shrewd, adaptive and capable. Tell him to do what we wish and our life would be much easier. In sum, never follow our servant's advice, but give him instructions. Let him serve us not vice versa. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Whenever I begin to suffer mentally for whatever reasons, I can feel the sluggishness and discomfort of my body. Sometimes, such ill bodily feelings are accompanied by shortage of breath. Within that moment I always ask myself what is wrong with me. Most of the time, it is a feeling of self-hatred that I have so many things to do, but they still remain unfinished. Worse, new responsibilities keep popping up so much that I almost have no time to relax. What is going on with my life? Am I going to lead such a lifestyle for the rest of my life, enduring worry and anxiety? Again within that moment, I always remind myself that through all these years I can still survive and achieve so many things. Why do I have to bother with these unfinished tasks? As long as I finish what matters most in my life, I can leave the rest to the destiny. There is no point of getting worry. Then I feel more relieved and refreshed ready to go on with my daily routine. I often recite this maxim whenever I feel down in order to boost my mindfulness. |
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I have an idea to create a more integrated community of hope and optimism. I would profoundly appreciate anyone who shares a fantastic story that happens to him or her on the day when it is posted on this Facebook. Please let us share your good feeling and it is indeed the best way of practicing writing. The more you write, the easier it will be for you to express your thinking in writing. If you observe people making comments here, they gradually develop the ability to explain their thoughts paragraphs ater paragraphs. It is so encouraging to see them feel more confident with thought expression in English. Please share your happy story with us.
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 Naphat Chatchavalkosol
This is a very good idea. Now I need to think about at least one good incident in my daily life and share with you guys. Ah, I got one. I have come to terms with the "Think for yourself" essence you may have wanted to convey in your previous post. I have felt so happy :D
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 Bendicool Wisawapipat
I would like to share my prospect to all of you in this community and I wish it could be beneficial. I have had a possibility of taking TOEFL course at Fast English. After obtained the first session of overview grammar, I was really grateful to Dr. Boonchai for giving me a fruitful lecture as well as systemically logical manner of thinking for remembering. When I got back to my apartment I hastily went over the TOEFL book and found a worth statement “Outputs never ever exceed inputs”. Although, this is a simple statement, it is so valuable to me. I concurrently recognized myself that I need to dedicate myself to practicing writing so as to be keen on writing. Therefore, if you endeavor to be smart in your areas of interests; keep rehearsing in those areas is the best explanation.
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 Panada Sawung-arom
According to Dr.Boonchai advice, I always listen to the WTOP radio program or see a movie every day at least two hours. Believe it or not, I can not only understand news or movies more clearly, but also improve my pronunciation. As I have been taking conversation iBT course, today after finishing class my class mate tells me that I speak very clearly compare in the past. Wow!! I feel very good and I have more encouragement to keep practicing my English skills.
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 Pattapatpon Koysombatolan
I feel very glad that many people start to share their valuable ideas and personal experiences incessantly. I have really learnt a lot from reading their posts especially yours.
However, today I would like to share my activities I have done this week and more importantly what beneficials I have gained from them.
First, I swim almost everyday. Swimming as you always say in class helps me not only boost the level of my concentration but also makes it easier for me to feel my body consciousness. To illustrate, under water, I have to deal with many obstacles such as the turbulence of the water, my own thinking process and my tiredness after swimming for a few minutes. These difficulties teach me that I have to be patient in order to achieve any thing in life. Moreover, I sense that I can cling myself easier and faster to every movement of my body after swimming each time compared to the past. Believe it or not, after strenuous 5 days of swimming, I feel more peaceful toward any given circumstances without making a lot of effort and incredibly start to be a better listener and seem to smile more often to people coming in contact with me (I am still o.k.@-@)
Second, I daily practice my walking meditation. This requires some effort to finish each time but provides me with wonderful end-results. It is a good way for me to slow down my thinking since I have to focus on my feet all the time in order not to entertain my thoughts. Similar to swimming, walking meditation can help exercise my patience through the whole practice. Besides, I am able to see more clearly almost all my thinking haunting me unstoppably while walking slowly in each step. At this point, I learn to understand that even my thoughts are not real, they rise, stay and fall like our body which one day will have to be deprived of us in the end. You are right that nothing stays the same, NOTHING..
Third, I try to find the right Dhamma suitable for my temperament and I think I have found something that makes me feel more relaxed, more moral and more compassionate. I choose the Rise, Stay and Fall rule of all things in the world. Very often, when my mind is out of track and starts to invite negative thoughts to it, I think about uncertainties in life such as my own coming death and the lost of my beloved ones. Once I feel normal without any negativity in mind, I try to focus on something else constructive for me so as not to feel sluggish because of the also temporary mind-prevailing dhamma I have just mentioned. After practicing it for a while, I find that my ego, selfishness, anger and jealousy are substantially subsided. Additionally, I want to do good things, speak good words and think positively to people naturally.
All in all, I am not trying to say that I am a 100% perfect person who can reach the nirvana in a few days. On the contrary, I am very positive to say that I feel much better physically, mentally and spiritually. At least I know that I am walking on the right track and will try harder to be a better and more moral person as I know deeply that everything I have done is not merely for myself but also for making this world a better place like what aj Boonchai has been doing for us all tirelessly. That is all my feeling to share to all of you.
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
If the mind is not with the body, it will attach itself to thinking. This is the mechanics of the working of the mind. Period. Without this knowledge we will keep thinking discursively and are gradually developing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To be with the body, the mind must feel these things all the time the energy and the heat circulating throughout the body, the breath coming in and ...out, physical movement in all activities, the four postures of sitting, standing, walking and sleeping and particularly the things we see, hear, smell, taste and touch. It is easy to mention these places of the body where the mind can reside in, but it is extremely difficult to practice it. Therefore, only those who have strong determination to cultivate the mind power will adopt these practices, including people who have suffered painfully from discursive thoughts and are on the brink of nervous breakdown or deep depression. Last, please bear in mind that there is nothing wrong with you in the past to engage in OCD simply because you did not understand the mechanics of the mind. Forgive yourself and start a new life. I hope that once you put this advice into practice, you will become a new person with greater mindfulness, strong concentration and intuitive wisdom knowing what is right or wrong, good or bad and choosing the best things to do in each situation. Bless you!
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Is there anyone who can share with us the techniques of remembering all the grammatical rules as quickly and as precisely as possible? I will appreciate it if you speak from your real practical experience, not from your "thinking".
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 Rummy Tanaphat
I wrote down every single thing you taught, said it out loud, recorded it on tape, and listened to it all the time.
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 Ning Chonlada
For me, the first important thing is I keep telling myself that "I MUST remember it!" Without commitment, you might find it hard to put a lot of time, energy, and efforts to remember all of them. Then, just memorize, memorize, and memorize... There is nothing better than that, but I memorize them by speaking out loud, and using inner voice. This is because when speaking and writing in English, I definitely use either voice or inner voice to deliver messages. Using voices for memorizing and communicating is back-and-forth reinforcements. Another technique is that I often create a story or easily-remembered sentence to represent a grammatical rule. I adopt this technique from Ajarn Boonchai. For instance, when you teach about If-causes, you will always give a sentence "If I were a king, I would help the poor" to represent one of the If rules. At the beginning, however, I did not memorize all of the 25 grammatical rules. I have begun with simple and often-used grammars because I think that it may be meaningless if I memorize and remember grammars I have no chance to use. Besides, beginning with often-used grammars also makes me encouraged because I feel that I have memorized, and I use it. Finally, the best technique worked for me is I spend a short period of time memorizing the grammars, but very often and quickly. For example, I spend only 10-15 minutes scanning and memorizing the grammars very fast, but I do this more than 100 times, instead of spending 5-10 hours or 1 day but just 5 times memorizing them. These are the way I practice. I hope they might be helpful for you guys.^^
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 Sumanee Pinweha
As a student, I learn new rules from reading books and watching movies. I normally learn new vocabulary and rules from the books. I might not look up in a dictionary and grammar book the first time I saw new words or rules. But the more I read, I more I learn to recognize that rule and become confident to use it. We can also learn from watching movies or documentaries. First I'll do it without the subtitles. Then, I'll watch again with the subtitles because I learn best when I see (a visual learner). Again the more I watch, the more I learn. This just comes naturally. And most of the time I do these (read and watch) for pleasure. I guess 'exposure' is the key. A good grammar book can be helpful but there is no need to remember everything in that book unless it is 'meaningful' to you
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 Ikkyu Jirapong
1. Start remembering all Grammar that you study from Dr.Boonchai (write them down on your note) and try to repeat them everyday no matter where you are such as BTS. 2.After at least two weeks, you must attend every structure class but before going to the class you have to finish the test that staff gives you. Attending structure class will help you develop your grammar in many ways such as remembering all gramma, recalling the right grammar when you speak and write English including taking the test. Beside structure will help you read and get the meaning very fast.
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 Novo Yong
From my experience, I keep talking to myself all the time. I try to recall the grammatical rules and sort them into sentences. The more I use the rules, the better I get used to them. The key for me is try making yourself become one of those who need to use English for everyday life.
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Panada Sawung-arom
I have two techniques for remembering all grammartical rules. First, I keep reading what Ajarn Boon has taught again and again until I can memorize all grammatical rules. Second,I realize that I can easily forget them and I cannot remember precisely.Therefore,I use them by speaking English with my friend all the time and helping each other to recall grammars by asking back and forth.Besides, I usually attend structure class,which can help me a lot to remember English materials.These techniques may help you as well.
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 Nut Ektarawong
First of all, I have to adopt a can-do attitude. Moreover, I cultivate a new habit of loving English. As a result, I enjoy reading, memorizing, and reciting English tirelessly simply because of falling in love with English ^,^. Second, after studying the grammar course each day, I go home and write what I learn on my notebook with “my own word”. Third, in an attempt to remember the grammatical rules, I always recite them by writing on scrap paper. After the information remains intact on my head, I recite them by speaking them out. According to you, the nerve cell on the forefinger and the voice significantly help me to remember. Most importantly, when I learn a new rule, I must also repeat the old ones I have studied. For example, today I learn the first rule and then recite it at home. Tomorrow, I learn the second rule, but I recite both of the first and the second rule. I do like this continuously because this really helps me to remember all the grammatical rules quickly and precisely. Additionally, to develop all the grammatical rules much more quickly and precisely, I apply them to the real uses such as writing an essay, expressing an idea on your Facebook, and attending the Structure Course. All of these definitely require a lot of effort, time, and energy. Therefore, we must of course be determined, persevered and hardworking. I am convinced that “Practice makes perfection”. I do hope that my strategies may be beneficial and helpful.
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 Pummy Thaimuangphol
From my experience of remembering all the grammatical rules, I would like to challenge what Dr. Boon chai always tells us that if you remember all of them, you can speak and write English language (but you still have to remember some vocabulary as well) because grammar is the backbone of English. At that time, I did not have anything to lose and I paid my total attention to memorize them immediately, but this was not a right way for me because I did not summarize and write them in my own handwriting. After that I fine-tuned this strategy I wrote them by using my handwriting in my notebook. Whenever I have to go outside my home, I bring it with me and review it during waiting for my friends, BTS, and etc. This way is suitable for me because I can remember almost all of the grammatical rules. Right now, I do not want to bring this notebook anymore because I have to focus on vocabulary as well. Therefore, I take pictures of each page from my notebook in my mobile phone because if I forget some rules, I will review them from my phone spontaneously. Moreover, I still recite them by using my inner voice when I go to work.
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 Wisarut Suphannafai
For me, first, I have kept telling myself that I have to remember all of grammar rules by heart. I have learnt grammar rules by remembering your teaching materials such as phrases, sentences, or even conversations. Each week I attained grammar classes to see VDO backups. Not only I attained class several times, but I also spent my time talking to myself regarding grammar rules in a quiet place after finishing grammar class since the human brain requires for inserting new repeated information more than 3 times in order to develop a short term memory and a long term memory, respectively. Almost 4-5 months I admitted that I could remember almost grammar rules. Remembering only grammar did not assist me in retaining the rules on the top of my head as long as I needed. It is indispensible to practice writing, reading and speaking on the daily basis as well. Therefore, after learning grammar around 4-5 months, I decided to take a structure course. This course helped me recite 25 grammar rules because you repeated the rules so many times. In addition, I could stand a chance of seeing the real application of grammatical applications. In each test, I categorized the grammar rules and observed some patterns of thoughts in the study material that writers needed to express. This technique helps me how to construct the correct grammatical sentences and how to express my trends of thoughts in the eyes of native speakers in both writing and speaking. Moreover, every time I have gone over the grammar lessons. It is essential for me to find a cool place that help season the atmosphere of remembering the rules, stemming from the fact that the human brain can function well at the temperature around 25 c. Above all, self-hypnosis, repeated attaining classes, practice 4 English skills by observing grammar and finding a suitable place all provide me with a number of long term benefits. P.S. In my opinion, there is no shortcut for learning grammar at all. Everything seems to take time based on how much they invest energy in polishing English. Those are all my recipes of learning grammar.
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 Karn Saksurasub
In my view, you have to understand all of them first. Then, you start memorizing by spending a quick time bushing up the materials as often and as much as possible. Find the way how to memorize those materials, perfectly suitable to you; to me is saying it out loud and repeating the sentences from Dr. Boonchai's materials as examples. This will work if you thoroughly understand all of the materials. When getting confused about any part of them, you should go back over that part, look into the details, make sure you understand them this time, and then continue to repeat quick bush up again. Keeping doing this, I believe you are going to succeed in remembering all the grammatical rules,well... not as quickly as expected but as precisely as you desire.
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 Boyd Saksiri
To me, at first after finishing the grammar course, I try to write down everything I studied in the course in my small notebook. This process starts helping me reinforce and orderly organize all lessons into my brain. Moreover, I always carry the notebook to everywhere I go, and find a chance to recite the information as much as I can by using my inner voice. Sometimes, if I feel that some contents in the lesson are too hard for me to memorize them, I will persevere in grouping the contents and creating linkages among them in my own style. This step is really beneficial to me to remember them more easily. More importantly, I keep reciting all of the lessons at least once a week in order to make sure I can remember them by heart. Above all, without the high level of concentration, I cannot remember the vast amount of the information. Regularly chanting the mantra, staying positive, and having faith and confidence in what I am doing can finally help me actualize my burning desire of remembering all the grammatical rules. I hope that my technique would be slightly helpful for all of us to succeed in mastering English krub.
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 Chalermrat Sangmanee
For me, my practical way is different, depending on the stage of studying english. During the time of attending grammar class, I focused on writing grammatical rules on paper repeatedly - at least three times. When I started participating in Multi English Skill class, I tried to enhance my ability of imagination by reading many books during the time of commuting between home and office. That was my golden time to boost my concentration to read them. Most books I mention are novel such as pride and prejudice and others in the serie of Oxford Bookworm. In fact, I had never liked this kind of book til I like to make use of it for the purpose mentioned because it is quite easy for me to imagine what is going on in it in my brain. Visualizing both what each character are doing and the environment around. Later I tried to compare grammar happening in sentences in the book with gramatical rules I learnt. Moreover, I percieve collocation occuring in order to be able to use them in a correct context. However, before taking this approach I tried to remember grammar, vocab and collocation in the books provided by Fast English first because I want to keep a standard english in my mind so that I can compare them with what I will be reading. I chose this way because I found out that it was very easy for me to forget some of gramartical rules and lots of vocab when I did not use it for a certain period of time and be confused when I like to use some vocab in suitable context. I follow this way to reinforce my memory. Finally, I try to find words I am familiar with using it during communication because they are the words I always use in Thai language in order to express my idea. However, I find out a weakness of this way is that I have to choose the book carefully. I mean that book must contain both correct grammar and suitable collocation.
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 Pathamas Goy Chantaracherd
For me, my technique is very easy. "Do what I love to do". Indeed, I do not like grammar at the beginning. Well, I started to love it from "Structure". I myself like a detective story, so I want to know who is the culprit; what is the correct answer. Surely, I will never stand a chance to detect what is wrong unless I has to remember all of grammatical rules. Then, at that time I was so happy and crazy to remember "everything". In fact, I did not care how long I had to spend remembering the rules because I focused solely on 100%grammar. "Do what I love technique" surprised me that I spent less time than I expected to remember the rules.
So, I just knew that is my technique. I applied it to vocabulary as well. I asked myself How? to make myself love to do what I want to be or to have. So the answer is I love to listen to music and watch movies. I need to know the lyric means and what they are talking about. I think this technique can be compatible to everyone because no one can know what we love to do as clearly as we can. Feel free to try naka. Guarantee!! It works. ^^. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
So many people think discursiveness is detrimental to their mental health and try to root it out but to no avail. In my view, discursiveness can be beneficial to your spiritual development and self-understanding if you know how to harness it. To begin with, the ability to focus your mind on what you are doing without thinking about myriad things can give the muscles to your mind. Without discursiveness you have no target to achieve. The question is whether you give in to distraction or you want to overcome it. If you persist in finding ways to tame the mind, you will definitely gain mind power which is so essential for bringing about happiness and prosperity to your life. Second, discursiveness testifies to your lack of goals to pursue. As the mind by nature is very powerful, if its energy is not channeled into doing something intentionally, it will unavoidably keep repeating past events and imagining the unseen future. Therefore, from now on when you are thinking of discursive stuff, it implies you have no goal in life to achieve and you will be easily carried away by external events. Your life will become passive, dull and meaningless. Third, discursiveness shows that you are not conscious of what is going on at the present moment. Indeed, it is a kind of a zero-sum game in which where there is consciousness, there is no distraction or vice-versa. For this reason, whenever you feel distracted, you should remind yourself immediately to gain awareness. To conclude, we can benefit a lot from the presence of discursiveness happening to our mind only if we know how to rechannel it into constructive purposes.
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 Rexagon Nogxer
I am a discursive-typed person and I really know that I am always thinking about myriad things all the time. The solution I come up with is to ask myself what do I want to think about, an only one thing I want to think about, before letting my thought flow out such as how can I perfect my language competency, how can I prepare for the question which may be raised by committees in the job interview. After that, I let myself think about it nonstop and discursively. My thoughts flow to everywhere in that matter without specific directions. However, I can deepen the knowledge of this matter to almost every aspect with the power of discursiveness. I can see aspects which I have never seen and never thought before, and sometimes it dramatically bring significant changes to my life. I really agree with what you have said that you can make use of it if you know how to harness it. Nothing has only one side. Just try to think positively about everything, then you will incredibly see advantages in what you think it could not have had !
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Pummy Thaimuangphol
I used to think why I had to be a discursive type person and I did not want to have a lot of discursive thoughts coming up on the top of my head. I have tried to get rid of them, but actually I cannot eliminate them from my life.Therefore, I try to change a crisis into an opportunity by finding many ways to handle my discursive thoughts. First, whenever I have discursiveness, I think about it in English and it will be disappeared immediately because I have a limit of vocabulary to think about it. Second, I can use my discursive thoughts to help me think thoroughly for achieving my goals. This way also helps me search for many possible strategies to accomplish goals and then I will go into details of each strategy later when I am conscious. In sum, I would like to express my cordial thank to Dr. Boonchai because I gain a lot of ideas and knowledge from him in order to help me change my negative purposes of my discursive thoughts into positive purposes like these
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 Fonys Amena
While I am reading your idea, it lets me think about myself.I am also one of the many people having suffered from discursiveness for long time.I used to think that it is difficult to control and stop thinking about myriad things because they can pop up in my mind without any attempt.I agree with your state that if we have no goals in our life, we will unavoidably confront with discursiveness.However, discursiveness still has the positive aspects as you suggest us above, it is beneficial for readers to know more about the brain developing techniques and the concept of positive thinking from you.Thank you very much indeed. ^_^
Thank you for your highly beneficial statement. according to your idea, it seems everything is both useful and useless at the same time. In your statement, you mention about discursiveness as an example of it. In general, we imply discursiveness as negative meaning. However, it does not mean we can not make use of it. Thanks to the content in the main post, we find out three ways of utilizing this kind of expression setting it up as barrier for we to be overcome, making use it to motivate us to find for a target and utilizing it to always remind us of our conciousness. Like this kind of expression we can take advantage of other kind of negative expressions on the same way. One important thign we may have to do is to seriously figure out about it and then to take what we can have come up with into our action. I hope many people have read the main statement can do it in practical. Thank you very much and good luck.
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Wisarut Suphannafai
I hate all kinds of discursive thoughts! They have blogged me down from the reality of the present. Everything seems to be ruined in that situation. Let them go! Come on. I hold a view that positive thoughts are a right track for me to live a happy life. Regardless of positive thoughts, my life will be at stake, obscurity, unexpected. The right view of positive thoughts never cheats me. If all you guys need to live a happy life, you must ignore all negative stuff and practice thinking positive. Could you please adopt this world view now? I will definitely say that you will never and ever face some traumatic experiences in your life. Positive-type persons never suffer from past ordeal. That is my opinion.
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 Paninee Tepnarin
For me, I notice that the level of discursiveness is really dependent on the level of concentration. In other words, I'll become more discursive when I lack concentration. What I usually do to reduce my discursiveness is to chant the mantra and exercise. Chanting the mantra can calm my mind and boost my concentration. Exercise can slow down thinking process and diminish the number of thoughts so much that I can see what negative thoughts I'm entertaining. Moreover, exercise can help increase my mind power to be strong enough to let go my negative thoughts. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
"I have done my best and I don't care for whatever outcome it will be" is a statement I often hear from those who struggle hard to get something they want. Indeed, this saying is very dangerous if applied in a wrong way. It is beneficial for those who easily get panic or anxious when they are doing something or those who are too sensitive to confront a negative response. However, it is not useful at all for super achievers. These people will try to get what they have invested in for their time and effort. They always think first of the desirable result of what they are performing. If they think they could not get it, they will stop what they are doing or plan to do. Life is too short for you to be engaged in trials and errors. You must be able to reap whatever you have harvested. Therefore, before deciding to do anything, you have to think very carefully about the success and failure factors and ask yourself seriously whether you have possessed those success factors and eliminated the failure factors. If not, you should not proceed and lie to yourself that I have done my best. To be able to assess these two factors, you should use the left and right hemispheres of your brain--careful planning and the visualization techniques respectively. The plan must spell out step-by-step procedures you think are essential to carry out the task. Anyone who happens to see the plan will definitely agree with it. Simply thinking of something coming up is unacceptable. You have to fully utilize your brain power for your planning. Next is the need to visualize all the characters involved and the situation on the scene. Then you will know immediately whether the outcome of your time and effort is worth and bears fruit. In case you face a negative result, you should never blame anyone because it is your intellectual limitation to come up with a successful plan. Life is not that easy and simple, but not too difficult and troublesome as long as you fully utilize the power of your brain and become unbiased. Don't forget what the Buddha says we all have to depend on ourselves. Stop depending on other people or putting a blame on others. Wake up and keep walking to your destination with hope, confidence and careful planning. Good luck and keep me posted of any significant progress in your life. Do you like this post? If yes, please click 'like' now without reservation. Thanks in advance.
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 Pamme S. Ono Lennon
Thinking about my significant progress in life somehow reminds me of my beginning. I still remember the first time I set foot in Fast English and how my perspective changes dramatically after taking several classes with Dr. Boonchai. He has not only taught me English but he has trained me with lifelong skills of self-understanding and mind power. I am currently doing a double master degree in Global Media and Communication between the London School of Economics and University of Southern California. His experiences and techniques have been tremendously useful to an international student like myself. Without an inspirational commencement, I would not be here. Thank you, Dr. Boonchai.
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Chalermrat Sangmanee
Certainly, I like your perpective responding to the first sentence of the statement mentioned above - "I have done my best and I don't care for whatever outcome it will be". From my perpective, I like to modify it from the old one to become "I had done my best and did not care for the result ooccuring". My main reason of modifying this sentense is when it is mentioned, before or after sucess or failure occuring. I really believe that those who have right to speak this sentence experienced thier failure the despite the fact that thier plan or statgy designed was quite complete on thier viewpoint. Moreover, they seriously believe that the failure they faced originated from the uncontrolled factors. In other words, even if they did their best or even very best, unexpectedly they confronted deadlock on thier project. I sincerely believe that that sentence significantly help them become able to stand on thier foot again and more fastly. In contrast, if those who are being in a position in which they can choose to alter choice in order to handle expected problem but they choose to do nothing except relieving thier mind with the mentioned sentence. They should not deseve that excuse at all. That is my viewpoint to the mentioned sentence. Next, for those who are puting onerous effort to make a stategy bearing fruits, our brain play the most crucial role in it. As a tool, we utilize the brain to visulize a path of success and failure. Cetainly, we will not follow the instruction on the way of failure but we need to know what is factor leading us to that way. Furthermore, what factors should be engaged in our plan and what should not. Graphicalize our though, like a flowchart we can imagine it in our though. More importantly, what part of it we have to see clearly - target, relevent factors and path way. Anyway, my key point is that the more effiently our brains work, the more clearly our flowchart leading to success is and the more certain we will be during carry out our projects. As a tool brain is the beginng point of success. without sharp and robust brain can not bear even one fruit on a tree we grew. Eventually, we will forget about the word mentioned above. My cordial thanks for highly beneficial assertion to Aj.Boonchai is what I always like to express. Please keep writing them, we will keep reading them too. I fully hope we will become like what we have been eating through our eyes.
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 Little Bear
Thank you for always sharing your intellectual views about work and life.Your statement encouraged me to explore my past failure thoroughly. I found myself is an important obstacle for my success. Sometimes, I forgot to integrate my limited capacity to the plan to accomplish the desirable outcome. I learned that the true knowledge about myself such as my capability and my drawbacks is very necessary tool for achieving every plan.
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Wisarut Suphannafai
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Have you ever heard that meditation can significantly help boost your memory and brain effectiveness? In fact, there is scientific evidence to prove this statement. Whenever you sharpen the five sensory organs of your body, you definitely stimulate the functioning of a given lobe of your brain. For example, when you really see what you are looking at, you activate the working of the occipital lobe of the brain. When you clearly hear what you are talking or what others are talking to you, you activate the functioning of the temporal lobe of the brain. This temporal lobe is also working when you are aware of how you are feeling at the moment. The more the temporal lobe is stimulated, the better memory you have. Similarly, when you are mindful of a smell and a taste of food you are eating, your frontal lobe of the brain is activated. The frontal lobe also governs the voluntary movement of the whole body. In other words, if you intentionally move your hand and foot or any part of your body consciously, you are activating the frontal lobe of your brain. The more the frontal lobe is stimulated, the better judgment and the more sophisticated planning you will have. Last, if you feel your whole body without any voluntary movement, like feeling your buttock, your hips, the legs and the back while you are sitting, you are stimulating the parietal lobe of the brain. In sum, if you are fully mindful of what is happening to the five sensations of your organs, you are really activating the working of each respective lobe of your brain. You will become brighter, be able to think more holistically and have higher emotional intelligence. For these reasons, isn't it time to practice mindfulness on the five sensations? (For more scientific discussion, see "Secrets of Your Brain" in a special US News & World Report edition, p. 13)
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Boyd Saksiri
I really appreciate this post in terms of the linkage between having body consciousness and the working of the brain. This helps us practice mindfulness purposefully. Very Often, I have heard people talk about the objective of practicing mindfulness. Is it something too intangible?, Is it only on the purpose of making merit?, or What benefits can we get from following this guiding principle of Buddhism except just being aware of what we are doing? Later, they end up with doing nothing because they do not know the tangible benefit of mindfulness practice. However, your suggestions make it more concrete and easier for us to understand numerous benefits which will occur if we keep practicing mindfulness on the body. Especially, with the four sensory lobes of the brain the more we stimulate them, the brighter and the more intelligent we can become. From my perspective, I will intentionally try to practice this brain development technique to acquire my desirable end-result of having the fully effective brain. Thank you krub Arjarn.
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Chalermrat Sangmanee
Immediately finishing reading this statement, it is so brillion for me to know that alll of our activities consciously done each day are involved with practicing our mindfulness. In contrast, any activity which is unconsciously done does not improve the capabilty of brain at all. According to the statement, a key important word seems to be "meditation or consciousness". The more consciously we do all activities, the more intelligent we are going to become. Therefore, trying to enhance our level of meditation first is a way leading us to become inteligent person eventually. For this reason, we should spend our time each day drilling it as much and frequently as possible. Do it! Start it! today, don't delay time to do it. I do believe that everyone who both adopt this policy and seriously take it into pratice will become a person who get highly respected from everyone as a part of intelligent people group someday.
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Wisarut Suphannafai
What a substantive chapter today. So far, I have practice chanting mantra together with feeling my organs for all day long. In my opinion, this technique is really profitable for me to improve the brain capability, rearrange the trend of thoughts, and enhance emotional intelligence. The more I practice this technique, the more I feel comfortable, happy, and mindful. Frankly speaking, I found out that my routine habits totally changed, for example, I become more distracted and develop more emotional outburst easily. I have to exercise some restraint to avoid quarreling with my friends or even my family. Without self-control, I will not differ from a beast and be ready to harm other people. So, I choose to stop talking and walk away every time. Moreover, I can distinguish everything easily, for instance, during structure class I have learnt to see each choice why it is incorrect and try to differentiate the grammatical structure that fits with the 25 rules most. After many structure classes, I can see the holistic patterns of thoughts that the native speakers normally use. All of sudden I have partially or entirely absorbed in the grammatical structures. During talking or writing, grammar will be expressed confidently. As well as I will also try to adopt this idea in reading and listening, I think that associated patterns of thoughts for the entire skills needed to practice. For me, seeing the holistic approach is quite beneficial, but in the real usage it requires a lot of constant practice and truly loves to polish English. Right ways, my brain seems to compartmentalized each skill. I still cannot integrate almost all skills into my thought process. Still, I have to practice more and more. Above all, the practicing Dharma is the suitable way for me to become more intelligent and happy in aspects of learning English. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
There are three things that my mother has taught me since I was young and I shall never forget them don't be jealous of other people, go for what you believe and never feel regretful for what should have done. She always teaches her kids that we should be content of what we have and should never feel jealous of other people's prestige and wealth. If we have little money, we should eat less, avoid buying many clothes and save up for the rainy day. We should lead our life with dignity and a sense of self worth. In case I aspire to get something for my possession, I must go for it and never stop until I have it in my hand. In her view, concentration is of prime importance to get what one needs. Last, she reminds me of never feeling regretful for what should have been done. In other words, do what is right or should be done without hesitation. Once I have done my best, there is no more room I should feel regretful for any outcome. I hope her teaching would be beneficial to you as food for thought. Do you like this story? If yes, would you mind sharing some of yours as well?
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Chalermrat Sangmanee
Yes, I love your three major principles very much. A person who hold on these concepts will be become happy and successful certainly in his/her future. We can see alive evidence of the statement above standing to teach us regularly everyday at front of class room. I do believe that everyone who are reading this post can immediately know whom I refer to. Moreover, it does not want other supplemental evidence to support this idea any more.
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 Chin Benjarat
Yes, absolutely like. Fortunately, we have parents who love us and are very concerned about us. From my story, I have been brought up with a lot of teaching by my father. In the past, I got easily angry and did not understand others. He would listen my complaint and make me clam down, then added suggestions and solutions how I can handle the situations. Combinations of buddhist philosophy which he were telling is always recorded and sharpen my brain. For example, the five buddhist precepts are the basis that will help me to insist on morality. Although it was not easy to do when I was young, I must bear in mind that merit is only one thing attaching us after death. Finally, everyone must die, why I do not accumulate merits before getting late. The quotes " Tomorrow is result from today; therefore, do the best and everyday will be better as well as the outcome will bear fruit when the time is suitable for it". "Don' t hopeless if you are still alive" and etc. Moreover, he has wanted me to chant the mantra and meditate consistently because he himself have proven that chanting the mantra and meditation are the best foundation of his life. However, my father had a significant difference from your mother that he always imposed his ideas and his best practices on me , because he does not want to see me get heard or disappointed. Consequently, I took many years to follow his instructions by my verification as well in order to improve myself to handle all my situations and to be my father's intellectual companion. I' m so glad when he said " I'm so proud of you and feel happy that you are my daughter".
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 Chanya Thanaboonsombat
Ka, I like this story. For me, my parents do not teach me and my siblings by verbal but by actions. They always work with diligence and patience. Accordingly, we have gradually absorbed their characteristics into our minds. In addition, I remember that my uncle taught me when I always liked him to narrate about his life in the past. He told me the saying in Chinese that we should be persevering, be patient and be frugal [คัก โค่ว เขียม]. These moral principles guide him to be rich. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
It is amazing for me that many of my students are very interested in Buddhist meditation which they think can significantly help improve the quality and the meaning of their lives. Some talk about their practice of mindfulness on the body as well as chanting the mantra as a way of building up concentration. Others stress the importance of living with the present while letting go the past and not hanging on to the unseen future. Nevertheless, many ask me why they still feel agitated inside their mind. They cannot find happiness. There is a sense of deep concern and anxiety going on in their mind. They wonder what is happening to them and whether they practice Buddhist meditation in the right way. The answer is "Yes" and "Congratulations". To me, they can feel the state of their mind which is a higher level of mindfulness (Mindfulness on the Emotion and the overall state of Mind). However, the real cause of suffering has not been rooted out yet. In fact, a sense of ill feeling warns you what you are NOT doing the right thing at the moment. For example, you may try to avoid problems instead of solving them. You may have no real goals in life and live only on a day-by-day basis. You may never really forgive someone who hurts you so deeply, like your ex-boy friend or girl friend who cheated on you or decided not to continue the relationship with you. You may think so negatively about yourself why you get struck in your work for many years without promotion or why you cannot find someone who truly loves you. Last but not least, you may get frustrated at yourself because you still cannot remember all the English materials I have taught. These are the samples of concern and anxiety that need to be solved with the use of right dharma (Mindfulness on the Dharma) based on the law of impermanence, attachment as the cause of suffering and uncontrollability of world phenomena. In sum, mindfulness on the body and chanting the mantra are the necessary steps to take in order to build up mindfulness and concentration, but it is the ability to apply the right dharma to solving your specific problems is indeed the crux of successful meditation. If you really feel happier and lighter, it is a good sign you are on the right path of spiritual salvation. Feeling can never lie!
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Little Bear
Thank you so much for your invaluable words about living at the present without worry or anxiety. Today, I face with very difficult situation in my life with anxiety. I could not utilize all of my knowledge to that situation. Instead, I spoke in the wrong words and did in the wrong ways. Fortunately, reading your massage helped me passed the same kind of situation without nervousness. By living in that moment, I could control my reactions. For example, I could feel other people feeling as well as select proper words to say. Importantly, I could use the intuitive wisdom that happened in that time to solve the problem. Now, I feel more comfortable and become more self-confident.
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Wisarut Suphannafai
Until now I have kept chanting mantra and I feel more comfortable when I try to accomplish all tasks in every day life with a time constraint. Though, I make a lot of mistakes in particular learning english, I am pleased to learn and forgive myself almost all the time. Especially, remembering a whole bunch of vocabularies and collocations in every day class is a big challenge work for me indeed. Claim down and claim down. I keep talking to myself. Frankly, I really need to remember all of the vocabularies and collocations that you have taught me so far, but, it seems to take time so as to internalize all those in my thought process, and indeed the energy and attempt must exert to take such an action. Before, excellence in english in all 4 skills, I admit that it has to stick to the one point at one time. In the last a couple of days, My cousins were curious me why I have to learn more english for approximately 1-2 year(s). I talked to them and explained that english is a stepping stone that helps upgrade the social status and the standard of living. People who have a good command of english will achieve in both personal lifes and career goals. Without the absoluate tangiable tactics, we cannot know what we should do next or how a clear image in the next 10 years is. In my opinion, the right approach of Darhma will mold our minds to become touchable, serene and powerful because we can do something easy and continue to improve or eliminate other faults that might occure during the process of acting. So, I think your darhma teaching is the right way for me because I all feel more and more happier today. Thank you for a good chapter. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
"It doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white as long as it can catch mice" is a statement made by one of the world's widely quoted Chinese statesmen, Deng Xiaoping. Indeed, the current success of Chinese economy is definitely attributed to his Four Modernization programs that have been launched and implemented for the last twenty years until this onerous effort bears fruit. China now has robust economy and feels proud as a quite powerful nation in global politics as well as the main debtor of the United States. Deng emphasized the need to get some practical result from the time and effort we invested in doing any activity. He warned us against spending too much time for the preparation, concern and anxiety before taking any action. Moreover, we should be ready to modify our strategies if they do not work effectively. Getting a desirable result is of utmost importance in the eyes of Deng Xiaoping, instead of paying too much attention to choosing the color of a cat to catch mice. Don't get stuck in the process. Take action, modify strategies (if necessary) and get the work done. Most importantly, stop worrying before taking action. Focus on the achievement of a desirable end-result, not on a detailed, complicated and unending process. Do you like his philosophical outlook? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In the past, I used to work at the Bangkok bank as a bank executive involved in the reengineering project and serving as a Branch manager in one of the top five largest branches. During my tenure, I had a lot of opportunities to attend meetings in which foreign consultants helped inject their valuable ideas for carrying out important projects. Indeed, I was struck with one of the questions they asked and that is, "What are the success and failure factors in carrying out this project?" Believe it or not, whoever made a presentation apparently seemed to glorify the importance of the project presented, but was not well prepared to respond to the question on the failure factors. In my view, the question on the success factors is important as we can foresee whether we are well equipped and prepared for undertaking a project. Besides, we can supervise all the necessary steps leading toward the success of the program. Similarly, the highlighting of the failure factors can help lower our expectation for success, making sure we are not too sanguine to carry out the project. Most importantly, if we still cannot theoretically answer the questions pertinent to the failure factors, we should not begin the project yet; otherwise, we may face catastrophic roadblocks, feel discouraged, and become pessimistic toward life. I hope this framework of thinking with an emphasis on the success and failure factors can help you come up with an idea or a goal and implement it successfully. This is called work and life planning. Do you like the idea? If yes, push the 'like' button. Thank you. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
For me, the best effective time management is to finish every day at least three most important things related to my life objectives. At the end of the day I will feel much better and more hopeful that my dreams are becoming clearer and closer. This leaves me with some room during the day to do something else or routine chores. However, amid these miscellaneous activities I also ask myself whetherwhat I am doing is useful or productive. Do I gain more intelligence and wisdom, or instead greed, hatred and delusion. In my view, an intelligent person will not do anything that he will feel regretful later or harm himself one way or another, sooner or later. Life is too short and too precious to try unprofitable things. Who knows any wrong decision may unexpectedly lead to a disaster that cannot be reversed? Therefore, prudence is something we should bear in mind all the time. Let's be productive and remember Rome was not built in a day. Be persistent, go for it and fight for what you believe. Prove to the world you can do it! |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In my view, those who learn how to delay immediate gratification always become successful. This special mind-taming skill takes a lot of effort and persistence in resisting external temptations that provide only temporary pleasure but can immediately digress us from what we are doing. Staying focused on the top priority list of activities is extremely important to prevent us from distractions and ending up with nothing when we get older. Indeed, whatever we are doing every day should be geared toward the realization of our most cherished goals. Goals are easy to be sought, but are difficult to realize. They definitely take us a lot of energy and effort to come up with step-by-step procedures in order to realize them. I always remind myself I should not be easily distracted not only by immediate gratification, but also by emotional turbulence caused by other people's misdemeanor. Before getting distracted, I will picture the final outcome of the cherished goal of that activity and feel the happiness that ensues. Within a split of second, I normally resort to what I am doing without paying attention to miscellaneous and temporary stuff that is obstructing the journey of my success and self-gratification. Think big and think long is always my motto. What do you think? Agree or disagree and why? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
How could you know whether you have a passionate desire for something like mastering English? A person with a burning desire to do something is usually preoccupied with a given objective in every single breath. He or she will spend time thinking about all the necessary means to achieve that goal. He will never give up when facing any temporary obstacles, but instead, will feel more motivated to adjust ways and means of achieving it. He will think through all the possible strategies that can help him approach that goal and perfect them to the extent that they become so easy to pursue and be modified. However, to be able to reach this state of a burning desire, that person definitely needs to think carefully and profoundly about what tangible benefits he can get from realizing a chosen goal. Once the rationale behind that goal is set, he will persist in applying all his strategies till his dreams become true. I hope this concentric form of discussing the importance of a passionate desire for achieving something, carefully thought-out strategies and the advantages of a set goal will be useful for all the readers who want to master English. God bless you. With love and best wishes. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
One student approached me after class asking what he had to do next after changing the Chinnabunchorn mantra for nine times a day. He told me he became more concentrated in addition to easily getting hot-tempered, losing patience and becoming judgmental. The first answer I gave to him was, "Congratulations! Welcome to the spiritual world of self-realization." In fact, people are very judgmental. They always believe they have the right answer to everything they come into contact with. They are ready to criticize others, show off their intelligence by denouncing others and impose their views on other people's behavior. I told that student he was witnessing his true self filled with ego and judgment. Like other human creatures, he tried to impose his control over the world and got mad if the world did not turn out to be the way he wanted it to be. I suggest he should keep chanting the mantra nine times a day in order to build strong concentration which, in his case, manifested itself in his speaking English to me so fluently and clearly. However, he should learn to control the power of concentration by focusing it on his body consciousness all the time, especially body movement. At the same time, he should extend his compassion toward others by avoiding being judgmental. Last, he should never and ever violate the five precepts of Buddhism; otherwise, he would create new negative karma that would draw him back and obstruct him from finding happiness in life. Doing meritorious acts, avoiding doing evil things and purifying the mind must be the guidance for harnessing the power of concentration to the constructive purposes. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Today I have reached another higher level of language communication. In the past, I spoke in the way which I thought was the best and tried to find as many reasons as I could to support whatever argument I made. I was convinced people should believe me and follow my advice because I spoke from a good intention. Believe it or not, this strategy did not work and I ended up with frustration toward those who "were not intelligent enough to take my advice into practice." Some even began to dislike me because they felt pressured to follow my "good intention" As I have grown up, I learn that the most effective speaker is the one who knows what to say and how to say it, in addition to the necessity and the right timing of that saying. Nowadays, before saying anything, I always ask myself what is the point of making a given statement and what benefits I will have from making it. Once I have made up my mind to speak, I will deliberately choose the words and ideas that another party will immediately understand without interpretation, feel convinced and take action. There is no more "speaking for the sake of speaking." Evidently and surprisingly, people grow to like me more and understand my good and sensible intention. To wrap up, I make a deliberate effort to speak only when necessary, use the words I think another person will immediately grasp and find a logic no one can ever deny. Above all, I speak on behalf of their interests, not mine. My life is getting in order now and I am no longer feel frustrated with people in verbal communication. Do you like my observation and why? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
People have no logic. Even if they have, their logic is quite different from ours because of different backgrounds they are raised from, different education they gained and different socialization process they have gone through. It is really a waste of time to try to understand everyone's logic. We should pay attention only to those who matter most in our lives; otherwise, we are bogged down in endless cycles of perplexity and frustration. Besides, it is really a waste of time to focus on something mundane and unending. If you assume that people have no logic, you will never get mad at them. They can do whatever they like, while you can choose to focus on whatever deserves your attention. Adopting this attitude, you will not get frustrated at other people's "wrong behavior" in your eyes. You will not sweat the small stuff nor blow things out of proportion. You will become alert, peaceful and happy. Please bear in mind that you still have a long way to go on with your life and so many important things to achieve. Just acknowledge what is happening around us, remain silent and choose what and how to react or not to react. Then, you will definitely find happiness everywhere. Do you agree or disagree? Do you have anything to add?
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
It is my utmost belief that happiness is something to be created. It is not a gift from God or a blessing from the divine power. Many times we accuse others of depriving us of happiness by causing us problems or not treating us properly. We generally like to see others treating us well, respecting us and speaking to us in a cordial manner. If we do not experience such a scenario, we tend to feel aggravated and are ready to vent our frustration and anger toward others. We believe "they" are the main cause of our unhappiness. In fact, happiness should be cultivated within the mind itself. We have, for example, "the right not to think about negative words other people unfairly said to us. We can choose to forget all our traumatic experiences that prop up in the mind. We can learn to extend compassion to others in words, gestures, eye contact and facial expressions. We are also entitled to remain silent and do not have to respond to provocations. Above all, I keep telling myself that I am committing good deeds as I learn to "give and forgive." This is for me the root cause of happiness I can create here and now without depending on any external force. Above all, such an outlook requires a lot of practice, but is not too difficult to adopt as long as we truly believe in the validity of the idea that "happiness is something to be created." It does not happen by itself and neither should it depend on the external factor to make it happen. However, happiness can begin "here and now" by learning to train our mind to "give and forgive." Do you agree with my perspective? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Never and ever fight with your boss; otherwise, your days are numbered. In fact, you are chosen to work with him as he needs teammates to help achieve the corporate goals. You should devote time, energy and effort to fulfilling your job responsibilities, not to quarreling with him. Believe me you will never win the battle and don't even think about addressing the issue of conflict to the superior boss for justice. Your immediate boss is definitely an asset much more valuable to the firm than you are. In their eyes, you are only a new inexperienced and arrogant employee who does not respect hierarchy and give values to corporate cultures. As a result of your irreparable conflict with your boss, you will not be promoted. You will be assigned an unimportant or sometimes tedious job just for the sake of assigning it. Each move you make will be closely monitored in order to find fault with your mistake. You can never find happiness in the work life. In case you do not agree with your boss on some decisions, you should make a point based on what you think is right but you express the idea in a tactful and professional manner. Stop thinking of your ego for a while and speak with a non-judgmental sentiment. Whatever you say or act should begin from a good mind. You yourself know it best whether you are good or wicked, kind or tricky. Believe me playing tricks and power politics does not bring you that far. Why Don't you project yourself as a hard-working colleague who poses threat to no one and focus primarily on job excellence. Anyone who hears your name would like to work with you. Create a positive personal brand and your career will definitely become successful and blessed with joy and peace. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
I have received so many questions why I am interested in raising a Maine Coon cat. Is it because I am lonely and need something to hang on to? Is it because I love cats more than dogs, and if yes, why did I select a Maine Coon cat instead of other breeds? Last, do I have enough time to take care my cat? To satisfy the curiosity of my fans on the Facebook, I would like to clarify first, that in my life I have never felt lonely. I have been fortunately surrounded by a few people who love me unquestionably and care for me as much as I do for them. This is indeed a simple law of reciprocity. Giving first and then you will get more than what you have given. Besides, I have so many things to do in my life, such as teaching, preparing for my radio program and taking care of my aging parent. These activities already overcrowd my mind. There is no space for loneliness. Those who feel lonely probably do not have much to do with their lives and rarely give unconditional love to others. Second, in general I love dogs more than cats because for me loyalty, affection and a sense of protection are the most important factors for human relationships. These factors can be found in dogs, not in cats. However, Maine Coon cats are "cats in the dog soul" and are probably the most intelligent cats in the world. They think before taking any move as reflected in their pensive eyes. They are indeed "thinking cats." I am so happy to always see my Singto think before taking action. I very much enjoy watching him looking at himself in the mirror. I can guarantee that he has eye consciousness, something that fascinates me a lot. In sum, Singto is for me a toy of intellectual curiosity, not to mention his devoted love as expressed in his sleeping in my laps, caressing his face against my face and neck, pushing his nose against my arms and legs. Most importantly, he is "always" crouching on the ground in front of his room waiting for me to enter and play with him. Don't you think it is adorable? Last, it is very easy to take care of a Maine Coon cat as it listens to you and follow your instructions like a dog. What you definitely have to give to him is genuine love, warmth and attention. You should treat him like another soul, not as a pet. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In order to make spiritual progress and gain an insight into Buddhist dharma, we have to learn to get rid of mistaken views from our mind. First, stop praying for the external force or doing rituals to help you fulfill your dream. That can never work as long as you do not create good causes for the dream to become true and you keep committing sinful acts, for example, by violating the five precepts. Second, giving alms to monks and donation to temples do not show that you are good Buddhists. The Buddha stresses the importance of mind cultivation by integrating morality, meditation and right view into our world view and daily activities. Giving alms and donation can bring about some merits, but they are not the essence of Buddhism. Third, it is mistakenly believed that as we are humans, we are left with no choice but to suffer. This is not true. In fact, we can reduce suffering by limiting our greed, meditating on compassion and practice Mindfulness on the Four Foundations. Fourth, do not be pessimistic that in this life you cam never attain enlightenment because you are sinful and have a lot of defilement. This is indeed a very destructive view. Enlightenment is only the by product of your doing good, avoiding evil conduct and purifying your mind. We do not need enlightenment as long as we are happy and peaceful. Enlightenment is only a name. Fifth, those who go to temples and meditate are always good people. This is untrue but at least these people try to make spiritual development. They are just students preparing themselves for the exam, but whether they pass it or not is another matter. Therefore, from now on if you can find fault with someone who meditate, please do not associate his mistake with meditation. There is no correlation. Be kind to them because at least they strive for improving themselves, right? What do you think about my assertion? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Frustration or depression results from obsessive-compulsive disorder in which we want to control the world but without avail. All the conflicting thoughts produce the release of negative hormones and the blockage of the oxygen flow throughout the body. Body tension or arthritis on different parts of the body happen for no causes. All of these are affected by the brain power in the negative mode. The only solution is to get out of the repeated cycle of destructive thinking. Try to focus all your sensations on the body, the inner feeling of muscles and bones in your body. The more you focus on them, the less thinking you have. It is a zero-sum game. If some substrates are left, then use the Buddhist laws of impermanence, non-attachment and Anatta to pacify your thinking. Last, tell yourself however much effort you will make to solve your current problems, new problems shall arise. This is the fact of life. So, don't be too serious. Many more and new problems are coming next "on HBO". Save your energy for the next round of trouble. Any way, you have to ask yourself seriously whether you like to be caught into the repeated cycle of suffering like this. Make a choice in your life as this is the beginning of New Year. Will you live the same lifestyle which makes you reactive toward life, or do you want to change your world view in order to enjoy life? Life is short and precious. Give a New Year gift to yourself, but which one will you choose? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
For the past two years, I have gained another higher and more refined level of spiritual development. I think I have a better understanding of "Anatta". In the past, I always felt irritated and criticized other people vehemently when I saw them doing something not quite right, such as bypassing someone's car recklessly, spitting in public places, pissing into the toilet without lifting the seating, obstructing traffic flow by parking illegally or saying something foolish or vulgarly. With this judgmental attitude, I was drawn into the darkest moment of my life. I hated this world in which strong and ruthless people always take advantage of the weak and the ignorant. I could never see any justice or morality prevailing anywhere in Thai society. I was more deeply hurt when I saw grown-up adults treating their aging parents without respect or, in some cases, with ingratitude. Then one day, an insight propped up in my mind, which helped rescue me from the power of darkness. This insight teaches me to accept things as they are without making any "comment". People can say or do whatever they want. I simply don't care. It is totally in their own right to choose to do what they want. What I do care is whether what I am doing is right or wrong, moral or immoral and I will try to do the right things. In other words, I stop playing GOD. I admit wholeheartedly I cannot control the world. Human beings cannot be controlled. Period. I just hope that one day in the future when I have enough power to create changes and redress social justice, I will definitely take issues with these inappropriate behaviors. But for the time being, I should rest peaceful and enjoy life. What do you think about my new spiritual insight? Does it reflect the reality of life or do I become too apathetic toward the world? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
I could still remember very well the face of my little dog the morning when I left for the U.S. to study at U. of Penn. I called out his name four or five times, but he did not respond. Normally, he was delighted to see me getting out of my house with a hope that he could accompany me as well. Finally, I saw him crawl on the floor and gaze at me with sad eyes. I called him two more times while approaching him. Believe it or not, I was shocked when I saw tears pouring down from his eyes. He must have been deeply hurt to "feel" I was leaving home and would leave him behind. He would never see me again, his closest friend he ever had. The question is how he could feel that I was leaving home. Surely, there was no one "informing" him of my departure. It was the feeling of love and attachment that made this creature a human with heart and sensitivity. He passed away six months after my departure. Many years have already passed, but he is still in my heart. I can picture him very well in my memory and thank him for all love and joy he gave to me. Most important thing, however, is the fact that he could "feel" me, especially when I said good bye to him and asked him to take care of himself. "Eat well, sleep tight, and take care" were the last words I talked to him, the words that drew a lot of tears from his eyes. It was the first time that my dog could feel very well. What we can learn from this story is we should try to be kind, be nice and be gentle to others and they will treat us well because even a dog can feel love and compassion from its master. So can others fell our compassionate acts and good will. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
It is indeed so difficult for the rich not to feel arrogant, the poor not to be worried, and the selfish not to be greedy. Rarely do I see angry people not feel easily irritated, deluded people not get bored, discursive people not talk and credulous people not believe. These people were born in that way, but unfortunately these drawbacks can cause them a lot of trouble or put a cap on their self-improvement. In my view. the only way to change yourself is to contemplate on the negative impact of such a belief. For example, feeling arrogant will cause many people to hate you unnecessarily, always feeling worried just perpetuates the vicious cycle of negativity and blurs your judgment, or excessive greed can cause you anxiety or trouble sooner or later. Similarly, feeling revenge brings you chronic pain and agony, always getting bored restrains you from going anywhere, talking incessantly is a waste of time and exhausts brain energy, and believing without judgment can cause you blind faith and being cheated. It is only when your mind feels repulsive of those behaviors that you can seriously begin to change; otherwise, you think it is the habit that can never change. Do you agree or disagree with the above statement and why? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Another moral quality that is deeply-rooted in my mind is perseverance. Since my childhood, I have been aware that I am pretty intelligent, but not brilliant. I have to work very hard to earn what I long for. For example, I have to repeat what I have studied many times until I can remember the materials. I personally believe there is nothing perseverance cannot win. Besides, keeping focused on what I am supposed to do is very beneficial as I do not have time to compare myself with others. Therefore, in my life I hardly feel jealous of other people for their wealth or achievement because I have so many important things to do with my life. Jealousy is something I am unfamiliar with. However, I usually ask myself why some people can excel and become rich, while others fail miserably and remain endlessly hopeless.The answer is successful people work hard and they work smart. They do not have time for worry or jealousy. They spend most of their time doing only what matters most to their lives. With perseverance, they know what strategies work or need adjustment. They sharpen their skills until they become real experts in their field of expertise. The question is why some people lack perseverance? In my view, they simply lack concentration, which may result from chronic worry, discursiveness, anger and revenge, boredom or unfulfilled greed. This is precisely the main reason why I wholeheartedly support the idea of chanting the mantra. Without the power of concentration, we can never have perseverance. Now, you can see the correlation between perseverance and concentration. Let's chant the mantra at least 3 times a day without thinking about anything else and change your mindset to become kinder, more gentle and more sympathetic with other people. Concentration alone without moral virtues can turn you into a beast hungry to hunt and ready to attack. To sum up, we have to keep working hard although we may not know precisely where we are heading to. Let the power of conscience and determination guide us through the night with the light from above. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
One of the moral qualities that have pushed me so far in this life is gratefulness. Since I was young, I have always felt thankful for those who help facilitate my life, in terms of giving me help or passing on knowledge to me. Surprisingly, I can remember their faces quite vividly whenever I think of them. This is, for me,the main reason why I feel self-confident and never feel lonely at all because I know that there are people who love me and I love them too. I always thank all the teachers who tirelessly want me to be better and more competent. I thank my maids to take care of the whole house and family matters. Indeed, I speak to them very well and I could feel a sense of deep gratitude spilling over from their heart. No one else in the world would treat them as well as I do. I thank my cat and dogs for helping bring about warmth and enjoyment into the family. Above all, I deeply feel indebted to my parents' unquestionable love and care they have extended to me. They are the first people whom I am touched with the meaning of unconditional love. I am very hurt and disappointed to see some of my siblings develop an ill-feeling toward them simply because they said or did something not quite right from their perspective and they get even on them. I think this is absolutely unfair and unjust considering how much time, money and effort parents have to sacrifice to bring their children up. Trust me we should love and respect our parents profoundly forgetting about certain shortcomings they have and concentrate on their best qualities. In so doing, I can assure you that your life will be prosperous, blissful and filled with love. Do it today before it is getting late. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
The crux of Buddhism is to be aware of what is happening to the mind and the body, moment by moment, and the adoption of the right view toward the world. Without mindfulness and the right view you can never enjoy happiness no matter how rich you are, how much intelligence you have or how powerful you become. The easiest way to learn how to be mindful is to imagine as if you were standing on the second floor of a hall looking at a person downstairs. You can see how he moves, gestures or feels through facial expressions. You stood gazing at the person without paying attention to anything. This technique is called watching the mind and the body. "Living with the present" must be something to do with the mind and the body, not with incessant and discursive thinking. However, if you still suffer, ask yourself what your problems are. Then ask yourself frankly whether the way you look at the world is distorted or not. Do you hang on to the past that never comes back? Are you too worried about the uncertain future instead of finding ways to reduce risks or prevent the damage from happening? Are you too greedy to get what does not belong to you instead of working hard to get it? Are you too attached to your departing boyfriend or girlfriend that you cannot let the person go despite being cheated time after time? Do you hate the world that you belong to now and want to change it? If yes, what have you done? Do you want to be rich and comfortable? If yes, what should you do to increase your wealth? Do you want to have a girlfriend or a boyfriend in order not to feel lonely? If yes, how do you look now clean or dirty, sophisticated or mundane, gentle or rough, well-dressed or wearing shabby clothes? Last, do you always try to control the world? Ask yourself whether or not you can control yourself, your parents, your siblings, your children, your boss, your colleagues, your subordinates, your employees or your customers? If not, stop imposing control over others. If you want them to do what you like, how do you induce them to do so? Talk about the benefits they will get from doing that. The dharma I have applied to the above cases is everything keeps changing. We should not hang onto the past. Grasping or attachment is the source of grievances. Nothing in the world is in our control. Everything happens as the result of its causes. Create the causes and then you will get what you want. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Some students ask me what meditation is? Meditation is the ability to control the mind or, specifically, to choose what to think and to discard undesirable thoughts at our disposal. This ability certainly needs a high level of concentration to "freeze" the mind from discursive thoughts or mental judgment, and the right view to understand all phenomena in the world that they are subject to the law of impermanence. Nothing can be hold onto, attachment is the source of suffering and there is nothing or no one in the world we can control. Surely speaking, we can have neither concentration nor the right view if we break the Five Precepts every day. Indeed, these precepts are commonly practiced among civilized and peace loving people. If your words and action are not morally right from the beginning, how could you consider yourself a moral and compassionate person? In sum, concentration, the right view and the Five Precepts need to be integrated and practiced as the form of meditation, the power of which can transform negativity deeply-rooted in your mind into a positive force of becoming a compassionate, moral and wiser person. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In my view, people who do not meditate can never be moral and kind hearted. We have to accept the fact that humans were born with original sin of possessing greed hatred and delusion. For example, we tend to retaliate anyone who dares to attack us verbally and physically. We like to compare ourselves with others and always think about how to make more money and gain wider recognition. We adopt wrong views of hanging onto the past or being worried about the future. We cannot accept any changes that affect our well-being. Without meditation we can never control our mind. Uncontrolled mind keeps thinking either too much or too little. It can never see things as they are. Consequently, we are ready to break any of the five precepts in order to protect or increase our interests. Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, sexual adultery and consuming intoxicants are the norms of the day. Those who don't meditate can rarely restrain themselves in face of external stimuli. However, those who meditate are not necessarily moral people if they still have a high sense of ego and think they are superior to others. The best indicator whether we meditate correctly is to see into own own nature whether or not we are less arrogant, have less pride, become happier, kinder, more gentle and more compassionate. If yes, you are on the right path and have made spiritual progress. You will be destined to a happy future. What do you think about my assertion? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Many of us are taught to be kind, nice and compassionate toward others. We try to treat other people well, learn to give and sometimes be willing to sacrifice our interests for the benefits of others, especially family members. This moral preaching is essential, but for me, is still at the superficial level of moral cultivation. These moral acts are not real and do not bring about a lot of merits to life. I believe the greatest authentic love is the attempt to take care of our own mind and make sure it will not get hurt, depressed, hopeless, greedy, revengeful or discursive. How could you extend compassion to others while you are still suffering deep inside your mind. For this coming New Year, let's stop thinking about other people for a while, and start concentrating on how to cure your mind from psychological ailments. Give a gift to yourself by forgetting all wrongdoings others have done to you so that your mind can rest in peace. Avoid giving advice or consolation to others while you are still bogged down in chronic depression. Taking care of your own mind requires awareness at all time and strong determination to do away with all negative thinking and entertain only positive, moral and productive thoughts. Rigorous spiritual training can pacify the mind and a tamed mind can produce plenty of miracles to your life. Let's pay attention to taking care of our mind. Make the mind happy, joyous and ready to accept everything as it is, moment by moment, without any judgment. That should be the most precious gift we give to ourselves. Do you agree or disagree? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Today I hosted a radio program on the preaching of Confucius. What I am most impressed with his philosophical outlook is the way he tried to teach us the right world view and the stress on the importance of moral virtues. According to Confucius, we should not be worried that no one recognizes us, but should seek to be worthy of recognition. All the time we should be concerned whether we have cultivated virtue, learn something new and beneficial, are unbiased toward all and are willing to change what is wrong about ourselves. Besides, we have to choose the right kind of people to be associated with. At least, they should have the same level of morality or higher than us. Those who are stubborn and do not like to changed should be avoided, especially arrogant and egocentric people. It is a waste of time to change these people. Last, we have to gain valuable knowledge for self-improvement and moral cultivation every day. We should not talk about what is already done, or keep thinking about what is already over as well as criticize what has already happened. These are a few examples that could be your today's food for thoughts. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Life journey is full of twists and turns. Sometimes the roads are smooth but many times we need to make a detour in order to go past road barriers; otherwise, we can bogged down in traffic congestion for hours or even experience life-threatening road conditions. When the traffic is flowing, we should drive fast. Similarly, when we are full of energy and enthusiasm, we should try to reach our chosen goals as fast as possible. Never digress from what we are doing. However, when we have to make a sudden change of routes heading toward the destination, we have to be patient and accept things as they are. Maybe, we have to waste time changing the routes or make a detour, but we are safe and sound and can still keep going to the destination in good time. Likewise, when we face obstacles in life be they work responsibilities, relationships or financial situations, we should not give up. We must make some adjustment in order to survive from the imbroglio. Don't complain. Don't feel pitiful for yourself. Don't attack others. It's simply a way of life. Accept it and go on with your journey until you reach your destination. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
One way to reduce stress is not to strive for perfection. The moment you want to be Superman or Wonder Woman, you will become agitated, vigilant and restless. You keep asking yourself what you should do next in order to be better than or superior to others. You feel jealous when other colleagues or your friends get compliments for their action and you don't. You want to prove to the world that you are intelligent, graduating from a distinguished university, coming from a good family background, being brighter or better than anyone else. You want to tell the whole world about your past achievements or social standing. You spend every single moment trying so hard to prove yourself to others. When anyone dares to criticize or find fault with you, you immediately turn quiet, listen very carefully to the comments and impatiently try to come up with defensive arguments or prove that person is wrong or too stupid to understand you. Most of the time you are worried about what to do next in order to be perceived hard-working and energetic, but often end up with nonproductive work. If any of you develops this syndrome, I would like to welcome you to the "Stress Club". People mistakenly believe that stress is related to chronic psychological wounds that one cannot extricate himself from, such as the loss of parents, the cheating of the couple, job loss or financial disaster etc. In fact, stress develops from obsessive-compulsive thinking like striving for perfection as mentioned above. If you unconsciously adopts the attitude of striving for perfection, I believe you are the likely candidate suffering from a stress syndrome. Don't you think so? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Can you stop reacting to what and how other people are saying or doing to you at least temporarily? This is one of the essential techniques of mind cultivation as widely practiced by Zen meditators. Zen Buddhism emphasizes the imporatnce of practicing dharma with the mind, not recitation of Dharma nor practices of religious rites and rituals. According to Zen Buddhism, the mind can never be of help if it is not trained. If you stop reacting to the external world that comes into contact with you through the five sensations only for a second, you are believed to establish mindfulness. Sometimes, this technique is called "Stopping and Seeing." You need to stop your critical thinking first and then you can penetrate the present reality. If you manage to do this, you can experience a moment of complete silence and your original mind will radiate and become so clear that you will feel energetic and refreshed to handle anything in the world. You will experience no fear or anxiety, no doubt or concern, but just pure intuitive wisdom knowing what to do next without critical thinking. This is a crucial technique to strengthening the mind power. By reacting to the world, the mind becomes weakened by incessant thoughts from insatiable greed, anger, boredom, vexation and discursiveness. That is why we always criticize what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch. The original mind or the Buddha nature can never reveal its power as long as the critical thinking process is never put at stop. Why don't we try this practice today and experience another realm of the mind that comprehends only happiness and serenity. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Make chanting the mantra a habit you fall into doing every day. You should feel light and peaceful devoid of any worry while chanting the mantra. You can count in your mind a group of three rounds so that it is easier to remember how many times you have chanted it. Three plus three is equal to nine. Don't think about anything else; otherwise, the chanting is no difference from singing an aimless song. Last, after the chanting learn to be kind, be nice and be gentle. Concentration together with compassion and morality is the most powerful force that can definitely change your life. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
When I was 13 years old, I asked my eldest brother how I could become profoundly intelligent. He advised me to keep thinking all the time to sharpen the brain. The more I thought, the more intelligent I would become. I followed his advice and ended up with developing migraine. My left-sided brain hurt so much and continuously that I needed to see the doctor. To my surprise, they believed I did not get enough love. I laughed to death as I was the youngest brother who was somewhat spoiled by other siblings. Finally, one day I experienced chanting a mantra "Chinnabuchorn" at least 9 times a day without thinking about anything else. After 2 weeks of chanting the mantra, I fully recovered from migraine. Besides, I enjoyed gazing into the sky for 20-30 minutes whenever I had nothing important to do. This definitely helped me feel relaxed and not worried about unending worldly affairs. These two activities really helped soothe my mind. I became more serene, peaceful and self-conscious. From that moment on, I was able to see my thinking and design my own course of my life without any need to depend on external help. I managed to think independently and grow more mature, becoming responsible for whatever I had done. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In the past, I never had any single moment of contentment and happiness. I always felt frustrated, inadequate, bored and angered with the world. I was very judgmental about everything I saw, heard, smelled, tasted and touched. I could, for example, get easily frustrated when I heard anyone saying something irritating to my ears. I thought I was the only person in the world knowing what was right or wrong, good or bad. Indeed, my mind never rested still, and the consequences were overwhelming. My face looked unkind, arrogant and whimsical. People did not want to come close to me that much except those whom I allowed to enter into my life. The final outcome of this episode was no matter many achievements I had made, I never found happiness. Then, what was life for? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Today my life is completely different. After suffering from mental distress and agony for many years, despite getting so many worldly rewards and social recognition, I have completely changed my world's outlook. People can act, say or do whatever they want be they my parents, friends, siblings, co-workers, friends or acquaintances. I will focus only on what is necessary and important to my life. I leave no more room for my ego to drive me into being judgmental. However, when I have to react to them, I ask my mind what is the best thing I should say or act. Then, I do it. This has saved me time, energy and effort to think about how to achieve so many remaining goals in my life. My journey toward my destination is never disrupted and I do respect people for whoever they are. I do not want to change them, but if they come to me for advice, I am willing to give them practical suggestions. I am now so happy. Very few people could really hurt me and I really enjoy this life. What I have learned is the need to adopt the right view toward life is the prerequisite to living happily. Don't be judgmental. Don't try to control the world. Never lose focus on achieving your goals in life. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Before going to bed each night, I always thank people who bring good things to my life. I thank my parents for taking care of me and loving me unconditionally. They always protect me no matter how old they are as if I were a little child. It is indeed the beauty of mankind. I also thank my colleagues who take care of school administration and work very hard to render excellent service to students. I thank my siblings for standing by me and giving me all kinds of advice to get through hurdles in my life. I can never forget my maids who help take care of house chore; otherwise, I can never have a clean room to sleep and a clean house to stay. Last, I always appreciate my students' effort to come to study English for advancement in their lives. I am so happy each day when I learn about their academic and professional achievements as well as spiritual progress. Without my students I have no reason to live and any contribution to make to society. I, therefore, feel enthusiastic to see them again the next day and cannot wait to impart my knowledge in them. Believe it or not it usually takes me not more than five minutes to go to sleep when I think how blessed I am to meet these people in my life. Should you also adopt an attitude of appreciating those who bring good things to your life? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
One day while I was browsing through the Buddhist scriptures at my apartment in Virginia, I came across a section of the Buddha's preaching about how a man can become prosperous within one life time. Giving is the key word that you should remember by heart and put into practice in every single breath. It can draw wealth into your life. There are three types of giving objects, happiness and knowledge to others. When one is practicing giving physical objects to the poor and the needy, he will become less selfish and hence can see things more clearly without vexation. A person with less greed will be able to make a good judgment, for example, on what to invest, how to do lucrative business without much stress or where to successfully work for. Meanwhile, a person who enjoys making others happy with kind words or whatever sorts of assistance will never feel jealous of others. Accordingly, he will spend more time thinking about how to tap his own strength to generate higher income rather than feeling jealous of other people's wealth and success. Last, sharing valuable knowledge with others helps lower the sense of ego and makes you feel the need to seek further knowledge. The less ego you have, the clearer picture of seeking opportunities you see. Similarly, the more new knowledge you acquire, the better chances of seeing through business opportunities you will have. I hope the reader who aspires to be wealthy would be interested in verifying the Buddha's preaching on wealth accumulation. This practice must be carried out on a daily basis and without any thinking who is the giver and who is the receiver of the gift. In fact, the giver must turn his back and forget about every good thing he has done to others. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Since I was young, I have been taught to believe in myself. As long as I am morally right (not violating the five Buddhist precepts and never cheating anyone), I should think of myself like pure gold never sensitive to any sort of fire. No matter how much heat we use to burn gold, gold will still be gold. It may change its form, but its substance always remains intact. Likewise, gold can be chopped or banged, but it is still gold despite its deformation of shapes. As a result, I fear nothing if I have moral integrity in what I am doing. I am neither affected by social criticisms nor become vulnerable when facing opposing views or people's doubt. However, the question is whether I am real gold or fake. No one else in the world can give us that answer except ourselves. If we do not lead our lives with moral integrity, the world will be in chaos. People cannot trust each other. What they are thinking of is only maximization of interests. They never reveal their true intention for fear of being taken advantage of. In my view, anyone adopting this world view can never find happiness in life as he or she will always live in the state of fear and uncertainty. Moral Integrity should give us a sense of dignity to live and be ourselves. We don't care whether other people have morality or not, but we should keep asking ourselves whether what we are doing is based on moral integrity or not. If yes, we should fear nothing in the world, shouldn't we? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
"L'enfer, c'est les autres" is one of the most influential French expressions that has imprinted profoundly in my mind. Its equivalent meaning in English is "The hell is others",which is not a curse but it means whenever you try to live up to someone's expectation, you can't be happy because you are not yourself. It is also likely that you will blame that person in case the world does not turn out to be the way you want it to be. This expression gave me mental strength to live with my own creed and choose what I was supposed to do without worrying too much about how other people would think of me. It taught me to wake up and shoulder all responsibility for whatever I have done instead of blaming others as the cause of my trouble. I grew mentally strong every day until I got so many things in my life without feeling jealous of others. The only dark side of this philosophy is people will be too cautious of each move you make as the result of your certain insensitivity toward others. You can, for example, dress casually in a formal setting or pose a polemical question in the meeting which requires support and cooperation. Once people are too cautious about you, they do not want to associate with you that much because they fear your unpredictability. In fact, you are OK but your behavior simply reflects the philosophy you cherish. In sum, this expression can powerfully teach you to be mentally strong, but not to be stubborn. Act what you feel fit based on moral consideration and do it outright. However, you should do it discreetly, never trying to challenge the the mood of the main stream unnecessarily. Focus more on achieving the desirable end result and only then can you find your true identity and inner happiness. Stop proving yourself to others. Do what is right. Period. Do you agree or disagree with my statement and why? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Do you really want to know what kind of person you are and why people treat you in a certain way? Many of you may think you know yourself well, but are very confused and frustrated why others always misinterpret your good intention. When you try to help, they think you have some hidden agenda. When you remain indifferent for fear of aggravating the situation, they think you are selfish or revengeful. Why is the world so cruel and unfair to us? The answer is the way we express ourselves, verbally and emotionally, will determine how others look at us. Surprising, the kind of person we think we are and the way we express ourselves verbally usually go into different directions. People often think they are so good, but you should wait until you really hear all the words you say at least for the whole day. Then you will understand not only how others look at you and treat you in a certain way, but also what kind of person you really are because all what you say reflects the state of your mind. Why don't you take up my first assignment today to listen carefully to everything you say without control? You will be surprised at the end of the day to discover what kind of person you really are because what you say reflect the state of your mind. Keep me posted of the result of today's experiment. Good luck. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
When people meet me, they always think I am bright, brilliant and endowed with happiness. They are wrong! In the past, I was not different from most people who are always worried about their uncertain future (without doing anything to bring about future changes) or keep thinking about the past ordeal (that no one in the world cares about). I made several mistakes from which I was not aware of their consequential outcomes. Many times those mistakes came from emotional outburst, jealousy, sense of deep attachment, the desire to control the world, inferiority complex, over self-confidence, verbal abuse, contempt toward other people, anger and deeply-rooted revenge, to name just a few. Indeed, I never feel regretful for myself to get hurt or deeply wounded as the result of those misgivings because I already suffered enough. More importantly, I did not realize the danger of such suicidal thinking and emotions. I did things wrongly out of ignorance. Fortunately, I always learned a lesson from each episode and I rarely repeated the same mistake. Indeed, I feel grateful for my past mistakes that taught me to become a more understanding, more mature and more sympathetic person in dealing with others. To sum up, the reasons why I am very happy now come from the fact that I learn to eliminate the causes of my suffering resulting from wrong views and destructive emotions, avoid making the same mistake and make up my mind to live with happiness and morality. Is there anyone sharing this idea and why? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
It took me many years to learn about the danger of excessive talk. The more we talk, the more ego we feed. Talking always involves the expression of self. We try to make other people adopt our belief. We rarely have any time to listen attentively to anyone until he finishes his talk. We impatiently want to interrupt and share our belief with the feeling that it is the best thing in the world that the other side should know and follow. We immediately get irritated when anyone dares to challenge our belief. In this sense, we clearly identify ourselves with the thoughts we project. The Buddha, therefore, prohibits idle and nonprofitable talk as it can easily disrupt concentration and strengthen ego. The mind without concentration, but with a strong ego, cannot see the world as it is. A judgmental attitude will definitely cloud the mind and bring suffering to life. Therefore, an intelligent person should speak only when necessary and beneficial to another person's interests, particularly helping reduce suffering and reinforcing the importance of moral virtues. Do you agree or disagree? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
For me, the most important Dharma that brings me sustained happiness is the resolve of not imposing control over the world. I never try to control the world to make it become the way I want it to be because that goes against the nature of the mind. Trust me you can never control anyone's mind no matter how rich, powerful or decent you are. However, if you like to see change, think of creating new factors for that change to happen. Think with the technique of visualization of people involved in your decision-making process. Feel as if you were the person whom you were about to interact with and how he would respond to your action. Would that person agree with your point and be willing to take action? If yes, that is the right way of talking to that person in order to make changes of the whole situation. Remember, don't control anyone's mind. Create factors for change. Do you agree or disagree? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Today I feel so happy and uplifted being able to appreciate every single moment that is passing by. I forgive everyone who has abused me verbally or physically with or without intention. I set up mind mind not to entertain any single thought about anyone or any incident that can trigger anger in mind mind. I am sure that I do not suppress my feeling because there is no negative feeling to begin with. My forgiveness is pure and clean devoid of any sense of ego because I do not picture anyone in my mind to be forgiven. This is the technique that the Buddha commends because there is no sense of ego between the person who forgives and the one who is forgiven. Most importantly, I resolve my mind to forgive myself for whatever wrongdoing I have ever committed intentionally or unintentionally. I think I have suffered enough from whatever negative karma I have done. I want to begin a new life, fresh and clean. I want to live a life to its fullest without resorting back to the feelings of sinfulness. But of course, I will refrain from committing new sinful acts as I realize we all have to face the repercussion of the karmic deeds we have made. I am not perfect, but I try to take care of my mind. I must create new conditions that can bring about happiness and serenity in the mind. Forgiving others and especially ourselves should be the first step to take to begin a new journey of life. Do you agree or disagree? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Mindfulness cannot be cultivated if the mind is overwhelmed by frustration, worry, anger, insatiable greed ect. The reason is that negative emotions are so strong that they overcloud the mind. At that moment, we are oblivious of what's going on at the present moment. We are extremely distracted. Tons of unprofitable, destructive and unnecessary thoughts prevail over the mind and make us mindless. We don't know anymore what to say, how to behave or what to think. Concentration disappears. Suicidal and negative thoughts are at their full operation. We lose control of ourselves and end up with living in despair. How can we cultivate mindfulness? First, you have to practice mindfulness on the Four Foundations, which I have talked extensively about in previous posts. Second, always entertain only the right and profitable thoughts. Try to always look at the world through the prism of the law of impermanence everything is inevitably subject to the law of rise, fall and change. Nothing remains static. The world is beyond our control. It just happens as the result of some triggering factors or causes. Nothing happens in the vacuum. If you want to change the present situation, change its causes. Last, any attempt to hold on the world or attachment will unavoidably produce suffering. Once we adopt these right views, the mind immediately becomes serene, concentrated and mindful. Why don't you give it a try and you will realize how powerful these methods are in terms of bringing happiness and prosperity to your life. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
I strongly encourage Fast English students to click on Ning Chonlada's photo profile as appeared below. You will see beautiful pictures of University of Pennsylvania's campus environment as well as many other places, such as Time Square in New York. I bet everyone who has taken a look at these photos will definitely aspire to study in America. Chonlada is so happy that she looks much prettier and more joyful. She is really a different person. You can see traits of happiness radiating from her face with glittering eyes showing intelligence and compassion. If you want to look beautiful or handsome (I am just kidding), get exposed to the air in America. Everything is so beautiful and the country is so wealthy and humanitarian that people in the decision-making capacity will channel money to building a better society. Each picture is worth more than ten thousand words. Chonlada, thanks for sharing not only good YouTube post, but also encouraging pictures taken while you are in the U.S. May all the merits you have gained from such a deed give you hope, warmth and success in your endeavor. I look forward to getting more contact from you. Bye. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
The ability to hear each word we say is for me the highest and most beneficial communication skill we should learn. This ability helps us to be conscious of what we are saying so that we will not regret later saying what we should not have said or not saying what we should have done. More importantly, this special listening ability can bring about mindfulness right here and now. You will be eloquent communicators knowing what to say and why to say it. Thanks to the power of mindfulness, our mind will be sharp and incisive fully aware of the present moment of reality. Last, this is the easiest way of cultivating mindfulness without having to stay in the temple to practice mindfulness. To be able hear each sound you say, you need to focus on your ear consciousness. Whenever you talk to anyone, focus not only on what to say, but on each word you hear. Try to observe the tone and the rhythm of your voice, word selection as well as the sound volume. The most important emphasis is on each word you say. In order to be motivated to keep practicing, tell yourself that you don't want to be regretful anymore for what you should or should not have said. Once you have mastered this skill, you will be blessed with ample opportunities in your lives related to communication relationships. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
When I think back about the first book that taught me to pursue my dreams, adopt practical strategies to realize them and never give up in face of obstacles in life, I really owe my life to that book. It is The Law of Success written by Dr. Napolean Hills, who proposed 16 Golden Rules of Success after his almost ten-year research and interviews with famous and successful public figures in the U.S I was stunned by his rules which I had never known about before. More importantly, none of those ideas are taught in academic curricular. In other words, despite advanced academic degrees we may have obtained, there is no guarantee that we would be successful in life. However, this two-volume book taught me several guidelines on how to think and behave in order to fulfill my dreams and develop a sense of self-esteem or the reasons to live. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who likes to live happily and find a purpose in life. It requires, however, a lot of effort to read the first few chapters which may be lengthy and boring to some of us, but I assure the remaining chapters definitely prove invaluable. They will guide us until we see light at the end of the tunnel. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
When mindfulness is put into full operation, it is very difficult for thinking to become uncontrollable and incessant. Remember that uncontrolled and unconscious thoughts always produce negative emotions. Mindfulness can unlock the unconscious process of thinking. If you can really cultivate mindfulness on your mind and body, you can never suffer. If you want to suffer, you must deliberately think of negative stuff in order to feel the pain. Believe me you cannot do it. Besides, if you think with awareness, your mind will be neutral. It is almost impossible for emotion to manifest itself. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
At a deeper level, you train yourself to detect the overall state of your mind whether it is serene and peaceful, or gloomy and frustrated. Focus on the negative emotion moment by moment whether it results from what factor greed, hatred or delusion. Ask yourself frankly whether it is true that attachment is the source of suffering. If we keep being attached to things which are beyond our control and which are subject to the law of impermanence, we can never avoid suffering. Teach your mind to think and become intelligent rather than live in conflicting and dark emotions. It is time to wake up and face reality of life. This way of contemplation makes you bright and intelligent. It is not mental suppression which can cause harm to mental health. It is indeed thorough understanding of the world phenomena. Once your mind becomes less turbulent and gradually becomes peaceful again, continue focus on mindfulness on the body and emotion. Some may think it is so difficult to do. In fact, it is not beyond the brain capacity. Don't forget that we have billions of millions of brain cells and trust me they are capable of helping you cultivate mindfulness uninterruptedly. Once you make mindfulness a part of your daily activities, it will be extremely easy to become mindful of your mind and body . You will definitely face a miracle of life. You will need to make a lot of effort in order to suffer again. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
While you are conscious of your whole body, you should train your mind to detect and watch each emotion that is happening in your mind happy, unhappy or neutral. This technique can guide you to know more about yourself, particularly what you like or dislike. Once you are capable of detecting your emotion moment by moment continuously, you will understand how the external stimuli that you come into contact through the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue and the tactile sensations have an effect on your emotion. The power of mindfulness on the emotion will tell you how to deal with the external stimuli. Your response will not be automatic at all. You will know whether and how you should respond to them. This is called intuitive wisdom or wit. You will never be scared of or feel uncertain about what to do next because you know what you are doing is right. This is definitely an egocentric approach because the idea of how to respond comes from the bottom of your heart, not from fear, anger or any kind of negative feeling. Again, knowing each moment of your emotion confirms that you are alive, not dead. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
What is so fascinating about mindfulness is its beneficial effects of putting down suffering immediately. You can no longer think aimlessly. It is the only power that can wrestle with your discursive thoughts. In fact, you don't have to read a lot of Buddhist scriptures to practice mindfulness as long as you are fully conscious of your body, your thoughts and your emotions moment by moment continuously. You must first train yourself to feel the whole body the energy circulating within, each physical movement you make (as if you were a robot) and different postures of sitting, walking, standing and reclining. The purpose is to assure that you are alive, not dead. This can wake you up from fancy dreams or idle thoughts. You can also practice forcing your mind to get the full details of what you are looking at or to hear every single word that you and the other people are saying etc. Bodily consciousness can help slow down your thoughts and make you become more peaceful; otherwise, you will keep thinking incessantly and end up with frustration and despair. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In the past, each time I began to give up, I always thought of Robert Redford's speech when he received an Honorary Oscar Award more than ten years ago. He said in his capturing speech, "I always think of myself as if I were the locomotive of the train, always moving forward and never looking back". Believe it or not, the moment I heard this speech at my apartment in Philadelphia, I was so thrilled and thought I was so fortunate to hear these few powerful words that could rescue me from the dark side of my life. The picture of the locomotive of the train, the speed the train is traveling with and the strong feeling of moving further and faster never stopping at the same place are so beautiful and encouraging that I would like all of us to share with me this sentiment of optimism and hope. Have a nice and productive day and don't forget to be kind, be nice and be cooperative to all. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Many people complain about their discursive thoughts which significantly reduce work productivity, drain energy and finally lead to the state of anxiety and depression. They try but without avail to control their thoughts. In my view, discursiveness can be positively interpreted as the sign that the brain itself is eager to receive your command to take certain actions. These billions of million brain cells are so powerful that they help us not only escape from approaching danger, but only do may activities every day, non-stop. We should learn how to tap the brain power by giving the brain instructions after instructions. For example, we tell the brain to focus on the present task which we are doing, to see clearly what we are looking at, to hear attentively what we are listening to and to speak consciously etc. Therefore, from now on when we are suffering from discursive thoughts, it implies that we do not focus on anything at all at the present moment. What we are doing is only the working of unconscious thoughts and the result of familiarity, like pigeons flying in the sky, perching on trees, finding food, mating and nestling etc. Applied focus on the present activity, therefore, is the only cure for discursiveness. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Credibility requires a lot of effort and time to build up. Once you have it, your life would be much easier. People surrounding you, be they your boss, your subordinates, or the customer, will give you full support of whatever you expect them to help. They will guide you, become devoted to their work and buy your products without any need for explanation. Without credibility, these people will do only what is necessary, make sure they will not bear responsibility for their action and try to reap benefits from you and then leave you without notice. In order to have credibility, you must know yourself first, such as strengths and weaknesses, especially the values you cherish. No one will trust you if you keep changing your position, have no moral guiding principles, never do what you say and always seek personal interests and aggrandizement. Furthermore, you have to listen attentively to other people's concerns and interests. Then, you should try to help them become successful in their aspiration without sacrificing your cherished values and integrity which must be shared and accepted for the standard of mutual conduct. Once they they feel that you are sincere and try to help them, they will support your leadership or whatever initiatives you want to materialize. Remember a high position does not make you God. You must learn how to serve people first and then others will unequivocally support you. This is one of the laws of success. Do you agree with my observation? Feel free to comment. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
One of the main reasons why I can keep smiling and be happy is to forgive myself for all the wrong doings I have ever committed, intentionally or unintentionally. Looking back to those past mistakes, I realize that I really caused trouble or ill feelings to some people out of ignorance, arrogance, jealousy, mindlessness, greed, hatred or verbal abuse. Those past lessons have taught me very well that whenever I am ignorant, arrogant, jealous, mindless, greedy, revengeful or verbally abusive, I am prone to commit a sinful act that will sooner or later cause me harm and trouble unavoidably. Therefore, I now always make sure that my mind is not overwhelmed by these destructive states of mind; otherwise, I have to pay a great price of living in fear and anxiety trying to defend myself from retaliation caused by those whom I have abused physically and verbally. I promise to myself every day that I shall never repeat the same mistakes and that, for me, is self-forgiving. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Probably, I should have made my point more clearly. The reasons I meditate are to put down all my suffering and penetrate reality that there is nothing we can hold on to, that attachment is the cause of suffering and that the world is beyond our control. Likewise, I need to use the power of my mind to help others reduce their grievances and redress social justice so that the poor and the less fortunate can have reasons to live and dreams to fulfil. If we don't have the mind power, we can never fend off the dark force. Meditation can boost the power of your mind to choose to do what is appropriate and at the same time neutralize the power of dark force. Without the mind power, we will become pessimistic, frustrated, bored and hopeless. We cannot let the dark force overwhelm our mind |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Indeed, when I say I am distressed, I just acknowledge the state of emotion that happens to my mind and body. This emotion is evidently the response to the kind of thoughts I entertain as mentioned below. It is easy for me to let this thought pass away by applying the law of rise, fall and change of all phenomena. Somehow, I feel very strange that I can meditate to keep my mind pacified, while the rest of the society does not benefit that much from the fruit of my meditation. In other words, how could I rescue only myself and do not care for others who are still suffering from the feelings of no way out or Catch22? I believe that the practice of Buddhism should bring about not only peace of mind for the practitioners, but also constructive ideas for building a good society, surely without feeling agony, hatred or revenge toward anyone in particular. In short, Buddhism should provide hope, ideas and mental strength to carry out doing what is appropriate and beneficial for people in a given society. If Buddhism does not fulfil this task, there is no need for me to meditate at all. agree or disagree? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
When I wake up each morning, I feel so distressed about the future of Thailand, especially the fate of the present and future generations. Newspaper after newspapers cover news about rampant corruption worth of billions of baht, engaged by politicians and government bureaucrats. The question I always ask myself is whether there are no good, moral and effective politicians and civil servants in Thailand at all? Where are good people? Are they buried alive or become paralyzed? Does this the society produce only corrupt and morally debunk people in power? How could intellectual and well-educated people tolerate this imbroglio? Does the whole educational system succeed on producing competent people, but fail to inculcate morality in the minds of students. If so, what is the purpose of education after all? Does it just aim at creating a menace to society as its main purpose? Isn't it time for us to do something for this society? If yes, how could we do it? I would like to brainstorm your valuable advice and hopefully we can implement it in the future. Anything is possible. Who knows? Thanks. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
How could we improve themselves and do profitable things without knowing what thoughts going on in our mind? We tend to do things unconsciously as the result of impulses or familiarity. This is the reason why we become so reactive to life and to other people's behaviors. Ninety percent of our time is devoted to doing things aimlessly, like chatting, complaining, criticizing, thinking of the past as well as day-dreaming. We achieve so few things each day and what we have done barely helps achieve our goals. We have remained the same kind of person since we were born. We rarely change the ways and patterns of our thinking. If you want to change yourself, change your thoughts completely once and for all. Let carefully-chosen thoughts prevail over the same old negative and unprofitable thoughts. Most importantly, you must know what you are thinking about; otherwise, how could you correct your thoughts? But once you see your thoughts, you have to put a brake on it. Select only good thoughts and implement them. Don't forget thoughts come in the form of inner voices and mental pictures. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Do you forget to breathe in and breathe out? When people engage themselves in thinking, they forget to breathe. Accordingly, they become very serious about what they are thinking and easily become stressed and anxious of what to become next. Their judgment becomes blurry as the sense of ego overwhelms the mind and injects negativity into the thought process. We then are carried away with thinking so deeply that we run short of breath and cannot extricate ourselves from repeated thoughts. The only way to recall mindfulness and get out of this cycle is to keep breathing with consistent effort. Trust me if you follow this advice, no depression can ever touch your mind. Good luck and take action now. Our life is too precious for us to live in chronic pain and suffering. Take a deep breath and keep breathing. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In order to change the patterns of thoughts, we require repetition of new thoughts and applied focus on them while letting go past undesirable thoughts. This is indeed the working of the mind and the brain. If we don't apply volitional effort on new sets of thought, old thoughts are likely to compete with and win over new thoughts. This is precisely the main reason why we understand what we are supposed to do, but cannot do it. To keep it simple, we have to start with a new paradigm of our behavior we really want to adopt first. Then, stick to them mentally, verbally and physically. This requires mindful awareness to detect what thoughts we want to cherish or eliminate. Choose the right ones and stick to them with painstaking effort. Scientifically, it is extremely difficult to compete with the old existing neurons which are deeply strengthened by unconscious repetitive activities. To alter the working and structure of the brain or neuroplasticity, we require a new set of thoughts, mindfulness to select the desired thoughts, focus on those new chosen thoughts and tremendous effort to stick to what we have decided to embak on. Success depends on the fusion of the mind and the brain power. The most important factor is whether you want to be the same old person who experiences only pain and agony, or a new person who appreciates every single moment of clarity and happiness. It's you who decide whom you want to be. No one else can. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Have you ever questioned why the Buddha begins his preaching of the Four Noble Truth with suffering? Why can't he come up with something more positive and more encouraging instead? After so many years of contemplation, I now understand the underlying logic in his presentation. People in general do not really acknowledge suffering. They "think" they suffer, but they do not really feel the pain inside their heart. If they are really painful, they will definitely do something about it. Unfortunately, they are so preoccupied with daily tasks that they do not have a quiet moment to sit and analyze the main causes of their suffering. When left with some free time! they come back to the same old patterns of thoughts that cause them pain. In a sense, they don't really suffer, but they think they do. In my view, people will change or are willing to change their outlook only if they can no longer surmount the severity of the present pain. People suffer, according to the Buddha, because they try to control the world, but without avail. They cannot accept change as part of life. As a result, they keep thinking of the past old days and can never find peace in their mind. That's why the Buddha emphasizes the concept of "letting go", "accepting reality as it is" and "doing something to alter the situation". Whoever understands this concept can definitely minimize pain and has better understanding of the world. Happiness is not beyond reach. Do you agree? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
How can I speak English fluently with high confidence? First, don't be scared or feel uncertain in front of the native speakers. Bear in mind they never expect you to be able to communicate in English any way. You have nothing to lose except chains. Just don't care. Keep talking. Second, you must be able to construct grammatically correct sentences in English. Otherwise, you will feel insecure whether they understand your sentences or not. Third, your memory of English grammatical rules and vocabulary must be very keen, precise and speedy; otherwise, you will stumble in the middle of sentences and lack confidence again. Fourth, you must hear yourself speaking all the time, word by world; otherwise, you cannot retrieve information from your memory in a timely manner and do not know whether you speak correctly or not. Fifth, you must know exactly what you are talking about in order to make your points short and clear. Sixth, try to convince another party to agree with you. With this resolution, you will not give up speaking easily. Last, keep talking to yourself all the time when you are alone. Practice makes perfection. Take my advice into practice and tell me about its result. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Can you hear what you are saying? One of the secrets of living with the present reality is the ability to be fully conscious of what we are saying and what another person is saying to us. Very often, we don't hear what we are saying at all, especially when we are angry or try to defend ourselves against unfair and unjust practices or any accusations. Sometimes, we feel regret for what we should not have said that hurt another person's feeling or ignited unnecessary hatred. Why did these unfavorable situations keep repeating? The simple answer is we do not hear our own voice. We do not select words to express and we never pay attention to the tone of our voice especially how it affects another person's feelings. Indeed, it's really a waste of time to try to correct misunderstanding between each other. Don't you feel bored with this pattern of life. In my mind, hearing each word I say not only helps prevent any kind of disaster resulting from my verbal abuse, but also stimulates the working of the temporal lobe of the brain. Once this lobe is stimulated, we will be able to develop a higher level of emotional sensitivity and retrieve proper response from the memory part of the brain to a given situation. At the same time, we will be able to know the emotional state of mind of another person. If you try to listen to each word you say, you will sooner become the master of verbal communication, the skill of which is essential for success in whatever endeavor you turn to. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
How could you get rid of migraine or chronic headaches? You may say that you do not suffer from severe stress, but the brain keeps thinking all the time, non-stop. You should try chanting the mantra at least 9 times a day without thinking about anything else during the prayer. This is a way of controlling your mind. Chant the mantra with ease and comfort, not with frustration and anger. Ask for the divine power to help cure your migraine. Also keep telling yourself that thinking a lot and then "so what". The world remains as it is. Bury all the concern and anxiety. Take a deep breath ten thousand times a day. Do some swimming or strenuous exercise until you sweat and feel tired, so you can't keep thinking about the same old stuff. Don't drink coffee as it will stimulate your brain to function all the time. If you follow all my advice, you will definitely get rid of migraine or headaches in a matter of days. I used to experience this when I was young and now I know by heart how to put them down easily, once and for all, without taking medication which results in sleepiness and recurring of the symptom when you stop taking it. Try it and you will experience a miracle. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
In the past, I always made numerous mistakes and felt regretful later. For example, I always reprimanded myself that I should not have done or said something inappropriately to some people, but I did and it was wrong. One day I asked myself whether I had to suffer from this unending process of making repeated mistakes unknowingly, feeling repented and later bearing all the consequences. The answer is you can find a way out of this cycle if you don't believe in your logical thinking and start trusting your feeling instead. Feeling is never wrong. Feeling is not emotions which are the result of logical thinking. We can find "feeling" only when the mind is still and free from mental formation. The observation of the Five Precepts are of course the basic requirement. Feeling is the working of the mind and can be felt through the body consciousness. Let feeling guide you as the light to get out of distress and confusion. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Attachment is the main cause of suffering. It is not difficult to see whether we are attached to materialistic acquisition, but it is so hard to realize we are attached to thoughts--be they past or future thoughts. We believe these thoughts are real and are the whole embodiment of ourselves. We always feel irritated whenever someone dares to challenge what we believe. By the way, how could we know if we are attached to thoughts? It is the sense of strong emotions to defend our beliefs and counterattack whatever force that destabilizes them. Undeniably, we all need thoughts to help us function in society, but we should not be the slaves of our own thoughts. We need to screen which thought is beneficial and brings about succes and happiness in life. If we believe in and takes action from every single thought that props up in our mind, we can never find happiness and our life will be perpetually in chaos and discontentment as the result of insatiable greed, hatred and misperception of the world. So, be still and conscious and then choose what to say or what to do for the greatest benefits to yourselves and mankind. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
The most difficult part of Buddhism is how to apply the right Dharma to cure the mental diseases that have been ingrained in our mind. Indeed, there are tons of the Buddha's teachings we have heard or read about, but have a hard time to choose the right Dharma to put down our current and chronic suffering. Moreover, each monk or meditator guru seems to preach only one technique of meditation we have to follow as if that meditation subject were the only panacea that could root out our suffering. I think it's about time we looked very carefully to the root causes of our grievances and figured out the right Dharma to uplift our spirit and mind. To me, if we get the right Dharma, we should be able to lead our lives with vigor and enthusiasm. We should not be bored, anxious, robotic or fed up with our lives. I think we know about our problems more clearly than anyone else in the world. Is it time to stop believing in other people's preaching and start looking into our own minds and find a remedy to cure our mental pain based on the Buddha's teachings? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
People are always trying to improve their intelligence. They study very hard, read a lot and learn by experiences. They think the more knowledge they have, the more successful they will become. I agree with the need to acquire as much knowledge as we can, but knowledge itself is not sufficient to lead us along the path of success. However, it is the ability to apply the knowledge we have earned in the right contexts and at the right timing to guarantee success. This special ability definitely comes directly from living with the present moment of truth. We therefore need to sharpen our five sense organs--see what we are looking at, hear what we are listening to, get the odor of what we are smelling, get the taste of what we are eating and last feeling what we are in contact with. Only with the keen awareness of the five sensations can we penetrate the reality as it is and apply whatever knowledge we have for practical purposes. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Have you ever seen the eyes of a mother staring at her kid with full attention? Out of unconditional love and instinct for protection, she wants to make sure that no harm happens to the kid. Her sense of protection is operating all day and night. If this is true, I think all children should be sincerely grateful to their parents and never make them feel down or hurt. Parents may say or do something hurting you, but that does not justify your being aloof or mean toward them. I have seen some kids treating their parents so poorly simply because the latter happen to say something wrong or go against their wishes. All parental love and care have immediately dissipated in their eyes. Do you think children should behave like this to their parents? What if they were always psychologically wounded by their parents, how could they cope with this situation? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Sometimes it is useless to try to explain the underlying reasons for our action to those who have prejudice or preconceived thoughts. These people seem to repudiate whatever you say without listening to your argument. In that case, it is better to change the topic of the discussion, remain quiet or walk away to do something else. I myself believe it is in vain to enter into to endless conflict and heated discussion as this can easily lead to mutual hatred and confrontation. We instead should choose to talk with only those who like to open up their perspectives and improve themselves. Do you guys agree with this statement? |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Have you ever practiced saying "Thank you" to those who help us go on with our lives with ease and comfort. Indeed, it is easy to feel appreciative to those who help or give us something valuable, but quite often, we forget to thank those who provide convenience and loyalty to us but are in inferior positions. We almost forget the importance of our maids who help take care of our house, the janitors who clean the floor and the restrooms every day, the taxi drivers or the motorcyclists who drive us to the destination as well as our subordinates who help carry out our job responsibilities. Start thanking them today and feel greatful to their help. Your world will become much more beautiful. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Detachment can bring about mental strength. We should train our mind to look at the world with detachment. We should begin with not believing what we see or what we hear because it is only partial reality. Everything keeps changing all the time. What we believe is true can easily keep changing when time passes or when new factors happen. Staying neutral with detachment can, therefore, protect us from being lured into illusion and we will never feel disappointed any more with this world. We will feel happy to come and go. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Discipline can help us get out of anxiety and procrastination. When we focus on what we have to do now, the mind will put down all discursive thoughts. All activities will be carried out without concern or anxiety. We get more things done and feel good about ourselves. Discipline helps restrain the mind not to think of myriad things. Hopefully, what we are doing is productive and consistent with our goals in life, otherwise, we will end up with being busy but achieving nothing. |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
Two things people nowadays forget to do taking a rest and doing exercise. They are so preoccupied with daily routines and unproductive stuff that they forget to sit still and relax. The mind needs some rest to be free from thinking. People have to relax before getting tired. We rarely feel tired when we are concentrating. So, our physical health can easily collapse. We need to schedule time for relaxation and exercise and make them a routine, otherwise, we will never do it |
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
We always think of what to do next and get frustrated with what we are doing. We are constantly in a hurry and worry about the future. We are no difference from a robot performing many tasks nonstop. We are tired and want to rest. Has any of us ever questioned ourselves whether the world expects too much from us, or we try too hard to live up to other people's expectation? Should we stop proving ourselves and do only what is right and beneficial? That should be enough. No need for stress.
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ดร.บุญชัย โกศลธนากุล
No matter what we have gone through in our lives, we become much better than we were in the past. We become more understanding, more tolerant and much wiser. Most importantly, we still survive and can go on with our lives. Therefore, there is no need for us to be drowned in frustration and anxiety each time when we face a problem because eventually we will be able to get out of it any way. |
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To Panitan
